Audio/Video theories vs Recording standards

[UFObuster]

After maxing out my HT/music system according to my budget, I found myself getting much more interested in the quality of the software that I was buying.
I've become aware of standards such as "red book" CD and I've read descriptions of specs for DVDs etc. I've reviewed articles on this site related to equipment specifications, etc.
Can anyone point me to good sources that teach audio and recording science that a non-engineer could follow? I hear the terms 96/24 in DVD-audio and sampling rates, etc. On the video side, whats the deal with plasma and LCD?

So, let me know what good reference sites or even books that you've read that are appropriate for a "serious audiophile" but won't take a degree in EE to understand.

Thanks
Roger

 

[tbewick]

After maxing out my HT/music system according to my budget, I found myself getting much more interested in the quality of the software that I was buying.
I've become aware of standards such as "red book" CD and I've read descriptions of specs for DVDs etc. I've reviewed articles on this site related to equipment specifications, etc.
Can anyone point me to good sources that teach audio and recording science that a non-engineer could follow? I hear the terms 96/24 in DVD-audio and sampling rates, etc. On the video side, whats the deal with plasma and LCD?

So, let me know what good reference sites or even books that you've read that are appropriate for a "serious audiophile" but won't take a degree in EE to understand.

Thanks
Roger

I spend far too much time hunting around for these kinds of links

The Stanford Uni Music Dept. has a good site that has things on amps, recorders, microphones etc.

http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/192a/
http://ccrma.stanford.edu/courses/192b/

The BBC R&D site has access to all their white papers on video and audio:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/rd/index.shtml

Technical/production information on digital video:

http://www.snellwilcox.com/community/knowledge_center/engineering_guides/
http://www.quantel.com/site/en.nsf/html/library_dfb

Since these topics frequently come up in the forum, I thought these documents may also be useful:

http://www.hit.bme.hu/people/papay/edu/Acrobat/Fund.pdf
Cabot, C. (1997). 'Fundamentals of modern audio measurement'.

http://www.ebu.ch/CMSimages/en/tec_AES-EBU_eg_tcm6-11890.pdf - Introduction to the AES/EBU digital interface

www.aes.org/technical/documents/AESTD1001.pdf
Rumsey et al. Multichannel surround sound systems and operations.

http://www.dts.com/media/uploads/pdfs/dtsposition.pdf
http://www.dts.com/media/uploads/pdfs/dolbyrvu.pdf
DTS response to criticisms made by Dolby labs.