Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2011 August 13

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August 13

Video Games

What is the best game console? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.106.101.78 (talk) 02:15, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Best for what? --Jayron32 03:49, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Some of the things that might mean "best" to any particular person are the console price, the prices of games the player is likely to buy, its graphics power, its motion controller, its availability of a particular game, or an entire game genre, that the player likes, how portable the console is, its Internet connectivity, the quality of the top games on the console, what things-besides-video-games the console can do, and whether the player has friends that also own the console and thus are a good set of competitors to play against. Every console has strengths and weaknesses when you look at everything it can do. Minus a million points if you respond saying "all of them". There are some people who can be found, for example, who will swear that the Sega Genesis remains the best console, because of several particular favorite games that were on it. Or the Super Nintendo, or the original Sony PlayStation, or the Mattel Intellivision ... you get the idea. Comet Tuttle (talk) 17:15, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Obviously. But the OP didn't specify any of those, or indeed any other possible use (best to make an improvised murder weapon? Best to eat? Most comfortable to sit on?) I am unfortunately not a mind reader. The best selling console of all time is the Nintendo Wii, but popularity doesn't often correlate to quality, and one needs to define the criteria of measurement before one can say what one is looking for.--Jayron32 17:25, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Oops, sorry Jayron32, I had meant my paragraph as a response to the original poster and not as a lecture to you. I have outdented my paragraph accordingly. Comet Tuttle (talk) 21:50, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Best console to use as a footstool: XBox. It held me up pretty well, and I'm not exactly trim.Foofish (talk) 22:06, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

You might find our article on Console wars interesting. That article shows that the playstation 2 is by far the most commercially successful console ever made so far, having sold over 150 million units, followed by the Playstation at over 100 million units. The nest most successful console and the most successful console of this generation is the Nintendo Wii at about 87 million units. Vespine (talk) 00:13, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

I just noticed what Jayron32 said, what's the source of the Wii being the highest selling console? The article I linked seems to dispute that. Unless it means the Wii is the fastest selling console, since the playstation 1 and 2 have been out for so much loner. Vespine (talk) 00:16, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Laugh tracks and live studio audiences in sitcoms

I was watching an old re-run of Two and a Half Men earlier, and realized for the first time that there was a laugh track. I guess I've gotten numb to its presence, especially having grown up in the age of 70's-80's sitcoms. But what was the first instance of the "laugh track"? An what current shows stil use them today? Seems a bit outdated, but I guess not, since 2&1/2M is one of the most popular shows on TV. Did Seinfeld have a laugh track? I can't remember. Quinn ^{❀ BEAUTIFUL DAY} 04:07, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

See Laugh track. The history section suggests the first proper "laugh track" was used on Bing Crosby's radio show in the mid 1940's. Lots of show still use them today. They're pretty obvious on those "teen sitcoms" you see on the Nickelodeon or Disney networks. AFAIK, Seinfeld was taped infront of an audience, excepting the bits filmed outdoors. I can't recall if there was laughter in the outdoor scenes; but if there was it would obviously be a laugh track. --Jayron32 04:46, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

BTW, the article claims Two and a Half Men does not use a laugh track although it later suggests laugh tracks may be used for re-shoots etc for multi-camera shows in general. Not mentioned but Two and a Half Men sometimes has outdoor scenes and as with Seinfeld if these included laughs they would also likely come from laugh tracks. Nil Einne (talk) 15:16, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

BTW, there's nothing inherently wrong with a laugh track, so long as they use it judiciously. When there's 30 seconds of laughter every time there's a pause in the conversation, then somebody needs to be fired. StuRat (talk) 05:35, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Is the laugh track a purely American thing? I'll admit to not paying attention enough to have a view either way, but we've only mentioned American shows so far. HiLo48 (talk) 06:53, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Fortunately it is pretty much confined to the US. See Laugh track#Laugh tracks outside the U.S.--Shantavira|^{feed me} 07:23, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, and now I've seen that article, can it please be completely rewritten. It's not an encyclopaedia article. It's an essay, and almost all about the USA, without saying so. How about the line "Critics took note of the inferior sounding laugh track permeating Hanna-Barbera's Saturday morning fare"? I might spend some time on it myself. HiLo48 (talk) 08:06, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure about other US sitcoms, but I know that M*A*S*H* was shown in the UK with the laughter removed. British sitcoms may or may not have laughter from a studio audience, depending on the type of comedy - this article discusses. Alansplodge (talk) 17:21, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

FM in Japan

Will the frequency band from 90 MHz to 108 MHz ever be used for FM radio in Japan? --84.61.188.59 (talk) 11:08, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

The article FM broadcasting in Japan covers this; though since worldwide the radio spectrum is being converted to digital broadcasting (in many countries, analog TV broadcasts have ceased entirely, and while radio broadcasting has not entirely abandoned analog broadcasting, and probably won't for the forseeable future, most of the growth in the radio industry is in digital broadcasting. In other words, if Japan isn't using that entire bandwidth for FM broadcasting; there likely isn't the demand to expand into it given the trends in radio. --Jayron32 17:05, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Is Japan the only country of the world which doesn't have any FM radio stations above 90 MHz? --84.61.188.59 (talk) 17:36, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

According to FM broadcast band, yes. --Jayron32 17:42, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Will the frequency band from 90 MHz to 108 MHz be used for digital radio in Japan? --84.61.188.59 (talk) 18:16, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

It seems unlikely. The whole idea behind digital broadcasting is the ability to use less of the availible spectrum for the same amount of broadcast data. As a country transitions from analog to digital broadcasting, there is little need to move into a new part of the spectrum; you can just use a smaller part of the existing spectrum. The U.S., for example, uses In-band on-channel standards for its digital radio, which places the digital signal on the same frequency as the analog signal. Japan uses a different standard, known as ISDB which appears to broadcast on the 2.6 gigahertz band; well above the 90-108 megahertz band. So, the answer appears to be no, Japan does not use, nor has any plans to use, that band for FM broadcasts. I believe in one of the articles it mentions that the band was (maybe still is?) used for analog TV broadcasts in Japan. --Jayron32 03:50, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

What is the future use of the frequency band from 90 MHz to 108 MHz in Japan? --84.61.188.59 (talk) 09:33, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Portable device-oriented multimedia broadcasting. [1] Oda Mari (talk) 10:37, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

lost - desmond's mine time traveling

in the episode "the constant", desmond's mind frequently time travels between 1996 and 2004, and daniel tells him that those two times are completely unfamiliar, and unless he finds something common in both times, a "constant", he will die. george minkowski couldn't find his constant, couldn't tell which time was which, and thus died. but, as the two times are completely unfamiliar, shouldn't it be easier for people to differentiate which is which? is the constant actually needed? sure, it can be need for emotional purposes, but from a physics point of view, to prevent the time traveler from dying?? plz i really need this doubt cleared up.

thnx — Preceding unsigned comment added by 117.197.243.81 (talk) 21:21, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

I am guessing you're talking about a TV series. Which one? HiLo48 (talk) 21:31, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Its Lost, The Constant, as for the question, I'd say because it made for a good story? Time travel isn't real, so any effects it has in Lost are of course fictional--Jac16888 ^Talk 21:34, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

• As I recall, it wasn't a matter of not being able to tell one time from another in an intellectual sense. It was about overcoming the panic of your consciousness (which can time-travel) and your brain (which CANNOT) separating from each other. Finding a constant let you gain control over your time-travelling. However, like most things on Lost, there never really was a complete, air-tight answer. See Lostpedia on Constants and Lostpedia on temporal displacement. --M@rēino 14:34, 17 August 2011 (UTC)