[Premium-Rx] Comments on djvu compression format

[Ed Tanton]

Hi Nigel... I base that legibility remark on two things. 1) The DJVU 
drawings I've gotten from BAMA do not come close to matching what PDFs 
achieve. But you're absolutely right: it certainly DOES depend on the 
quality of the source-and it is entirely possible that the age of many of 
BAMA's entries causes some/many? of them to have been done when scanning 
resolution was pretty bad.

And 2) that said, the ultimate legibility of a document is just like speech 
compression... the kind of compression some/many? contesters use is quite 
'readable' BUT not as nice as, say the audio I used to get out of my AM 
plate-modulated, Hallicrafters HT-9 (in 1965.) Different purposes yielding 
different results-but both more than adequate for the intended job.

A lot of words to say I consider DJVU to do a fine job of minimizing 
bandwidth... but with today's 100GB-200GB HDDs, 1024x768 and better 
screens, and most of all DSL & cable modem bandwidth; all that compression 
is no longer all that necessary-especially since PDFs do a better job at 
the screen or printer. We simply no longer need to trade file-size for 
resolution.

This is not meant as a criticism of anyone or anything-I GREATLY appreciate 
having BAMA, DJVU and all. I just feel strongly about preferring PDFs.


73 Ed Tanton N4XY <n4xy at earthlink.net>

Ed Tanton N4XY
189 Pioneer Trail
Marietta, GA 30068-3466

website: http://www.n4xy.com

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