week 5 readings and muddiest point

Data Compression (wikipedia): great introduction to lossless and lossy, and the next readings really filled it in.  I think the most interesting part of this article, for me, was the mention of Claude Shannon's work on information and rate distortion theory.  I then clicked on his link and learned about a very interesting person. 

I understand now about lossless and lossy data compression.  I could spit back to you what we all read on wikipedia, but I really can boast of no in-depth comprehension or depth of understanding of these matters.  I have never compressed data (manually).  I see now that it is both simpler and more complicated than I would have guessed.  What I really do not understand is how one programs the encoders and readers to understand the different types of compression. The notes on the next article may sound similar.

DVD-HQ-INFO: 3 long and interesting articles.  I understood much more of the lossless data (RLE) than the lossy, and then even less about the video compression.  I gather that losslesss is most useful for information with large amounts of repeated data.  I see that lossy is not about a loss of useful information, but about its mathematical or digital underpinnings. 

Video: I see that it is useful to put the images that need decoding first in the sequence, rather than putting the images in sequential order. Also in video, that the best matched boxes may not necessarily be in the direction the object is moving.

Youtube: An optimistic article, very positive.   I'm sure the library could upload videos to youtube.  Unless linked to their home page, it would be hard to find them I think.  Also, videos seldom answer the specific questions I have at the time. I take that back, there are some how to change oil in your car videos on there which are indispensable.  In short, there is no shortage of tools or strategies one could employ to aid in transmitting one's message.  Youtube is definitely an accessible one.  

Mussiest point: Encoders and Readers.  Who does this stuff? How does one program the programs?  Can I learn?