Digital Media

DIGITAL MEDIA

Digital Media can be seen all around us. Some examples of Digital Media include:

• The radio
• Digital television
• Digital cameras
• E-book
• Mobile Phones

Digital Data is based on the binary numeral system, these days. The two numbers that are used to code all digital data are '0' and '1'.

The terms 'bit' and 'byte' are common words used in computing network and they refer to digital data transmitted over a computer network. A bit is a single numerical value that consists of a single unit of digital information, whereas byte refers to a sequence of bits. Eight bits is equal to one byte.

The sampling rate defines the number of samples per second, taken from a continuous signal to make a discrete signal.

Analog signal

Sampled Signal

Colour depth is used to describe the maximum number of colours that are used in a particular image. The higher the number of colours, the more enhanced and realistic the image will appear.

1 bit (2 colours)

2 bit (4 colours)

4 bit (16 colours)

8 bit (256 colours)

True colour (24+ bit)

Colour depth affects both still and video digital media. Sampling rate affects only video digital media because it incorporates sounds whereas still does not.