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Dumpshock Forums _ Shadowrun _ So how big is an MP?

Posted by: EVLTIM Sep 29 2003, 10:07 PM

Seriously . In todays terms , how big is it .
Is it explained anywhere in the books . (My brain is turning to mush .)

Posted by: Adam Sep 29 2003, 10:15 PM

It isn't explained anywhere in the books; the MP does not relate to any real world computing measurement.

Posted by: FlakJacket Sep 29 2003, 10:17 PM

Nope. As far as I know, they were intentionally vague and never defined what it meant as a unit of measurement as compared to todays bits and bytes. Mainly because they didn't want it to be made completely redundent as the tech progressed. I mean, just look at the tech in some of the older sci-fi RPG's that probably have the same amount of power as a stereo system today. Yeah, I know I'm probably exagerating some, but not much.

Edit: Damn, and Jury beats me to it.

Posted by: SimpleRunner Sep 29 2003, 10:18 PM

MP/Mega pulse is refered in the books am ambiguous as using a computers storage 60 years in the future should be on a different standard. As far back as SR1 there were some examples on what would best describe 1 MP or more. I think that in the beginning of the main book in the matrix section is the best definition your going to find though.

Posted by: EVLTIM Sep 29 2003, 10:31 PM

Big blue 1st edition , or first ed matrix ?

*Runs to book case *

Thanx .

Posted by: Sammiel Sep 29 2003, 10:40 PM

a machine pistol is about the same size as a heavy pistol.

Posted by: Arcanum V Sep 29 2003, 10:43 PM

Shadowbeat has this to say:

High-resolution video imaging — 1 Mp per minute
Trideo imaging — 5 Mp/minute
High-resolution trideo imaging — 10 Mp/minute
Normal spectrum sound — 1 Mp/minute
Extended spectrum sound — 3 Mp/minute
Simsense — 1-3 Mp/second (varies by type and quality)

Posted by: Siege Sep 29 2003, 10:44 PM

I don't know what it says about my mindset at the moment, but I was thinking "HK MP-5".

-Siege

Posted by: TinkerGnome Sep 29 2003, 10:45 PM

[edit] Arcanum beat me to it. And it was Shadowbeat I was looking for...[/edit]

Posted by: Abstruse Sep 29 2003, 11:10 PM

And I was thinking of Ares's MP Laser...

I think I figured up a VERY VERY loose conversion, and an MP is equal to about 2 gigs or something. I can't remember anymore, and it wasn't that accurate because it was based on the whole 1 minute of uncompressed video thing, which doesn't translate well because it doesn't say at what resolution or framerate the video is at.

Why did I bother posting this in the first place if I knew it was going to be useless information?

The Abstruse One

Posted by: El_Machinae Sep 30 2003, 12:35 AM

You know how, in spy movies, they're always able to "zoom into" a picture to get some obscure detail?

I betcha that the recordings in Shadowrun are WAY more zoomable. So, while it seems to us that they have an "equivalent" in nowadays conventions, there are probably more benefits to a Shadowrun recording than we imagine (thus, think of quirky ways to bully your GM into getting more benefit out of your recordings!).

So, that's my take on an MP

Posted by: Backgammon Sep 30 2003, 12:44 AM

You know how hard it is to understand quantum computers? Now imagine even more out-there. Some people have said SR computers are probably protein based. Forget it, it can't be understood what a MP is. It's simply "storage space".

Posted by: Sepherim Sep 30 2003, 01:19 AM

QUOTE (El_Machinae)

You know how, in spy movies, they're always able to "zoom into" a picture to get some obscure detail?

I believe that is due to the resolution of the picture so, yes, I'd bet that they are WAY more zoomable.

Anyway, MPs have a big contradiction, that appears in shadowtalks, when Captain Chaos erases messeges on the forum, or parts of them, and they have a varying size from 0.1 MP over. And that would be A LOT of text!

Posted by: Herald of Verjigorm Sep 30 2003, 01:45 AM

QUOTE (Sepherim)

Anyway, MPs have a big contradiction, that appears in shadowtalks, when Captain Chaos erases messeges on the forum, or parts of them, and they have a varying size from 0.1 MP over. And that would be A LOT of text!

This has been debated, just because it is all in plain text in the sourcebook does not mean that it is simple text in the fictional state. A sythesized voice record would make a relatively small length of text into a large file.

Posted by: Arcanum V Sep 30 2003, 01:46 AM

QUOTE (Sepherim @ Sep 29 2003, 08:19 PM)

It's possible that the parts that are deleted also include multimedia components. There's nothing a crazed conspiracy theorist or political ranter likes more than a bunch of blurry photos he can point to and interpret in his own zany way.

Are we also expecting that the futuristic computers will include the software necessary to get 3-D rotation and wireframe generation in a one-click solution from nothing more than a grainy 2-D photo? I like to run BladeRunner 3.1 and EnemyOfTheState Plus to get my impossible results!

Posted by: Dogsoup Sep 30 2003, 10:03 AM

[90 min. * 2 MP]*0.5 = 90 for a DVD!

Would this be at least closer to sensible?

Video imaging = 0.5 Mp/minute
Trideo imaging = 3 Mp/minute
Sound = 0.5 Mp/minute
Simsense = 5-10 Mp/minute (varies by type and quality)

I'm with the 'extendeed zooming allowed in SR'-faction: There is no "hi-res"-media.

And I've long since houseruled chips to be MP*0.1 a pop, instead of *0.5.

Posted by: Abstruse Sep 30 2003, 10:15 AM

Nope, it wouldn't. There was an article on http://www.slashdot.org/ a couple of days ago about a new UHDTV (Ultra High Definition TV) or something like that. 2 terrabytes an hour...or was it a minute? I can't remember, but it was crazy. 1000+ lines of resolution (to put that in perspective, a normal VHS tape has 220 lines of resolution while a DVD has 550). So the numbers are more or less right.

The Abstruse One

Posted by: Hot Wheels Sep 30 2003, 12:52 PM

QUOTE (EVLTIM @ Sep 29 2003, 06:07 PM)

Seriously . In todays terms , how big is it .
Is it explained anywhere in the books . (My brain is turning to mush .)

I know one in Iraq who's about 5' 11"

Posted by: Siege Sep 30 2003, 03:53 PM

*snarf*

Posted by: EVLTIM Oct 1 2003, 01:06 AM

Oi I forgot how creative the gang is .
Thanx all for the help , and the laughs .

Posted by: Corywn Oct 2 2003, 04:25 PM

I've always had issues that "Normal" audio takes up as much as a video.

I have a 1:10 720 x 480 DivX file that is 8.6 MB (approx 7.37MB/minute)
I have a 3:59 MP3 file that is 9.3 MB (approx 2.3 MB/minute)

I realize that both these are compressed formats, however I would hardly call DivX files High Resolution, where you could zoom or the like. Yet the Audio, even in this case, is more than 1/3 the size of the Video.

In SR, they're the same size. Audio really can't be presented as High Resolution. I will admit in the situation where it applies, multi-channel audio could be as much as 1/2 the size of equivalent length video, and High/Low frequency recordings could be as much as twice as large as normal audio, but that would mean that to consume as much space as video, all audio would have to be:
-Multi-channel (5.1, 7.2, whatever. Portable media should not use this many channels, even in 6th world, Stereo is most logical for all but the most advanced walkman.)
-Extended audio range (High/Low channels. Most listeners in 6th world can't hear this, and wouldn't be interested in the expanded, probably more expensive, versions.)