For god's sake what exactly is a "BIT" ?

[quexos]

This is probably the most obscure word in the world of Technology and digital media. I have so far spotted many different uses for it:

- Bit is the 8th of a byte which is the basic measure for digital quantities.
- Bit is used in audio as in 16 bits sound, 24 bits sound etc ...
- Bit is used in some past game machines as in the Genesis being 16 Bits, PS1 being 32 Bits, Nintendo 64 Being 64 Bits etc ...
- Bit is used in Operating systems as in Windows Xp being 32 bits, Vista being 32 or 64 Bits etc ...

So is there anyone that REALLY knows and understand what a Bit is ? What are those uses exactly for ? what is really the difference between all those uses ? What is a bit for god's sake ???

I'm a BIT annoyed by this mysterious word

[Rup_Muk]

Actually, each of the definitions you provided means the same thing. The BIT is the bare essence of everything digital. A single location in memory, addressing of memory or CPU is represented by one bit. A bit can take on only one of two values: "off" (0) or "on" (1), giving rise to the binary counting system.

Bits can be grouped to form larger concantenations: nibbles (4 bits) and bytes (2 nibbles or 8 bits).

When addressing memory locations or performing CPU operations, the "bus" sends out a parallel string on bits on 8, 16, or 32 lines, making the CPU an "8-bit", a "16-bit", or a "32-bit" device.

It takes a while to follow, but once understood, it is easy to get into nerdy gobbleygook.

Rup.

[sphdle1]

It is simply a '1' or a '0'. I hope that answers your question.





But seriously it is just how computers, CDs, DVDs and now Blu disks store their data (digitally). The bits are the smallest part of the data which represent either a one or zero (on switch or off switch from the old mainframe days), which basically allows computer systems to read the data from pattern of how the '1's' & '0's' are sequenced. The more bit rate, the more data needed to be stored on disc, and thus the more information on audio/video details read and converted from digital (1's & 0's), and thus higher quality PQ/AQ.

[DragonSarc]

got it from wikipedia check it out

A bit is a binary digit, taking a value of either 0 or 1. For example, the number 10010111 is 8 bits long, or in most cases, one modern PC byte. Binary digits are a basic unit of information storage and communication in digital computing and digital information theory. Information theory also often uses the natural digit, called either a nit or a nat. Quantum computing also uses qubits, a single piece of information with a probability of being true.

[sphdle1]

Originally Posted by Rup_Muk

Actually, each of the definitions you provided means the same thing. The BIT is the bare essence of everything digital. A single location in memory, addressing of memory or CPU is represented by one bit. A bit can take on only one of two values: "off" (0) or "on" (1), giving rise to the binary counting system.

Bits can be grouped to form larger concantenations: nibbles (4 bits) and bytes (2 nibbles or 8 bits).

When addressing memory locations or performing CPU operations, the "bus" sends out a parallel string on bits on 8, 16, or 32 lines, making the CPU an "8-bit", a "16-bit", or a "32-bit" device.

It takes a while to follow, but once understood, it is easy to get into nerdy gobbleygook.

Rup.

I think if they had some computer courses on this they'd be able to understand your explanation, but then they wouldn't have needed to ask the question in the first place.

I hope my explanation above is any better, probably not.

[br85]

Originally Posted by quexos

This is probably the most obscure word in the world of Technology and digital media. I have so far spotted many different uses for it:

- Bit is the 8th of a byte which is the basic measure for digital quantities.
- Bit is used in audio as in 16 bits sound, 24 bits sound etc ...
- Bit is used in some past game machines as in the Genesis being 16 Bits, PS1 being 32 Bits, Nintendo 64 Being 64 Bits etc ...
- Bit is used in Operating systems as in Windows Xp being 32 bits, Vista being 32 or 64 Bits etc ...

So is there anyone that REALLY knows and understand what a Bit is ? What are those uses exactly for ? what is really the difference between all those uses ? What is a bit for god's sake ???

I'm a BIT annoyed by this mysterious word

I think I can help you out a bit =P

I'm pretty sure they are all referring to the same thing, i.e a single binary piece of data i.e. a zero or a one.

An example of how that works with, say, a sound card, or when an audio track on a blu-ray disc says it is so many "bits", it is talking about the number of bits (zeros and ones) per sample. Digital audio is converted from the analog sound wave that you have probably seen into a series of thousands of horizontal lines (or "points") per second which best reflect the amplitude of the sound at that particular point in time. The "bitrate" is how much variance there can be in the amplitude. At 2 bits, the sound can only be at 4 points, presumably (equivalent of) 1 volt, 0.33333 volts, -0.333 volts and -1 volt. As you might guess, that would sound dreadful, so we use enough bits (at least 16) to get 64,000ish variants in the amplitude.

Another example, if that baffled you, is like a 24-bit bitmap image. Each pixel takes up 24 "bits" of data to tell you what color it should be. And yeah, that's a hell of a lot of color.

As to game machine and computer processors, I assume it means much the same thing in some way, but I don't know enough about it to go into any real detail. I think it has something to do with the size of the chucks of data that it can take in and process at each cycle, but i could be way off.

[WickyWoo]

Simple answer

how many bits something is indicates how big a chunk of data is processed at any one time. The more data in each chunk, the more accurate (in the case of sound and video) the end result will be to the source. In terms of game systems, the faster and better your games will run

[Living Near Shamu]

Originally Posted by Rup_Muk

nibbles (4 bits) and bytes (2 nibbles or 8 bits).

This sounds like Keebles and Bits LOL

[JJ]

I was semiwondering this question and glad I got an answer, I understood it.

And yes, LMAO - it does ound like Kibbles and Bits.

[shatta]

a "bit" is the single action dedicated to the amount a rat nibble off from a piece of cheese u set in the rat trap

[Phane]

Originally Posted by quexos

So is there anyone that REALLY knows and understand what a Bit is ? What are those uses exactly for ? what is really the difference between all those uses ? What is a bit for god's sake ???

What a 'digit' is in decimal is what a bit is in binary. It is literally a single binary digit. Most data is stored in clusters of 8 bits called 'bytes' which can store any value from 0-255, a single bit can only store values from 0-1 which isn't very useful. When you hear something is 24 bit, it means that 24 bits are used which raises the possible values significantly. 24 bits would be able to store a value from 0-16,777,215 (feel free to check my math). 32 bit processors vs 64 bit processors basically means that they can handle 64 bits of information at once instead of 32 bits, which usually is more efficient for handling large numbers. The principle is the same with busses. An 8 bit bus running at 200 mhz can cary 1,600,000,000 bits a second. It's also the same with data transmissions (like cable modem and dsl) which all use 8 bit transfers. So if your cable company says you get 5 megabits / sec and you download a file and see 600 k BYTES / sec, you are getting your money's worth (600,000 X 8 = 4,800,000).

[quexos]

I think I see a little BIT more clearly into this.

thanks everybody

[galz]

01000010 01001100 01110101 01010010 01000001 01111001

These are all bits, spelling a HD format This is binary and the language computers read.

[radagast]

This thread bytes it big time.

[tron3]

Originally Posted by radagast

This thread bytes it big time.

Ugh... would be funnier if I said it.

Bit is simply a contraction of Binary digIT. While it is represented as a zeroes and ones in "switch gate" electronics such as RAM, it is transmitted as high and low voltages. Simply because you can't transmit an "off" signal, it is represented by low voltage. This is why semi-conductors are important. They can have an on or off state.

I am no electronics expert, but I know that much. Anyone else want to further clarify?

[sphdle1]

A 'bit' is actually the amount of time left before HD-DVD becomes extinct. It is also a measure of how long before Warner go exclusively Blu.

[docjan_uk]

Speaking of bits, gaming systems have to be the biggest misuser's of the term ever... typical they'd quite literally add up various numbers of bits that applied to various parts inside the systems to come up with the value for the system be it 16, 32, 64 or 128.

[sphdle1]

A 'bit' is the measure of how much of a person's brain is used when trying to argue HDUD FUD!

[MacHaggis]

There are 10 types of people in this world:

- those who know binary, and
- those who don't

Bogdan

[Jonty]

Originally Posted by MacHaggis

There are 10 types of people in this world:

- those who know binary, and
- those who don't

Bogdan