• The new B5TV.COM is here. We've replaced our 16 year old software with flashy new XenForo install. Registration is open again. Password resets will work again. More info here.

A Babylon 5 Ringtone??

I

Icarus

Member
I was wondering if anybody knew if there was a Babylon 5 ringtone available on the net, and if there was a site that told you the code to write into a Nokia phone? I'd love to have a B5 Ringtone on my phone, but most places I have found it you have to pay some very expensive prices. /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif
Thanx in advance for any help

Icarus
 
!!WOW!! Thankyou
That was exactly I was looking for. Thankyou very much. A very good ringtone by the way /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

Icarus
 
Well, I prefer the original orchestra recording, but anyway/ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif
Also very strange by the way. You would expect that after 250 years, everyone should have a mobile phone on Babylon 5 with direct connection to Earth and all colonies. But I have never seen a Nokia or one of its follow-ups on Babylon 5. You could just send Sheridan an SMS while he was on Z'Ha'Dum. /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif

Lorien: 'We all have something worth dying for, but do you have something living ...' bleep bleep '...is that yours or mine?'

GenevaRanger
 
I would think that on planets, mobile communications devices would be very common. But on a space station run by one species, providing mobile communication devices suitable for everyone might be difficult.

One species has one alphabet, another has another. One species has five fingers, another has four or six. One likes visual communications, others prefer audio. One uses numbers, another uses names. Besides, keeping permanent FTL lines open to all homeworlds... might cost a bit. They obviously tried to keep the cost down, using a limited number of fixed terminals and starting interstellar communications only on need.

Only station personell and those really needing such devices have "links" or their alien equivalents. Besides, mobile phones of 2258 might be less annoying than current ones.
 
That's a good point, Lennier. It's quite startling to notice how the world has changed.

Perhaps JMS had not envisaged how pervasive mobile comminications would become. After all, the show was written and made nearly a decade ago, before the current Nokia/Ericsson/Motorola age really kicked off. Back in those days, mobile phones weighed like bricks and could be used to break windows in case of fire. /ubbthreads/images/icons/tongue.gif
 
As well as the links there were pen like mobile phones. The maintenance staff used them. I think someone else used one as well. Lyta? A businessman?
 
<blockquote><font class="small">Quote:</font><hr>Originally posted by Icarus:
<font color=yellow> Thankyou very much. A very good ringtone by the way ..</font color=yellow><hr></blockquote>

Ah sounds interesting , must check that out .. /ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif
 
Good point! I had already forgotten that Babyon 5 was made in the period that we were still carrying refrigerators with us in order to be reachable. About the difference in alphabet between different worlds, I am quite sure that if one is capable of constructing jump gates and artificial intelligent doors /ubbthreads/images/icons/smile.gif, it must surely be not so difficult to make a translator (they could use the technology of the translators that this one race uses, I forgot their name).
What I find very funny is that in a lot of SF series, people use these 'videophones' - like talking to your friend while seeing him/her on a screen. All the technology is already there for a long time (from the sixties or seventies), so why don't we have them yet?

GenevaRanger
 
bandwidth? telecommunications infrastructure many places still not quite up to it, perhaps?
 
Price as well, I think. The technology is probably still too expensive for mass-scale production. But I don't think it will take long now, webcams and video conferencing are rather widespread already.
 
the problem isn't with the tech but if people actually want it. What happens now when the phone rings and you are naked... you pick up the phone but if you have a video phone you have to go get something on or do you blank out the screen? Would this be considered an insult? Will you have to stand directly in front of the phone? This makes cordless phones useless. So i don't think we will see this stuff any time soon.
 
Some more problems:

1. The station has tons of metal, other material and interference sources obstructing radio traffic. My knowledge about radio is weak, but I cannot see how a modern 2.4 gigahertz transceiver would work on the station. My work requires occasionally dealing with wireless computer networks and they are rather vulnerable to walls. Mobile phones in the 900 megahertz range might work, but not well. Besides, lower frequencies mean lower bandwidth, and multimedia does not like low bandwidth.

A decent system would require either expensive technology (it seems that links are expensive) and\or countless relay stations (wired relay stations preferable to wireless ones). Installing them everywhere would cost a decent penny. In an open or domed city, a few base stations can provide excellent coverage (even without direct visibility radio waves reflect off buildings). On a space station, you would need countless access points all over the place.

This would be assuminge that Earth communications technology is still mainly radio-based, with the exception of interstellar communications, which are clearly expensive stuff. Wired terminals would suit a space station well.

2. Interstellar communications probaly costs interstellar amounts. Something like long-distance calls or high-bandwidth server space. Not something you would pay unless you need to.
 
In a space station, space ship or even a metal sea ship you need a base station in each room. Over that range you can use radio or infrared.

For two way video with TV quality pictures you need a band with of 2Mhz to 4Mhz in both directions. The people with broadband access probably own modems that can do this. They just need a tv camera, MPEG4 encoder, MPEG4 decoder and an ISP willing to take video calls.

Strange, the voice phone companies do not want to become videophone calls.

Video calls will not work well until voice over IP has been debugged.
 
Get a Raspberry Pi ($40 computer), a button, and a speaker.

Push the button, play a WAV file, hook up to door.
 
I'm glad people are posting to this thread because now I can see what that weird spam post was all about. Before the edit it seemed like a totally innocuous thread reply. I mean, it was obviously spam, resurrecting a 13-year old thread like that, but it wasn't selling anything, so I couldn't figure out what the angle was. I guess posting a real-looking reply gets you past the spam filters, eh?

It also inspired me to finally install some B5 sound files on my phone. I still have to cut up one of the opening or closing themes for a ringtone ... But I so rarely use my phone for calling, and it hardly ever rings. Barely worth the effort :p
 
Spam, you say?!

burn_her_burn_her.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Members online

Total: 235 (members: 1, guests: 234)

Share this page

Back
Top