On Mar 26, 9:35*am, "Joel Koltner"
wrote:
Hi Jim,

"Jim Lux" wrote in message

...

Actually, state of the art is probably Low Density Parity Check (LDPC)
codes, as far as approaching the limit.

I hadn't heard of them; thanks for the link. *Can you comment on how they
compare to Reed-Solomon codes?

I have just enough background in error-correcting codes to spout off the right
keywords in nearly-coherent Usenet posts and wait for people to point out my
errors. :-)


Much longer block length than typical R-S. Also, the way the check
bits are generated is different. Each check bit isn't formed by
combining ALL the source bits, just some of them (obviously a
different "some" for each of the check bits), hence the name Low
Density. Both are usually roughly rate 1/2.