Oddcast June 2025
My next video for the channel is currently in the editing stage, I aim to get that finished this weekend.
In the meantime since you’re a Patron you do still get a new video on a Saturday, just one that’s not really fit for public consumption.
Here’s the link https://youtu.be/ZD39dmEEqyo
Have a good weekend.
Comments (60)
Your videos are never a waste of time!
Are the Oddcasts supposed to be showing up in the podcast feed for supporters? It hasn’t been in there for the past few months.
I haven’t made an audio edition of the last few, I wasn’t sure whether there was any interest. Whenever there’s a visual element needed to accompany the audio I get concerned that it’d be really frustrating to only hear but not see what I was talking about.
I have two Shorts on my channel, but I made them with a 1:1 aspect ratio instead of 9:16, so I wonder if they take up less height in the app? And I went looking for Little Car's "What is half 6?" Short and couldn't find it, so I guess he took your advice and removed it.
Yes they’re still at the top shoving the normal videos down the screen, the same as any other channel. If they do well for you in attracting subscribers you should keep them, but the chronological layout of the channel suffers.
Unrelated but We Are Rewind have released a new VU meter cassette boombox that looks made for this channel.
I’m in two minds about their products. They’re doing the best they can with off the shelf tat. I’d rather someone went the extra mile and got something custom made, but of course economies of scale mean that can’t happen.
I think the taste and smell thing is likely dependent on the person. I know that eating some foods can be “orgasmic” for me. Although I don’t do the whole overreacting things, just very much enjoy the experience. I’m the opposite to you… my smell is so attuned that I become an annoyance to people around me by smelling (and complaining about) things they can’t. I can also recognise most people I know with my eyes closed by smell. Sometimes a curse.
I think I actually would appreciate a projector screen review from you, one showing everything done right, and one showing a more normal setup. As you well know, there are usually only two types of AV review videos online - there's the absolute freaks who demand the absolute best, and there's the people who are still mesmerized by the novelty of moving pictures. As a result, I have felt no desire to get a projector screen, as I don't feel that I know enough to know whether anything is worth doing. It's too niche. You present yourself as an everyman and you give usability nitpicks that others don't, as evidenced by your youtube short gripes. Do it. Maybe work with that as the angle, is doing it the right way worth it? That's not normally what you do, but it might get results from curious searchers. Also is that a Bronica? 645? Nice. I do like it hiding off to the side there. Sad to see the Lumix with the Olympus lenscap make its way out of the frame but I think the background looks better every time. It's representative of your channel, including the undecorated cardboard box underneath the 8 track players. lol I like Neewer. They make some of my camera filters. I find that they make things at C+ quality for budget prices. The lights look good. Maybe I'll look into their lighting.
Hello my friend (well, a kind of digital penpal 😂). Cheers for the always eagerly anticipated oddcast Patreon uploads, love these videos, full of fun little bits n bobs which thoroughly entertain. Honestly though, at the moment, I look to these for updates on your health. For this I’m always full of non-biblical prayers. More just thinking “Hope no more shit happens to Matt” and “hope he and Mrs Techmoan are coping ok with the uncertainties around what may or may not be”. Been a subscriber for years, not got a clue how long actually. And you are still to this day the only channel I support with my hard earned! Channels come and go, I get bored of them, lose interest in them, and generally get burned out by the same content over and over… just in different packaging. Not criticising them, it’s just what happens with a lot of channels. But yours really captivates my loves for different things. As you know I’m a vintage hifi nerd, but for me, anything that plays music or video is gonna prick my ears! Love the randomness of your content. Nothings ever the same. Anyway, all the best bud. Lee
I’m still none the wiser on whether there’s really anything wrong with my liver - at this point I assume there’s nothing needing urgent attention, but who knows. It’s one of those few occasions where you’re looking forward to an anticlimax. Loads of build up but with nothing at the end. Anyway it’s kind of you to send a positive message, like anyone I have days where I wonder if there’s any point to any of this, perhaps I get those days more than most. I’ve learned over the years that making varied content highlighting whatever topic I’m interested in at that moment is something that quite a few people are happy with but plenty more are not. It seems that to be really successful you need to do the same thing over and over again. The majority of people seem to like repetition, it’s reassuring. The most popular TV shows seem to tell slight variations on the same story each week. Unfortunately for me I’m someone who needs to keep moving on to the next thing otherwise I lose interest. So I’m glad you’re able to put up with this. I could really do with getting on with starting on the next video today, if there’s too long a delay I’ll get a lot of hassle. Take care.
I must admit I’ve never seen a microwave without a turntable, does it have tech to compensate and not create hotspots?
Yes I believe the microwave emitting element rotates rather than the food.
So glad you're still ticking and still enriching my time!
The new set looks brilliant. I had a mildly evil thought... have you considered moving or replacing one thing on one of the shelves every time you make a new video? It'd liven up the YT comments section a bit, and would be a fun game for us Patrons to figure out which item has been added or removed.
So far that’s happened by chance, but I may keep it up.
Cool watch!!!
Absolutely love the lighting and backdrop, reminds me of 90s kids shows.
Glad to see the food reviews back. Maybe the minidisc repair would make a nice patreon extra video?
I think it’ll take me so long to do that when I do get around to it, it’ll have to be with the intention of making it into a proper video, otherwise they’ll be nothing to show at all that week.
Much better viewing without the moving/flashing lights! Great oddcast.
Hey Mat, just quick ... I can access this post even when logged out, so I guess it's set to public instead of exclusive ;) Best wishes!
That’s odd. I double checked and the post is set to ‘paid members only’ - but I wouldn’t be surprised if something isn’t working.
Sorry me again, I think “Wake up and don’t smell the coffee” would make a good t-shirt… I’d be wondering what that meant and be looking up the site etc. regards
New screen: The ambient light rejection could make it more convenient than the 82 for quick use, if you don’t have to block off all the windows? Mini system belt replacement video: I can send you some B roll of my mini system journey, littered with bad MD optical heads and knackered CD spindle motors, if you need to pad it out a bit. You probably have your own though… :-)
My past experience with HiFi micro systems really puts me off tackling this one - I'm pretty sure it'll all end up in the bin.
Actually, would a lava lamp work in your background? Got a small one with red liquid and yellow wax if you want it? Regards
No thanks - I think I may have answered you on YouTube, unless everyone is trying to get rid of old lava lamps.
Not sure if you'd ever have the aircon going when watching something on your projector but if you did, would that wobble the more flimsy untentioned screen and spoil the viewing experience? If so then that is a good reason to have got the other one :-)
I don't think the gust would reach it.
Cheers Mat. Appreciated as ever. Regards
Thanks for the advice about Shorts. I've unlisted all of them on both channels. Now there's no excuse to watch that Commodore PET video!
Dude that microwave meal was chicken soup. Lol.
I know the YouTube section wasn’t meant to be recommendations, but I got some great new channels to watch from that, thanks! Me and Mon Ami is the sort of thing I’d never find on my own, but how fun!
I’d recommend going back to when they got the Citroen Ami delivered and working forward. It’s been quite the journey.
The projecor screen behind the hifi would make sense IF it was in a nice living room so it would look a tad tidier. But it's not so honestly yeah, the best place for it is on the floor in the front. Specially since you don't need to use the hifi with the screen up. The space is turning out nicely and seems to work well for what you intended it for. Nice.
Certainly not time wasted. As Always a pleasure to watch your mentions not moans. Worth mentioning however, pretty cool backdrop ;)
The way those YT Shorts are shown on-screen has bothered me too with the way they hide the info from the "real" videos. Glad you brought this up. One thing I miss--a little bit--from the layout of the old set is the way you were sat in front of the bench with the widescreen monitor behind you. A turn to the camera to talk to the audience, then back to the monitor or whatever you had on the bench. It seemed a more intimate engagement with the audience than the new studio in which can at times seem like you are just another item on display like the items on the shelves. Anyway, I'm enjoying the new set-up and the new ways you are presenting so I guess I'm just having a "pang of nostalgia" and I wonder if anyone else is too.
Hi Mat, I do miss not seeing your clock with the date as you had it in your previous studio.
I used to have a YT subscriber counter in the corner that sometimes showed the time (when I'd set it up incorrectly) - but it's been a while. The problem with clocks is that they show edits, and there have been quite a few times where I've had to reshoot things days later due to technical issues. If there was a clock or calendar you'd see I'd been talking about unboxing something and pondering 'whether it worked' - after I'd already demonstrated that it did.
Another YouTube whinge I have lately is that the thumbnails have gone from about 6 smaller ones across the page/screen, to just 3 bigger ones. I can only browse 6 full thumbnails, no matter how full screen I go. I thought I'd mis-ticked a menu item to cause this, but it appears to be a YouTube decision that shows across all my Mac's browsers. Maybe it's to make the array easier to see on a small screen, but on a bigger screen, the extra scrolling to browse titles is annoying. Enough of my moaning, however, I did enjoy your moaning :) I did spot a gadget of sorts you have plugged into a wall socket down low on the wall at the left-hand end of your HiFi shelving. I happened to have bought a couple of these switched power boards with USB outlets quite recently. The short cable and compact hanging design gets the typical power board and cord clutter off the floor or countertop - very handy.
I agree about “shorts”. Completely mess up feeds and I no longer seem to know what I’ve seen. They’re pushing them to take the audience for short videos from the Moronic TikTok for no doubt “national security” reasons - the American political mind is unhinged. Honestly - you’re doing your county a favour by just ignoring them. What’s worse is that now I seem to get notifications for shorts in the middle of normal video. So annoying. Thank you for ignoring them - I really appreciate people that don’t bother though I’m told you get extra credit for having shorts.
Laughing in Ruhrpott...from my own experience I can say that it's hard to find a good kebab in Hamburg. No wonder people were queuing to get the only proper one in town 😁 But seriously, the kebabs were probably sold at a discount as part of a marketing campaign or a special opening offer. Before the event, a kebab cost around €3 to €4. Nowadays, a kebab costs between €7 and €8. So people flock to these places when they have special offers like this. Unfortunately, this also attracts all sorts of dodgy characters. Just recently, a kebab chain in a neighbouring town offered kebabs for €1 on its opening day, triggering a police operation.
I do a lot of acoustics and I have a background on fluid dynamics so I am interested on wave forms. I thought about making one wave machine myself, but I had two kids instead. I have been working on an off on a channel where we can generate different waves and get no interference from the refletion at the end. I am also involved in sloshing problems, which are kinda fun, just a pain in the backside. There is an old nasa publication concerned with natural frequency in vessels, fluid characteristics and such. Lovely if you like differential equations. I remember that t-100 hand. I remember seen it with a friend who claimed he would get one. But I don't think he did finally. It is indeed interesting this thing of movies and props and all. I think sometimes they make too much out of it... I mean the 90s arrived in the early 2000 when people could afford those things, at least in my world. My first discman was probably about 2000 and I didn't think those had been around for long. I don't know, it's like the fake driving in movies. People looking at each other and moving the steering wheel left to right by 20 deg. Or sitting and not eating poking food around. Anyway you take care Mat
A bloopper that I remember was the Apollo Astronauts in "First Man" watching a Soyuz launch on a Samsung TV. Samsung didn't even start making TVs until 1970 so that was even less accurate than thinking that every American had a Philco Predicta back in the 1960s.
I really love your backdrop now. Perhaps lift the Handycam on something so that it fits into the hand. That'd be cool. I always thought the hand was reaching for your head because of where you were sitting. Yeah, those noise-cancelling microphones make voices sound like AI even though they're real. It's very disturbing at times. Overreacting the food taste reactions: "I'll have what she's having." 😅 The talk about food is making me hungry for breakfast now. I should watch 'The Tylenol Murders' - thanks for that suggestion. What a diabolical murder plan that was. I really enjoy true crime documentaries when they are appropriately researched. I too notice out of place things, like cassette tapes playing audio interviews and thinking, 'uh, it's from 2017, you didn't record that on a cassette tape' ...but they have to show something there, I suppose? You can show audio peaks and valley graphics so much before it becomes redundant... I guess. You're wrong, man. Your subscribers increased by about 30k since the beginning of the year. Not that I've been noticing... 😮💨 100% about shorts. They screw up the feeds. 'Auto Shenanigans' looks like something I would enjoy. I must check it out. Oh hallelujah, you lovely Soundburger case! 😍 I must buy. It's always a pleasure 'talking' with you via Oddcasts. You're a jolly good fellow. 😃 People like you keep my threadbare hold on sanity intact. Take care. 🤍
Liking the idea of the Terminator hand holding up the Handycam.👍
Still hoping maybe one day they will relent and add a button for "never show me shorts ever again, I never want to see them, or watch them, or even know they exist"
If you have an Android TV, you can side load SmartTube on there, which has plenty of options for how much or little you want to see of Shorts
I call the cloverleaf style connector for MickeyMouse.
Exactly
"Lunch with Mat" would be an excellent idea for a spinoff channel, at least for British viewers. A mediocre meal, a bit of chat and some grumbling about random things would be the perfect antidote to all those overexcited TikTok types.
That is what I've just done. Came from working outside, grab a bite watch Mat. I could really see the format, but not on shorts
33:44 I approve of your YouTube recommended watchlist. I don't create shorts by cutting bits from old videos but they are totally pointless. I tried them and no one was really interested (but then I do have a very small channel). I have set them all to unlisted so no one can see them. If my channel actually ever does anything, I'll just create a separate evilution shorts channel. YouTube pushed them so heavily and I know from my own stats that people have got the attention span of a custard cream. It seemed like an answer but it was just YouTube trying to be TikTok and those sorts of people aren't the ones I want watching my crap anyway.
Yes I quickly realised the shorts audience (if there really is one) will be a different group of people to those interested in my videos. Mixing both types of videos into the same feed seems a bit optimistic. ‘If you like this 30 second video that makes no sense in isolation, perhaps you’d enjoy a 45 minute one that drags like a slug in treacle.’
Yes, the older I get the more likely a “wallet mistake” happens, especially visiting the Apple website :(
I bought some Nissin noodles on your recommendation. You sure influenced me!
You're worth a sub for the Oddcast alone! I love the new garden studio setup too!
Welcome to the “Society of Morons” - classic Techmoan! Sorry for the loss of smell and taste again. As always, love these update videos, and glad you are getting back to 100%.
My 100% seems to be everyone else’s 30%. Still it’s better than nothing.