VinylVideo Q & A
A quickly made follow up to the VinylVideo video, answering a few questions with demonstrations as well as going off on a tangent or two. This is just an extra Patrons only video. There'll be a proper new full length video along at the weekend.
By the way - the picture above is youtube's autogenerated thumbnail (it was the best of the three).
Comments (70)
odd thought but, if you were to encode an audio/video stream like what ends up on the vinyl, but transmitted the "sound" via short or long range radio where the recipient would have that decoder and could pick up the feed and play it, would it even work. I am thinking some lowtech spy stuff really. also, does anyone have a guide or details about how exactly the data is encoded onto the vinyl? (not data.. media i guess? ). It'd be all aces if there was an encoder out there to use and you could effectively draw a TechMoan clip in and run it through your decoder and then record that to use or show us.. haha.. I don't know why but the idea of seeing you on that kind of video tickles me :D
Hang on a couple of weeks and I might have something to show you with regard to your last thought.
I immediately thought of someone who would appreciate this ... <a href="https://i.pinimg.com/originals/78/14/de/7814deffba298cd8586e036256c64da1.jpg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://i.pinimg.com/originals/78/14/de/7814deffba298cd8586e036256c64da1.jpg</a>
At a guess - I'd say that was 1975. That's a lot of money back that - heck that would be a lot of money now.
It may not be much but I'm happy to support your videos Mat...your stuff is always interesting and the videos are always well-done (even if you think they're not...you're too hard on yourself sometimes) :)
Thank you.
comment lost amongst the others. very happy to support you through patreon, you are very "natural" in front of the camera and explain your subjects well, even in these what you call quick videos. It even appears to be a global thing. We all like listening to and watching you, and your knowledge and ability to research your subjects exceeds mine (at least). Build your business despite YouTube. It is just a delivery mechanism (the clue is in the name which includes the word tube). Ref: Alex Steele, DiResta, AvE, BigClive (he will get it eventually) , etc. I wish I was as talented as you folk.
PS I bought one of your T-Shirts at an extortionate price but I wanted it and I so I got it.
Thank you, Mat, for giving us info on the economics of maintaining a quality YouTube channel. We sure don't want to hear of you "sweeping up" somewhere at minimum wage!
I'll have to tell everyone about the cautionary tale of the B&W Film Camera video sometime - that seemed like a sure thing to do OK, but, well that's a story for another video.
That was quite good for a live video. Nicely done on the setup overall; I think despite the fact that I know it's going to be different in a particular way, I still would like to see how that comes out, like for example I definitely was not expecting the DCC to impact the audio signal as much as it did, but thinking on it that sort of makes sense given the digital video signal would be pretty well represented but the audio mixed in probably wouldn't be. On a random note given what you mentioned with the PS-F9, what would you recommend as a portable turntable, to take on trips and such? I'm looking for once for the future, so I can listen to vinyl I find when I travel.
There are very few good quality small battery powered record players. In my opinion the Sony is the best - then there's the Soundburger I featured in a video - I also plan to feature another one very soon that might be a contender - but we'll have to see. However they are all old, I can't think of any new ones.
The question asking what a normal record would look like reminds me of my curiosity about 20 years ago of what would appear on a TV if I managed to tune radio stations in on the TV. Our radio station 2FM used to have a TV programme on Sunday where it would show music videos, broadcast simultaneously on its FM broadcast. For some reason, this gave me the false impression that if I could tune radio stations on my TV, I would be able to watch the music videos at any time. Although I did manage to find a TV that could tune FM stations (some old TVs tuned VHF band II), there's no surprise I got no picture (can't remember if it was a black screen or just static noise) as it was long before digital TV.
This is _GREAT_ content (I suspect you think the production value is too low but I disagree). This, alone, is worth the Patreon subscription! Cheers!
Loved the response to the what would happen if questions, so I'll posit one of my own... What would happen if Mat weren't so pragmatic? :P
Eagerly awaiting the next DCC video now! 😁
I still can't think of any reason to feature it again - I've nothing new to show. However if something crops up, I will do.
Thanks for the followup!
I love these unscripted extra videos. Just upped my contribution, one of the very best YouTube channels!
Funny, I did the same after watching this! :-D
I too wonder about Gizmodo's viewership. I'd say its quality has dropped-off dramatically after the sale to Univision after Gawker was forced into bankruptcy by Peter Thiel. It's a great shame. [Edit. I've only just read that in July Univision looked into selling-off the titles it acquired from Gawker Media. It seems that it is in some financial bother and personnel have been shed, which perhaps explains the diminution in quality - sorry to get so far off topic.]
Nice to hear more info, but this really is one of those products you play with for a while and put away. Clever, but not a lot of practical use. And that thumbnail is just scary
Yes this was really just a one video gadget. I was hoping that the pre-amp would be significantly better than the one I was using then I'd have swapped it out, so there would be some long term use - but as it's much the same I'll just stick to using my old one because it's smaller.
Really enjoyed this extra content. If someone can wrap their head around the video signal to produce a video conversion tool it would be interesting to see how good the video can really be.
Love these types of 'blather' vids, keep them coming. I am gonna up my patreon, keep up the great variety...
I'm with Jason and Matt, and really enjoy these "fireside chats". It's one of the best benefits of being a patron - along with keeping the main videos coming of course.
Mat, you are the absolute best. I'm sitting here at about 1:30 on this video cracking up. "I'm using a mic on the camera instead of a cavalier. And I'm using this shirt instead of a better shirt. And this room is not where I'd usually film, but it's a different room. :) You remind me of Doc Brown building his various models of Hill Valley and how he apologizes each time, "You'll have to forgive the crudeness of the models, Marty, I didn't have time to build it to scale, or to paint it." Even off the cuff, your videos are always such a treat!
Is it playable on mechanical televisor?)
You may have heard, but Lorn recently released a limited minidisc for his new album: <a href="http://lorn.bandcamp.com/album/remnant" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://lorn.bandcamp.com/album/remnant</a> It doesn't show now, but he was offering them at $100 a piece! They were full of extra bits and goodies, but I didn't think he'd have too many takers since I've never really heard him mentioned in the music press and don't think he has a huge fanbase. Proved me wrong, selling out 100 copies almost immediately! Gosh if my music sold so well I think I'd be set!
I haven't heard of Lorn - however I'm not really a MD collector. They are way too expensive for what they are. I do appreciate people making the effort like this though, it's certainly encouraging for others.
Thank you Mat!
I love these quick little patron only videos. It's a nice little bonus for the support I am glad to offer. Keep up the good work.
One wonders if you eliminated the video part of the stream how audio only would sound?
Nice work as ever. Oddly satisfying to have your curiosity satisfied while finding the outcome to be more or less exactly as you'd predict.
Great video, Mat. There’s something heroic about being able to play video off a vinyl record even if the quality isn’t up to much. On another subject, I saw this earlier and thought of you - yet another device for making prints from phone photos, but this one looks to work differently.... <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/KiiPix-Smartphone-Picture-Printer-Pink/dp/B07B7TNQPH/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1H9CDK2K0V48MVZ122VP" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.amazon.co.uk/KiiPix-Smartphone-Picture-Printer-Pink/dp/B07B7TNQPH/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=1H9CDK2K0V48MVZ122VP</a>
You won't believe how badly the recent photo oriented videos did. Since this uses the instant Fujifilm that's repeatedly produced terrible results for me, I think it's best if I give it a miss.
People like Tesla coil videos playing music. I’d love to hear your tune (already forgotten the name) played through one. Wonder how well speech would come through?
I don't think I've got the knowledge to set up a musical Tesla Coil on my own. Hopefully someone sells a kit.
I’d be impressed by content matching algorithms if you got a copyright strike on this. It’s like the audio equivalent of Captcha.
Thank you Mat for this sneak-peak behind the curtain. I really like this kind of video!
DCC video! a 50 minute one like the mini disc please! =D
I don't know if I've got the energy or the content to do that - but we'll see, never say never.
Great video! Don't take this the wrong way but in that thumbnail you remind me of Ade Edmondson :)
Nope - it's happened before many times before - and "YES we've got a video".
RECORD ON REEL-TO-REEL!!! Kidding. Sort of. But didn't you say it had some of the best dynamic range? Anyway. Great follow up and thanks for sharing the financial aspect. Patreon is a great thing IMHO and I'm happy to support you and others "doing your thing" that just happens to be a thing I like.
From your Audacity video it seems that audio is in-between the pulses, being split up to small segments, and the box buffers and slows it back down to match the time the video frame is shown. I wonder what would happen, if you digitally edit the audio, and repeat a pulse-audio segment over-and-over again and fed that to the decoder. Will you get a stable repeating video+audio signal? :)
Honestly - is this really vitally important to you to find out - or is it just like someone seeing how long a Ferrari can run on cooking oil - because if it's not totally utterly imperative that you know - I'd rather just let it go. I'm working on video number three after this one right now.
Perhaps you should tweet a photo of a minidisc, then stand back. Or a Tefi. OK, I didn't read all the comments before, but you didn't address the first thing I thought of - the quality of the phono cartridge. If used a Grado or something, wouldn't it theoretically pick up a better signal?
I made an update to the video if you only saw the original upload you'll have missed it. Since it's a simple audio signal - if it's clear it looks the same whatever plays it. There's a new section at about the 14 minute mark in the original video where I also play it from my Denon deck.
Great video ! :-) I really appreciate the effort you put into your long videos, but these un-edited "to camera" videos are just as appealing. Less effort, but I am sure your fans would still watch them... Or... my street is looking a bit dusty at the moment.. But no doubt you would find some gadget to fix that...
Another fascinating video as usual, Mat. But please understand that the primary reason that these videos work so well is not necessarily the technology (although it's almost always fascinating)... The main reason these videos work... is you. It's your insights and your style that make these fun to watch. I hope that others on the Internet eventually catch up to that fact, and come to the same realization I did... Yours is the best technology site out there.
Totally agree. Which is also why I like the videos where you ramble or go off on tangents - you seem like a regular guy.
78RPM would have been funny :P
It probably wouldnt have worked at that speed
Mat, you may find the TV isnt syncing to the lack of video hence no picture/muting?
The DCC seemed to really look and sound as good as the PCM, at least all the way over here in the states.
There was something really weird with the sound on it - but the video looked 'fine'.
It seems to me that they must be leaving a lot of bandwidth on the table - a well compressed image should sound like white noise. But perhaps it needs to be pretty uniform in order to filter out the video from the audio, so they can't really maximize video bandwidth in that way.
Thanks for this video! I’m thinking the echo you’re getting on the DCC recording could be due to the MPEG-2 compression DCC uses?
Or rather MPEG-1 —should have checked first ha
Very cool experiment. Loved it.
Hopefully as you get more and more subscribers, you'll get more patrons to match. You put in so much effort into each vid, with Al your health issues only making that harder, so you deserve more than minimum wage
I'm happy as long as I don't have to commute - that's been my goal. If I can pay the bills while still working from home then I'm winning.
I lost all interest in Gizmodo after the childish TV B-Gone stunt they played at CES a few years back. Tech Bro culture at its worst...
Yes it's always a bit of a shame when they've been the one to pick things up - I'd prefer if something turned up on Engadget or Ars Techinca
Interesting video. By the way, I have had a few videos on Gizmodo and it seems like the last few times it had very little effect. I think that website has gone downhill the last few years. Oh, and another thing. While I too have had to really plop down some loads of cash in order to buy equipment to feature on my show, I do at least have the consolation of knowing that someday in the future I can re-sell that equipment. And vintage equipment tends to appreciate with time, so I'll probably get my money back eventually.
I really should get myself more organised for selling things on. I've never really been much of a seller on ebay - but the few items I did sell many years ago caused me know end of hassle so it put me off using the service for disposing of things.
If anyone wants to reverse engineer the video frame encoding, could start with the waveform that corresponds to these images: <a href="http://www.vinylvideo.com/sound/index.html" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.vinylvideo.com/sound/index.html</a>
My first thought was that it was the Aardman grin.
Yikes, that's quite the photo. If they ever need a new Joker for a Batman film, you should send that one in. Hmm. A Joker who explains everything in clear detail and is always polite. That might just sell!