Patreon Exclusive Video Oddcast July 2021

Hi Mat, another great Oddcast, thoroughly enjoyable as well. I'd almost forgotten about the World's Fair publication which I used to by regularly in my 'youth'. The supplement inside was Coin Slot which got most of my attention. I bought a Wurlitzer Lyric jukebox in the late 70's as a result, and then a Williams Triple Action electro-mechanical pinball and a Williams Hi Speed electronic pin ball in the 80's. All three machines are still with me, and I've been doing a bit of a refurb during lock down. I stored them for years in a lock up garage between house moves and remarkably they sprang back in to life. If you can see if you can squeeze a decent pinball machine into that garage of yours, they don't take up as much space as you might think !

Very enjoyable, Mat. I like your Oddcasts as much as your public fare. Regarding the sound continuing over the pictures, a long-held film editing adage is "lead with sound". Notice how often, in a film, you hear something first over a black screen, and sometimes, at the end of a scene one often hears something totally out of place like a phone ringing in the middle of a field. Your brain has just enough time to think "that's weird" when the picture cut is made to the office. The sound has piqued your interest over a gap. I can't say I noticed the sound in clips you showed but that's good. When people notice the editing it's because it's wrong. Cheers, SB.

Thanks for the semi-update on the mysterious 8-track guy … I was still wondering about that from the last Oddcast. Glad he’s probably not dead! I watch just about all the videos on this channel except the dash cam videos, since I don’t drive much.

Makes sense. Have reciprocated in my favourites channels. 😉

Thanks Mat. If I come across others worthy of a recommendation I'll send you a link if that's OK?

Great oddcast Mat, from one "Bearded Old Guy" to another, I know how you feel. Forgetful, lacking in energy and confused at times, it goes with the beard and lack of topknot :-) Can I ask a favour, there are are a lot more of us oldies doing YT vids and many like me do it for fun rather than profit, so we're not as well supported. My channel has only 177 subscribers so could do with a bit of promotion too, if you fancy doing another plug, it would be great, especially for us Patreon supporters. https://www.youtube.com/c/chaslarge

Thanks for the oddcast video Mat. I live in rural France and getting things shipped from the UK is a nightmare. If I get stung for customs charges I whip out the cheque book and pay the delivery driver. I am a internet music DJ. One thing I learned is you can't please everybody all the time. Think when you listen to the radio and love one record and dislike the next. I have had to get a thick skin and not take it personally. To be honest there are very few of your videos I don't like the subject. Personally I don't like things that rely on an app because if the app maker goes down I now have a door stop. If you get stuck on a broken bit of tech you want to review, do remember my offer to help is still open. Best wishes.

There’s always an old man at the disco, if you don’t see him, it’s you, subtle discovery I made when out with some workmates at 40, then realized I’d rather be at home enjoying some tea. Cheers Mat, hope summer is treating you well there.

Nice discovery of the L cut 😊 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L_cut Essentially how B-roll works, and yes that adds a lot to a video.

Mat - for me, your videos fill the gap left by Tomorrow’s World - not necessarily ‘new’ technology, but different and novel technology. And I really appreciate the time and effort you put in, and I think I speak for loads of us here when we say seeing a notification of a Techmoan video is always a joy.

"... like the old guy at the disco ..." is like the old guy on YouTube trying to make a relevant reference. I thought it was quite funny ... thanks!

I wonder if the “cool hip Mat” thing came from your snazzy selection of shirts? I’ve never seen it that way - but I wonder if people think “he’s trying to be cool”?

Thanks for replying. I always wonder just what those are. That's the oddness in me I guess. These are always fun to watch.

Would you ever consider uploading the unedited version of these?

You're like my #1 YouTuber. Thank you for all the videos Matt. Take care always.

The crossover with Sam was great, I've been supporting him too since last year so saw the machine when he got it. It's certainly in good hands. I'm interested in that new Sony BT mic as I like the look of the ZV-1 and they can be bought together.

All I've heard so far is the opening sigh, while I was adding it to my watch later list. Think this is going to be a good one!

Ha! Cathode Ray Dude shops at the same Re-PC store I do. Small World. The manager their usually sets stuff aside for those Licensed Hams he recognizes. I know it's a good day when he says "don't go anywhere".

Nice George Michael reference there! I generally watch all of your videos since I'm intellectual curious. Sometimes i learn something new and that would be a pleasant surprise.

Thank you for the “ Douglas Trumbull Film as experience” recording, which I watched when you first pointed to it. It was a very interesting piece of history, well worth the effort to rescue it. I didn’t comment earlier as I hadn’t realised “Skip Intros” was also one of your channels (and thus that you had uploaded it): I guess that’s one of the challenges with skipping the intro :-) Ewen

You've just reminded me of my very brief clubbing period, circa 2002, in Brighton, where you'd often see this OAP breakdancing. And the whole place just stopped, open mouthed!

With 1 million subscribers i think it's time to face facts. You're interesting. You're entertaining. You're informative. Don't worry if you don't know much about shortwave radio, if it interests you then most of us will enjoy seeing you use it, and people who do know about it can explain it in the comments. I like that sort of learning journey.

tell me to shut if you dont want any suggestions... Please accept them in the spirit in which they are offered from an old, disabled, retired Business consutant.

Dude... Once a year? Every posting! most of your audience isn'y British and the Brits are sophisticated enough to know that's the way it has to be done to survive... Another unrequested idea would be to do one tecnical posting a month thats only for patrons and viewable through patreon. Again, you could teez it once a week on the other posts... last idea... I promise... Why not ask you patreons, her and now, from the heart to please like and share the stream on all the posts they watch, including the old stuff... one super-last thing, (because there always has to be a super last thing!), why not pull some of your previous posts (the ones that have slowed down the generation of new viewers to a trickle) behind the patreon wall and, again, promotoe then in the ~weekly streams.

Mat, these monthly videos are such a treat - it's like having a chat with a friend who you've bumped into in the pub or who's dropped in for a coffee. I'd happily nurse my beer (or coffee) for an hour listening to you talk about the things you've been doing the last month. I checked out your links and am really taken with the Cathode Ray Dude - he's like Technology Connections' nephew or cousin. Any man who can talk about disc based video cameras for an hour and a half gets my subscription! I have to say, you have really hit the mark perfectly when it comes to capturing the middle-aged male techno demographic. Keep up the good work!

Hey Mat. Have you thought of asking your audience to 'like, subscribe and share the stream' which most other youtube channelsI subscribe at the start of the post. Then mention Patreon even post, somewhere in the middle, eg For Patrons, I'll be going into more detail... be looking at other competitors... give you an update on what I found on the interweb...etc. on Patreon . I was a bit of an understated Brit but living in the USA for 11 years have given me the confidence to ask for pay rises and promotions and got them, also I learned to ask people to help me when needed or wanted something to happen. "If you don't ask, you don't get." or, to put it more eloquantly, if it isn't important enough for you to have mentioned it, it's clearly not important to you. If it isnt important to you, you can't expect it to be important for your audiences.

Hi Mat. Happy to help you if you decide to explore the shortwave radio route. There is an ex- voice of america correspondent who has a huge collection of Sony's including the SW-1 that you were showing. Your review of the Philips a while back was fine. Here's a video I made with Dan. First part is about the radios. https://vimeo.com/352401011

I've got that precision screwdriver set! I love it and I'm always looking for an excuse to use it.

Great video, Mat. As far as I'm concerned, you can ramble as long as you like. I missed the crazy commenters bit though. Also - Look Mum No Computer is my only other Patreon-guy. He's a bit of a genius.

Happy to support You. Looking forward to New videos and still enjoying the Old ones. 🙂

I did notice the detached audio editing, and I think it worked really well. Something I've been meaning to ask about for a while, are you planning to do anything more with the muppets? I always enjoyed the little post-credit skits with them.

I watch every video and I find them all entertaining. Of course some are more up my alley than others, but they are all worth watching. You can't please everyone and I think it is better to just do what you want instead of trying to please other people and making a lot of compromises that will help no-one and make the videos worse.

A look at your digital watches would be interesting (if you can film them well enough). I still miss my Casio calculator number invaders watch, and enjoyed buying the larger invaders calculator you featured a while ago.

With my collection of odd old stuff, I’ve thought hard about doing videos. Then I think about the work entailed with lighting, sound, and interesting content, so I just take a bad picture and post it on Facebook. But if I ever do a video, I’m sure I’d have to add voiceover later, as I’m sure I’d realize I’d said something wrong, and it’s hard to retake a video where a retaining spring takes a leap into space or something else unexpected happens. Do you ever find yourself thinking “ok, I’ll fix that in post!”?

I have more white and grey in my hair and beard than you do and I'm 55. So not too much of a difference. Though you talking of being so old makes me feel extra old. Thanks!

I like mix of content on the channel, be it the older retro stuff through to the new tech and the Japanese oddities. I even like these monthly catch up - i think it could be because they are bit like watching cricket on a Sunday afternoon :-)

Matt, I love your oddcasts. Keep it up.

I've got three pinball machines and have just moved them from one room to another, on my own. I have to say it's not the size that's the main problem, but the weight. I definitely need a new spine and least one knee.

I felt the need to mention you are my favourite YouTuber (content maker? not sure what the correct term is) and I really look forward to each of your videos whether old or new tech. But then I realised that probably makes me in the 'core 150k audience', so my encouragement is probably meaningless lol. Oh well, I love the videos and the Oddcasts and didn't even really notice the whole beard thing! My interest is rarely with the actual YouTuber but their content, so I don't really care how people look (in a non-mean way).

As to the detached audio technique, I didn't really notice it, which must mean that it was done properly. I saw a TV program the other day that, to me, used this method improperly and the effect was jarring and took me out of the flow of the story for a bit. Also highly recommend Cathode Ray Dude's channel, he's got a great style and you can learn about forgotten tech. Thirdly, I've recently discovered Tim Hunkin's channel in which he's putting out remastered episodes of The Secret Life Of Machines, which are even more gooder than before because of the new commentary he adds at the end of each episode.

And the no-transferable skills thing...I can only agree with the point above. Your videos are better than a lot of stuff I see on the TV these days. Hell of a lot of skill involved there, as far as I can see!

I have been watching your videos since you first started Mat. Initially it was because I worked in a Hi End Hi-Fi shop in London and was very much involved with the Sony Products you featured in your videos. Then when you started making videos about dash cams and I found those very useful. I bought three. So as far as I am concerned you are right on track. I would love to see the Sony SW radio. I still have one of the best ones. The one I have had a capacitor problem but the seller had replaced them with Tantalum capacitors and it works well.

Yes, I like seeing what this bad-looking old British guy has to say :-D. And I also once told at work somebody to look for this "guy that looks like Techmoan" ;-). About parcels: here we say "Ups did it again..." (Ups in German sounds like oops in English)

Hi Mat. I believe the editing technique you describe at 19 minutes in, where the audio continues but the video changes, is called an "L-cut". The opposite, where the video continues but the audio changes is called a "J-cut". The shapes of the letters L and J hint at what's happening in the editing software. It's a professional technique that does seem to make the program flow better. Love what you're doing with the channel! -Clark

Why did you "ruthless edit?" It's not long enough for me to listen to when I complete my daily power-walks. ;-)

Loved seeing the examples of your new editing techniques. I hadn’t noticed them, but they work very well.

So with you on the watch thing from childhood. I had a Casio MM-400 in the early 80s and had it for many years, played melodies which at that time seemed amazing and quite a large display for a watch at that time, and I never met anyone with the same watch. Would spend plenty of time watching it tick by waiting for school to end. Not sure what happened to it, I probably took it apart when it was a bit battered around as at the time it seemed to have little value. I never knew what model number it was until a couple of years ago I found myself looking at old Argos books from the 80s(as you do when you get to a certain age lol) and thought wonder if I can find it. Sure enough, found the watch and then could Google it. Turns out if you have a working one they are worth around £400, a bit of a collectors item and rare. I found a video on YouTube of someone demonstrating one to sell and they played all the tunes, just looking at the LCD display then hearing the tunes took me back like a time machine. Love to own one again and see it on my wrist, but hard to find and I can't really justify the money. If I had known they'd worth this much now I'd have bought several and kept them boxed as new!

Great oddcast again - worth saying, I think, that some of us (okay - me) love watching your videos because of your enthusiasm...so I love not knowing what each week will bring. And it's nice to discover new things (the party in a box was particularly good).

Where can I find Skip Intro's videos? He sounds like an alright guy...

I had an app on the Play store once , just a free one, it trickled along for a few hundred installs a day pretty much for 6 months or so, then one day it took off like a rocket! I Googled my app name and found it had been picked up on an Android website, they had done a video and write up about it, I had no involvement in it or knowledge it was being done, just happened. It carried on at an almost vertical trajectory for a couple of days, then pretty much fell back to earth at the point the article had scrolled off on this Android website to page 2! So I think sometimes hit videos happen not necessarily because of the content, just that it gets some unexpected mention somewhere and there is snowball effect. I always watch your videos, they all seem as interesting as each other to me.

Delivered and at the depot, otherwise known as 'Schrödinger's parcel'

Echoing above, a quick down n dirty vid of the Invaders watch might do well? At very least we'd love to see that here. Maybe you could make it an old/new tech vid by featuring the Asteroids miniature in it as well - I'd love to see that more in depth, the packaging etc, as New Wave Toys really seem to go to town on the attention to detail. The Dragons Lair they brought out was insane! Thanks for this update btw - always enjoy hearing from you.

Love these, Mat. But I bet a 3 minute Trafalgar Space Invaders watch would get you 200k views. How long would it take to shoot it dirty? EDIT: may I suggest "Dirty Dee" by Majic as a theme song for them? 😏🤣

Producing videos like the BBC once did it something I would not exactly call "no transferrable skills whatsoever". Who knows, in a parallel universe you would be someone who works for the BBC or so, making clips for a weekly tech show.

Those skipping VHD sections are bound to end up on a Synthwave record, they’re amazing remix material. 😂

Now that you point it out, I did notice the Audio Detach-editing technique the first time you used it in that video. I thought it improves the flow of the video, however it speeds up the video a lot in the sense that I now have to follow what you’re saying and the visual element which is now disconnected. Maybe there could be a little breathing room added back in.

It really doesn't matter what you look like as the content you show is always excellent. I have a YouTube channel at 64 and really don't care if I have a beard or not as if the content is what people want to see then that should not bother them. Keep up the excellent work. 👍👍

Just wanted to say: The whole reason I became a Patron was because I always look forward to the weekly Techmoan video on a Saturday, especially through the pandemic. It sounds frustrating that the stats haven't quite made it for the Sony videophone video... The YouTube algorithm moves in mysterious ways. However, I have no regrets becoming a Patron, and I'm glad I'm now in a position I can support the channel. 😀

I can't express how much I love the Oddcasts.