A good proportion of viewers seemed to enjoy my Gakken Wax Cylinder kit video despite the less than impressive outcome...so here's the sequel.
This take on Edison's phonograph records onto disposable plastic cups rather than wax cylinders. This makes it less historically accurate than the first kit, but will hopefully mean that it produces much better results.
You can see how I get on in the video.
Have you ever wondered why handheld TVs disappeared from the stores when the analog signals were switched off and why manufacturers like Sony and Casio didn't instead switch to making handheld digital televisions. If the answer is no, then I'm not surprised, most people are now happy using smartphones instead.
Hopefully though there are a few people out there who are intrigued enough to watch this video where I explain what happened as far as the UK is concerned. It's a tale of miss...
Here's a video about a forgotten audio format from the 1960s, the Sabamobil from SABA. In this video I'll explain where it fits in with the history of tape players, you get to see it in action, hear the music from a Sabamobil cartridge and find out the simple secret hidden inside the odd looking cartridges.
I started making this video a couple of years ago but put it on hold because I wanted to get hold of some blank cartridges to demonstrate on the machine. At the time I'd just seen a s...
2017-06-21 11:02:09 +0000 UTC View Post
In this video I set-up a voice controlled smart plug...and while this is something that has been possible for a while now, I wanted to show that it's become simple enough for anyone to do it.
Home automation has been around for decades with the X10 systems first appearing in the late 1970s, but it’s really only been in the last year or so that I've become interested because of the ability to control devices with voice commands through an Amazon Echo. I’ve no desire to use a sma...
2017-06-13 12:40:05 +0000 UTC View Post
Today we have a Main Feature with a supporting Short.
The main feature has turned out to be of my personal favourites from recent weeks - its all about Video 8 - I hope you enjoy it too.
The supporting feature is a quick tip that will only be relevant to some BMW Mini owners, but I thought it was too handy not to share - the link for this is here: https://youtu.be/el2Za4w61aM
Now as far as the names on the R...
2017-06-04 10:18:30 +0000 UTC View Post
I wasn’t planning on putting anything else out before the weekend but this one was too simple a subject to warrant a longer video - so consider it a bit of an extra.
I'll be making this one public later today as the views on Tuesday's helmet camera video have already dried up.
You should be seeing the next proper video here on Patreon on Sunday, and that one won't be going public until later next week.
Oh and if you're interested - I made up a t...
2017-06-01 14:10:37 +0000 UTC View Post
I get a lot of requests asking me to demonstrate new helmet, action and dash cams, and now that the weather here is intermittently half-decent, I thought I should try a couple of models out.
Action cameras are a mature technology now compared to when I started reviewing them almost ten years ago. Back then could I only buy standard definition cameras and now UHD models are the norm.
As happens with all mature technologies though, we are now seeing fewer milestone change...
2017-05-28 10:16:37 +0000 UTC View Post
Here’s a fun little video - I wonder if anyone else remembers seeing this device in the stores in 1986.
A three-in-one personal media player that shows watching video, listening to your music and receiving radio broadcasts on a pocket sized gadget was possible in the 1980s it just took a bit of effort.
There are a couple of sections that are slightly out of focus, but you wouldn’t believe how tricky it was to get any clear shots of this thing at all. &nb...
2017-05-20 14:53:40 +0000 UTC View Post
This is something that I hadn’t seen reviewed before, so it seemed like a good idea to import one and find out for myself what it really did. In the end it didn’t turn out to be a worthwhile endeavour…but I suppose at least I know that now.
One problem with reviewing products is that whenever they turn out to be less than perfect, I get a load of comments saying “Why did you buy that, it’s rubbish”, even though the only reason they know anything about the device, ...
2017-05-14 10:15:27 +0000 UTC View Post
I hope you enjoy this video about the Sony TC-D5 cassette deck. A tape recorder that was the go-to high-end portable for the best part of two decades.
Over the next few weeks I'll be working flat-out to get ahead by a few videos . I need to have a few videos completed before I go off on holiday for a fortnight. In order to achieve this, I'll likely need to concentrate on making a few shorter or simpler videos. So if you notice that there are a few short videos in a row, its not a permane...
2017-05-07 10:57:26 +0000 UTC View Post
In this video I assemble a Japanese educational kit that should be able to record on, and play recordings off, a wax cylinder.
If you want to see some of the other Gakken kits - their website is here: http://otonanokagaku.net/english/index.html
After making this video (it was shot a few weeks ago) I've already bought a couple of other Gakken products off ebay One of those is this kit 2017-05-01 09:09:29 +0000 UTC View Post
I promised to make a behind the scenes feature documenting every step of my process of making a video. With this in mind I started shooting some early BTS footage for a future video, but as things turned out, this video had to be abandoned.
I do have plenty of other projects planned so I’m not too concerned, these things happen, although I am a bit frustrated that I spent the time on this instead of on something more productive.
To make something positive out of a bad situa...
2017-04-28 15:42:00 +0000 UTC View Post
I’ve had this one on my to-do shelf for a couple of years, but I’ve finally decided it's time to make a video about it.
A bit of background info......I make a point of avoiding watching videos about the subjects I’ll be covering so that I’m coming into them with a fresh/untarnished perspective. When I tried to research the Atari Video Music online, everything I read said it was a very rare device. So after I managed to buy one in 2014 I went onto youtube and typed in ‘Atari Vid...
2017-04-25 12:43:35 +0000 UTC View Post
I’ve been focusing on retro tech for a while, so it seemed like it was time to mix things up with a camera review. This video looks a bit different to some of the more recent ones I’ve done as it’s not bookended with spoken sections to camera. Adding these would have delayed the video a day, plus they didn't seem essential on this one and I've spent that time working on something else...much needed changes to the outro.
I explained recently that youtube are discontinuing annotation...
2017-04-18 15:51:10 +0000 UTC View Post
In this video I get the opportunity to do one of my favourite things, showing off an unusual object that most people won’t have seen before.
If you decide to stay for the outro you may recognise the influence of our discussions from the previous video.
2017-04-11 19:16:53 +0000 UTC View Post
Here’s an extra Patrons Only video in which I comment/reminisce while a Japanese Video Product Catalogue from 1985 is playing in the background.
If that sounds like a bad idea, it probably was and that’s why I’ve also included an alternative version without the inane voice-over that you can access at the link below:
My recommendation is ...
2017-04-06 17:08:10 +0000 UTC View Post
Here's a nice simple video to make your mid-week that little bit brighter.
Repair videos are satisfying to make (sometimes) - however a lot of the work takes place off-screen, in the editing. Taking something apart whilst also keeping it in shot, well lit and in focus is also particularly tricky. Shooting in 4K helps with this, as I can frame things with a wide angle, then crop in on the video during the editing to focus in on the important section of the frame without sacrificing ...
2017-04-05 12:53:34 +0000 UTC View Post
For a good few years now I’ve been trying to source a Buttkicker wireless kit at a sensible price, available to the UK. I’m happy to say that I finally managed to get hold of one on ebay so I’ve made a video about it.
There’s quite a lot of talking to camera in this video as I needed to describe the experience and as it's a feeling it's not really something that can be demonstrated...hopefully this doesn't make it boring.
The (not so funny) muppet outro is, as usual, based...
2017-03-30 15:29:13 +0000 UTC View Post
All the late nights, early mornings and all day editing sessions I spent getting the MiniDisc video finished finally took their toll and laid me up ill for a few days.
However, I’m now back to work but only had enough time to make a very simple video about a 3D effect LED lamp. I’ll get straight back to working on something a little bit more elaborate in the morning.
This video is an early release on Patreon and should go public at some point on Friday. If you want to buy...
2017-03-23 16:58:44 +0000 UTC View Post
There’s a good reason why this video took me a few years to make…MiniDisc is a monster. I’ve ended up producing a 45 minute video that still only touches on a tiny part of the story.
I decided that rather than getting too technical (which I can’t, because I’m not) this one is based more around my personal MiniDisc story.
MiniDisc is the last in a long line of portable mechanical music players. We'll never see anything like this again. I saw ...
2017-03-17 23:19:57 +0000 UTC View Post
Here’s a product that I probably should have reviewed in 2016…but I was busy making videos about other stuff.
As I was uploading, I realised that it is the perfect thing to annoy the people on youtube who get annoyed about things like this. Showing an expensive gadget that most people don’t have any need for, is often like waving a red rag at a bull. If this was a product that had been made in 1972 it wouldn’t be a problem - it would just be a retro tech video about an old ...
2017-03-07 19:07:28 +0000 UTC View Post
As promised (threatened?) on Sunday - here’s part 2 of the Seeburg BGM video.
In this video I show the best way to play Seeburg records without the official machine. The experience is a compromise compared to using an original Seeburg BMS1, but with those currently being offered for sale at prices into the thousands, it’s one that's worth making.
This video has early access on Patreon.
Thanks for your continued support.
2017-03-01 18:57:01 +0000 UTC View Post
I’d normally leave a bit more of a gap between retro-tech videos than this, but I’ve been tripping over this thing on the floor of my ‘studio’ for weeks, so to create a bit of much needed space I’ve expedited this.
There should be a loosely connected part-two to follow in a few days… so far I’ve got about 5 mins of rough cut video that I shot six months which probably now needs re-shooting.
Whenever I’m demonstrating old audio devices there’s always th...
2017-02-26 09:13:31 +0000 UTC View PostA quick update on last week’s experiment.
You may remember that I wanted to see if a shorter video (about an MP3 badge) combined with a formulaic thumbnail picture would generate more views than my previous video (about VHD) which took considerably more time and effort to assemble.
Well, you'll probably be glad to hear that the longer more elaborate VHD video won out. After the first 24hrs when views died off on the shorter badge video, the VHD video regained the number one posit...
2017-02-24 18:57:11 +0000 UTC View Post
You may have seen me mention that last week’s video about VHD was very well received by subscribers but didn’t seem to attract many views from anyone else. One factor I suspect was the 30 mins length…but I’ve another theory that I’d like to do an experiment with.
I’ve noticed that many of the most popular videos on youtube seem to use a very similar thumbnail picture. The formula for this is a composite of a person making a surprised face, the product being featured and a few words...
2017-02-20 19:25:31 +0000 UTC View Post
Every few weeks I like to pull out all the stops and put out a more complicated video. These kind of projects take me so long to research, shoot and edit that the next couple of videos afterwards need to be much simpler, to give me time to recover.
The video you can see above is one of these longer elaborate videos...so I hope all the effort proves worthwhile. This is a Patreon only exclusive until Friday morning.
Now I'll just go and lie down for a bit.
2017-02-16 16:25:20 +0000 UTC View Post
I'm working on a longer video this week - it's probably going to take three days of solid editing. In the meantime here's a tiny part of it. It's video captured from the device that I'll be featuring...and this might possibly be the most eighties thing ever made.
I also put this up first to see if it gets an auto-content-match before I incorporate it in the video proper. Enjoy.
2017-02-14 18:44:24 +0000 UTC View Post
This one is due out on Friday - I've still got a couple of things to tidy up before release (including the video samples).
Hope you enjoy it.
2017-02-09 15:58:06 +0000 UTC View PostI've been comparing my my list of $5 patrons with the scrolling video outro list and I've discovered a few people who's names were missing despite having been patrons for a couple of months.
I thought I'd included eveyone, so feel like a bit of a useless git for missing some people off. Special apologies to Brian Wine Guy who seems to have been missing from the outro since August.
I think I've corrected the list - so if you are not included on the next outro text scroll and ...
2017-02-08 14:08:12 +0000 UTC View Post
My next proper video is due out later this week, in the meantime here’s a behind the scenes segment exclusively for patrons.
2017-02-07 18:58:55 +0000 UTC View Post