Three Litre
Producer
Oscar 24
Posts: 3,419
Online Status:
|
Post by Three Litre on Oct 4, 2019 18:27:56 GMT
Update on the Scanner (which HP told me was a write off)...
Microsoft released "Virtual XP" as an add on to Windows 7 - and somehow only mentioned it in the small print. Having downloaded Virtual XP - my Scanner still lives!
SO, two fingers up to HP for telling me to buy a new one!! Pesky software. Curse of the modern world.
|
|
Three Litre
Producer
Oscar 24
Posts: 3,419
Online Status:
|
Post by Three Litre on Oct 4, 2019 18:46:35 GMT
Anyone remember this:-
At a computer expo (COMDEX), Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the auto industry and stated: “If GM had kept up with the technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25.00 cars that got 1,000 miles to the gallon.” In response to Bill’s comments, General Motors issued a press release (by Mr. Welch himself) stating:
If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the following characteristics:
1. For no reason at all, your car would crash twice a day.
2. Every time they repainted the lines on the road, you would have to buy a new car.
3. Occasionally, executing a manoeuver such as a left-turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, and you would have to reinstall the engine.
4. When your car died on the freeway for no reason, you would just accept this, restart and drive on.
5. Only one person at a time could use the car, unless you bought ‘Car95’ or ‘CarNT’, and then added more seats.
6. Apple would make a car powered by the sun, reliable, five times as fast, and twice as easy to drive, but would run on only five per cent of the roads.
7. Oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would be replaced by a single ‘general car default’ warning light.
8. New seats would force every-one to have the same size butt.
9. The airbag would say ‘Are you sure?’ before going off.
10. Occasionally, for no reason, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously lifted the door handle, turned the key, and grabbed the radio antenna.
11. GM would require all car buyers to also purchase a deluxe set of road maps from Rand-McNally (a subsidiary of GM), even though they neither need them nor want them. Trying to delete this option would immediately cause the car’s performance to diminish by 50 per cent or more. Moreover, GM would become a target for investigation by the Justice Department.
12. Every time GM introduced a new model, car buyers would have to learn how to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.
13. You would press the ‘start’ button to shut off the engine.
|
|
Batgirl
Director
Posts: 1,016
Online Status:
|
Post by Batgirl on Oct 5, 2019 13:13:47 GMT
I remember speaking to a friend that worked in the programme library at Central TV - and at the time; they were about to embark on a huge 'convert everything to digital' project. Such as transferring film, older tapes and the like to newer formats for (it was thought) long term preservation.
At the same time, the broadcasting industry was arguing over what would be the best method of long term storage. Some argues that Digital tapes could wear and become corrupt, Other forms of media could become obsolete.
How it ended up was like this...
Any severely damaged film was transferred before it was totally knacked. Any tapes (such as the huge 2" quad tapes) and possibly Umatic cassettes, early Betacam etc - where there was a risk of machines/spares to repair them becoming unavailable - were transferred to "D2" digital cassettes. Everything else remained on it's original format - where it remains today. Sat in film cans, or in tape boxes!!
There still isn't a defined format that is 100% guaranteed to be still compatible in 50 years time - apart from, tried in tested Film (you can still hold it up to the light). Though - some digital media is getting better. The BBC use some kind of digital server thing.
It's an expensive exercise to transfer content to a new format. You'd be amazed what libraries hold on 16mm film and umatic cassettes, and no one can watch them because we no longer have the equipment to show them ! Australian libraries used to buy a lot of English films. We used to have the big tape players, laserdisc players and other av equipment set up with a viewing room but as service desks shrunk down to info. pods those making the collection decisions disposed of it. We don't even have a dvd cleaner machine anymore though we still have dvds in the library. Most students don't have disc drives on their laptops to watch them though. Streaming and electronic format rule in terms of current purchases for a library so many students can view the material from home independently. Sites like Kanopy are good but a lot of old material isn't available. I know my library would convert their archived av items if they ever had the funds to do it. It's expensive externally. Maybe one day.
|
|
Sparky
Producer
Status? Would that be Credit or in Society?
Posts: 2,784
Online Status:
|
Post by Sparky on Oct 5, 2019 13:59:31 GMT
It's an expensive exercise to transfer content to a new format. You'd be amazed what libraries hold on 16mm film and umatic cassettes, and no one can watch them because we no longer have the equipment to show them ! Australian libraries used to buy a lot of English films. We used to have the big tape players, laserdisc players and other av equipment set up with a viewing room but as service desks shrunk down to info. pods those making the collection decisions disposed of it. We don't even have a dvd cleaner machine anymore though we still have dvds in the library. Most students don't have disc drives on their laptops to watch them though. Streaming and electronic format rule in terms of current purchases for a library so many students can view the material from home independently. Sites like Kanopy are good but a lot of old material isn't available. I know my library would convert their archived av items if they ever had the funds to do it. It's expensive externally. Maybe one day. That's right - even ITV discovered this - when they realised they had at least 15 different regional companies worth of News footage - many starting from 1955 up until the late 1980s.
Central TV began it's transfer operation in 1994 - starting with the most recent year using film for news - that being 1985, and gradually worked backwards At the time - they had the facilities in house to do this.
They got to about 1981 - and their major studio & facilities in Birmingham was closed down and auctioned off. Carlton TV (who then owned Central) restricted any film transfer to an "as required" basis due to expense.
A drawback was - quality of older colour film. The early Kodak Ektachrome colour film (much cheaper than Motion picture grade stuff) had to be processed and stored under the correct conditions.
ITV have now found that sections of their archive that used this cheap colour film stock (news) - has turned pink or varying quality - due to dyes fading.
So if it is transfered, it's going to cost much more in restoration of the colours - if that can be done. And colour restoration and grading alone is a Black Art and also more expensive than the actual transfer.
However -as you say, transferring material in whatever form is expensive from equipment, to man hours and archiving.
They are still arguing over what will be a decent long term storage format... I have put my loft space forward.
|
|
Three Litre
Producer
Oscar 24
Posts: 3,419
Online Status:
|
Post by Three Litre on Oct 5, 2019 14:40:38 GMT
It's an expensive exercise to transfer content to a new format. You'd be amazed what libraries hold on 16mm film and umatic cassettes, and no one can watch them because we no longer have the equipment to show them ! Australian libraries used to buy a lot of English films. We used to have the big tape players, laserdisc players and other av equipment set up with a viewing room but as service desks shrunk down to info. pods those making the collection decisions disposed of it. We don't even have a dvd cleaner machine anymore though we still have dvds in the library. Most students don't have disc drives on their laptops to watch them though. Streaming and electronic format rule in terms of current purchases for a library so many students can view the material from home independently. Sites like Kanopy are good but a lot of old material isn't available. I know my library would convert their archived av items if they ever had the funds to do it. It's expensive externally. Maybe one day. That's right - even ITV discovered this - when they realised they had at least 15 different regional companies worth of News footage - many starting from 1955 up until the late 1980s.
Central TV began it's transfer operation in 1994 - starting with the most recent year using film for news - that being 1985, and gradually worked backwards At the time - they had the facilities in house to do this.
They got to about 1981 - and their major studio & facilities in Birmingham was closed down and auctioned off. Carlton TV (who then owned Central) restricted any film transfer to an "as required" basis due to expense.
A drawback was - quality of older colour film. The early Kodak Ektachrome colour film (much cheaper than Motion picture grade stuff) had to be processed and stored under the correct conditions.
ITV have now found that sections of their archive that used this cheap colour film stock (news) - has turned pink or varying quality - due to dyes fading.
So if it is transfered, it's going to cost much more in restoration of the colours - if that can be done. And colour restoration and grading alone is a Black Art and also more expensive than the actual transfer.
However -as you say, transferring material in whatever form is expensive from equipment, to man hours and archiving.
They are still arguing over what will be a decent long term storage format... I have put my loft space forward.
Colours are a bit of issue. When the BBC were trying to release old Dr Who they found they only had black and white copies of originally colour stories so they had to do something fancy with copying the colours form some USA format copies. Still, at least they had something whereas some stories are completely missing, along with a lot of other BBC gems as well of course.
|
|
Sparky
Producer
Status? Would that be Credit or in Society?
Posts: 2,784
Online Status:
|
Post by Sparky on Oct 5, 2019 16:21:58 GMT
Colours are a bit of issue. When the BBC were trying to release old Dr Who they found they only had black and white copies of originally colour stories so they had to do something fancy with copying the colours form some USA format copies. Still, at least they had something whereas some stories are completely missing, along with a lot of other BBC gems as well of course. That is where Technology is great.
Without getting too anoraky - from what I have read (which isn't a fat lot) - they scan the "chromadots" on the B&W picture. A computer can translate from this information the correct colours.
How I think this works (I may be wrong here) - is that copies of some of the early "Dr Who" are telerecordings, which are made on Film. In this - a film camera is focussed on a a screen, and films the screen (as you could with a TV).
This is how archive recordings were once made - as Videotape was thought to be a medium to put a show on, show it and then wipe it for re-use. From the bumph I have read, some of the telerecordings were shot on B&W film, but filmed from a Colour screen. So this colour information is there - though (obviously) not reproduced on B&W film. They did this with a couple of lost "Dad's Army" episodes.
About 2 or 3 years back - two of three 35mm reels of the 1977 "Starwars" film were found - it transpired these were reels from the original George Lucas cut of the film (far different from the actually released film). The reels had turned pink and sepia as the colours had faded. I have seen some tests they have done on the first reel - and the restoration work is remarkable. That process involved a lot of comparing to other positive prints with the same or similar scenes in.
Years ago, we'd have never been able to do this.
|
|
Three Litre
Producer
Oscar 24
Posts: 3,419
Online Status:
|
Post by Three Litre on Oct 12, 2019 19:34:06 GMT
Of course, if you never know of something then you don't what you missed.
I use my smartphone endlessly but was quite happy before 2013!
And back in the 70's, miles before the internet was born and was also happy!
|
|
Sparky
Producer
Status? Would that be Credit or in Society?
Posts: 2,784
Online Status:
|
Post by Sparky on Oct 13, 2019 7:30:23 GMT
Of course, if you never know of something then you don't what you missed. I use my smartphone endlessly but was quite happy before 2013! And back in the 70's, miles before the internet was born and was also happy! In the 70s, we had 3 TV Channels: Two of which opened in the morning - showed programmes for schools until early afternoon. The other had the test card on.
We had no video/DVD/Internet/Mobile Phones Even - most shops were closed on a Sunday too.
My kids ask me- how the heck did you cope?
The world seemed a lot simpler and easier going place back then.
|
|
Three Litre
Producer
Oscar 24
Posts: 3,419
Online Status:
|
Post by Three Litre on Oct 13, 2019 8:31:58 GMT
Some of these things are not much of a surprise, they’re improvements to what we’ve got but others are unforeseen. The growth and impact of the internet for one, doubt many saw that in the early 90s.
|
|
Sparky
Producer
Status? Would that be Credit or in Society?
Posts: 2,784
Online Status:
|
Post by Sparky on Oct 14, 2019 11:37:01 GMT
Some of these things are not much of a surprise, they’re improvements to what we’ve got but others are unforeseen. The growth and impact of the internet for one, doubt many saw that in the early 90s. I certainly didn't.
When at school we had "Econet", (Not Eco Friendly Network) - that was a school based computer network served by BBC Micro computers. It ran software developed for "Ceefax" and "Teletext" - so you could create your own Ceefax pages (without the dodgy music) and "Bulletin Boards" which could be accessed via a computers around the school.
I couldn't get my head around it and thought it would never catch on.
In fact, it's only use for us was via the Class Computer Geek - who managed to "hack" the network and get access to all of our school reports and forthcoming Maths and Science Assessments....
There were quite a few kept for detention that week....
|
|