WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:00.110 --> 00:00:04.100 These days, if you want to install some sort of security camera system, you can just run 00:00:04.100 --> 00:00:09.410 to your favorite big box store or wholesale club, buy a kit with 4 cameras and a DVR, 00:00:09.410 --> 00:00:13.870 and within hours have a working CCTV system capable of recording days or weeks or even 00:00:13.870 --> 00:00:18.110 months worth of HD, or sometimes 4K security footage. 00:00:18.110 --> 00:00:21.841 Now we can even access them remotely over the Internet, or put them in doorbells, or 00:00:21.841 --> 00:00:25.720 backup the footage to the cloud, or any number of things which, depending on your point of 00:00:25.720 --> 00:00:28.420 view, you may find interesting or… 00:00:28.420 --> 00:00:29.640 concerning. 00:00:29.640 --> 00:00:30.680 But… 00:00:30.960 --> 00:00:34.260 Not that long ago, we only had the world of analog video. 00:00:34.260 --> 00:00:38.770 Sure, videocassette recorders were widely available, but even with the most generous 00:00:38.770 --> 00:00:42.980 of tape lengths and the slowest of recording times, you’re not going to be able to get 00:00:42.980 --> 00:00:45.900 more than 10 hours or so out of a tape. 00:00:45.900 --> 00:00:51.360 That’s not great for security cameras, particularly if you want to be able to record footage over 00:00:51.360 --> 00:00:54.040 a weekend when no one is at the office. 00:00:54.040 --> 00:00:58.579 But this video is running at 30 frames per second and for surveillance footage, that’s 00:00:58.579 --> 00:01:00.430 probably more than we need. 00:01:00.430 --> 00:01:04.739 If there were a way that we could reduce the frame rate, we could get more time out of 00:01:04.739 --> 00:01:06.130 one tape. 00:01:06.130 --> 00:01:11.190 If we recorded, maybe, only two frames per second, we’d still have a pretty good record 00:01:11.190 --> 00:01:14.840 of what happened, and we could get 15 times as much footage. 00:01:14.840 --> 00:01:19.860 Well, that idea did come to fruition in the form of the time-lapse VCR. 00:01:19.860 --> 00:01:23.540 I’ve known about these things for years, but there have always been some nagging questions 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:25.690 in my mind about how they work. 00:01:25.690 --> 00:01:28.920 For example, most VCRs just kinda… 00:01:28.920 --> 00:01:31.280 suck at showing a still image. 00:01:31.280 --> 00:01:36.060 If you hit pause on this one, you’ll inevitably get some sort of snowy garbage at the top 00:01:36.060 --> 00:01:37.060 or the bottom. 00:01:37.060 --> 00:01:41.500 In later years, a digital frame buffer would grab a snapshot of whatever you were playing 00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:46.780 so that there could be a nice clean still frame, but a time lapse VCR that’s RECORDING 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:49.140 footage, how does that work? 00:01:49.140 --> 00:01:53.750 Now I could do some research and try to find out exactly how a time lapse VCR is doing 00:01:53.750 --> 00:01:57.790 all the magic stuff it does, but it sure would be great to just have one that I could poke 00:01:57.790 --> 00:01:58.960 around with. 00:01:58.960 --> 00:01:59.940 Oh right! 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:03.520 This is a Sony SVT-3050. 00:02:03.530 --> 00:02:07.560 You can tell that this is a legitimate piece of A/V equipment because of its two-tone beige 00:02:07.560 --> 00:02:09.740 and brightly colored transport buttons. 00:02:09.740 --> 00:02:10.789 Oh yeah. 00:02:10.789 --> 00:02:11.789 Matte black? 00:02:11.789 --> 00:02:14.230 Heh, this is where it’s at. 00:02:14.230 --> 00:02:18.470 Seriously, why was so much professional A/V equipment from the this time period made in 00:02:18.470 --> 00:02:20.160 this particular color scheme? 00:02:20.160 --> 00:02:23.440 It’s like it’s trying its best to be plain. 00:02:23.440 --> 00:02:28.080 From the front, this looks like any normal VCR save for its relatively few buttons 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:29.760 (most are hidden behind the door) 00:02:29.760 --> 00:02:32.900 and surprising omission of the VHS logo even though this 00:02:32.900 --> 00:02:35.020 uses VHS cassettes. 00:02:35.020 --> 00:02:38.360 Are we bitter about something, Sony? 00:02:39.320 --> 00:02:43.260 We’ll get to that in a minute because there is some mystery as to why the label’s missing, 00:02:43.260 --> 00:02:45.830 but what gets weirder is when you come ‘round to the back. 00:02:45.830 --> 00:02:49.900 For starters, you won’t find standard coaxial jacks for a television tuner. 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:53.270 Nor will you find standard RCA jacks for composite video. 00:02:53.270 --> 00:02:58.240 Instead, you’ll find BNC connections, which were and are to this day very common in 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.120 security camera applications. 00:03:00.130 --> 00:03:05.060 You’ll also find a bunch of screw terminals for various things like timers and alarms. 00:03:05.060 --> 00:03:09.989 For example, the unit can send out an alarm signal if the tape becomes jammed or it runs 00:03:09.989 --> 00:03:10.989 out of tape. 00:03:10.989 --> 00:03:14.270 And it can also accept an alarm input to start recording. 00:03:14.270 --> 00:03:18.290 When I got my hands on this, the first thing I did (as would anyone, I presume) was to 00:03:18.290 --> 00:03:19.320 open the case. 00:03:19.320 --> 00:03:21.580 I wanted to see just what’s inside this thing! 00:03:22.240 --> 00:03:22.840 Oh. 00:03:22.840 --> 00:03:24.700 There’s a circuit board in the way. 00:03:24.700 --> 00:03:26.900 No matter, we’ll just pop that up, and look at that! 00:03:26.909 --> 00:03:30.599 There are little pegs made specifically for holding the board up and out of the way for 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:31.599 servicing. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:32.959 That’s neat. 00:03:32.959 --> 00:03:37.010 Under the board was a completely normal looking VHS transport. 00:03:37.010 --> 00:03:41.470 Real talk, if you are into old VCRs like I am, you actually should open them up before 00:03:41.470 --> 00:03:46.020 you test them to make sure nothing is stuck which might cause it to eat a tape. 00:03:46.020 --> 00:03:50.580 This one indeed had something preventing the take-up spool from turning, and after exercising 00:03:50.580 --> 00:03:52.340 it a bit the problem went away. 00:03:52.340 --> 00:03:55.549 But, had I not checked, it may have ruined a tape. 00:03:55.549 --> 00:04:01.019 These are the sorts of life changing tips you can find only here on Technology Connections! 00:04:01.019 --> 00:04:04.879 One of the more curious things in here is the use of a modular power supply. 00:04:04.879 --> 00:04:10.269 You probably noticed the standard IEC C13/14 connector on the back, and it’s clear that 00:04:10.269 --> 00:04:14.150 it wouldn’t be very difficult to swap out this power supply for another. 00:04:14.150 --> 00:04:17.959 This not only makes repair easier, but it also means that the same chassis could be 00:04:17.959 --> 00:04:19.459 used in many markets. 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:23.879 OK, so with it operational, I popped a tape in and starting messing with the playback. 00:04:23.880 --> 00:04:29.760 On any speed but the normal 2 hours, the tape simply juddered forward one step at a time. 00:04:30.400 --> 00:04:31.720 Is that really it? 00:04:31.720 --> 00:04:36.280 I had imagined that maybe the head drum would spin at a slower speed, or that the machine 00:04:36.280 --> 00:04:40.229 would behave in some other strange way, but it appeared that this was simply stepping 00:04:40.229 --> 00:04:42.469 forward one frame at a time. 00:04:42.469 --> 00:04:46.279 Lots of VCRs can do that… so what makes this special? 00:04:46.279 --> 00:04:50.400 Well, keen eyes may notice that the quality of that still frame is perfect. 00:04:50.400 --> 00:04:54.469 There’s no snow, there’s no jitter, and there isn’t even any sign that that’s 00:04:54.469 --> 00:04:56.339 a digital frame buffer. 00:04:56.339 --> 00:05:00.139 To be sure that this wasn’t playing tricks on me, I touched the spinning head drum while 00:05:00.139 --> 00:05:05.589 watching the screen of the TV, and sure enough the picture was distorted along with my touch. 00:05:05.589 --> 00:05:09.229 So, this picture is coming live from that tape. 00:05:09.229 --> 00:05:14.089 That alone isn’t so surprising, as many high-end VCRs with four heads can do that. 00:05:14.089 --> 00:05:17.880 But what is a little more interesting is that it not only has to do that when playing a tape, 00:05:17.880 --> 00:05:20.729 but it also has to do it when recording. 00:05:20.729 --> 00:05:25.400 After much searching, I found a great source describing how time-lapse VCRs work, and one 00:05:25.400 --> 00:05:30.400 of the more remarkable things about them is how precisely they can move the tape itself. 00:05:30.400 --> 00:05:34.779 See, in normal recording and playback, the tape is continuously moving at a rate of about 00:05:34.779 --> 00:05:38.889 1.3 inches per second, or 3.3 centimeters per second. 00:05:38.889 --> 00:05:43.479 This means that with each sweep of the recording or playback heads, which happens 60 times 00:05:43.479 --> 00:05:49.199 a second on an NTSC machine, the tape has actually moved roughly half a millimeter. 00:05:49.199 --> 00:05:52.919 That means that the end point of the sweep is about half a millimeter to the right of 00:05:52.919 --> 00:05:55.969 the beginning, imparting a slight angle to the track. 00:05:55.969 --> 00:06:00.289 That’s why a two-head VCR can’t display a nice still frame. 00:06:00.289 --> 00:06:05.039 Without getting too deep into explaining analog video, each head is responsible for one half 00:06:05.039 --> 00:06:07.139 of the frame, or one field. 00:06:07.140 --> 00:06:12.820 With a two head VCR, if the tape stops, then the heads are suddenly misaligned a little bit. 00:06:12.820 --> 00:06:17.620 One head will start showing the correct thing, but it will drift into the adjacent track. 00:06:17.629 --> 00:06:19.930 The same thing happens when the next head sweeps. 00:06:19.930 --> 00:06:24.610 In essence it’s always reading the wrong thing for at least some part of the frame, 00:06:24.610 --> 00:06:27.839 and the result is a noisy, incomplete picture 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:32.300 But a 4 head VCR actually has two heads passing by with each sweep. 00:06:32.300 --> 00:06:37.469 It’s capable of reading either the odd or even fields at any time, and can switch between 00:06:37.469 --> 00:06:38.849 them on the fly. 00:06:38.849 --> 00:06:44.090 This allows it to perfectly display either the odd or even field without noise bars. 00:06:44.090 --> 00:06:47.220 There’s a great link in the description if you’d like to learn a little more about 00:06:47.220 --> 00:06:48.319 the specifics here. 00:06:48.319 --> 00:06:53.020 Anyway, that’s all fine and good, but what’s most interesting here is how the machine records 00:06:53.020 --> 00:06:54.270 onto the tape. 00:06:54.270 --> 00:06:58.719 It needs to get that correct angle otherwise the signals will be completely out of spec 00:06:58.719 --> 00:07:03.720 from VHS, and it won’t be able to play them in fast motion for the purpose of searching 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:06.259 for the moment that your restaurant was robbed. 00:07:06.259 --> 00:07:07.379 Or whatever. 00:07:07.379 --> 00:07:11.949 And that is what makes this more advanced than your average 4 head VCR. 00:07:11.949 --> 00:07:16.899 When recording, the heads are completely inactive except for when they write that single field 00:07:16.899 --> 00:07:18.259 onto the tape. 00:07:18.259 --> 00:07:21.099 Most of the time they’re simply spinning for the fun of it. 00:07:21.099 --> 00:07:22.379 And here’s the kicker. 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:26.990 The writing action is perfectly synchronized so that it happens just as the tape is being 00:07:26.990 --> 00:07:29.479 advanced to the next position. 00:07:29.479 --> 00:07:33.729 This means that the machine actually is recording in a completely normal fashion. 00:07:33.729 --> 00:07:38.939 But, it is able to start and stop the tape with such precision that although it’s recording 00:07:38.939 --> 00:07:43.349 up to 86 times slower than normal, the signals on the tape are unaffected. 00:07:43.349 --> 00:07:44.830 Take a look at this slow motion footage. 00:07:44.830 --> 00:07:48.189 I’ve placed a marker on the tape so that we can see it advance. 00:07:48.189 --> 00:07:53.430 The tape is completely stationary, but the moment that head is aligned with it, it moves. 00:07:53.430 --> 00:07:56.690 And as soon as the next head is in position, it stops. 00:07:56.690 --> 00:08:01.110 This extremely precise control of the tape’s movement, along with the idling of the recording 00:08:01.110 --> 00:08:05.659 heads until the moment that next frame is to be recorded, enables the machine to make 00:08:05.659 --> 00:08:09.029 intermittent, single-field recordings onto the tape. 00:08:09.029 --> 00:08:10.029 Pretty neat. 00:08:10.029 --> 00:08:12.060 Now here’s where things get a little weird. 00:08:12.060 --> 00:08:15.029 Keen viewers will have noticed that there is an audio input on here. 00:08:15.029 --> 00:08:20.520 If you’re familiar with how audio is stored on a non-HiFi VHS tape, you’ll know that 00:08:20.520 --> 00:08:25.509 it’s recorded linearly on the edge of the tape, just like a normal audio cassette. 00:08:25.509 --> 00:08:28.930 How would audio work if the tape is moving in steps? 00:08:28.930 --> 00:08:34.300 Well, the machine can only record audio in the normal 2 hour mode, and the 12 and 24 00:08:34.300 --> 00:08:35.560 hour time lapse modes. 00:08:35.560 --> 00:08:38.329 It can’t record audio in the slower speeds. 00:08:38.329 --> 00:08:42.340 But, this means that when recording in the 12 and 24 hour modes, 00:08:42.340 --> 00:08:44.829 the tape isn’t advancing in steps. 00:08:44.829 --> 00:08:48.560 Instead, it’s continuously moving very slowly. 00:08:48.560 --> 00:08:52.889 The images are still stored in a reduced frame rate, but the continuous motion of the tape 00:08:52.889 --> 00:08:56.820 enables sound, albeit very very terrible sounding sound. 00:08:56.820 --> 00:08:58.389 So, the same thing happens. 00:08:58.389 --> 00:09:04.430 The heads only write in individual bursts for each frame, but we get an odd consequence now. 00:09:04.430 --> 00:09:09.779 See, if I want to play the tape back with sound, it can’t play the tape back very well. 00:09:09.779 --> 00:09:14.160 It’s certainly not awful, but there are noise bars and other anomalies. 00:09:14.160 --> 00:09:18.610 If we want perfect quality, we need to switch the sound off, and then it returns to the 00:09:18.610 --> 00:09:20.830 stepping mode that it was using before. 00:09:20.830 --> 00:09:25.320 And this may give us a clue as to why the machine is missing a VHS badge. 00:09:25.320 --> 00:09:30.819 Technically, the format specifications aren’t being broken if it is recording in steps like this. 00:09:30.819 --> 00:09:35.940 It is recording a normal SP signal on the tape, it’s just doing it intermittently, 00:09:35.940 --> 00:09:37.600 one field at a time. 00:09:37.600 --> 00:09:42.860 But this weird extra super duper slow speed doesn’t conform to that standard. 00:09:42.860 --> 00:09:44.500 Is this THE reason? 00:09:44.500 --> 00:09:46.020 I can’t say for certain. 00:09:46.160 --> 00:09:53.340 The S-VHS variant of this machine, the Sony SVT-3050P, does have an S-VHS badge on the 00:09:53.340 --> 00:09:57.600 front, and it, too can record audio in 12 and 24 hour modes. 00:09:57.600 --> 00:10:00.880 So… the missing logo may remain a mystery. 00:10:00.889 --> 00:10:02.420 But we’re not done yet. 00:10:02.420 --> 00:10:05.830 Did you notice that “Faroudja laboratories” mark on the back? 00:10:05.830 --> 00:10:07.649 Yeah, that got me curious. 00:10:07.649 --> 00:10:10.410 Who are they and what do they want with my VCR? 00:10:10.410 --> 00:10:15.170 Well, Faroudja Labs was quite famous for analog video processing technologies, in particular 00:10:15.170 --> 00:10:17.579 devices called line doublers. 00:10:17.579 --> 00:10:22.259 These could take a low resolution image, and double the number of horizontal lines of resolution, 00:10:22.259 --> 00:10:24.610 to give it an apparent resolution bump. 00:10:24.610 --> 00:10:28.449 This device would really benefit from a line doubler, because it records just one field 00:10:28.449 --> 00:10:29.750 at a time. 00:10:29.750 --> 00:10:34.199 Each still frame is only half the resolution of a normal television signal, and for something 00:10:34.199 --> 00:10:38.480 like security cameras where you might want to be able to identify who is stealing your 00:10:38.480 --> 00:10:40.970 stuff, that’s not good. 00:10:40.970 --> 00:10:45.279 Now I’ll admit, you can’t get more detail out of an image than was already there, so 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:50.089 the extent to which a line doubler may help with tasks like identifiability is up for 00:10:50.089 --> 00:10:53.720 debate, but it’s clear that this technology is helping. 00:10:53.720 --> 00:10:58.460 Part of why these still frames seem remarkably clear may simply be due to Faroudja’s video 00:10:58.460 --> 00:11:00.189 processing prowess. 00:11:00.189 --> 00:11:04.560 Now I can’t say for certain that there is a line doubler in here, but knowing what Faroudja 00:11:04.560 --> 00:11:07.290 had done in the past, it seems very likely. 00:11:07.290 --> 00:11:11.230 At the very least, something of theirs is making this a very sharp picture for what 00:11:11.230 --> 00:11:12.610 the raw signal is. 00:11:12.610 --> 00:11:16.269 So, that pretty much wraps up how a time-lapse VCR works. 00:11:16.269 --> 00:11:19.430 It’s a lot less magical than I thought it might be. 00:11:19.430 --> 00:11:22.250 More or less it’s just a standard VCR. 00:11:22.250 --> 00:11:25.550 There were some special considerations to using it, however. 00:11:25.550 --> 00:11:29.269 With a normal video tape, the tape is only touching the spinning head drum for a few 00:11:29.269 --> 00:11:30.790 seconds at a time. 00:11:30.790 --> 00:11:34.879 But with this machine, on the slower recording speeds, it might be touching that drum for 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:38.860 a few minutes at a time, and this could quickly wear out the tape. 00:11:38.860 --> 00:11:42.860 For this reason, manufacturers would recommend that you discard your tapes after a certain 00:11:42.860 --> 00:11:44.399 number of uses. 00:11:44.399 --> 00:11:48.540 Some would say to only use a tape twice if it was recorded with the slowest speed. 00:11:48.540 --> 00:11:52.680 When these were in common use, you’d need to balance the desired detail of the recording 00:11:52.680 --> 00:11:56.580 with your business hours and when the tapes could be changed, and how long of an archive 00:11:56.580 --> 00:12:00.690 you need to keep (for legal purposes, usually at least a month of recordings). 00:12:00.690 --> 00:12:05.600 So, you’d need to have something like 10 tapes on hand, use them in a rotation, and 00:12:05.600 --> 00:12:08.990 discard them after they’d been used perhaps a dozen times. 00:12:08.990 --> 00:12:13.680 For a 72 hour recording, this would let you use 10 tapes for perhaps a year before needing 00:12:13.680 --> 00:12:15.050 to replace them. 00:12:15.050 --> 00:12:20.550 And of course, a 24/7 duty cycle for a VCR isn’t the kindest thing. 00:12:20.550 --> 00:12:25.080 It was recommended that you replace the video heads on this at least every 10,000 hours 00:12:25.080 --> 00:12:27.740 (which works out to pretty much every year). 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:33.050 You can still find the drum, the 2N4N-Q, for sale from people who specialize in security 00:12:33.050 --> 00:12:34.110 equipment. 00:12:34.110 --> 00:12:38.199 And it looks like this machine has had its heads changed at least once. 00:12:38.199 --> 00:12:43.470 Poking through the menu shows that it’s been powered on for 25,716 hours, but the 00:12:43.470 --> 00:12:46.480 video heads only have 314 hours on them. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:51.339 Now, it could be that this machine was set up to only record in an alarm condition. 00:12:51.339 --> 00:12:56.779 This may be the original head, and it was simply idle the vast majority of the time. 00:12:56.779 --> 00:13:01.110 There doesn’t seem to be a way to determine if that counter has been reset, so I suppose 00:13:01.110 --> 00:13:02.520 I’ll never know for sure. 00:13:02.520 --> 00:13:06.769 But before I go, I haven’t answered one particular question about these things. 00:13:06.769 --> 00:13:09.720 What happens when you have multiple cameras? 00:13:09.720 --> 00:13:13.180 Well, that’s a fairly deep rabbit hole so I’ll be brief. 00:13:13.180 --> 00:13:15.730 One option was to use what’s called a quad. 00:13:15.730 --> 00:13:20.449 This splits the incoming signal of four cameras into a single display showing all four at 00:13:20.449 --> 00:13:21.870 one time. 00:13:21.870 --> 00:13:26.670 The major disadvantage here was the very poor resolution of the recorded video, as each 00:13:26.670 --> 00:13:29.259 camera only got one quarter of the screen. 00:13:29.259 --> 00:13:30.949 Another option was a switcher. 00:13:30.949 --> 00:13:35.060 This would simply cycle through each of your cameras one at a time, showing Cam 1, 00:13:35.060 --> 00:13:35.980 then Cam 2, 00:13:35.980 --> 00:13:37.060 then Cam 3 00:13:37.060 --> 00:13:38.100 and so on. 00:13:38.100 --> 00:13:42.009 You’d get a full resolution image, but you couldn’t see what was happening on any of 00:13:42.009 --> 00:13:44.700 the other cameras when one was being shown. 00:13:44.700 --> 00:13:48.340 It also makes reviewing recorded footage a little… 00:13:48.340 --> 00:13:49.640 nauseating. 00:13:49.650 --> 00:13:53.800 The coolest solution, albeit the most expensive one, was a multiplexer. 00:13:53.800 --> 00:13:58.199 These would combine the signals from all of the cameras, and send them over a single wire 00:13:58.199 --> 00:14:02.500 by rapidly switching between them, and using the vertical blanking interval to signal which 00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:04.259 camera is which. 00:14:04.259 --> 00:14:08.480 When you want to see just one, the multiplexer would use a frame buffer to show only that 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:10.959 one camera at a reduced frame rate. 00:14:10.959 --> 00:14:14.910 The beautiful thing was that this also worked with a time-lapse VCR like this one. 00:14:14.910 --> 00:14:20.430 But, you’d have to synchronize the multiplexer with the VCR (using the switch out terminal), 00:14:20.430 --> 00:14:23.879 and you’d also have to deal with an effective frame rate that’s even worse than what the 00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:25.839 VCR is natively recording. 00:14:25.839 --> 00:14:30.420 See, if the VCR is recording 4 cameras, and it’s recording at a rate of 4 frames per 00:14:30.420 --> 00:14:35.499 second, those four frames are split between the four cameras, meaning that each camera 00:14:35.500 --> 00:14:38.180 only gets a recording once per second. 00:14:38.180 --> 00:14:42.990 So, while you did get to record four cameras on one tape with the full resolution, you 00:14:42.990 --> 00:14:46.200 would get a seriously reduced update frequency. 00:14:46.209 --> 00:14:51.410 That was a significant trade-off, but it was cheaper than having a dedicated VCR for each camera. 00:14:51.410 --> 00:14:55.430 If I ever get my hands on a multiplexer, I’ll revisit this video because I’d love to see 00:14:55.430 --> 00:14:56.860 how it all works. 00:14:56.860 --> 00:15:01.560 I’d be curious to know what exactly it stores in the blanking interval, and it may be fun 00:15:01.560 --> 00:15:05.380 to set up a CCTV system using vintage equipment like this. 00:15:05.380 --> 00:15:09.360 But for now, I hope you enjoyed this video on the time-lapse VCR. 00:15:09.360 --> 00:15:14.050 It’s a lot simpler than I thought it might be, although it ended up being far more mysterious 00:15:14.050 --> 00:15:15.440 than at first it seemed. 00:15:15.440 --> 00:15:19.600 As I’m sure you know by now, I end my videos with a thank you to my amazing patrons, but 00:15:19.600 --> 00:15:24.459 this time I have more than one reason to thank them, and someone else to thank, too. 00:15:24.459 --> 00:15:26.779 This video topic was a viewer suggestion! 00:15:26.779 --> 00:15:30.649 A friendly gecko named Torrance reached out to me and wanted to know a little bit about 00:15:30.649 --> 00:15:32.329 these time-lapse VCRs. 00:15:32.329 --> 00:15:36.610 I’ve always been curious myself, and thanks to the people who support the channel on Patreon, 00:15:36.610 --> 00:15:39.680 I was able to go and buy one and poke around with it. 00:15:39.680 --> 00:15:43.360 And in addition to their generous financial support, this time around the Patreon crew 00:15:43.360 --> 00:15:46.959 came to my rescue by helping me figure something out about this machine. 00:15:46.959 --> 00:15:51.830 I was under a very mistaken assumption about how this thing was making such a great still-frame, 00:15:51.830 --> 00:15:56.310 and thankfully you sent me some great resources (including one linked below) that made me 00:15:56.310 --> 00:15:59.130 realize I was really overthinking this! 00:15:59.130 --> 00:16:03.040 So, if you’d like to send in a video topic suggestion, please do! 00:16:03.040 --> 00:16:07.660 You can leave them here in the comments, you can reach me on Twitter @TechConnectify, or 00:16:07.660 --> 00:16:10.740 you can check out the Technology Connections subreddit linked below. 00:16:10.740 --> 00:16:14.000 Down there you’ll also find a link to my Patreon page. 00:16:14.019 --> 00:16:18.070 With direct viewer support, this channel has really taken off and there are very exciting 00:16:18.070 --> 00:16:20.269 changes coming pretty soon. 00:16:20.269 --> 00:16:24.189 If you’d like to make a pledge of your own and get perks like early video access, occasional 00:16:24.189 --> 00:16:29.440 behind the scenes footage, and general updates before anyone else, please check out my Patreon page. 00:16:29.440 --> 00:16:32.160 Thanks for your consideration, and I’ll see you next time! 00:16:33.160 --> 00:16:35.560 ♫ violently smooth jazz ♫ 00:16:36.360 --> 00:16:41.139 ...because of its two-tone beige and brightly colored transport (unintelligible babbling) 00:16:41.820 --> 00:16:42.520 Hu huh! 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:43.480 Huh huh! 00:16:43.720 --> 00:16:44.880 [And other weird noises] 00:16:47.420 --> 00:16:50.540 ...to make sure nothing is stuck and might cause it to eat a pa… 00:16:50.540 --> 00:16:52.560 (laughs) 00:16:52.560 --> 00:16:54.019 Eat a pastry! 00:16:54.019 --> 00:16:57.339 Did you notice that Faroudja Laboratories mark on that back? 00:16:57.339 --> 00:16:58.449 Well that got me… 00:16:58.449 --> 00:17:00.460 Is it laboratories or technologies? 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:03.500 It’s both! 00:17:03.500 --> 00:17:04.540 OK… 00:17:04.540 --> 00:17:06.420 With a normal videotape, the tape 00:17:06.600 --> 00:17:07.720 (pauses) 00:17:07.720 --> 00:17:09.400 Yeah, dang it that was right. 00:17:09.400 --> 00:17:10.380 Mmhmm! 00:17:10.380 --> 00:17:11.760 Say the lines as written, please. 00:17:11.840 --> 00:17:15.600 It’s a lot simpler than I thought it might be, although it ended up…. 00:17:15.820 --> 00:17:16.820 (sigh) 00:17:18.540 --> 00:17:21.780 [very high pitched squeaky sounds]