The Magnetic Tape Viewer - see the sound on a tape

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An intriguing piece of retro gadgetry that lets you view the magnetic patterns recorded on tape.
A modern day version can be found here: store.arnoldmagnetics.com/pro...
Special thanks to Andy on Twitter who first made me aware of this device back in 2016
andyAVAVsystems/s...
FAQs
Q) CAN IT SEE WHATS ON A FLOPPY DISK?
A) No - It didn’t show anything on a 5.25” floppy I tested (BOTH SIDES)
Considering the viewer is pretty much maxed-out for resolution by an 8 track, (8 tracks recorded on a tape 1/4” wide at 3.75 ips) I’d imagine that anything more dense than this will be beyond the capabilities of what can be displayed by the device. I’ll try an 8” disk soon - but I would be shocked if it shows anything for the same density reasons
Q) You can buy these sheets of magnetic viewing paper that do the same thing.
A) They don’t have the same resolution or sensitivity - at least the ones I’ve bought don’t. They can’t show the magnetic signal and track layout on a tape. Nothing registered when I tried.
Q) You can use this fluid stuff that does the same job
A) A few people are mentioning various ways to do this with a liquid smeared on the tape - These were known about - and likely made by 3M as well - but one reason for the development of the magnetic tape viewer was that it was a ‘non destructive’ way to read the tape - here’s an except from their patent application where they mention one of the existing and alternative methods to do the same thing.
“Heretofore magnetic signals recorded on magnetic tape have in a sense been rendered visible by smearing finely divided ferromagnetic material over the tape and allowing it to migrate to points of maximum magnetic flux. Besides being slow and messy this procedure involved the greater disadvantage that thorough cleaning of the recording medium was required to prevent the applied ferromagnetic material from supplying false signals. This procedure is treated in the television industry as unacceptable for the splicing of magnetic recording tape and splicing has instead been confined to tape areas in which the picture is blanked out.”
Q) Who is the voice in the Datsun Commercial?
A) Danny Dark
Q) What’s the white pad on the left for.
A) Thats the ‘Viewing Pad’ - to see a picture of it being used - freeze the video at 02:51
Q) What’s the spectrum analyser to the left of the Reel to Reel?
A) It’s demonstrated in this video • Nixie Tube Spectrum An...
Available from here: www.nixiekits.eu/product.php?...
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28 фев 2020

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Комментарии : 1,9 тыс.

@Techmoan 4 года назад

*There’s a bit more information in the video description text box.*

@JuanCarlos-zv6kt 4 года назад

Gracias

@nethoncho 4 года назад

Did you try both sides of the C64 floppy disk? The bottom side has the data btw.

@Techmoan 4 года назад

Yes - it took a second to look.

@nethoncho 4 года назад

@@Techmoan The gap caused by the sleeve of the disk and the disk it's self may be too large. If you have a scrap floppy, take it out of the sleeve...

@Techmoan 4 года назад

@@nethoncho the Raison d'être for the device though is that it’s ‘non destructive’. If you need to destroy a disc to view a tiny fragment of what’s on it turn you could have used some ferro fluid on it instead.

@Jamato-sUn 4 года назад

"You're probably not wondering that, but I'm gonna tell you anyway" - that's the attitude I love this channel for.

@DielectricVideos 4 года назад

Interestingly enough that was actually the first question I had when I saw the sound pattern. It looked almost like digital data to me, so I thought for a second it was encoded as pulse-width modulation that would be played back via a low-pass filter to make audio, but then I realized the tape would have to be moving much to fast for that to be the case.

@RomiWadaKatsu 4 года назад

that's literally why I'm subscribed

@ricardlupus 4 года назад

I was actually wondering that ... :)

@kidcaramba2392 3 года назад

That made me laugh out loud as well and i wanted to comment on it but then i came across yours.

@schoggi555 4 года назад

The logo displaying when you put it in the case is a brilliant idea!

@deusexaethera 4 года назад

The magnetic field generated by the case probably also keeps the ferrite particles from settling to one side of the viewer while in storage. Techmoan's viewer was probably stored on its edge like a book.

@darinb.3273 4 года назад

They didn't want you to forget it is a 3M product LOL

@cadpietre4378 4 года назад

that`s why we still have 3m today

@OofusTwillip 4 года назад

@@darinb.3273 Good old Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing. 3M, for short.

@unliving_ball_of_gas 3 года назад

@@OofusTwillip Oooh, so that's what it stands for! Wait, this is the same company as the modern day 3M tape, right?

@Nostalgianerd 3 года назад

This blows my mind. Seeing the series of simple lines that make up such complex sounds.

@mUbase 3 года назад

look up the Fourier Transform. :)

@theclearsounds3911 3 года назад

Trust me, the content on that tape is FAR more complex than the simple lines that show up on that viewer. You would see a far more detailed picture if you were to play the tape onto an oscilloscope, or frequency analyzer; 2 very different ways of looking at waveforms.

@pentachronic 3 года назад

You are looking at the peaks. Think of the sine waves going in and out of the tape and you are looking down at it with something that can only pick up a certain amplitude.

@paulf1071 3 года назад

@@pentachronic Yeah, that's the best way to think of it. When you look the pattern first, it looks almost digital, but it's analogue all the way!

@yep_2431 3 года назад

Records get me like holy cow

@Breakfast_of_Champions 4 года назад

I'd never have thought that the magnetic field on tapes is strong enough to move a ferrofluid.

@Carstuff111 4 года назад

They are likely using something the size of the grains in actual tape, but of higher quality to be as sensitive as possible.

@waledali434 4 года назад

i guess ferrofluid can react to weaker magnetic fields as it get finer and finer

@thecianinator 4 года назад

You just wanted to say ferrofluid didn't you

@Robert08010 3 года назад

I guess because you are already disturbing it by moving the viewer, that's enough.

@brodysdaddy 4 года назад

Techmoan: This device lets you see sound. Me after hearing voice actor clip: Never mind that shit, I gotta get a Datsun Z!!!!

@JVerschueren 4 года назад

Nice car, very rust prone, though. My cousin's one disintegrated after 7 years.

@RobCamp-rmc_0 4 года назад

Give him a couple more years and, at two to three packs a day, you’d have the voice of someone who should be hawking a used C3 Vette instead

@Colt45hatchback 4 года назад

How I'd love to have a 240z

@RobCamp-rmc_0 4 года назад

Notmah Cuppatea same, that’s been my dream car since I watched Let’s Make a Deal on the Game Show Network when I was in art school back in 2000. That was a prize on the reg on that show.

@ericn.wilson2345 4 года назад

I believe that's Ernie Anderson, the ABC announcer whose job it was to convince you Saturday's Love Boat was a good idea.

4 года назад

Now this is a gadget I never knew it existed. Thought this can't be achieved without electronics, yet here it is. Fascinating. Great video as always, thanks!

@jrmcferren 4 года назад

There was also a magnetic developer solution, this was commonly used in cut and splice video tape editing of the old 2-inch quad system.

@e_g4239 4 года назад

Credit card thiefs use a liquid that dose the same to steal credit card data

@6or7breadsticks 4 года назад

The modern version will require always on internet and a subscription

@zybch 4 года назад

@@subliminalvibes Those films are a lot less sensitive, great for seeing where the magnets in your phone/ipad are, but no use for the tiny fields an audio tape contains. Still fun though, I've got several.

@rickt1866 4 года назад

Magnetic Viewing Film - Magnet Field Viewer - Magnetic Pattern Viewer - 3X4 www.ebay.com/itm/Magnetic-Viewing-Film-Magnet-Field-Viewer-Magnetic-Pattern-Viewer-3X4/321293664571?hash=item4ace98413b:g:vo0AAOxyUrZSzKnn

@moofymoo 4 года назад

6:30 - if Duke Nukem is telling that I need that car, I need it!

@grn1 3 года назад

That's why it sounded familiar.

@CarlosPerezChavez 3 года назад

Come get some!

@bmhater1283 3 года назад

He sounds like the K-DST radio announcer from GTA SA lol

@IcecalGamer 3 года назад

Thank you! I scrolled down to check the comets just for this!

@user-ge8yn4ql4i 3 года назад

Hail to the King, baby.

@carymundy 4 года назад

I believe these were originally used to assist in cutting and splicing the 2 inch quadruplex video tape that was used in the 1950s all the through early 80s. One could achieve a jitter-free physical (!) splice if the tape was brushed with a ferrous oxide fluid to “develop” and view the magnetic pattern on the tape. This allowed the editor to make a precise cut at the blanking interval used for NTSC. Of course brushing anything on the tape caused it’s own problems, and back then electronic editing was unknown. 3M was the dominant supplier of quad tape. This was their solution to customer’s editing problems.

@blautens 4 года назад

Pre video: I have absolutely no legitimate need for this. Post video: I must have one.

@targetdreamer257 4 года назад

Exactly!

@Carstuff111 4 года назад

Yep! Hahahahaha!

@_framedlife 3 года назад

I didn't knew this existed and it has almost no practice purpose for me, I must have one.

@wwsvs 4 года назад

Fantastic video as always! That tape of VO artists contains many who worked in animation. Danny Dark was Superman for Hanna Barabara's Super Friends and later the main voice of the NBC television network. Michael Bell was Zan from the same show. Bob Ridgley was Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle and Thundarr the Barbarian. Walker Edmiston was on many of the Sid and Marty Kroff shows and featured in Land of the Lost as Enik. Lennie Weinrib was Commissioner Gorden in the New Adventures of Bat Man for Filmation. Oh and Richard Baseheart and Rober Brown and Bob Holt and... I could go on and on as I see many more I recognize, but that is one really great tape!!! It would be fantastic to hear the full thing. Keep up the great work!

@joeperez 4 года назад

I'd never seen this specific implementation. Very interesting. Back in the early era of 2" Quad video recording, a similar technology existed for use by video editors. At that time, videotape was spliced with a razor blade and adhesive tape, much like film or 1/4" audiotape. A liquid solution (Edivue was one common brand) was brushed onto the tape, and from this, the editor could see the location of the sync pulses and the vertical interval, allowing the cut to be made precisely on the interval, and maintaining the proper distance between adjacent frames so that the machine would play smoothly across the edit point. Personally, I don't miss those days.

@rams6702 4 года назад

god bless digital editing

@MrDuncl 4 года назад

I immediately assume that was what this was for. I knew about video editing by viewing and cutting the tape, as that was a schoolfriends Fathers job back in the 1970s working on BBC nature programmes. Occasionally we would see his name as "Videotape editor" in the credits.

@joeperez 4 года назад

The thing that puzzles me: With the Edivue liquid, you could still see the magnetic signature while you were lining up the tape in the cutting block and making the cut. With this device, you'd have to lift it up off of the tape before making the cut, and its presence would obscure your view of the cut-point mark on the block while it was still on. I'm struggling to envision how it would be possible to do an accurate cut with this device.

@KuraIthys 4 года назад

@@joeperez I rather doubt this specific device was meant for that purpose. I mean, it's own advertising seems to suggest it's primary purpose is for determining what kind of tape you're dealing with when faced with an unknown recording, so you can decide what kind of playback equipment to use.

@organfairy 4 года назад

Like in this video ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7YtmwB9Ds5Y.html

@SteveMallison 4 года назад

I've never seen a device like this before, but it takes me back to the early days of videotape editing. The tape was 2 inches wide and edits were made by physically cutting the tape using a specially designed editing block. Very fine magnetic particles in a volatile liquid were applied to the tape to make the "edit pulse" recorded on the control track visible so you knew where to make the cut, which had to be in the vertical interval. The two ends were joined with a special sticky tape. Thankfully electronic editing soon made this obsolete but it was still occasionally used to repair a damaged tape.

@LaurenWeinstein 4 года назад

This liquid of course was/is "Magnasee" -- widely used throughout the industry for many years. A bit messy, and not exactly non-toxic, but it got the job done. Effective too, when you consider that fast cut shows like Laugh-In were manually edited this way on 2 inch Quad tape! A lot of work!

@cjay2 4 года назад

@@LaurenWeinstein Ah yes, Magnasee. I still have a sealed can of that stored away in a carton.

@mattikaki 4 года назад

SteveMallison I used Ampex branded liquid when I had to see the video tape signal.

@rogerbarton497 4 года назад

We used Magnasee extensively in the computer industry to check the inter-record gap on magnetic tapes.

@nickwallette6201 4 года назад

You guys misspelled manganese. ;-D

@Roland_Tr909_Swing 4 года назад

This was useful for tape splicing in studios back in the day

@carpediem4887 4 года назад

Makes sense...so you can get a perfect splice

@babalon7778 4 года назад

My dad should have had this for his job, then I would have gotten to use it, damn!

@mark314158 4 года назад

@ezzz9 It's the way everybody did it - splicing block, tape, razor, extreme patience...

@babalon7778 4 года назад

@@mark314158 I actually enjoyed it because I was only 11, it was the best quality time I ever spent with my dad and it made me feel important, plus I just enjoyed the activity (It was for the biggest show on the planet that no longer exists). Does anyone else think it's fun?

@quantumbits 4 года назад

@ezzz9 Yes we did !

@CannonKnight 4 года назад

Not sure whose voice I like more: Techmoan's classy British accent or the deep, groovy voice on that Datsun Z advert. Tough call.

@TheLtData 4 года назад

This is why your channel is so good: you show us these interesting pieces of tech. Keep going, love your videos!

@Nurpus 4 года назад

This man spent *4 YEARS* to make a 9-minute video.

@joshuascholar3220 4 года назад

@@_Piers_ ha ha ha ha ha

@mntlmentos 4 года назад

Now THAT is some dedication.

@ligma3652 4 года назад

I really liked techomoan's dedication to his videos.. #1 fan from The Philippines

@Fuzy2K 4 года назад

But how long is that in centimeters of tape? :P

@buddyclem7328 4 года назад

@@Fuzy2K That depends on the recording speed.

@donaldklopper 4 года назад

Nice stroke of marketing genius to have a magnetised view of the 3M logo in the little cradle.

@SlideRSB 4 года назад

I use a reader similar to this one quite regularly at the audio facility I work at. I'm an audio engineer and I specialize in archiving older media formats for preservation. Many times, I will get tapes and magnetic film with minimal or no documentation which makes playing them back properly difficult. The magnetic tape viewers I have at my disposal is a big help in that regard.

@MrWombatty 4 года назад

Probably just as hard to find one of these in good condition as finding a mint-condition Datsun 240/260Z!

@synthoelectro 3 года назад

My Father owned a 280ZX, what a car :D

@tocsa120ls 4 года назад

For anyone wondering, the green $5 magnetic field detectors don't work. Audio signal is way too weak for those.

@ramrod126 4 года назад

That answers the question I was going to ask.

@lukiepoole6701 4 года назад

Use a super sensitive ferrocell. Just like this detector.

@noisytim 4 года назад

Oh, that is nifty! That will make archiving unlabeled boxes of media a lot easier for me. Thanks for sharing this, Matt!

@edwardbunker2846 4 года назад

Only one word: "Wowzer!" Great stuff. Love how you have blown the lid off of tape recording technology. I now have an even greater level of appreciation for my old school compact cassette tapes and your RU-vid videos.

@davismv 4 года назад

Yet another amazing item on your channel being reviewed, the vintage tech that you show here is absolutely astounding.

@soulchorea 4 года назад

So fascinating! I love the actors tape; stuff like that makes me wish I was an archivist that could make sure little random things like this are preserved forever!

@tentotwo8290 4 года назад

I googled a few of the names, I don't know why lol

@flynn8860 4 года назад

I used one of these in the 70's to adjust the gap size on digital mag tape drives on a Honeywell Bull Gamma M40 ... good old days ;)

@rafchris 4 года назад

I think that is probably one of the most satisfying gadgets I have see for a while! Lovely box, 3M logo is a nice touch, chrome metal ring looks lovely, a portal into a magnetic world of wonder

@alberti.2334 4 года назад

you have illuminated my curiosity with this thing. thanks for showing something interesting that I didn't even know exists. I hope you continue to show interesting things like this in the future

@doug834 4 года назад

This is why I love this channel - I get to learn about things I never even knew existed. Well done as always.

@Jingleboy14 4 года назад

Really cool little device. Was anxiously waiting to see if you'd try it on a video tape - and you delivered!

@MaverickGrabber71 4 года назад

That is amazing! It is really cool to see how the tracks are actually laid down on the tape and really helps nail down my understanding of how it works.

@RicHollandUK 4 года назад

A good find Techmoan. We had one of these in my studio days in London in the 1960s/early 1970s. The 8 tracks on a 1-inch multi-track tape could be viewed quite clearly with it.

@Trance88 4 года назад

What a simple yet incredible device! It's interesting how linear analog recordings on tape sort of resemble barcodes.

@icychill105 4 года назад

this makes me wonder what the steel wire recorder looks like under the viewer

@mrmimeisfunny 4 года назад

Considering steel wire needs speeds so fast, I don't think it will be easy to get a clear signal.

@TheHitmanAgent 4 года назад

@@mrmimeisfunny ...and considering it is very-very thin, it would be impossible. The particles in the viewer aren't that fine to show the magnetization

@benjammin2020 4 года назад

@@TheHitmanAgent Its that, probably also just the strenth of the magnetic fields. I would imagine the steel wire has very strong signals compared to a tape.

@fen7662 4 года назад

@@mrmimeisfunny Well, at 24 in/s, it's only going to be a 3 1/2 times less dense than a reel-to-reel 7 1/2 in/s speed or less than 8x less dense than a standard cassette. It probably would be visible enough since it appears to only struggle with more dense magnetization. The thinness of the wire would most likely be the only issue. I feel like the strength of the magnetization could certainly make or break whether or not it's visible... but who really knows until it's tested.

@Christopher-N 4 года назад

I concur with the replies. Based on what I've seen on _The Secret Life of Machines_ series, I have my doubts this would display a wire recording; the medium would be simply too small.

@redshop1234 4 года назад

Thanks for another fine video. Interesting, informative, and fun. Production values are outstanding as always.

@TimTaylor99 2 года назад

Your channel is nothing but pure gold! Love it 🥳

@madfinntech 4 года назад

I love how it comes with a nice wooden box. Today it would arrive in vacuum package you need scissors to open.

@SimonSideburns 4 года назад

And when you buy scissors, guess what, they often come in vacuum packaging or shut tight with cable ties to prevent them from being opened in the shop, and most often you need something like a pair of scissors to get the packaging open.

@oliverer3 4 года назад

If you buy nice or delicate tools it's still common that they come in nice boxes but for cheap items it's just unnecessary

@mick2d2 4 года назад

And also with a space to put your fingers above and below it, to be able to pick it up!

@kjell159 4 года назад

@@SimonSideburns Who 'came' first, the chicken or the egg? The egg because it got 'laid' by the chicken.

@rawdez_ 4 года назад

7:30 looks like chipboard/LDF

@sixstar2067 4 года назад

As a "Z" car and classic Datsun fan I really enjoyed the little snippet of the old Datsun ad you played. I get excited every time I see a new Techmoan video, your work is incredibly high-quality and packed with information. Thanks for everything you do. :)

@Mikej1592 4 года назад

You never cease to amaze me with fantastic bits of technology I never knew existed, and teach me things about things I knew existed but never knew much about them. always enjoy your videos.

@shinypb 4 года назад

This was a particularly delightful video! Thanks so much for making these, Mat.

@SynaMax 4 года назад

One of the names listed on the voice actor reel is Ernie Anderson, who was the voice of ABC back in the 80s and 90s, and was the father of famous director Paul Thomas Anderson.

@andrewaronson3364 4 года назад

I just came here from a Paul thomas Anderson movie here on youtube

@reagandow850 4 года назад

Wow. This is real, really neat. I never had any idea this was a thing. Thank you for showing us this really neat piece of history.

@thomask4836 3 года назад

I am an audio buff from the 1960's and never heard of this but it is fascinating! Like every other audio gadget and toy (including pocket sized stylus microscopes, etc) if I would have known it existed, I would have been playing with it on my Roberts 770 XSS! Thank You So Very Much! I really enjoyed this video and I am grateful for your enthusiasm and the time and effort you put in to share this!

@Tardisntimbits 4 года назад

That's so neat! I love these interesting little devices. I'm glad you managed to track one down!

@manonthedollar 4 года назад

I love all those finishing touches -- the wooden box, the magnetic 3M logo, the overall solid construction. Man.

@dancooper6002 Год назад

They used to build quality, not just crap like now

@DanielisAwesome52 4 года назад

I was born just as cassettes were on the way out, and am only now realizing exactly why they are called "tracks"

@dopiaza2006 3 года назад

Not totally sure but I think tracks came from records not tapes

@TheSquaredM 4 года назад

This has to be one of the most interesting videos that you have made! Thanks for showing us this device!

@jimpowell8574 4 года назад

I have looked for one of these for years. I used one in the early 1970's at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD (USA). We used it to splice damaged data tapes as well as audio recordings of tests. It was very cool.

@francisgomes7203 3 года назад

Really, these were some mind-blowing inventions in those years. How much time and dedication was put into these devices. 👍

@dingdongbells3314 4 года назад

1:34 That has to be the coolest sounding thing I've heard in a while.

@HangoverTelevision 3 года назад

I got tons of such soundings XD

@joehannigan9788 4 года назад

This is fantastic; I get analog tapes to transfer all the time, and it's almost always a guessing game as to which format has been used. Most consumers "back in the day" just didn't know enough to at least mark the box. Now I can "Look" at the tape itself and know ahead of time. Thanks for posting!

@samnoneofyourbisnus2543 3 года назад

i love the attention to detail 3m did with this. having the logo displayed when you put in in the case is just so cool. also i never knew what 3m stood for. now i do

@sircompo 4 года назад

I've been meaning to buy some 'Magnetic Viewing Film' for a while. Just ordered some from Amazon after watching this (only £4.85). It'll be interesting to see if it has the same resolution. I have a feeling this might be one of your videos that goes viral; an absolutely fascinating little gadget.

@sircompo 4 года назад

Alas, regarding the Magnetic film from Amazon, the answer is a resounding no. It's fantastic to have, but seems to have been designed for much stronger Magnetic fields.

@Seiskid 4 года назад

Let us all know if yours works as well as the 3M one.

@GlutenEruption 4 года назад

I have some and I can definitely make out the stripe on credit cards etc so it should work okay

@sixstringedthing 4 года назад

I was under the impression that magnetic film is really intended to view the poles/field lines of actual magnets or strongly magnetic material, so I can't imagine that the resolution would be very good when used on tape.

@snik2pl 4 года назад

No, i just checked

@davidbono9359 4 года назад

When I was in college, I had a summer internship at a 3M plant that manufactured floppy disks. This video reminded me of using "magnetic developer", which was a liquid you could spray on magnetic media to see the recorded patterns. It was basically very fine iron particles suspended in liquid (maybe alcohol) that evaporated after the particles aligned themselves with the magnetic field on the media. Similar concept, but I've never seen one of these devices before!

@Techmoan 4 года назад

They mentioned something along these lines in the patent: _Heretofore magnetic signals recorded on magnetic tape have in a sense been rendered visible by smearing finely divided ferromagnetic material over the tape and allowing it to migrate to points of maximum magnetic flux. Besides being slow and messy this procedure involved the greater disadvantage that thorough cleaning of the recording medium was required to prevent the applied ferromagnetic material from supplying false signals. This procedure is treated in the television industry as unacceptable for the splicing of magnetic recording tape and splicing has instead been confined to tape areas in which the picture is blanked out._

@davidbono9359 4 года назад

@@Techmoan That's cool! I guess it makes sense that the guys who invented the viewer would have been aware of the magnetic developer method. Apparently you can still buy magnetic developer liquid today - it might be fun to do a follow-up video that compares the magnetic developer with the viewer (hint, hint). Although, as the patent application says, I wouldn't use it on any media you wanted keep. I don't know if the developer damages the media or not, but it does leave behind a fine, powdery residue that might be tricky to clean off, and I don't think you'd want to run the treated media over a playback head.

@Techmoan 4 года назад

It’s looking like I’ll have to do a follow up where I demonstrate the things it won’t read and which suggested alternatives also don’t work. e.g. No ‘magnetic sheets’ can’t display the same patterns on a tape, No the viewer can’t read 8” floppy discs, no it can’t read (insert anything here with a greater track or data density than a 8-track tape). That sounds like a pretty negative video though. I prefer showing things working - the things that don’t work are usually intentionally omitted.

@davidbono9359 4 года назад

@@Techmoan I think the magnetic developer / Magnasee should work on the same media that the viewer does. The developer should also work on floppy disks, if it's the same stuff that was used at 3M. It should at least show the locations of the individual tracks on a 5-1/4" floppy disk (but don't expect to see individual 0/1 bits). This also makes me wonder if one could make a "poor man's" version of the viewer by putting a bit of the developer solution in between two thin pieces of glass (like microscope slides)...

@Leodagan84 4 года назад

Great video! I absolutely love these kind of gadgets. Pretty amazing to discover this old piece of tech :)

@protonpillpopper1 4 года назад

9 minutes watching a video on an obscure little device I've never heard of and will probably never stumble across in the wild. That's what I love about this channel. As always...thanks for sharing.

@ericjenkins2737 4 года назад

I'm only a minute in and it's already fascinating.

@polygondwanaland8390 4 года назад

This is extremely cool and entirely useless in the modern age. Perfect Techmoan video!

@drdysl3xia795 4 года назад

I can't believe we can see what is on the tape. Holly crap..

@rickfox3253 4 года назад

Hey. Tom Bosley... AKA Howard Cunningham from Happy Days is on the voice actors tape.

@uselessDM 4 года назад

Now that's a voice I wanna buy a car from.

@carpediem4887 4 года назад

Everyone's favorite dad

@PurpleTT99 4 года назад

Aaargh I was convinced I was the only one who'd spot that. Fair play, Rick, well done!

@BenHeckHacks 4 года назад

As is Jack Angel who has voice work for.... Like everything!

@ChristopherSobieniak 4 года назад

@@BenHeckHacks There's certainly a few familiar names on here if you've seen anything they've done before.

@geoffmolyneux9173 4 года назад

I saw one of those magnetic 3M readers in about 1986. The person worked for a company that made credit card magnetic strip readers. He showed me about similiar items that you showed. Thanks for the memory refresh.

@rudolfst 4 года назад

In the mid seventies I was a volunteer at a (dutch) hospitalradiostation. Somebody once took such a divice into the studio. So this video is a trip down memory lane; I very much enjoyed it! 😀

@BollingHolt 4 года назад

6:39 The Datsun Z! Sweet! My first car was a 280Z, and I'd never heard that advertisement before.

@andrewgwilliam4831 3 года назад

Might've been a made-up ad, so that they didn't have to get clearance?

@BollingHolt 3 года назад

@@andrewgwilliam4831 Who knows lol. I still liked it 😎

@fordxbgtfalcon 3 года назад

Mine was a 73 240z

@devojane 4 года назад

I really want to hear that whole actor demo reel. Those guys' voices were all over cartoons and tv in the 70s and 80s. Lennie Weinrib was on a lot of Sid & Marty Krofft shows. Michael Bell shouted "Yo Joe” on the GI Joe opening (not sure about Action Team) and also said "butter" in the Parkay margarine ads. You gotta upload that whole tape!!!

@ChristopherSobieniak 4 года назад

That would be an interesting tape to listen to!

@ChristopherSobieniak 4 года назад

@TC Fenstermaker Classy, classy man!

@DominicMassarotti 3 года назад

Tom Bosley on there as well, of Happy Days fame.

@petehatzakos 4 года назад

Shocker! You never fail to teach me something new. Great Video!

@leanncrowephoto 4 года назад

I'm in St. Paul, Minnesota and old 3M stuff is all over the place. I will keep my eye out for one of these! Thanks for the video!

@markb4071 4 года назад

some great names on that showreel, recognised a few

@darkdeity2012 4 года назад

Great, now I want a magnetic tape viewer and a Datsun Z 😉

@SkyChaserCom 4 года назад

So cool! I never knew these even existed. Thanks for sharing and keep these videos coming!

@eugenesnell6600 4 года назад

Of all the things I have seen you review, this was probably the most fascinating one of them! Almost useless in this day and age but still fascinating! I'm old enough to remember most of the items you've shown in one iteration or another... But this is one I would really like to have in my collection.

@Tony32 4 года назад

6:30 That sounds eerily similar to those Matthew Mcconaughey weird car commercials.

@seanperone449 4 года назад

I guess time really is a flat circle.

@buddyclem7328 4 года назад

I like cars with _rich Corinthian leather._

@justpassnthru 4 года назад

I was thinking Frank Zappa

@dansv1 4 года назад

I was thinking Ken Nordine.

@MaximumJoy 4 года назад

@@justpassnthru i got Zappa vibes too

@magreger 4 года назад

When I read the title and saw the thumbnail I was expecting some kind of visualizer that would move to the music. For the first couple minutes of video I was waiting to see if you'd hold the viewer up to the moving tape to get a visualization. But now that I understand what it's used for I'd bet it wouldn't show much of anything against a moving tape. Interesting device none the less.

@darinb.3273 4 года назад

Agreed I definitely think the fluid would be way too slow to react that quickly

@NeilVanceNeilVance 4 года назад

Excellent find, I never thought the magnetic field storage on tape was strong enough to alter the mixture! That's a new one for me.

@ornleifs 4 года назад

The stuff you show on this channel is continually surprising. Before I started to watch you channel I had absolutely no idea of most of these products.

@cosmicjenny4508 4 года назад

I just love magnets, man. That’s so cool!

@Sheppards1984 4 года назад

Would have loved this back in the C64 tape days...

@Christopher-N 4 года назад

I was just thinking that: data tapes should display similar to audio tapes, just in mono.

@SomePotato 4 года назад

Or some old floppies! Tracks on the common formats were 0.33mm or 0.115mm wide. Those should be visible.

@Christopher-N 4 года назад

@@SomePotato: This actually runs into the topic of copy protection. A fascinating suggestion, *Some Potato,* well played. Here's *LGR* to explain (EDIT: I was looking for the video that was more specifically about floppy copy protection; I'll apply the correct link and remove this 'Edit' when I find it): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-HjEbpMgiL7U.html

@jwarfandom7319 4 года назад

Thank you for sharing this neat piece of old tech. I enjoyed seeing this

@ricardlupus 4 года назад

Thanks - lovely video! I've seen this device advertised in various vintage magazines but never seen one in use. I read in one internet forum that they weren't very sensitive, but this one seems to be quite responsive to recorded material.

@shona-sof 4 года назад

I'd love to see this sowing the data layout on 3.5 & 5.25 discs, and maybe even an extracted hard disk drive data platter.

@KuraIthys 4 года назад

I'd expect it would have to be a VERY old hard drive to show anything much on a device like this. Even a drive from 2000 would likely be storing on the order of 1-2 gigabytes of data on a single side of a 3.5 inch hard drive platter. That's 2 billion bytes (hard drives for whatever reason tended to use the metric 10^3 definition rather than binary 2^10 that software often defines kilo/mega/giga as) That's 16 billion bits (ignoring whatever redundancy and formatting is involved to make it reliably readable) stored on at best 9.6 square inches. (less in fact, given the spindle in the centre). That works out to about 1.66 billion bits per square inch, or very roughly 40,000 bits per linear inch. the window in that viewer is 3 cm, which is slightly more than 1 inch... So you'd somehow have to be able to see 40,000 individual dots in that space. A modern drive is an order of magnitude worse, and would show at least 40,000,000 dots in that space. If this thing can show a pattern at that kind of density, I'd be highly surprised... A floppy disk storing a few hundred kilobytes to 1.44 megabytes though? That might just show a visible pattern...

@fen7662 4 года назад

Nice tiny Magna Doodle. But seriously, this is pretty neat.

@Christopher-N 4 года назад

_Magna Doodle_ is quite similar in function, but a different toy from _Wooly Willy._ I had both toys when I was little.

@konstantinpokataev9145 3 года назад

Thank you so much! Your videos are great as always!

@martinthompson2584 4 года назад

This brings back memories. My dad had one at work (radio station) which I played with when I visited.

@freddibnah1830 4 года назад

my wife watched this over my shoulder, she shook her head and walked away

@threephase69 4 года назад

She was expecting to see WORDS and MUSIC NOTES 🎶

@soritessoreites1207 4 года назад

show her the credit card part

@sablatnic8030 3 года назад

@@soritessoreites1207 :-D

@Robert08010 3 года назад

That's a completely different kind of tech moan. That a recognition of what is inevitable.

@Robert08010 3 года назад

@@threephase69 Singer's mouth shapes.

@JamilLeslie 4 года назад

Datsun Z!!! Yea lol, it’s legendary for sure now.

@johnwerner4925 4 года назад

Kudos to T for revealing something I never knew existed in the audio world. I've read audio magazines since 1972. At that time reel to reel was still quite a force in audio equipment for the common man. Actually my first audio mag was a 1972 Tape Buyer's Guide published b Stereo Review. I was a young audio immersed person who had just got my first Wollensak by 3M 4-track reel to reel. In all the years since I've continued to read audio magazines and I've never heard or seen this unique gadget. Good detective work.

@DETROIT12345678933 4 года назад

Wow. In just a few minutes I haves learned a lot of cool stuff. Thank you. I enjoy this channel.

@joran95 4 года назад

Marques Brownlee uses this same material to see where magnets are in laptops and folding phones and such. I wonder if you could use that to look at tape like this. Edit - Oh, my favourite thing about this is the magnetic 3M logo.

@joran95 4 года назад

@@_Piers_ that's the stuff. I guess with that you'd just see some blurry lines on the tape? I believe he shows it in the galaxy fold review maybe.

@wktodd 4 года назад

First time I saw one of those was in the hands of a computer engineer, who was checking the tape from a Honeywell mainframe back in 1968.

@jamesragsdale3069 4 года назад

Slightly useful, but very neat gadget! Love your vids!

@TheOnlyPommyman 3 года назад

Wow, I really enjoyed this video more than I thought I would!

@ross-carlson 4 года назад

@6:30 As my parents owned a Datsun 280z when I was a kid and I owned a Nissan 350z as an adult I can confirm he is absolutely right!

@AfferbeckBeats 4 года назад

It's sad how Nissan has gone in the past decade or so. The GT-R and 370Z are the only desireable things they make, and they're ancient now. Despite being around so long, I've never seen an R35 GT-R in real life because they're 200k+ here, and 370Zs are a bit chunky and tasteless driven by real estate agents.

@lachlan1971 4 года назад

Ha ha, I remember those "Top of the Pops" albums. They were cheap albums with chart songs played by other musicians to cut down on the royalties. My folks had loads of them on vinyl.

@MrDuncl 4 года назад

If you were lucky they might be played by some unknown musician called Reginald Dwight

@owensmith7530 4 года назад

Or Larry Lurex

@jayducharme 4 года назад

Absolutely amazing! Thanks for once again showing me something I never knew existed.

@migalito1955 4 года назад

That was a neat product to showcase and perhaps one of my favorites.

@kevinsong712 4 года назад

Was hoping that you'd drag the viewer along the tape 😂

@joermnyc 4 года назад

Kevin Song might damage the tape as it’s a block of metal. Notice the advertisement photos showing how you’re supposed to place the tape on the white cushion inside the case, then put the reader on top.

@kevinsong712 4 года назад

@@joermnyc thanks man didn't realize that

@nickwallette6201 4 года назад

It also takes a moment to settle, so it wouldn’t likely show anything useful.

@Taped0uT1 4 года назад

@@nickwallette6201 Absolutely. But could be pretty cool in stop motion animation.

@KallePihlajasaari 4 года назад

@@Taped0uT1 That would look awesome. Split screen with an oscilloscope view of the track being played would be even better.

@TransmitHim 3 года назад

This device is oddly fascinating, especially using it to see the data on the store card.

@wardrich 4 года назад

1:01 actually, I'm really glad you answered that. When I saw the bit in the device, my first question was actually how long of a sample that was.

@lawnboyfreak 4 года назад

You always find the coolest gadgets!

@lemn8 4 года назад

What the... I never knew about the existence of such a device. And I expected to see some sort of a sinus not this kind of digital patterns. Really interesting thanks.

@risvegliato 4 года назад

It is a type of sinusoidal analogue wave, only it is in the 'Z' direction, i.e in the direction you are looking, rather than left-right or up-down. Hope that makes sense?

@polygondwanaland8390 4 года назад

@@risvegliato like when you're looking at confidence interval bars, but you can visualize it as a bell curve being seen from the top?

@risvegliato 4 года назад

@@polygondwanaland8390 Yes indeed! And that is very pertinent to a UKAS inspection I have coming up at work which involves 95% confidence intervals, error bars and bell curves... how strange you should bring it up!

@polygondwanaland8390 4 года назад

@@risvegliato I'm in quantitative analysis in school right now and am following election polling in my free time. Lots of stats :)

@cmb1972 4 года назад

"A Datsun Z"

@david-spliso1928 4 года назад

Excellent car. Nissan knows best.

@buddyclem7328 4 года назад

The Z was an awesome car!

@Rutherford_Inchworm_III 4 года назад

Jaguar? Nah. Ferrari convertible? Still had some doubts. Now... with my Datsun Z, I finally know I have *everything* other people wish for!

@whendeathdeclareswar7458 4 года назад

C M B 100k car today.

@steffen2165 4 года назад

@@whendeathdeclareswar7458 no it's not haha

@TheBananaPlug 4 года назад

We used those when checking mag. stripes on credit cards and tickets that used mag. stripes back in the 80's. Forgotten about them completely. Thanks for the memory.