Pictures On Cassette Tape (100% REAL!)

Encoding and Decoding Images on Audio Cassette.
O,mdProductions 2019

[@TheKing0fSting]

My man's put memes onto a cassette. I gotta try it myself now

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks bro, I had to do it a simple picture of a sunset or a dog just didn't seem fitting for the internet.

[@etchatails]

You can also put it on other things like a cd a reel to reel or even a record

[@RetroPlus]

Finally a way to send memes from mars and other distant planets

[@heavymetalATC]

Exactly correct. Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment Retro.

[@Lively_1185]

This is just awesome! I never grew up in the 80's and I am fascinated about what you can do with cassette tapes. This video just shows one of the many things it can do. Great video and demo!

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks for your time, I have another video about using the same tape deck to create effects to use in music production. its the way it was done in the old days. there is a ton of stuff you can do with tapes. Although they are kinda crappy as a music player unless you have a very expensive hi-fi unit.

[@Kennephone]

you can also store data using a very similar method. pretty much every home computer until the mid 80s could do it. I havent been able to find any program that can do it on a modern computer, except for this really old one from the 90s that's 16 bit and wont run on a 64 bit machine.

[@qwerty123456695]

No wonder, in the 90s I had a game console, it read data from an audio cassette and converted it into a graphic video signal! I played video games.

[@heavymetalATC]

Correct. My old Tandy 1000 pc had a cassette drive but no hard drive and I played tons of games on it. A lot of old DOS games were Great! Elder Scrolls and Leisure Suit Larry are a BLAST.

[@SeekerGoldstone]

@@heavymetalATC Where on Earth do you live that you have an accent like that and owned a Tandy with a tape drive!? One of God's own prototypes... too weird to live, too rare to die.

[@heavymetalATC]

@@SeekerGoldstone Thank you, but yeah I'm also too young to have had a Tandy my cousin in Florida was a super computer nerd and when he switched to IBM compatibles in about 1994. My aunt was coming up here to the Muscle Shoals area of Alabama for a family get-together so I was gifted the full setup with a literal crate of pirated dos games from the early internet message boards of the 80s. But yeah Thats kind a stereo type a lot of people around here are very technically inclined we have the TVA therm o-nuclear power plants and Huntsville is where all the NASA rockets of the 60s and the space shuttles were built. Most of my friends and family have very technical jobs. I will though very much agree that I am a rare breed. I build synthesizers from TVs and guitars from tables and wind pickups from Neo-magnets and 2x4 scraps. I home build race engines, play heavy metal and have put out 3 rap albums. I'm into shortwave and CB radio I love records and cassettes. Feel free to check out the rest of my channel you will only become more confused. Its just Nerdness in all directions. Thanks again for the time you took to watch and leave that colorful creative comment you made my day.

[@SuperNickid]

@JMcorp: If you accidentally play that audio cassette into a normal audio cassette player it will sound exactly the same as a fax machine answering your phone called, ouch my ears.

[@NPrescott]

This is also the same concept of how a computer modem works. "Modem" or MO - DEM (Modulation \ De-Modulation) converts all your data into pulses or noise that the other side of the computer listens to. Ever call the wrong number and get a fax line? You hear that loud BEEP.....BEEP....BEEP....then it screams at you! Thats the fax machine saying hello and asking for the data. In audio and video engineering we use the terms TX for transmitter and RX for receiver; as is the same term used in many fields. The program, RX-SSTV, is just the receiving end processing the signal. This is really interesting technology. I could imagine a dystopian world without internet and everyone is sending old meme's over the air waves 😅

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write such an awesome informative comment Nathan. The audio on the tape does sound a lot like fax info or dial-up packets. The guys with the basements full of 50 gallon drums of beans and gasoline, The ones who are ready for that to happen: Often use shortwave and HAM radio and the people on ham radio have been sending pictures to one another over the airwaves using this technique since WAY before there was a civilian internet. I think you could probably say that these guys invented the "meme" Just like those old fax pictures that used to get sent from office to office viral fashion. I have a few of those saved from the old days that my wifes mother had from her nursing office in the 80s. Like one with a crane bird eating a frog but the frog is choking the bird so it wont go down and It says " It aint over till its over" LOL I think you may be correct though the HAM radio guys will be sending memes to each other till the bitter end. Using sewage gas generator power or whatever it takes. Shortwave from the past may be the future. If you have never looked into shorwave "Number Stations" that is also VERY interesting James Bond kinda stuff. Thanks again.

[@jakeself1911]

KZbin recommended this video to me because I recently looked for video on compact cassette, and I’m glad it did. I had no idea that ham radio people figured out how to send images to each other using this method, but I found that very fascinating. I love learning about various ways that people push current tech to its limits, or use it in unusual ways, or dust off old tech to see just how far they can push it.

[@lab-by-the-sea]

Thanks for reminding me, that my first harddisk for my first computers was tape. my first 3 computers had no harddisk or floppydisk. that were the times when my mum called me for dinner and i thought, oh great i can let load a programm while i eat ;-)

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to leave a comment DJRex and you are very welcome. I used to play the heck out of dos games when I was little... and now with dos box. I had a Tandy 1000 with the cassette setup but I never ended up using it as my cousin was super into computers back in the 80s and gifted me a giant crate of pirated floppy games. I still think some of those sierra games and the early Bethesda stuff was some of the best gaming ever created. So much of a mysterious medieval dungeon and quest vibe. Thanks again

[@pc4ad]

Cool to see SSTV on a cassette tape. Thanks for sharing. Although being very late to comment, maybe your results might be way better with lower audio levels, especially during the recording stage. It does sound overmodulated and therefore distorted. You might want to try and revisit :) 73 de PC4AD (also a receiver of ISS pictures :) )

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks for the tip!

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

I'm sure you're using images of a certain resolution, but maybe you should try limiting them to 256 colors before encoding. Also try calibrating the cassette player / recorder to make sure it's got very little wow and flutter and is playing at the proper speed. This is almost similar to how images were encoded on the Voyager golden records. If only they had today's software for encoding.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave tips Mr. Floyd. If I were to do it again I think it would have worked much better with a more modern encoder codec like Robot32 or some kind of 64 bit encoding. I never thought about it being similar to that record we sent out into space. That is pretty cool. Speaking of space the ISS sends out encoded images like this on the shortwave Ham radio channels some people have great setups and can get super clear images. Thanks again.

[@theannoyedmrfloyd3998]

Antic Magazine, a publication which supported Atari computers, once published an article showing users how to receive weather satellite facsimile over shortwave radio and display them.

[@benjaminfowler4513]

Omg the lofi quality of the pictures is beautiful..

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks Benjamin. When I found out ham radio operators had basically been sending each other memes since the 70s I was just like HUH?

[@OmBotCult]

this is great! thanks for showing us this!

[@applanateearth586]

I remember listening to this sound loading games onto my spectrum computer...

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment Applanate Earth! I never had a spectrum but I had the Tandy 1000 with the cassette drive when I was little but unfortunately I never used it. My cousin gave me a literal crate full of pirated 5 1/4 floppies. So I was Dos gaming like the day is long. Thanks again for watching.

[@NothingAiring]

Hank got tired of propane and got into audio

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks for watching and taking the time to write a comment NA. Dammit Bobby!

[@rafaelasabchucalovato9439]

That's how we watched Neil Armstrong on the Moon 🥰❤🤩

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Rafaela. Yes I'm not a Ham Radio operator myself but I find it very interesting. I am in a Facebook group for slow scan and I see some operators post pictures that they pick up from the international space station.

[@rustysheriff]

That's really good stuff, nice one!

[@heavymetalATC]

Rusty Sheriff Thank you for the kind words Rusty. I'm so glad you liked it.

[@bryanotero123]

@@heavymetalATC good stuff pal

[@heavymetalATC]

Bryan Otero Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave the kind words.

[@coondogtheman]

I've done this with nothing more than a laptop/PC and a cell phone recorder and the results were pretty good. I don't get why it's distorted like that the image with the cassette tape saying go over a bump how it looks bent.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment. The reason it's not super clear and the images look bent is from the shortcomings of tape as a recording medium. The noise in the image is from the hiss of the tape and the reason it doesn't line up perfectly is from a thing call wow and flutter. It's basically refers to the way a tape wobbles in the speed while recording or playing back. The bit of stretch and slack in the belt the gears and the actual strip of tape are what cause this. Thanks again.

[@gamingmusicandjokesandabit1240]

(no offence here) Plot twist: That was a video on how to downsize VHS.

[@heavymetalATC]

Pretty much spot on. I searched around for a codec that would allow me to put lo-rez video on the cassette there is a company that sells a codec decoder and vinyl records with b&w video on them as sound.

[@gamingmusicandjokesandabit1240]

@@heavymetalATC Although my guess was that you made a special video input.

[@CryptToneMusic]

Man i wanna do this for one of my album covers haha

[@AmaroqStarwind]

Pretty cool.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for taking the time to leave kind words Amaroq

[@nostalgeek2872]

Hey guy, have you tried using the unsigned 8-bit PCM with Audacity ? I use it by opening a BMP (or other uncompressed format) image as raw data. Parameters i use: Little-Endian, Stereo, Start Shift= 0 byte, imported portion= 100%, sampling frequency= 22050 Hz

[@heavymetalATC]

No I have not tried that but that is a great idea.

[@nostalgeek2872]

@@heavymetalATC Visit my channel to find 2 pictures encoded in audio track.

[@ACURAOCULTA]

Very good

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Rango. I appreciate it.

[@doa_3]

With SSTV you can have pictures on audiocassette With NBTV you can have video on audiocassette

[@ChrisATV301]

That's how Sinclair ZX spectrum games used to load from audio cassette tapes via the headphone jack to the microphone jack on the computer

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to write a comment Chris. Yes that is exactly right. I used to have a Tandy 1000 when I was little and it had a cassette drive input but I unfortunately never had any games on cassette. Also similar to a fax I would assume?

[@archiebald8207]

this is indeed something i am in ter ested in

[@ricarcass]

How can I increase the input signal? I have tried several times and there is almost no input signal. thank you

[@souravbhattacharyya3392]

Great idea, can video be stored in the audio cassette?

[@sneaks]

@@majortom5838 PXL2000 i believe

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment Sourav Yes, like Major tom and Johnathan said below there was "toy" camcorder that used cassettes if I remember correctly it was a black and white video but I had no luck finding such a codec for using on a computer.

[@souravbhattacharyya3392]

@@bro_leo thanks

[@yakadoodledongywongy8718]

Reminds me of gaming in the 80s 😅 also, Video is possible.

[@Patches33001]

Sound is just another form of data, higher pitch for 1 lower for 0 (usually, I'm not a computer expert)

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for taking the time to watch and write a comment Parzival. You are completely correct. Its just like the old fax machine signals or dial up internet and I guess in a way the great grandson of the telegraph and Morse code. If you look up some of the "circuit sniffer" videos (its a device that can hear the electromagnetic sound in all electronics) It seems that all computers work from sound internally in a way as 0-1 computer language. Thanks again.

[@Patches33001]

@@heavymetalATC I would love a device that could listen to the data sounds in electronics xD

[@heavymetalATC]

@@Patches33001 This is a good example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aoWaop6Pjpx_kK8 You could do the same thing with a cheap guitar pickup on a wire with an audio plug. like the ones made for acoustic sound hole it just has to be magnetic and not piezo.

[@koppo5657]

I have the same tape player i think its another slightly diferent model but the thing that matters is that its made in argentina

[@heavymetalATC]

Thanks for taking the time to comment. Its a great tape player. I use it in the studio to make effects for music like tape compression, delays and flanging.

[@koppo5657]

@@heavymetalATC it's my dad's tape player but sadly,its broken rarely enough, the 40 year old transformer on it still works. But i think the belt broke. I saw it in person working because i used it but it sadly broke. We replaced the belts 2 times by now. Also its NATIONAL panasonic. Those are rare in argentina where i live

[@koppo5657]

@@heavymetalATC btw. What's your model. Mine is RQ 2309 auto stop ic

[@FoxintoshPlus]

sooo where do I get the software for this?

[@heavymetalATC]

I dont know what the best ones are but you could search sstv decoder and encoder on google and find some downloads they even have ones for apple and android but a sure fire way to get the good ones is to go to a ham-radio or sstv facebook group or forum and ask for the links to a good slow scan tv decoder and encoder and they will hook you up. The guys in the ham-radio community are always nice and helpful.

[@25143J2]

It'd be awesome if you were able to do the same with video😁

[@trevisonclark7135]

How do you get color? Mine does it in black and white?

[@heavymetalATC]

Must be the particular slow scan tv encoder or decoder you are using. If you hit up a ham-radio or sstv facebook group or forum and ask for a link to a color sstv decoder and encoder they will hook you up with something better than what I was using. Those guys live for this stuff and are always helpful and nice. Also thank you for taking the time to watch and leave a comment always appreciated.

[@petloveinjapan]

Anyone have any idea that the program websites he used?

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you so much for watching and taking the time to comment Petlove. From what I can remember I used the programs found on this website: www.dxzone.com/best-sstv-software/

[@zsewqthewolf1194]

i think the picture would be more clearer if you just use 2 colors black and white

[@cooldude-jb3gx]

Idea: Try Putting An MP3 Onto The Tape! Not Like, Record Music To Tape, But The Actual Data Of An Mp3 To Tape, Then Play It Back And Decode It As Digital Audio. I've Heard That You Can Get Something Like 13kbs In Real Time. Have Not Seen Anyone Try That Yet.

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you for watching and for taking the time to write this awesome and intelligent comment Cool Dude. That is an awesome comment and an amazing Idea, store digital data on there like an old PC tape drive but let it be an MP3 and decode in real time. I don't know how this could be done and I don't currently have the expertise to pull it off but i will look into the subject and see what I can figure out. I'm going to put this in my notes and if/when I can pull it off and make a video I will give you a shout-out. Thanks again that is a Fantastic suggestion!

[@chuckblack8227]

I love you

[@heavymetalATC]

Thank you honey but I am married LOL. Thanks for watching Chuck and taking the time to leave the kindest of complements one can receive.

[@MatthewGreasley]

Just like on my Commodore VIC-20 back in the 1980's...

[@heavymetalATC]

Yes and like back in the day it takes forever. My first computer was a Tandy. Thank you for watching.

[@AmstradExin]

I think the Spectrum did this ALOT faster. :)

[@heavymetalATC]

Agreed as well as Tandy 1000 and C64. It really makes me think of the possibilities of things like a pirate radio station that could give out computer games, secret documents or porn through the radio waves... But, I think thats called the internet now LOL Thank you for watching and taking the time to leave a comment.

[@AmstradExin]

@@heavymetalATC No problem. Just think of these old devices where you can back up GIGABYTES onto a VHS Tape. I remember these HD Video Tapes that stored an MPEG2 stream with about 2 hours of either 720p or 1080i. Analog has its downsides I guess. (:

[@vincenticyfiregeetar7656]

no beautiful bean footage?

[@themastergambiarraofc7925]

sounds like a printer

[@heavymetalATC]

It really does doesn't it. Its annoying as heck if the volume is over a whisper.

[@scottybrown8640]

adjust your sound you can get much better quality than that