Revisiting Post Office Commpak carts with a back projector

[@Techmoan]

This is my last video release in January 2024 - the next video will be out in February. Thanks for watching.

[@aeiouxs]

Thanks Mat - hope all good with you, and you can relax/recharge/regroup :)

[@Techmoan]

Thanks - just need a week off as well as a chance to catch up on a few offline things.

[@aeiouxs]

Well deserved Mat!@@Techmoan

[@davinadavina1331]

@@Techmoan i want to send you my sony sports walkman "white" with autoreverse and analog tuner

[@chrisw443]

@@Techmoan hope you get some rest mate!

[@hignaki]

Pleasepleasepleaseplease capture these and put them up on the internet archive! This is a time period that has had most of its content didappear due to shoddy recording formats and lack of interest, but I guarantee you that it will make some archivist's day (me)

[@medes5597]

If he does that, he better make sure he has permission of the museum to archive their material on the IA. Not every museum wants their material on there.

[@Tetrapharma]

@@medes5597 Ah yes. Better allow every podunk museum to horde material and not allow other researchers and the general public to view it.

[@Retroman8077]

Then your gonna love what I got in the attic

[@GizzyDillespee]

He said the museum was planning to send them to the landfill, so instead they sold the cartridges to him. The museum doesn't seem to be interested in preserving this history on their own... unless they sold the tapes with the understanding that the museum would retain sole ownership of any digital copies... but if they wanted that outcome, they'd be paying for digitization services rather than selling the cartridges outright.

[@rich_edwards79]

​@@medes5597I think that (given recent events) Mat would probably have more to worry about from the post office themselves than the museum that sent him the stuff. Apparently they have quite the propensity for prosecuting people :(

[@HandyAndyTechTips]

I'm always amazed by how he makes a 'niche-within-niche' topic into a 20+ minute video that is fascinating from beginning to end. Quite an incredible skill, and undoubtedly part of the reason why this is one of the best channels on the platform.

[@boardsort]

Yes this!

[@shayne87]

@@boardsort Yes! Adam Savage's channel had a Tefifon recently in a thumbnail and I instantly recognized it by knew the name, that it was german, that it also came in a rare stereo version, etc all from Techmoan as I'd never even heard of it before

[@jilmarit]

In comparison, there are other channels, where You think ”is that all You got out of that subject?”. This channel, never that problem - just right amount of details.

[@sboinkthelegday3892]

It would be nice eventually to see a breakdown of use-case possibilities in the Rabbit R1, from this perspective for ancillary hardware like DACs and Walkmans. Even as just a command line entry device without a keyboard, I'm pretty curious about it. Assuming LAM won't end up being straight up a sham product, which is still possible.

[@n6vcw]

Couldn't agree more!

[@FunzieOne]

I'm always grateful for the no BS approach of this channel. I hate when youtubers need to insert fake stakes or drama. A breath of fresh air you are

[@marctronixx]

gotta agree

[@MistahJigglah]

"You won't believe what I found when I opened this 50 year old...."

[@armchairgeneralissimo]

It was nice to see one of these old machines arrive in fully functional condition.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

@@MistahJigglah”customs banned me from getting this, but i got one anyway!”

[@nijasty]

Post Office Technology - always topical!

[@SteveeCee]

😂

[@-IE_it_yourself]

we aint going anywhere

[@nijasty]

@@-IE_it_yourself I'm the same

[@edwardalexander9486]

Don't mention the H word...

[@Laukiepaukie]

No software in this device....

[@TiberentenTV]

I never saw one of these at a post office in Germany, but we had one in our local savings bank (Sparkasse) in the early nineties: It was built into a small walk-in cabinet with a little bench in it and came with two shower-head style handheld receivers instead of a loudspeaker. It was meant for the children of customers while they themselves queued or were being counselled. The machine presented fairytales and phantastic stories, accompanied by drawn or painted images or photographs of puppets in dioramas. To me as a child, it was always a treat to listen to the machine while my mother stood in the cash queue, and I was quite sad when they finally installed a cash machine outside in the wall of the building and we didn't have to go inside anymore to withdraw money.

[@mbirth]

13:40 Fun fact: The address still shows a 4-digit zip code ("D5270" - the D is for "Deutschland"). Germany switched to 5-digit zip codes in 1993, so this is from before that time. Today, Gummersbach has the zip codes 51643, 51645 and 51647 - depending on the district/area of the city.

[@Jorvik-The-Poor]

"Have you ever considered an exciting career with the Post Office? Join today and you too could spend your life in prison!"

[@PascalGienger]

Do you mean that scandal with the faulty software but the Post Office blamed every franchisee for cheating/stealing money? Fujitsu Horizon IT?

[@j.dietrich]

Regarding the export issues, La Belle were a subcontractor for the US Department of Defense. They made a variety of pressed metal parts for military use, including magazines for the M4 carbine. Completely plausible that someone in the customs process would look up the maker's name and refuse to export it out of caution.

[@joeblow5214]

ITAR strikes again!

[@kutter_ttl6786]

With how wide-ranging US corporations can be, I can see this scenario happening more than once. Customs Agent: Sir, someone is trying to ship some vintage Ball mason jars outside the US. Manager: Isn't Ball a major aerospace supplier to NASA and the DoD? Customs Agent: Yes. Manager: EXPORT DENIED!

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

It's hilarious that you can export civilian firearms from the U.S. but not a slide projector.

[@joeblow5214]

@@hyperturbotechnomike ITAR actually makes this excessively hard..

[@hyperturbotechnomike]

​@@joeblow5214 There are import services which will handle the purchase, paperwork, and registration. I have a friend, which imported some sort of special edition of a modern M1 carbine as a sporting rifle and he had no complaints. Went without any hiccups. I helped my wife importing a self loading hunting rifle and a revolver, which she has inherited from her parents and grandparents. It was much more complicated (many years before the current situation).

[@video99couk]

I had some of these from the Post Office, advertising National Savings. I ran the audio tape on an 8-track and my friend Chris Squires scanned the 16mm Film. We then joined the pictures and sound back together with excellent results.

[@JZikovsky]

Did you transfer the magnetic tape to a regular 8-track cartridge to play it?

[@romangiertych5198]

Lovely! I was about to suggest a film scanner for this. Is there anything those can be found? I tried checking your youtube channel, but wasn't able to find it.

[@djhrecordhound4391]

The process would be much more interesting to watch than the final results.

[@joemck85]

You have to put the tape into an 8-track cartridge for that, right? At that point wouldn't it be simpler to spool it onto a reel-to-reel machine?

[@video99couk]

@@JZikovsky Yes, I transplanted the tape to a normal 8-track cart.

[@6052rj]

I believe that the unit was developed to US military specifications by La Belle as a government contractor so I guess that's why it's still on a no export list - and also how the UK Government owned Post Office got hold of the system too

[@dieseldragon6756]

If this technology was being used mainly for military and government applications though - As its U.S. export bar appears to suggest - I'm very surprised the Post Office were allowed to exhibit it publicly by using it for advertising purposes. As soon as any privy personnel from the U.S. saw one of those in a UK Post Office, they'd have been dashing to the nearest payphone - Then the next nearest, as BT never could keep those things in working order ;-) - and calling their superiors about it right away. ☎ The _Prepper_ part of my mind wonders if there might've been some civil defence related desire to have these in situ all over the country ready for deployment in the event of a national emergency - A nuclear attack, for example - Where Post Offices might've been employed as local communication centres. If that was the intent - And these had a risk of failing in storage/if not used for a while (I'm looking at *You,* Seagate! ☝) - Perhaps using them as ad screens was viewed the best way to ensure that would be operable in their moment of need. 👍

[@davidg4288]

Imagine if Communist China should get their hands on this advanced US technology!

[@MytronixOfficial]

@mipmipmipmipmip Its possible, but the Adress on the German Sticker points to a residential Area, so it was probably some sort of traveling Salesman that did the Service. Since he WAS some sort of Lamp Salesman and the Sticker is on the inside he probably did service on it and not use it for his own sales presentations. It being a GE Lamp also isnt an indication that the Lamp wasnt chaged, GE Lamps of similar types werent uncommon in Germany until recently when everything got replaced by LEDs. However its unlikely that Mr. Zoepf worked on US Military Tech. The old Zipcode also dates the Sticker Pre-1990, so probably while this unit was still in active use and not after it had been thrown out. In 1989 and before this wasnt "VIntage", it was either still in use or garbage. Now it could have been sold by a US Base in Germany before our Lamp Salesman got hold of it, but wo is the Buyer? Noone could make their own Tapes for it. Its much more likely that a small number of these, between 50 and 500 (enough to make the Tapes, not enough that many survived) got bought by a german Company and used for Sales Pitches by other traveling salesman, anything from Insurance to Vacuum Cleaners. It being on the black list for exports in the UK indicates either a clerical error or, more likely since this isnt any special tech by itself, some Cartridges contain sensible Information. Now, since the Cartridge has no security on itself and getting the contents of one would als be really easy even with the Tech back then and without having the main playback unit, even that seems unlikely. But is possible and would explain some secrecy around the Device itself.

[@pcno2832]

The machine that the UK Post Office used, shown at 18:57, seems to be of a different brand than La Bell, so it's likely that the format was not a classified technology, but the player used by the U.S. military, for whatever reason, was.

[@PascalGienger]

LaBelle was widespread in Germany and France. Even my school back in time had them for presentations. All imported from the US. I am sure these are units whose serial numbers are on a list of government-owned property. So a county, city, state government auction site sold those units but forgot to remove them from the property list. This happened to me with a 16mm movie projector I legally bought, but it was still marked as owned by the federal government. It had the decommissioned stamp and papers but still was on the list. Eventually I got this sorted out.

[@UncommonEphemera]

Hi Mat, I am working to preserve the format this is based on (it was called sound filmstrip and used an external soundtrack on record or cassette). Once you have copies of all of them the way you’re doing it, please look into properly scanning the film and assembling the audio and frames in a video editor. In the same way 16mm movies would be transferred to digital and not just filmed playing on a screen. Don’t hesitate to reach out if I can help in any way. This stuff is super-rare and Comm-Pak was used in more places than the Post Office, including the U.S. Army for a while.

[@SockyNoob]

Hope he sees this

[@wright96d]

It would also negate the need to get the video settings just right this time around. Just need the video for timing reference to edit the scans to.

[@sootikins]

In my experience he reads and answers email sent to the address listed on his channel's About page. I think you stand a much better chance of getting his attention that way than by hoping he sees your comment.

[@festivitycat]

23:07 £20.95 (inc postage and packing) in 1985 for a VHS tape would cost about £84 today. Worth every penny, ma'am

[@rich_edwards79]

The BoE inflation calculator put it at 70 quid. But yeah, the Royals are great value for money 😂

[@oambrosia]

I had the same thought.

[@kildogery]

Thanks for doing the maths. Absolutely bonkers.

[@dieseldragon6756]

Blimey! I under-computed the inflation adjusted cost at £60,- in my comment (For 2023 Sterling) and that alone made me want to run to the toilet in shock... 📼🇬🇧💸😳

[@mumiemonstret]

Also: You have to go to the post office, fill out a form and pay, and then wait for your cassette to be delivered. "Easy, isn't it?" Eeh, they haven't heard of stores that actually has the goods in stock so you could bring it with you..?

[@perrybarton]

14:37 Best pad-replacement music ever. 😎

[@MadBiker-vj5qj]

Hanging a big heavy coat over these things improved them immensely. It would muffle the sound beautifully, and get a grin from the poor long-suffering staff.

[@summarity]

The slow demonic voice of the slow speed setting might be more representative of the Post Office after all 😅

[@zlatkovujevic7348]

When I hear that voice I always remember the movie "Good morning Vietnam", when Robin Williams plays a record on wrong speed and he makes a joke about it.

[@MitsuhashiTakashi]

us customs

[@chris1275cc]

I immediately imagined it saying "Horizon is a robust system" 🤣

[@Kafj302]

should post them like that as well, and let us hear the demons tell us about things.

[@davidg4288]

@@Kafj302 Maybe if you play it backwards there are special messages!

[@Chickenbreadlp]

That sticker with the address is most definitely *very* old. It still uses a 4 digit postal code prefixed only by a D for Germany. This dates back to before the reunification, after which the old 4 digit postal codes were (briefly) prefixed W- for west and O- for east, before the now current 5 digit system was introduced...

[@telocho]

Unification was 1989, so now you make me feel very old. I remember vividly what was going on, even though being from Holland. This device is from the eighties, so yes before unification, and I was a teenager like Matt back then.

[@EthanCain]

It may not be a glorious job, but archiving and recording the history of these things is an amazingly noble thing. So much technical history is lost to time now. Keep up the good work!

[@ut4321]

My father formed a business around this machine in the U.S. Pre-Internet and pre-personal computer, you could see virtual real estate tours of houses on the market. Each house had photos shot, they’d make the film strip, and record the narration. I remember some rapid-flip “animation” too, perhaps 3-4 frames. I think this was mid-to-late 1970s…

[@bjmorley]

23:12 - Nice Morris Ital van!

[@jennythescouser]

If you run out of space to store it, you could always 'loan' it out to The Postal Museum in that there London. They may even give you and the Missus a free ride on the underground Mail Rail train.

[@TheCOZ]

I don't think I want a ride on the "underground mail rail train". Free or not!

[@bostonrailfan2427]

@@TheCOZit’s actually a fun ride

[@tenchuu007]

I was starting to wonder what channel I was on when there was nothing broken on it! Never saw one as a child on my trips to the UK as far as I remember, but maybe that's a blessing.

[@Techmoan]

You're not the only one. If something is working properly, I have to wonder what's wrong with it.

[@Tadfafty]

A comment left twelve hours before the video was made public.

[@Audiorevue]

​@@Tadfaftyhe puts the videos out early on his patreon, and people can comment there on them

[@kidShibuya]

They really need to start selling "untested" or "junk" items as influencer specials.

[@stpworld]

This reminds me of my dukane film strip viewer it uses a cassette for sound and then 35 mm film for picutres. I have scooby doo and a donald duck one. @@Techmoan

[@janjkey]

I'm American but I find these fascinating. Please upload these when finished. I absolutely love your channel. It's one of the ways I start my Saturday with coffee and your latest video. Keep up the good work sir.

[@cinesanctuary]

I bought a film scanner from the US about 12 years ago and the manufacturer had to declare it on customs as a second hand film projector with no mention of the hd camera section. So maybe the taxation category or the fact it combines film and audio in a form that enables a copyable output is the problem for customs. Great content many thanks. The transfer quality is good.

[@paul_boddie]

Indeed, do not underestimate the influence of the "content" and other litigation-happy industries when it comes to import and export matters.

[@kcgunesq]

I wondered if maybe it was the manufacturer that was causing the issue. Given that it isn't a household name, I wonder if perhaps they made equipment for the military as well and thus anything with that name simply gets flagged. Since no one wants to bother actually investigating, they just refuse it.

[@PascalGienger]

I sent a Super 8 movie projector to France from the US and it posed no problem at all. What can be is that devices who are owned by federal agencies or the military and turn out on yard sales cause problems when their serial numbers are still in the database of national and state property

[@v3tritium582]

I bought on ebay Uniden radio in october of 2021, but a month later same model was stopped twice from two different sellers, even before it reached export customs. Is it problem with new shipping services from ebay or something else - ebay experience is not the same as years ago.

[@electrosoundaust]

I tried to by some plain blank BASF tapes (Reel to Reel) that were sealed new old stock many years ago from the US, and they were stopped. I came across the listing a couple of months later and there was an ebay (not the seller) notice saying not for export. I often get things from Mouser/Element 14/Digikey with restricted notices on the packaging. I'm in Australia.

[@Gappasaurus]

As far as yellowed plastic goes, i think this is a rather pleasant shade and compliments the darker portion of the case nicely, with an appropriate late ‘70s aesthetic 😁

[@Jeff-jr4xw]

I thought it was the original color until he mentioned it was yellowed

[@monkeytennis7477]

It's a very nice, appropriate color scheme. Nothing wrong with it. 😁

[@Spearca]

It's the natural life cycle of this type of plastic (with added bromine) that was widely used for electronics cases in the era.

[@philtowle4683]

Love the post office van, my dad used to work for the post office and collected model post office vans.

[@21x9Ratio]

@techmoan You saying arse at the slow speed gave proper James may vibes 😂😂

[@sprint955st]

4:36 ‘Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, do….’ HAL 9000 morphs into Frank Bough

[@James_Hough]

"Stamps from our favorite pantomimes..." Wow....just wow.

[@8_Bit]

Neat to see that projector was made in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin where I attended the excellent Midwest Gaming Classic from 2006-2009. I helped with the vintage computer museum, and there were loads of game consoles, pinball, and arcade machines there. I even saw Billy Mitchell play Donkey Kong there, and he was really good at it and not cheating from what I could tell :)

[@stepheng8779]

Reliable Post Office technology, what a novelty. Obviously not made by Fujitsu.

[@nooneinpart]

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a comment about Fujitsu under something about the post office. Are they universally terrible or something?

[@NotATube]

@@nooneinpart Google "british post office horizon scandal fujitsu" or something like that and I'm sure you'll find out what the connection is. It's been all over the news recently, because it suddenly became a big deal due to a recent TV drama even though knowledge of the flaws in the Post Office/Fujitsu "Horizon" system and wrongful convictions associated with it have been known about for 15+ years and they didn't give a damn for most of that time.

[@stevecole90099]

@@nooneinpart Search for "British Post Office scandal". Fujitsu cost over 900 subpostmasters their jobs, money, sanity, freedom, or their lives by failing to disclose that their accounting software contained bugs and the Post Office officials did nothing to investigate the issues or reports from their subpostmasters. Its actually back in the new because I believe the government has decided that Fujitsu is actually to blame for the whole situation and should finally be held accountable.

[@markgoldspink5109]

@@nooneinpart If you're not in the UK, you've missed on destroyed lives and prison sentences for no reason all down to Post Office/Fujitsu. It's a hell of a story.

[@vurpo7080]

@@nooneinpart Fujitsu delivered a broken computer system to the Post Office meant for (among other things) managing money at local post offices. It had errors in the accounting, which led the Post Office to accuse hundreds of these local post office employees of embezzlement and fraud. Hundreds of them were prosecuted and convicted of fraud, leading to ruined lives and some suicides, even though Fujitsu knew from the very beginning that it might be their fault.

[@rich_edwards79]

I don't know why, but i can imagine old Protect and Survive films being played on this, in the tense build-up to a Threads-style nuclear holocaust. 'Mine is the last voice you will ever hear. Do not be alarmed!'

[@JCBeastie]

It's like a real Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; retro as hell, cool as shit!

[@nickvickers3486]

And mostly harmless!

[@someoneelse7629]

When I was a kid in the 70's, one of the barbers in town had a kids corner with something that looked identical to this, but played Super8 movies with sound, when a mom was getting a haircut, he set it up as a projector so her kids would sit still/be quiet, if a kid was having a haircut he could set it up in "TV mode" in front of them. But rumour has it that it was mostly used in TV mode after closing to watch more "adult" material... I got to know the barber, and I was always welcome in to watch a movie and have a cup of choccolate/tea from his Jedematic hot beverage machine.

[@jimcarlson4745]

I'm eagerly awaiting your archival footage of these cassettes! Both the content and the format are such a fascinating time capsule of the period in which they were produced, even if it's nothing but ads for post office merch.

[@TigerAceSullivan]

it makes me so happy that youve taken the time and money to make sure the contents of these cartridges are preserved!

[@bradnelson3595]

Now I know where Eric Idle got his "official-mode" voice inflections. A lot of the voice-overs sort of sounded like him.

[@LeeAudioAddictz]

can i suggest that you run the recorded audio past a hpf high pass filter , and cut everything out below 70hz .. will remove the mains hum and any rumble and give you much cleaner audio in the vocal range ... you could also ad a lpf low pass filter and take off everything over about 16khz .. that would remove a great deal of the hiss :) thanks as always for a fantastic video

[@kkpdk]

Some/most of that hum might be coming from capacitive coupling in the isolation transformer (There's likely ~115V across the barrier). One could try tying the grounds together (preferably using ground points not in the audio path) to get rid of it, as it will also have harmonics of it in the vocal range

[@Hugmir]

The faithful archivisation of all the material with all of its signal may take priority over fine post-filtering.

[@bjornolson6527]

@@kkpdkI’d expect proper grounding as suggested will do the trick, and retain best audio (notorious for phono/line issues).

[@Name-oz8zr]

18:06 It might be better to just connect a single channel input of the converter to the speaker output. Two 8 Ω inputs in parallel result in a 4 Ω input. So you again have an impedance mismatch between the 8 Ω speaker output and the converter.

[@mxslick50]

Those converters usually have a relatively high impedance and don't actually present an 8 ohm load, so the paralelling in this case isn't a problem. Also if the impedance is too low on equipment of that era and style, the output would really be low or super distorted.

[@alexatkin]

@@mxslick50 I'm more curious if he can fix the humm, grounding issue?

[@Name-oz8zr]

@@mxslick50 Interesting, and it totally makes sense to have a higher resistance so you don’t dump all the power of your amplifier into that small converter box.

[@robertschnobert9090]

4:52 techmoan cursing! 😮

[@GeneSavage]

Go back to 1985, and I'm being drug into a post office by my parents, and we're shifting from one foot to the next waiting in line... I promise you these changing pictures and audio with voice and music would have consumed all my attention! I would have considered this a lifesaver, preventing me from EXPLODING with boredom. It would be nice to get some sort of negative scanner that could scan the original frames, although I suppose you'd have to destroy the cartridge and film loop to do something like that. Still, my ears really perked up at the date mention, and this was more interesting to me than you might have thought. Truly a time capsule of how much could be done at the time with surprisingly little. Clever all the way around!

[@bortflong5734]

I can't express how badly I want to relive the history of pantomime through stamps for Christmas

[@stepheng8779]

Oh no you don't.....

[@wilneal8015]

What?!? No Pantomime Horse⚠️🏁😢😮🛡️🧐

[@me2olive]

@@stepheng8779 Oh yes they do!

[@FuzzballRenakitty]

For under a quid no less!

[@Noxedwin]

Just straight up pantominin with the homies.

[@Caroline_Tyler]

I remember standing in a huge queue at the post office with one on these things booming out on a huge red plastic encased screen. Oh gosh it was so repetitive and dull!!! Looks like the internal optics could do with a clean up before you archive them all.

[@mykelevangelista6492]

Yeah, I remember being irritated by them, too. The terrible thing was that there was no real way to block the audio, not even with a Walkman. The audio on the Post Office machines were usually set too loud, at least in the ones I used.

[@TerryClarkAccordioncrazy]

Yes I recall it at Portsmouth post office. Bad enough that the queue was so long, and this just added extra annoyance and stress.

[@belstar1128]

i don't remember this one but waiting in line at the post office really makes me apricate modern technology.

[@rogerking7258]

Fascinating piece of social history. I now know that once upon a time the Post Office was a beloved institution that used to sell reasonably priced stamps and wasn't trying to ruin people's lives (or even encouraging them to take their own lives).

[@MichaelWilson-fg9df]

I remember in 5th grade (Florida, USA, 1991), it was an honor among classmates to be chosen as the "slide turner." I wasn't the techie then that I am today, so all I remember is that it was probably science, probably 35mm filmstrip, and that there was a tape cassette that played a "BEEP" or "bOnG" when it was time for the student to advance the slide. this reminds me so much of those educational sessions that I'd suggest that the US versions of this were used for the same thing back then.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

these were automatic, the slide projector was not…this is a cross between the slide projectors and film projectors

[@joonglegamer9898]

Absolutely smashing, I love it. The sound is pretty decent too. Imagine if this thing was sold to school as a tutoring device, or at home for telling bedtime stories in say the 60 and 70s, I'm sure it would have been a hit.

[@force311999]

we had them in school it was called "the mind" , used the 1.7/8 speed but we found the switch and could play one track of our 8 track tapes on it they were in study carrel type desks in the library

[@joonglegamer9898]

@@force311999 Nice, that makes a whole lot of sense. I don't remember them since We didn't have those back in the 70s when I was a kid, but hey, different strokes.

[@petercarter9034]

Very interesting Mat, just shows all things come to those who wait, it certainly paid off thank you for showing this 'vintage' system

[@TokyoScarab]

Great vid Mat! I realized something when you did the tear down of the German machine and showed the light bulb. You said the bulb in the machine looked to be the original bulb and if that's true, I know why you couldn't get a machine shipped from the US. The light bulb showed contains mercury and afaik, that can be a big issue as far as the USPS is concerned and maybe that's why it kept getting flagged in customs.

[@RundFyrkant]

6:39 "A hundred and five decibel siren will be activated"

[@dieseldragon6756]

I remember seeing this advertised in a Post Office as a child, and they'd dropped the alarm level down to 99dB. Obviously there was a cost-of-living crisis at the time (Much like todays) but does making an alarm _quieter_ make it seem more _affordable?..._ 🙃

[@vink6163]

@@dieseldragon6756 3 dB is half/double the power so if they dropped it by 6 dB that means it uses four times less power - so maybe they could use a smaller, cheaper siren?

[@thedarkknight1971]

05:16 - OVERKILL switch switching tool.... 😏😉🤣🤣🤣 😎🇬🇧

[@1969longshanks]

I found it fascinating, thank you. That Queen cassette was bloody expensive!

[@BBC600]

Yes, and you also have to consider you needed the equipment to play the tape too.

[@1969longshanks]

@@BBC600 the queen tape? It was vhs

[@rich_edwards79]

​​@@BBC600yep, a VCR back then would set you back around a grand in todays money (though prices did fall very quickly in the latter half of the 1980s - we were late to the VHS party, and paid around £300 for a Sanyo deck in 1987.)

[@AtheistOrphan]

@@1969longshanks- Yes, a VHS (video) tape!

[@FuzzballRenakitty]

@@BBC600 Many were probably renting at this point in time right?

[@whyywhy]

I have one of these units that was given to me by a dental office. It came with a cartridge titled, “Let’s Meet the Dentist” =) pretty cool! Great video!

[@mr.frogman9939]

Thanks to watching your videos, I have gotten deep into the repairing odd electronics... Currently got a grundig en3 that needs some work to, quite literally, get up to speed. And also a teac portastudio 144, and 244, acquired free but in unknown condition, so fairly grubby and needing repairs. Watching a video like this is rather refreshing in comparison, lovely to see this curious format working as well as it should! Cheers from New Zealand mate.

[@rich_edwards79]

Same, I was recently given a stack of old JVC hifi separates from the late 70s and with the help of Techmoan / the KZbin vintage electronics community in general, have repaired the turntable and tape deck to working condition. Pre-KZbin, I'd have never had the confidence to open them up, far less start poking around inside, and in the absence of the little neighbourhood repair shops that used to keep these things going before the age of planned obsolescence, they'd have likely ended up in landfill. I love that this thoroughly modern format is helping people keep old kit from the past alive!

[@davidwayneprins]

I live in the states and have never seen one of these. I remember ones in school (early to mid 1980s) that used 35mm film strips with a separate audio cassette. The cassettes usually had the same narration on both sides with one having audible tones for advancing the frame and the other having an inaudible tone for automatic advancing.

[@AaronOfMpls]

Oh yah, I remember those filmstrips, growing up in the '80s and '90s. **BOOP!** Not all the projectors had the auto-advance -- or had it working. **BOOP!** So the teacher or a student might have to do it themselves at the tone. **BOOP!**

[@mar4kl]

I never saw one of those EMC/La Belle systems, either, despite growing up in the USA from the mid 1960s through the early '80s. I remember those 35mm film strip projectors you mention, though, and they are exactly what I was thinking while watching the video! The small-town school system I attended in the 1970s used them extensively for grades K through 12. Most of the ones the school had were no-frills models, where the teacher had to play the audio on a record player or cassette player and manually advance the film when the tone sounded. However, when I was in 6th grade, grades K through 5 moved out of the main building and into a new building, and one of the old Kindergarten classrooms was turned into a Media Center for a couple of years, where we (6th through 8th grades) could sign up for Media Center time. They dumped a bunch of the oldest film strip projectors in there, and some of those had toys I'd never seen before, like remote control film advance buttons and the ability to auto-advance when it detected the tone (or any ambient noise that sounded close enough to the tone, which might have had something to do with why the newer projectors were all manually advanced). Anyway, given the 1985 date on these post office cartridges that Techmoan showed, my first thought was that maybe these cartridge systems were developed in the dying days of 8-track as a way to try to sell off some surplus 8-track mechanisms. However, the Museum of Obsolete Media states that they were developed in the 1960s, which would have been the early days of 8-track. In addition to being used by the military for playing training videos, they also seem to have been used by large corporations, like McDonalds, for the same purpose. The only reasons I can think of why I never saw one in school would have been price and lack of marketing to schools.

[@shaun5552]

We had those when I was at school here in Australia. From memory the name on the machine was "Dukane" or something similar.

[@mar4kl]

@@shaun5552, cool! Yes, I also remember seeing Dukane's brand name in school, but mostly on movie screens. Maybe they marketed these cartridge machines to school systems in Australia and possibly other countries as well, but not (so much) in the USA. A quick online search suggests that they're still around and have branched into other areas.

[@RaccoonHenry]

the start of the audio got a good chuckle out of me - much needed after a terrible week. thanks, Mat!

[@RaccoonHenry]

the ad for the tape about Queen Elizabeth was very funny too! especially being aware of the shots of the dejected post lady 😂🤣

[@RogueNationVideos]

So happy for you to receive good recognition from no other than Adam Savage!

[@AaronOfMpls]

Indeed -- and I'm kinda surprised he hadn't seen the Tefifon videos already. 😀

[@inotsmarty5700]

PERFECT TIMING! I just watched the first video yesterday and now I get this!

[@ncsupi]

I remember a Flying Circus (and maybe more than one) that used joke title cards in sketches that seemed styled very much like in the Grattan catalogue. Was that a specific reference to this machine? Or just a general riff on a common visual trope on TV and educational films and whatnot?

[@Pallethands]

I like how the tone to advance the slide still leaks through and is audible

[@only1ydk]

4:53 The “ass” sent me 😂 Glad to see the machine function as intended.

[@monkeytennis7477]

I missed that the first time 😂 thanks for pointing it out 😝

[@dlovasy]

It's "arse". In British English, it's apparently a touch milder than "ass". I remember one of the kids in "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" mentioning someone's "fat arse" during a game of Quidditch. 😄

[@koppadasao]

Crazy queen! Out on a walk in Scotland she met some Americans who wondered if she knew the queen. She, of course, answered no, but told them that her traveling companion did. Afterwards she posed with them for a picture, and bid them a good day. I guess they had an interesting shock when showing off their vacation pictures to their friends...

[@fgaviator]

Recent chatter in the customs/export control office: "What is this thing?" "Seems to be a laptop of sorts. Has a screen built into a suitcase. I tried booting it. Didn't work. Also tried connecting with Bluetooth or Wifi. Nothing." "So probably some advanced, secret technology. A suitcase for spies." "Yeah. Can't allow this to leave the country..."

[@PatricioGarcia1973]

I think it could not get in the Uk, it left the US fine. I would assume a 1980s technology wouldn't have a problem in customs, its not like it infringes on any copyright or competing tech...

[@dieseldragon6756]

@@PatricioGarcia1973 Some discussions under other comments appear to suggest that perhaps CommPak devices were made a controlled technology under U.S. regulations - It seems they might've been used by military and government organisations, so might not have been available commercially - And if that was the case you'd require a licence to export them from the United States, even in todays age of chips-in-everything... 🍟 (And when you think about it; Something _without_ chips in it has potential applications in a tech-dominated world, which might be why the export ban is still in place.)

[@MasterYoshidino]

In laymens terms imagine Ninja Gaiden for the NES where at the beginning of Act III a CIA agent "Smith" gives a lot of exposition via a device like this. Can't have people using government secret tech, can we?

[@marcusborderlands6177]

​@@PatricioGarcia1973letting a foreign national look through gen 3 night vision from the early 1990s is still a felony. The US doesn't ever really declassify technology. Plus the company thatade these also made equipment for the DOD, so it's probably just under a blanket ban for tech from that company from that era.

[@bostonrailfan2427]

or simply sellers didn’t file the paperwork to state that they were exporters, so got denied because of that

[@Dungeonseeker1uk]

As much as I love a good broken to fixed story, the history of these weird formats is just as interesting. Plus there's always the preservation angle too, these once lost films will now be saved forever.

[@reenk44]

I've heard nothing but good things about the UK post office lately.

[@rich_edwards79]

Circling the drain, same as everything else (BBC, NHS, Home Office, DWP) in this benighted country.

[@Noxedwin]

Sailing towards only the best Horizons!

[@Recordology]

I love the music you used for the pad replacement montage! Sounds like Benny Goodman!

[@BobBell808]

As a yank, who knew that the British Post Office in the 20 century was the UK.'s Dollar General Store? Two opinions: 1) I think the 2-speed feature was an addition added to extend the natural time limit of the 8-track, to give longer narratives. 2) I'm thinking that the outer golden coating was closer to the intended color. It looked to me that there were 2 different pieces of plastic, with the beige underneath and the goldenrod on top of it. I thought it was a pleasing combination.

[@soliquid3420]

This looks like it could be dressed to fit in 70's science-fiction films ie: Alien and Star Wars. It has a real grit to it. Absolutely beautiful machine.

[@yehnahthx]

I think you could eliminate the audio hum if you ground the line level convertor. Connect a reasonably thick wire (like from an unused 240v power cable) from the metal case of the convertor to the ground pin on an unused power socket. Based on its case, it is designed to be installed on a grounded backplane inside another device. If the hum changes but doesn't disappear, you may have to ground the headphone amp as well.

[@lucidnonsense942]

I think the problem you're going to have is that the projector's audio circuit has a floating ground. Without tidying that up, you'll end up with just a different hum.

[@martifingers]

Yes although it should easily be removed in post using something like iZotope plug-ins or Adobe Audition etc.

[@AdamJRichardson]

I want to hear the Post Office announcer doing the famous Monty Python sketch: "Does your wife like photography? Holiday snaps? Could be yes - swimming costumes. Know what I mean. Say no more! Candid photography. Know what I mean, nudge nudge. Wink wink.... Ask at the counter."

[@daveash9572]

Seeing the business end of that cartridge made me remember a toy i used to have which was a projector. It played very short films. The films had a similar style of container, with an angled mirror built in to the cartridge, and thinking about it, must have been an endless loop. I particularly remenber a disney film on that toy, which featured one of the famous disney characters, riding in a towed caravan, whereby the caravan gets detatched from the towing vehicle, and the caravan rolled back down a hill and across a level crossing, narrowly missing a train. I shall have to see if i can dig it out.

[@mxslick50]

I have the super 8mm film of that particular cartoon, called "(certain mouse of fame's) Trailer". Unfortunately it is badly scratched.

[@dieseldragon6756]

I had a similar toy at one point, which I _think_ featured Pluto on the film. Physically, it looked similar to a compact 110 film camera, and the film loop loaded into it in a similar way as well. I can also say that I've chanced across a version of these made for more mature audiences by accident, and it was after I reached that age myself I finally understood how I had innocently misinterpreted the word _Chippendale_ 🔞 for the cartoon _Chip 'n' Dale_ 🐿🙃

[@JanklebeeGumpstump]

I think the beige player framing the slideshow content is perfect, and places the footage in its moment in time. No changes necessary, great job.

[@paulcharlton4788]

£20.95! Thats a lot of money for a video even today! I wonder how many they sold?

[@rich_edwards79]

You'd be surprised... the Brits love their Royals, you only have to look at all the ads for commemorative plates and coins in the Daily Mail weekend supplements, cheap tat sold to the gullible for extortionate prices, to see that. £20 in early 1980s money would equate to about £70 today (according to the BoE inflation calculator). And even if you were an ardent monarchist, how many times would you realistically watch this thing? Fools and their money eh!

[@dieseldragon6756]

At that price (About £75,- in todays money) I imagine they sold very few indeed. 💸 Thinking back to a similar mistake made by Atari respect of a game featuring an extra terrestrial being; I wonder where all of the unsold cassettes might have been buried? 📼👾😉

[@mutfol]

⁠The unsold cassettes probably ended up in a bargain bin at some point.

[@abdelali9279]

This is quite the interesting media and quite the unique aesthetic, basically marrying 2 different media formats to create a new audiovisual media for a niche solution is quite fascinating, something that now can be done with a hastily put MP4 played on a cheap flat LCD panel, was then done with quite an amazing piece of engineering.

[@EoinJones]

His most optimistic hope was an ad for Hula Hoops, and even that was dashed.

[@jblyon2]

Just what I always wanted for Christmas, gifts from the Post Office!

[@Noxedwin]

I'm sure the sub-postmasters enjoyed getting their Christmas cards through the post. But why did they use such ominous and threatening verbiage about "missing money"?

[@HoratioChinn]

£20.95 for a video of the queen. That's probably equivalent to about £80 today. The Post Office, ripping you off today, as they did in the past.

[@BenStarling]

£63 if it was recorded in 1985. Bargain

[@dw-yl3ln]

With it being the voice of Richard Burton though, you could pretend it's a deleted scene from the War of the Worlds musicial album.

[@NotATube]

I don't know what the going rate for a pre-recorded videocassette would have been by the mid-80s, but I do know that they were *really* expensive when they first appeared in the late 70s and early 80s. (*) So yeah, that's incredibly expensive by modern standards, but- to be fair- I'm not sure if it was all *that* inflated by the standards of the time. (*) Certainly more than the typical £10.95 price they'd fallen to by the early 90s (and even *that* would be over £30 in today's money.)

[@AaronOfMpls]

VHS movies weren't really much cheaper here in the US back then. Before prices dropped in the later '80s, blank tapes were ~$20 each, and actual movies ~$40-$80 each _(not_ adjusting for inflation). Which was a big reason why video rental got so popular.

[@dieseldragon6756]

@@NotATube This is starting to make me realise the _actual_ real-terms cost of my first _Sepultura_ album, bought for (IIRC) £10,95 in 1998... 💸😳

[@adamm.1367]

I'm in the US. In the early 90s, when I was in middle school (6th grade), we used a very similar machine in class for studying. It used small rolls of film instead of a cartridge, but worked very similar in that it had small built-in screen that displayed projected slides for various class topics along with a cassette tape for audio. Rather interesting to see this type of machine used for advertising purposes 👍

[@panzerkitsune]

always find your videos quite entertaining, they are a window into the past and the much forgotten multimedia cultural history. thanks for keeping doing these videos :)

[@PeterDalling]

I remember these from my local main Post Office. It was placed where the customers queued before going to the counter. If I remember correctly the unit would pause if there was no movement in front of it (some sort of P.I.R. sensor I suspect) and start up again when the queue built up again, like at a busy lunch time. The ones I recall were much larger than this one, more of a permanent display unit.

[@PLAYINGAROUND]

One wonders if there should have been twenty cartridges, but five have mysteriously gone missing. Careful the PO doesn"t come after you 😉. Great stuff as always, and I see you've got another mention on the Tested channel. Perhaps the title of this one should have been Post Office Equipment That Works 😁.

[@rich_edwards79]

Yeah, don't f**k with the Royal Mail! If Mat mysteriously disappears into a British prison, sentenced to an eternity in the Tower at His Majesty's pleasure, we'll know why.

[@ArtesianFalma]

Funny, I had that door alarm that is advertised at 6:17 It was loud!

[@BillyNoMates1974]

4:28 - demonic post office voices, how apt with the horizon scandal at the moment. ha ha

[@AurumUsagi]

Was going to say the same thing!

[@eliaschannel2008]

4:45 I think that this voice is Mat's voice before his death.

[@8_Bit]

The narrator at 15:30 sounds very much like Eric Idle.

[@sumisusan1517]

Great timing for a video related to the Post Office #justiceforsubpostmasters

[@rich_edwards79]

Yeah, after that particularly spiteful little stunt, f**k the Post Office. Like another once-great British institution (the BBC) it's now so irreparably tainted that I really don't care if it lives or dies.

[@ronpat13]

I really enjoyed this episode. I quite like the exploration/explanation of vintage technolgoies. Thank you and take care. Cheers.

[@leedesigner1977]

"Arse" 😂😂

[@2packs4sure]

The mechanism that advances the film has a satisfying quality mechanical sound and action to it ..

[@rich_edwards79]

Agreed, I love clunky old electromechanical stuff - stepper switches, jukebox relays and the like - even if it does look like a lost form of dark sorcery to the uninitiated!

[@2packs4sure]

@@rich_edwards79 Agreed and well said,,, have you seen CuriousMarc's videos on the Bendix air data computer ? It's the ultimate in electromechanical dark sorcery !!

[@djhrecordhound4391]

I like those sounds too, but we're not supposed to hear its trigger tones in the audio, though...

[@2packs4sure]

I didn't notice the tones,, just the tidy clean sounding film advance mech. @@djhrecordhound4391

[@LeeBergerMediaProd]

You can use the masking effect in your video editing program to mask off the face of the device and put the images in pillar box for 16:9. Much easier than a physical mask.

[@samcroft2252]

I thought you’d blurred the Post Office logo due to the current scandals! Forgot that these things needed focusing. Also the yellowed appearance actually really suits this piece of kit I think.

[@reggiebenes2916]

I just hope one of those carts has an announcement for the upcoming Fujitsu computer program, that's going to streamline the Post Office processes. That would be worth preserving.

[@948320z]

Absolutely bug free!

[@ErinSanJuan]

OH MY GODS I REMEMBER THIS!!! I remember seeing this device in kindergarten and could never find anything about it all these year. Thank you so much for sharing this piece of tech, I am just ecstatic that something I saw once from my childhood still exists.

[@Ian-Steele]

The Post Office - always exploring new Horizons. Are you sure this wasn’t made by Fujitsu?

[@NiddNetworks]

The video is done. Now my Saturday begins!! On those days where Mat publishes early or not at all, then I simply take an early Saturday, or refuse to acknowledge Saturday at all and just have 2 Sundays. It's good to have coping strategy so Mat can also have a life!! :D

[@AtheistOrphan]

20:28 - The reason the Post Office woman looks dejected is because she’s just seen the shortfall on her Horizon terminal.

[@NotATube]

She reminds me of the bored woman behind the social security(?) counter in "Bread" who would look unimpressed whenever Joey came in with his latest tall story or excuse, or whatever.

[@bjmorley]

I hope you put these up for everyone to enjoy. I think they are fascinating. 😊

[@aeiouxs]

UK snack nerds alert! What are the 5 flavours of Hula Hoops at 21:00 ? I think Red = Original, Brown = BBQ Beef, Green = Cheese & Onion, Blue = Salt & Vinegar... but the orange pack?....

[@telocho]

From a searchL Big Hoops have been available in the following flavours: Salted, formerly Original (red) Sour Cream & Chive (dark green) (discontinued) Sweet Chilli (pink) (discontinued) BBQ Beef (brown) Chilli (black) (discontinued) Spicy Chilli (magenta) Salt & Vinegar (blue)

[@the_jcbone]

The last bit about the Queen SCREAMS Monty Python. I was waiting for the old clapping ladies in the audience.

[@praiserdusty]

When you get every capture can we see them? Or at the very least get a link to view them from the museum maybe?

[@vwlssnvwls3262]

I love your videos of all these interesting old devices, because they are like you said "a little piece of history." As the decades pass, younger generations have no clue what things used to be like, whereas I can look back with some level of fondness. As much as I appreciate the technology of today, sometimes I wish some things were still as quaint as they were three or four decades ago or more.

[@borjesvensson8661]

Might the "unable to export" have something to do with rules about unshielded speakers on airplanes like the japanese auctions?

[@BBC600]

They should state the reason so one knows.

[@Noxedwin]

There are rumblings in the other Comments that this device was made to Army specifications. That would associate this with the U.S. D.O.D., who you absolutely shouldn't screw with. It probably *is* safe to export, but they chose to reject it out of an abundance of caution.