Scanning Retro Magazines with a CZUR ET18 Pro | Official Cave Dwellers Edition

[@RMCRetro]

This was an interesting one to cover, I won't spoil the conclusions in this comment but here's a scan I took with the system this morning to help someone out with an Arcade FPGA core they are making. Some things to notice are very small print in the schematics section and distortion around the finger cot removal process on some pages. drive.google.com/file/d/1MrrGBqs7pbN_7RC3J7pTpe5b9r-C4u3X/view?usp=share_link Thanks for watching, Neil

[@JimmyCall]

PDF is the format to go with. MS Word (.doc) is awful and now not standard since so many use mobiles phones, Apple and Linux.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

You should talk to an accountant about forming some sort of non profit entity or a charity or something tax exempt for the cave. It opens up a lot of doors. And find a legal advisor for questions like the one about sharing. I do think the sort of entity you are will make a difference in these cases in what you are able to do and what not. From a personal perspective i would simply share it and see what happens. The first thing that will happen is a simple request to stop sharing if some company has an issue with it. Just comply when that happens and stop sharing said content and you should be fine. Again, seek out some legal advice to be sure though.

[@philipcorner574]

@@JimmyCall I generally agree - exporting to PDF will export the scanned image with an OCR'd hidden text layer for searching, but there are times when exporting to an actual text document will be better, for example when you're scanning a simple book and you want to freely re-size and re-flow the text so you can turn it into a usable ebook.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

For the lighting i would look at some indirect lights photographers use to light their objects. The inversed umbrella type things are basicly designed to eliminate partly over exposure and light reflections. You get them in those square boxes with matt glass in front of them to scatter the light in a similar way and those are not expensive. Maybe the lights on the device itself can be adapted with something simple like a matt film to difuse the light and avoid reflections. Lots of options.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

Neil, would you be interested in dutch magazines? I used to have a lot of dutch magazines from the 90s and they theorethicly should still be in my moms basement lol. If you want them i'll go and see if i can dig them out and send them to you.

[@v4lgrind]

The legalities are pretty clear: It's copyright infringement to share scans in most circumstances. The Internet Archive is a library, so the rules are a bit better - if still muddy - for them sharing stuff. But us uploading to them is usually a violation. And we should all still do it.

[@NoobixCube]

If any number of defunct publishing companies would like to come for me for downloading thirty year old computer magazines, they're welcome to.

[@EsotericArctos]

Copyright also has provisions for fair use, limitations due to how old the publication is and if the company is still in business or not, and also it can vary region to region. Obviously the best bet is to have legal advice sort before sharing. In the case of The Internet Archive, it would fall down to the maintainers of The Internet Archive to only host what is legal. Neil does mention in the video about sharing only if it is legal to share them. Ultimately it is up to the host to hold up the copyright on material on their site.

[@ninjamaster3453]

These companies, many defunct, couldn't reprint the material themselves for the same reasons. They would need permissions, but from sources that no longer exist. It just needs saving.

[@scottishwildcat]

@@NoobixCube Trouble is the companies might be defunct, but it's likely their IP is still owned by someone, somewhere. Or worse, multiple someones, somewhere.

[@scottishwildcat]

​@@EsotericArctos Most of that doesn't apply in the UK though, for example. The closest we have is "fair dealing", and it's unlikely that would extend to a sharing a whole copy of a magazine, let alone a whole shelf of back issue.

[@RMCRetro]

News just in from the manufacturer: ""CZUR" is pronounced as [' si:zə(r)], and this acronym is derived from "Continue Zeal until Real". Which expresses we hope to move forward with passion until our dreams come true:)" May all your scanning dreams come true Neil

[@martinfidel7086]

Can you tell me how I scan a book and get individual pages, I have a ET18PRO

[@a1exh]

Very interesting. Most 8/16-bit UK magazines are widely available (albeit in various quality). What isn't widely available are the subscription magazines. Those little extra pages or mini-magazines which came only if you had an annual subscription. If the Cave has any of these, their preservation would be a great addition to the world.

[@linustwizell7913]

I think the hour I spent flicking through magazines at the Cave was probably the highlight of my visit. I'd forgotten how wonderfully varied the art in INPUT was.

[@redavatar]

I own all the PC Gamer UK magazines from issue 0 from 1993 (yes, a rare test issue) to issue 130 - I think it's a shame these old mags are not made available to the public. They contain so much interesting information - I still read them whenever I can. I recently got hold of a Dutch magazine collection from 1990-1999 which is also a fascinating read. They often contain insider info that leaks from contacts with developers & publishers that you can't find anywhere online. For example, did you know Theme Park used to have a very different view point? I have beta screenshots that I can't find ANYWHERE online!

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

I think i still have loads of old dutch magazines in my moms basement now i think of it. Power unlimited i think they where called. I'll have a look to see if they are still there. If they are i'll send them to the cave if he wants them. Will make my mom happy as well haha.

[@redavatar]

@@baronvonlimbourgh1716 I have a few of those as well but wasn't a big fan - it tried to be a bit too trendy. Hoog Spel is the magazine collection I bought. It focussed on home computers like Commodore, Amiga, PC but also had console reviews.

[@baronvonlimbourgh1716]

@@redavatar 13 year old me loved those magazines. Read them every month. Haven't looked back at them though, maybe i'd think differently about it now. I'll read a couple again and see how they hold up 30 years later. Don't know hoog spel. There where a lot of magazines about back then.

[@shodan2958]

I get the feeling archives may not be readily available because copyright law for things like character art, photographs from third parties and screenshots might have expired some time ago and I don't think fair use or fair dealing can really work around that as such.

[@thierrylariviere7544]

Hi from France, Neil, Concerning copyright issues I think you might want to ask the question to another KZbinr called « Blackbelt Barrister ». As his name suggests, he might be able to answer your question. I’m also a subscriber to his channel which is teaming with really interesting subjects. Hope this helps, Cheers, Thierry -a Commodoroholic since 1982 :-D

[@kellysalyer1972]

Back in late 2000 through 2003 I was doing photography work for the Art History department at the University I was attending. I would carefully cut the spine out of course required art textbooks in order to take pictures of the individual images in the textbook to make slides for the professors teaching the classes. When shooting the textbooks I used Tungsten lights setup at 45 degrees to either side of the subject material I was shooting with the overhead florescent lights turned off as they would throw an off color haze on the plate glass over the pages and that haze would be there in the resulting positive slides that were produced from my original film photos. Obviously you are not shooting with a film camera and don't have the plate glass haze to interfere in your scans but the Tungsten lights would give much better light and color to your scans than the ceiling lights.

[@rodmunch69]

Why would they be using film cameras in 2000-2003? Also if they were cutting out the spines, why wouldn't they just scan the pages at a super high DPI? That school sounds very very backwards.

[@esecallum]

use a iphone or mobile camera at high res

[@swifty1969]

@@esecallum my prefered app is genius scan.

[@Cadmeus]

I'm surprised publishers like Future Publishing aren't more proactive about preservation and sharing. British videogame magazines have early work from some incredibly talented creatives, people like Charlie Brooker, Kieron Gillen, Gary Whitta, Tom Francis and more. It shouldn't be hidden away behind copyright enforcement.

[@whiskeyjuliet]

PC ZONE!

[@kaitlyn__L]

future publishing etc are very corporate. They output such a huge number of magazines and they don’t regard the gaming magazines any higher than say the fishing ones. They’re just a disposable monthly mass production product to corporate. They don’t really care that much about their writers and editors as more than a resource either, that’s part of why there is a fairly high turnover rate. However, I absolutely agree, and we should be preserving all of the output from those amazing authors.

[@Silanda]

IMO the sad truth is that most companies don't give a damn about preservation and public access. If they can't turn a sizeable profit from it, they don't care. The video game industry is particularly bad for this, and that's why DRM should be a big worry. Just look what happened when Windows started blocking the Safedisc driver: the publishers did absolutely nothing to enable people to keep playing the games that they own.

[@VladTepes44]

I visited a site of the Bibliothèque National de France where they archive old books for the Gallica digital library using a similar yet more professional system. One tidbit that might interest you is that the books are placed on a V shaped support to avoid putting stress on the spines when opening them fully. I wonder how the laser system in the CZUR would behave with that.

[@MartinAtkinsQ]

I've repeatedly been surprised by how seeing the cover of a specific issue of a specific magazine I read decades ago brings back vague good memories even though I can't actually remember the details of what was inside. The Amiga Shopper issue in the thumbnail was a good example for me!

[@FantasticOtto]

I imagine light boxes on each side would be optimal for this. Or perhaps build one around the entire scanner, with lamps shining diagonally down on the light box from left and right. Nice, even light with minimal glare.

[@cbidmead]

Nice review of the CZUR ET18. Thanks. But at some stage you should take a look at the VFlat application that turns your Android phone into a first class book/magazine scanner that costs you nothing. A tripod and Bluetooth shutter button are handy additions that will bring your VFlat setup well up to par with the CZUR arrangement.

[@FrankWoodPhotography]

Isn’t it? Wasn’t it? Jumpers for goalposts. Marvellous. Nice Fast Show reference sir.

[@RMCRetro]

Ooooh suits you

[@TheCaffeineKid]

@@RMCRetro At 15:25 the light sometimes catches glossy *what* print? Black...? BLACKKKK!

[@therealdebater]

Excellent review. Belly laugh at the mini-screen cover coming loose. Say no more indeed.

[@russrh]

Loved the fast show reference !

[@bb.cute.channel]

Nice review. I’d love to read magazines that were published before I was born. ❤❤❤❤

[@Bora1333]

You didn't wanna call it seizure xD

[@JayVBear45]

There's actually an older and somewhat better low tech system that essentially does the same thing called a copy stand. Back in the pre-digital camera days it was a device that looked like a wire frame, flat top pyramid that you placed a film camera, usually an SLR type, in a holder on the flat top facing it down centered on the middle of the open base where you placed the media i.e. book, newspaper, magazine or pictures/photos face up. There are actually newer versions of this setup for DSLR cameras, video cameras and even smart phones - some of them at a much lower price than the scanning device you demonstrated with the only caveats that you have to provide the recording device i.e. camera etc., lighting, and, in most cases, interface software to manage capture and editing/image correction. There is also a DIY set up using a small tripod, selfie stick and a smart phone.

[@SuperSteve152]

I would love to see another video where you interview an expert to discuss the topic of sharing and preserving old magazines. I think defunct companies still have a copyright for 70+ years. But they're not profiting anymore from the issue, and you're not charging for the magazine. I'd say you're doing a public service to prevent these issues from being forgotten.

[@waterup380]

This would be a great topic to discuss about

[@nickwallette6201]

This is clearly one of those cases where asking for forgiveness is better than asking for permission. If you were to have an actual engagement with a lawyer, or study the legality too hard, you'll probably find many times over that this is all strictly forbidden. If you put your blinders on and just do it, you'll probably find that everyone who contributed to those old rags, that is still alive and aware, greatly appreciates the effort, and is absolutely chuffed that it's available online for anyone to see.

[@rodmunch69]

Interviews are always terrible, not just here, but in all formats. I can't believe there are dullards that enjoy boring interviews where the person says nothing.

[@MarcusTDM]

This is a great bit of kit, although a bit pricey. Could do with being a couple of hundred pound cheaper.

[@automaton20]

We have this scanner. The best results we had was to turn off all lights in the room and just use the anti glare lights.

[@SamMcDonald83]

After watching this I'm really looking forward to the RMC Curious Marc colab...

[@merman1974]

Very interesting, I can definitely see the advantages of that way of scanning and the OCR seems very usable. It would be good to get a Cave archive that was accessible to researchers/writers.

[@naikrovek]

all that retro stuff in one place. I very much hope you have a good fire suppression system. and insurance. amazing collection

[@kalofkrypton]

Very useful bit of kit for your use case. As for sharing - perhaps there are copyright issues when it comes to a widely accessible archive, but certainly for use in the Cave itself where you have physical copies of the same content I fail to see an issue. Perhaps set up a reading station in an arcade cab with the scans formatted as digital magazines with something like Flippingbook?

[@Monsieur_Luke]

CZUR could be phonetic for "cesure", the juncture where one word ends and the following word begins. It is often used in prepress.

[@cricalix]

Another channel I follow (and mostly watch live streams of on Twitch) has an older one of these. We were discussing whether building something like a lightbox/studio box around the unit would work better for lighting. Good white fabric with lights behind it would produce a soft light above, to the sides, and behind (have to work around the pillar a bit) - should reduce glare, because there's no point sources.

[@seamuslaverty5958]

I imagine it will be useful for your research on the history of old consoles/pc’s/hardware etc. if you stored each magazine/pdf in a database you can use the ocr to find just the information you want for your research saving time.

[@BottIsNotABot]

I so wish I knew that happened to all my Your Sinclair and Your Spectrum magazines. I had Issues 1-4 of your Spectrum given to me by a family friend who worked in the 'media' and then discovered Your Sinclair around 86 / 87. I purchased them religiously, and didn't have many missing issues. Anyhow, seeing you hold the Italia '90 issue got me all nostalgic!

[@jimbotron70]

Ask your mom, she probably threw them away during a house cleaning.

[@vertigoz]

Future Publishing and others should set a virtual library to host these magazines.

[@gunark]

As long as they don’t host it on Filesilo, so slow that it’s a nostalgic trip to 56k modems.

[@billramsay7351]

I have a terrible memory, I barely remember much of my childhood, but put a zzap 64 in my hand that I used to own and I will remember the cover vividly.

[@Colin_Ames]

It seems like a decent enough product for the kind of things you would use it for.

[@32Bits]

Very interesting video I have been thinking about scanning my collection for a while. My flatbed scanner does a great job of scanning a hires copy but takes way too long. Even though this scanner is expensive, as you said it comes down to time vs money. for me I can make more money but only have so much time. On a side note can you give us some information about the jackets you have the magazines in on the shelf? I have a bunch of magazines with different sizes US/UK etc. Some of the UK magazines are large format Amiga Format vs my US Amiga World collection for instance. If you haven't already made one it may be a good topic of a video.

[@waynenewark5363]

I still have my copies of Page 6, Atari User, and Computing Today. However I did get rid of my Amiga Magazines: CU Amiga, Amiga Format, AUI, Amiga Computing, and Amiga Shopper - but I still have the coverdisks.

[@stevenclark2188]

I read that as 'seizure' as in 'If an epileptic looks at this thing in operation...'

[@Auxodium]

how this channel doesnt have a million subs is baffling to me.

[@SAerror1]

Tech Tangents was also sent one of these things and between your two reviews I desperately want to buy one now even though I have absolutely no need for it. That's some powerful marketing! :D

[@SeanSiem]

is the mystery company name pronounced seizure perhaps? Not as in an epileptic fit, but as in capturing / seizing the page contents?

[@philipcorner574]

I own an older CZUR Shine scanner and have found much the same issues: Too much glare from lights, curvature data not savable etc. The colour reproduction is also quite poor. The addition of the projected lines is a BIG improvement: The older scanners have to try and recognise the contours of the document from the image alone and usually get it wrong on any document with colour images that go to the very edge of the page, necessitating the manual adjustment of the contours every... single... page! This quickly negates the speed advantage. I've recently been scanning my old AmigActive magazines, and these take almost an hour each in a flatbed scanner (they are 68 pages long, about the same as the "Your Sinclair" scanned in the video), but the quality is amazing compared to my CZUR scanner.

[@cheater00]

instead of using those page holders that may tear the pages, you can use a piece of round metal rod, 2-3 mm thick, and put it in the middle of the magazine between the pages. press it down and it'll spread the pages without obscuring any content. works especially with thinner books and with magazines. for thicker books you'd need something like like a flat metal bar.

[@jediknight2350]

you can already download all the amiga magazines i nearly have them on on my drive i like scanning through them brings back memory's when i was in the shop buying them and using the cover discs such fun computing is so rubbish now hence why i just made a sexy pentium 2 for some dos games lol.

[@gazmck]

There's a PC Format around 1996 1997 where I was featured on the gallery section with some 3d art would love to find it.

[@ncot_tech]

Hit me with that educational Spectrum book. It has curves and sinewaves in it...

[@teekay_1]

I have a bunch of old Amiga magazines from the 1980's that I'd love to find a good home for. But I hate to throw them away because it's not clear if they're available online or not.

[@communalnoodle1356]

Perhaps doing it outdoor on a sunny day would be ideal?

[@TheCyberDruid]

Tech Tangents here on YT reviewed the same scanner some months ago. I'm currently working on scans of a book that was scanned with a flatbed and it does take some extra effort.

[@kevinhanley6462]

That's an impressive scanner! I think sharing should be encouraged instead of being copyright material, especially when applying the principle of preserving old abandonware software.

[@JDelwynn]

Could you just shut off all the lights in the room and only rely on the lights on the scanner? Might be impossible in the cave, but for me it sounds like the best way to capture these.

[@JamesMossR33]

I'd really like to scan my rather dog-eared copy of "What to Do After You Hit Return or P.C.C.'s First Book of Computer Games" from 1975, in case anything happens to it. Oh and there's a chapter called "Welcome to the caves" 😀 It seems to be pretty rare judging by a quick search online, but is available to view at Internet Archive. That scanner would be ideal, but is a lot of cash for someone preserving a low number of items. Very thorough video, thanks.

[@jinxterx]

This is why copyright laws need to be drastically overhauled in favour of the consumer.

[@fredsmith1970]

I miss getting computer magazines... C&VG, Sinclair User, Amstrad Action, various Amiga magazines and Computer Shopper, amongst MANY others. I blame the internet and KZbin 🙂

[@cryptocsguy9282]

@fredsmith1970 You can still get maximum PC magazine if you want to

[@garethpetterson4291]

Tech Tangents has done a video of the same (I think) scanner for similar purposes. I believe his conclusion was to eliminate environmental light and just use the in-built ones. Might be worth a skim through for you.

[@RMCRetro]

Interesting! Nice to hear it wasn't just me having issues with that, although I did find with glossy magazines just using the built-in lights resulted in problems too.

[@dodger0101]

Hi Neil- Thanks for another great video! Not to add to your plate :) Have you thought about forming a non-profit? That may give you the latitude for projects like this. It may also open you up for grants and donations that could help support The Cave. You could have two entities that work together ; one (standard/taxable) that supports the more sales oriented endeavors like MiSTer and your Kickstarters and another (non-profit) that supports the archival projects like the Cave and software/media.

[@SidneyCritic]

I think that suede surface stuff is called flock, or at least the gluing of that furry stuff is called flocking.

[@evensgrey]

Are the book and magazine scanner makers having a general push? Tech Tangents recently did a review of a similar book scanner.

[@kaitlyn__L]

The cheese at the end!

[@Mystic-Voyager]

I wonder how good it would work with scanning handwritten notes

[@NoobixCube]

As Next Publishing in Australia were being eaten up by a larger publisher, and again when a bigger fish ate that fish, I begged them to release digital archives of their old magazines to no response. I would literally pay a couple of bucks an issue for old copies of their official and later unofficial Playstation magazines, or for Hyper, or Nintendo Gamer. As it is, there _is_ no legal source for these long out of print magazines. They were never intended to be long-standing periodicals. A gaming magazine in the 90s and 2000s had a shelf life of exactly until the next issue came out, and that was all the care given to their preservation by the publishing companies. If people who religiously collected them and had the stability in their lives over the past twenty to thirty years to actually keep them in good condition want to scan and upload the magazines, I see no problem with that. While this wouldn't stand up in court, because the courts don't care about the intended function of a law, only the letter of it, the framing of copyright infringement as theft is predicated on a pirate downloading an illegal copy of something they would otherwise have bought. Downloading a 1998 issue of the Unofficial Australian Playstation Magazine isn't going to prevent me from buying a current issue (the fact that nobody buys gaming magazines anymore might, because they no longer come with demo discs and the news is old before the ink dries on the pages). The 1998 issue isn't sold anywhere for me to deprive them of a sale, and if it is, I honestly welcome them to show me where I can buy it, because I will. Next's mags are particularly nostalgic to me because they didn't really drink the Kool Aid from the console companies or software publishers. They published the news with all the hype you'd expect, but also a healthy dose of "wait and see" skepticism and some good editorial content. Even their multi-page reviews of bigger games had input from multiple reviewers, differing viewpoints. I remember reading UAPSM's review of Final Fantasy VIII, and while the reviewer (Kevin Cheung, I think?) was waxing rhapsodic about how beautiful it was, and how innovative the combat was, another reviewer's textbox chimed in with a negative opinion both on the game, and on Kevin's objectivity because he loves Final Fantasy so much. At the risk of romanticising a collection of magazines designed to be sold and make money, there was a kind of rebel outlaw spirit to them next to the big giants of Electronic Gaming Monthly and other magazines. As a kid, I also collected both the UK and US PC Gamer magazines (Australia never could decide which was appropriate here), and the difference between Next and the others reminded me of how irreverent the UK PC Gamer was compared to the more professional US one.

[@randymulder9105]

Cool. So quick!

[@Ybalrid]

I recently got back to an ASUS ROG Laptop from 2013 that has the same sort of soft touch plastic you describe at 4:09, and it's disgustingly sticky. I spent quite a bit of time cleaning it with rubbing alcohol, and it's now mostly gone

[@MattTester]

I'd really like to try one of these before I buy one, I have stacks of magazines I want to archive before storing and they're all glossy. It would be such a gamble otherwise and looking at the reviews I see so many people were disappointed. I don't suppose anyone knows of any companies renting them out or suchlike?

[@espressomatic]

I could swear I watched this video earlier this year - if it wasn't on RMC, where could it have been?

[@sir_mittens2491]

Tech tangents did one

[@TiberiusWallace]

A lot of this system is really thought out, it makes me think it's likely a cost reduced version of a professional system that museums would use.

[@MrBlutblot]

Doing God's work, Neil. One day I will make it to the Cave to peruse that literature in person.

[@pepealexandre8815]

For the light issue, what about using a light difuser sheet directly on the crane lamp?

[@Xoferif]

Wow, I'd love some scans of 80s Maplin catalogues!

[@christreen7193]

I still have my originals... well thumbed

[@GeorgesChannel]

Great episode Neil! Keep up your good work! Maybe an expert can answer these questions, which are interesting.

[@Evercade_Effect]

Good geeky stuff!

[@Gupumai]

Could be worth running through every digital page to touch up the Glared out graphics/Text using A I and or a professional drawing program, if you're concerned about the odd color fading.

[@nightbeast8105]

what if you use the lights on the rig in a low lit room? also if you had a 3d printer you could probably print a similar type stand and just use an old phone for scanning for an el cheapo diy job

[@EsotericArctos]

Was the uneven exposure more noticeable when the software had to flaten the image more? Could it be more even when holding the pages flat?

[@yogibear2k220]

Man I really miss the type-in books for the Speccy. I tried to look for some online, but having great difficulty. Also looking for some for the BBC, Dragon 32 and the Amstrad CPC 464. If anyone knows of a website, please, let me know. As for the product. It's way to expensive for what it is. I will stick with my flat bed scanner. Had amazing results from it and it only cost me £20 with a built in printer.

[@nuttyjawa]

Oh the mention of Maplins near the end, I had completely forgotten about 'em No idea on magazines, but I can't imagine promotional material can't be shared, however the law on such things is always counter intuitive and I am probably wrong :)

[@meetoo594]

I imagine hes in the clear uploading any maplins stuff as the company no longer exists so its very unlikely anyone would bother doing anything about it.

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

Needs more laser sound effects 😉

[@RMCRetro]

Pew pew pew

[@JohnSmith-xq1pz]

@@RMCRetro 🤣🤣🤣 okay 10 out of 10 awarded

[@theseob]

Look at it as a digital library. In a library you can read a magazine. It is legal in that sense i think.

[@spongeknock7387]

I had black and white Trust hand held scanner for the amiga it was pretty cool

[@meetoo594]

I had one made by power computing, which I suspect was the same as the trust one with a power logo stuck on the top. It worked very well from what I recall but was one of those devices you buy thinking how cool it is and then have no real use for it. It cost around £75 iirc. They did a colour one as well, but it was well out of my price range.

[@spongeknock7387]

@@meetoo594 lol yeah i scanned a couple of prodigy album covers and thats about it

[@jeremyerwin2779]

I think you're the first reviewer to comment on whether the plastic will turn to rubbish in twenty years. But then you would know.

[@SeanOfEarth]

Hail Czur!

[@dennisonseeto]

Is there a way to turn off the top lights and just run the ones that are magnetically mounted. I have a feeling that they will work best as an angled light, also using a diffused light could help also.

[@RMCRetro]

There is, it varies from mag to mag, also the colour is much bluer from the rear lights so if you swap during a scan it’s quite noticeable in the warmth of the image

[@carloslecina9029]

I'm confused. Is this better or worse than a traditional scanner with a lid? I've bought a cheapo Canon for just $40 and it does 1200dpi 32bit perfectly...

[@RMCRetro]

It depends on your use case. For speed this is better, but you may have a use case that makes your Canon better suited.

[@ymmv99]

It's (much) worse when it comes to image quality compared with a good CCD/CIS flatbed scanner. The hardware is using a cheap mobile phone camera lens to make photographs and then using software to create flat pages and interpolate squashed text on curved pages.

[@holdmusic_]

Wicked content as always, I do think you should call the shop the 'retro shop experience' as opposed to the 'fake shop,' though. It's not really fake at all!

[@timatkins4754]

Interesting video and one that poses a very tough question. I get copyright and I respect the an author’s right to make money. Usbourne did the world a solid by making their 1980s books available for free. These thirty-year old magazines? They’ve become historic documents, like a 1920’s newspaper on microfiche. Surely a happy medium can be found, one that doesn’t involve a speculator with a “the nerds are loaded” mentality and a fetish for barely scalable paywalls.

[@Waremonger]

Sorry, but this is not scanning. This is akin to taking a photo of a photo (which seems to be popular now unfortunately). As someone who has done archival scans of many retro magazines you are not going to be able to beat a scanner with that setup. Also, if you want it done properly the magazine will sadly need to be destroyed (cut from the spine or having the staple removed if it's not glued at the spine). It's a lot of work but in the end it's worth it. I can understand you not wanting to destroy your magazines since you're keeping a library and not necessarily trying to do an archival preservation, but even then I still say a scanner is a much much better solution than that contraption. That thing reminds me of the NewTek DigiView on the Amiga.

[@RMCRetro]

No apology needed, these are pretty much the conclusions I come to in the video 👍

[@shelby3822]

He litrally says it's akin to taking a photo several times 🙄

[@Petertronic]

i.e. it's a camera on a stick, in a fancy package. What brand of camera or lens or sensor - who knows! Not a patch on proper scanning!

[@bensmith1689]

Interesting bit of kit, but yeah, for the price definitely some build quality issues.

[@QOTSAPT]

I don't understand the cheese at the end. Is it some kind of joke or engagement experiment? Also I never saw cheese on the form of candy bars.

[@pickleeggs3340]

these are already online prob

[@gnuemacs1166]

If u index them then u can locate them better

[@BaumInventions]

I would pronounce it seizure.

[@MarcoPon]

It's an interesting and promising device, but it's a bit disappointing that even having dedicated lights, they are not the most effective. Seeing how well Google FotoScan works with an handheld smartphone, in terms of avoiding glare, make me think that we should expect more. Perhaps with two sensors or a moving one, alternating the lights, or something like that.

[@nsfeliz7825]

professor allan parsons attached his laser scanners to sharks. sharks with lasers

[@o0Donuts0o]

It’s pronounced “seizure”. Named after what happens when you point the laser light into your eyes.

[@adventurebloc]

Caesar, that

[@sh0k0nes]

I wanna say Caesar(C-Zur)

[@colinstu]

CZUR = Caesar? edit: nvm

[@Bippystopper]

Is CZur pronounced Caesar as in Julius Caesar? 🤔

[@darkfoxfurre]

To me, "czur" looks like it should be read the same as "seizure"

[@webfischi]

Oh good old copyright rules that destroy our brains and heritage. One rule I want for the foreseeable future is this: If the current owner of copyrighted material cares about the work he owns and actively republishes/license them for contemporary consumption, then he shall be allowed to stop or sue someone who publishes this work for free. But if a work gets lost in a copyright jungle or is too fragmented to actually license the bloody thing, or the owner doesn't care about his works, they should loose there protection. There are lot's of things just vanishing from the web, never to be seen again. I also don't understand why they never adjusted that decades old ruling for different media, when this was set to 70 years, there were only hardcover books, which can survive centuries. But magazines, floppies, CD's and digital media have a way shorter life, especially in stores and therefore need a completely different set of rules if they aren't rereleased/modernised/updated every 10-15 years.

[@vanhavirta]

CZUR, "seizure"? 🤔

[@anatolbaskak]

in polish we’d pronounce it „choor”. choors! sorry, cheers!

[@TMS5100]

Quality is really bad, but this is well known among the scanning and archival community. These cheap overhead scanners are only good for casual scanning, unacceptable for archival. For archival quality you need to go to really expensive overhead scanners or destructive scanning with flatbeds.