The VFD that isn't

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Wouldn’t it be nice if VFDs made a resurgence? Just put VFDs on everything, already! Make VFDs the new “blockchain” or “neural networks” or whatever. Priorities, people!
For those of you who enjoy links, I have great news! I found some!
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You can support this channel on Patreon! It has been amazing what Patreon has done for this channel, but also for me (your dorky host) personally. Through the support of people just like you, Technology Connections has become my job and I am so excited and thankful for it! If you’d like to join the fine folks in a pledge to help the channel stay as weird as it is (and maybe, just maybe, get even weirder!), please check out my Patreon page. Thank you for your consideration!
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And thank you to the following patrons!
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[@MrTVintro]

"Am i off my rocker?" asks man who makes 20 minute videos on toasters.

[@dominateeye]

Toasters which keep creeping into other videos.

[@BrendonGreenNZL]

He also made the claim that he doesn't even like toast; that he bought a toaster just to make the video 🤷‍♂️.

[@superscatboy]

@@BrendonGreenNZL That's obviously a false claim. He clearly has a mouth, so he definitely likes toast.

[@wolfdragonhorse]

I found one of these toasters in near perfect condition at a thrift store the other day. I never would have recognized it without that video!

[@MrVolksbeetle]

That toaster video is a national treasure...

[@duggerd]

That style of LCD display is known as a negative mode LCD.

[@smartroadbiker]

I've used one on my DIY amplifier :D

[@sjm4306]

It's likely a fstn type

[@dirk9787]

There might be someone who would call you out on calling an LCD an LCD display, since the D already stands for display, but I won't be that person. It just feels better for me to say LCD display compared to LC display or just LCD or even liquid crystal display.

[@EdgarsLS]

I've also heard the term 'lcdvfd'

[@CaveyMoth]

THERE'S that comment!

[@erictaylor5462]

"Never come to conclusions until you take the thing apart." Great advice for so many aspects of life. Well maybe not with people. You should not try to take people apart.

[@InventorZahran]

Tell that to Dr. Frankenstein!

[@erictaylor5462]

@@InventorZahran To be fair, he put the monster together, not taking it apart. And really, Frankenstein's mistake was not in the building, but in the abandoning of it. Leaving it to fend for itself with no idea what it was or why it existed. You see, the monster began with a kind heart and a hideous visage. People judged him for how he looked, so he became what they judged him to be. Remember, the blind man know who he was, but when the family saw him, the were afraid, even though it had done nothing hostile. That story was the classic "don't judge a book by it's cover."

[@cageybee7221]

@@erictaylor5462 but, he had to disassemble other corpses in order to assemble Frankenstein's monster.

[@erictaylor5462]

@@cageybee7221 True, but dead people are no longer working. I was thinking more about not taking living people apart.

[@NS-xo6qe]

You could make a religion out of this

[@jedinellum]

"Huh, I wonder what is on that random CD he's putting in--" *outro music plays* "You son of a--"

[@arnbrandy]

I really anticipated that.

[@m13253]

I originally thought I would have been rickrolled XD

[@Vezail]

* recklessly smooth jazz plays*

[@Uruploaded]

what is that outro song would you know?

[@jedinellum]

@@Uruploaded its the music he plays to outro all of his videos, otherwise no I don't know anything about it.

[@jadefalcon001]

The off-screen "NYAAH!" yelling at your past self was the best thing.

[@gasolineandwine]

It killed me

[@enochliu8316]

HA! According to the Closed Captions.

[@benreavesmusic]

"It took me a while to realize it was playing tricks on me like some sort of trick player, but once I did, I exclaimed to the heavens, 'I've been tricked!' and it was very unpleasant." You're delightful.

[@cannaroe1213]

No he is not, he is easily tricked! A Tricker's friend is no friend of mine! Come along children.... we've seen enough.

[@bsadewitz]

Indubitably!

[@Dargonhuman]

@@cannaroe1213 But he's Loki's favorite...

[@PiercingSight]

Perhaps one of my favorite quotes on all of youtube.

[@bsadewitz]

@@PiercingSight If he'd only thumbed his nose at the heavens, or perhaps bit his thumb. Seriously, though, his entire schtick is brilliant. If he hosted a show on cable, then I could finally have a show to call "my show" haha

[@RazzaldG]

JVC made stacking units.. They'd have matched the style so that the unit fitted in with other products on it's range, including older VFD units.

[@kcgunesq]

That sounds likely, as I would have placed this unit mid 80's through early to mid 90's (which he ultimately confirmed).

[@sheilaolfieway1885]

or just for the nostalgia.

[@stevenpuckitt212]

@@kcgunesq They're still using the amber/orange look in their units. We have a stereo unit for home theater speakers with the same color and grid scheme.

[@JohnSmith-eo5sp]

Looks yellowish orange and red to me. No amber

[@Raleford]

@@JohnSmith-eo5sp um...

[@webstedge1099]

When I was a kid back in the 90’s, I used to shine flashlights into all the devices with VFD displays in the house, just to see everything on the panel that could be displayed. It was fun messing with some of the stuff afterwards, trying to get stuff you don’t ever see with normal use to light up.

[@LakeNipissing]

When in school in the 1980s, we used to take calculators apart and flip the polarization lens in front of the LCD to make it reversed with silver digits on black. A bit hard to read in dim light, but it sure got other students wondering how it was possible.

[@kilrahvp]

Lake Nipissing same

[@imranahmad2733]

I did this and the school threw the calculators out thinking they where faulty.

[@ve2mrxB]

I did it on a Sharp calculator... This one was not glued on the display. More recently, I flipped the polarizer on a negative mode LCD Nexxtech clock. Now, it's rippled positive. Yeah, that one was glued on...

[@maxwelsh6121]

I saw one like this once and spent the better part of a full day going from store to store looking to buy one LOL

[@xgford94]

Glad I’m not the only one...I’ve still got it ...34 years later

[@jayeaaaaa]

"No, it isn't" must be one of your best patrons if they get their own spot on the list

[@StandaislavSK]

I didn't even notice that before reading your comment, lol

[@Bluscream]

@@StandaislavSK same lmao

[@BlackStoneDiamond]

bruh

[@Crazy-qi1gw]

@@BlackStoneDiamond If you think they didn't get the joke, you could've just wooshed them, and then get wooshed yourself.

[@Beanzoboy]

"must be one of your best patrons if they get their own spot on the list" No, it isn't

[@Takato142]

I love the stream-of-consciousness style writing here. Never thought I'd enjoy listening to someone talk about static display technology but here we are!

[@ReaperUnreal]

I had the entire "stack" for that specific JVC series. Radio, tape deck, CD player, amp, wood grain speakers. Can confirm that all of them had a VFakeD display.

[@E3kHatena]

Him talking to the Patrons list *and it replying* was a shockingly inspired move. This is a great video even if it isn’t your usual fare, I’d be down for more stuff like this, but it’s hard to turn down any new TC thing.

[@Gartral]

you should rewatch the credits segment with closed captions on, there's more hilarity there at the end card!

[@scott8919]

Not to go off-topic but it's nice to see another ace.

[@sudofox]

What's the "Hatena" from in your name?

[@E3kHatena]

@@sudofox - I was just E3k on Flipnote Hatena and I wanted people who knew me on there to know it was me on other sites. The site closed in 2013 or so, but I kept the name like that just because by then I had had all these E3kHatena accounts for just as long as I had been E3k on Flipnote, so I just kept it.

[@AaronBentley]

It's similar to The Colbert Report where in the segment The Wørd, the bullet points undercut or contradict what Colbert is saying.

[@sylviaelse5086]

Ah yes, the good old days, when incandescent bulbs (you know - the things that blow) were buried inside gear where they couldn't easily be replaced. That included the gear position display on my Subaru, which require the removal of most of the dashboard to get at.

[@devilsoffspring5519]

Reminds me of my second generation RX-7... Oh man, you had to rip the entire car apart just to replace the gazillion and one little light bulbs! Funny thing is in 1987 they coulda have used LEDs and they probably would have been cheaper to boot. Oh well.

[@luishartmann9792]

My VW is from 2006 (they kept the same dash till mid 2014) and the entire dash is lighted by incandescent bulbs.

[@nthgth]

That's so weird. I never realized incandescents were used for things like that, that are supposed to last decades. What were they thinking? I guess LEDs were prohibitively expensive?

[@nthgth]

Though to be fair, I think it's easy enough to know where you put the gearshift. I never understood the need for those indicators within the gauge cluster. If my '94 Prizm didn't need one, no car needs one, haha

[@Jaqen-HGhar]

Yep and yet you have people who have rose tinted glasses about the past and yearn to go back to a time when "technology was so much better and easier" even though the entire reason that we improved things was because of the shortcomings of all the stuff beforehand. Vehicles nowadays last a lot longer than they ever have (even w/ all the technology they have) and LEDs that have replaced incandescent will last far longer. The one that drives me the craziest the most is people who try to act like CRTs are better than modern TVs even though even when all we had was CRTs we knew the picture quality was crap. The only thing that would make someone yearn for the picture of a CRT is nostalgia.

[@raydunakin]

"Hey credits, is this a blooper?" Credits: No, it isn't. LOL!!

[@haweater1555]

When I first saw the letters "VFD" I thought you meant "Variable Frequency Drive", or "Volunteer Fire Department"

[@Linkale_]

Me too xD It's been three seasons of freaking out about that acronym all the time

[@Broockle]

What the heck kinda Demographic am I falling into here?

[@csdgay]

or Village of Fowl Devotees

[@aloevera3317]

@@csdgay or Very Fancy Doilies.

[@Roonasaur]

And the thumbnail said "Verifiably False Displays" - I thought it was going to be a rant about excess blinky lights to try to make you think there's a real equalizer in there . . .

[@mikedrop4421]

"it's playing tricks on me like some kind of trick players, so I exclaimed I'VE BEEN TRICKED!" That's the quality writing I'm here for.

[@earfolds]

This video is practically dripping with your style of humour. I love it! It makes up for its shorter length, and then some.

[@danielgehring7437]

I love how he just emanates an aura of making everyone want to have a beer with him. You don't even know why, you just know it'd be awesome to sit around and watch him excitedly point out every bit of outdated tech in the bar.

[@MJ-uk6lu]

It was boring

[@blankpage9277]

@@danielgehring7437 you want to have a beer with your professor?

[@danielgehring7437]

@@blankpage9277 Oh hell yeah. Most people with a true, passionate dedication to one subject are really fun to be around when they're about two beers deep and realize you're willing to just let them talk on forever about that thing. Though TC is the highest, most enjoyable end of that spectrum.

[@clunkonester4884]

"Am I off my rocker?!" "Well as it turns out my rocker is in the corner so I am indeed off of it" made me laugh so hard that I jumped off of my rocker so I am indeed off of my rocker

[@lis6502]

Technology Connections - one of very few channels i periodically revisit to learn stuff that i already knew and to have laugh of bloopers that i already have laughed of. Thank you Alec for doing what you do.

[@SirNarax]

I love how you turn a mistake into a punchline I died when you laughed in the background at 4:46.

[@userPrehistoricman]

The laugh sounds like the not-gnelf not-gnoblin gnome.

[@_Gart]

Same, this guy is funny as hell..

[@lillyanneserrelio2187]

Me too. And I think I saw you up in Heaven for a couple of seconds while dead from his hilarious joke before my IPhone x15 activated the bundled MyHealth app and shocked my heart back to life by using some combo of worn tech all paired and linked to my iphone: motion powered (and battery free) bluetooth earbuds, 6th generation fitbit set worn on my left wrist and ankle (i have no idea which of these devices were electrified into defibrillator mode and made my corpse dance the Macarena [an old 1990s song] - I'm a history fan of your century).... Maybe I should have opened by stating I'm from the future.🤓😲

[@itskdog]

@@_Gart his name's Alec, btw

[@_Gart]

@@itskdog k

[@kotawintergreen8804]

"playing tricks on me, like some sort of T R I C K P L A Y E R."

[@Vodhin]

Now, if only he was playing some music from Cheap Trick at that time...

[@PiercingSight]

I exclaimed to the heavens, "I'VE BEEN TRICKED!", and it was very unpleasant.

[@LiveFreeOrDieDH]

CD Music Starts Closed Captions: "♫ recklessly smooth jazz ♫" recklessly smooth 😄

[@whatevernamegoeshere3644]

"The VFD that isn't" Yeah this was not a Variable Freq Drive for powertools at all

[@therealstubot]

Yeah, I came here for the variable frequency drive... left early.

[@YAUUN]

@@therealstubot I was here for the Volunteer Fire Department

[@SiriusXAim]

I miss VFD's. They looked rad, especially the blue ones. Love them on my stereo. Adds a unique 80's feel to anything, looks nicer than LCD. And no sub menus means all the functions have their own button right where I need them.

[@Hunnter2k3]

This is a thing I miss immensely in electronics - dedicated buttons! Give me the buttons damn it! And yeah, VFDs couldn't be beat. They looked so damn nice. The epitome of lit displays for fixed purposes. LCDs just feel soulless next to them. They can create a nice imitation, but still not all there. Just lacks the vibrant contrast. It's not good unless that display is so blindingly bright it can keep you up at night!

[@albertpintor3522]

I hate how today's receivers, and bluray players require the remote for almost every thing while the old ones could live without it

[@Zellonous]

@@albertpintor3522 we got a new cable box after not needing one for years. I'm like. Dafuq is this shit.

[@SomePotato]

To be fair, setting up a surround system is a lot simpler using an menu-driven OSD than a million dedicated buttons.

[@SiriusXAim]

@@SomePotato Yeah, this happened during an era I call "The Cheapening".

[@centurybug]

I love these displays on vintage electronics. It's like charming retrofuturism and it has a heck of a lot more character than a normal full color LCD.

[@epicshadowkrazee]

The "bloopers" are my favorite part of your videos! (I love the rest too, don't worry) Thanks for making entertaining, informational content for me to enjoy when I get tired of losing video games, or need to procrastinate actual work. Keep it up! :)

[@woocash7488]

5:00 this is also how the instrument clusters and other displays in cars from the 80's had their displays. The little bulbs would burn out and you had to take the entire thing apart to replace them, often with the help of a soldering iron. LED backlighting was a game changer.

[@Autunite]

My 1986 Mazda 323 had an LCD clock in the dashboard where the bulb burned out. It was soldered onto the PCB, so I replaced it with a 2300K warm white 5mm LED with a resistor and it looked completely original. I love doing such fixes.

[@_Mr.Tuvok_]

Came for a Lemony Snicket reference. Was not disappointed

[@JamEngulfer]

It brought up memories I forgot I had

[@Yeoffrey]

The books are 100% worth revisiting as an adult.

[@anniewarbucks1794]

The world is quiet here.

[@RyanTosh]

Something had been nagging at me seeing "VFD", didn't realize until I heard it. It's those little details that make this an awesome channel...

[@remalemadingdong]

that's why i'm here

[@Markimark151]

VFD was basically the predecessor to LCD, it was still better than tiny CRT displays in the 1980s, because it was also flat.

[@PilotPlater]

"that's been sitting on the table this whole video" me: DAMMIT

[@marcfuchs6938]

Good lord, your videos have become so much better and entertain. Uncomparable to how you presented your stuff few years back. Such videos are a joy to watch.

[@LakeNipissing]

General Electric was using negative LCDs on some of their 1980s clock radios with the sleek wedge design. When I first found one of these clock radios, I was amazed by the gray digits on blue background, and wondered what kind of display it was - same as what JVC did here, with an adjustable brightness incandescent backlight.

[@tux7174]

Indeed they were! I have one from 1983, with a built-in cassette deck no less, that uses an incandescent bulb-backlit orange LCD that looks exactly like the ones in this video.

[@VectraQS]

I have one from 1990, and it's a cassette recorder, and it appears to have a VFD. Lines, regions, and everything. I also have a standard GE clock radio from 1976 (one of the first electronic digital models) which I'll have to dig up to check what the display is.

[@Lttlemoi]

My clock radio from the early 2000's has it as well and I know of at least one model from that time where you can choose between green or red.

[@gordoncraig8238]

Best I've seen in a shop window was a Breitling watch that had a negative LCD that did gold digits. Looked so good.

[@b1ff]

“that sickly green color” Well, you have to look at it encoded. The image translators work _for_ the construct program.

[@nthgth]

Degreasing engines, and killing brain cells.

[@b1ff]

Bryan Liguori Good shit, huh? Dozer makes it.

[@ralekriver]

@@b1ff believe it or not, you piece of sh**, you're still gonna burn!

[@kkonstantinosss2]

@@ralekriver Were you listening to me, or where you looking at the woman in the red dress?

[@ralekriver]

@@kkonstantinosss2 It doesn't mean anything.

[@thecommenter578]

4:47 why does that sounds like Scott the Woz yelling "HAAA!!!"

[@Chris-tn9bf]

The Lemony Snicket references have me laughing.

[@olivercuenca4109]

Chris “I didn’t realise this was a sad occasion”.

[@slehernik]

I didn't get that reference. Could you explain it to me please? Thank you.

[@threej4pope]

@@olivercuenca4109 The world is quiet here.

[@NirateGoel]

@@threej4pope When we drive away in secret, you'll be a volunteer so don't scream when we take you, The world is quiet here

[@Chris-tn9bf]

@@slehernik Sorry I'm late. It's a reference to a series of books called "A Series of Unfortunate Events".

[@CaveyMoth]

4:10 "Truthfully, it took me a while to realize this thing was playing tricks on me like some sort of trick player. But once I did, I exclaimed to the heavens, "I've been tricked!" And it was very unpleasant." This video is so meta, it's killing me!

[@tiago222ofnewyork8]

It’s his ability of being able to deliver the line with such a serious nature and deadpan persona (which I think we all know is not his usual self) which makes it comical. Many of us have come by that one person in the world where they take their work so seriously that they have no sense of humor. Just like that...

[@fisheye42]

I came here for a long video that had been way-too-researched. But he played tricks on me. ...and it was pleasant.

[@CaveyMoth]

@@fisheye42 It was almost as unpleasant and unpredictable as the music from his mix CD at the end.

[@WildBluntHickok]

It's So Meta Even This Acronym...

[@zacksstuff]

Interestingly, my 2010 Toyota Prius uses vacuum fluorescent displays for the dashboard. I get a full multicolor (well, blue, dark blue, white, and red) VFD on the dash.

[@imranahmad2733]

Chrysler still do this on their vehicles, it gives them a warm feeling, seen it also on a Toyota Soarer too, refresh rate is super fast looks crazy when you revv it up.

[@funposting8912]

I have a 2012 and 2017 Toyota Aqua, the 2012 uses that nice green/blue VFD for the dash, whereas the 2017 uses white LED’s. And in the 2018 they replaced the VFD/LED info sheet and the small colour LED beside it with one large LCD that just displays the speed in white on black where the old VFD/led displays used to be. Thus, my 2017 will have to last me till My grave.

[@jonnda]

My 1999 Acura Integra has a VFD clock

[@grandmaster1004]

My 96 prelude has beautiful large gas and temp gauges using VFD!

[@TedSeeber]

My 2006 Prius has VFD, IN REVERSE, pointed up. A mirror turns it into a dashboard. I have ZERO idea why they did that, unless they originally intended to try to make for a heads up display.

[@stevecarter8810]

I love how you leaned in to an off day to create something truly entertaining!

[@cgj28ok]

That reminds me so much of the amp that i had as a teenager in the late 80's, along with the matching double tape thing, and the matching record player. you rock!

[@studiograham]

4:39 That yell at the end of this statement had me laughing for a good long time!

[@padistedor]

How do you give this a thumbs down? He is the Mr. Wizard of his generation. Love his videos.

[@EnglishLaw]

People were maybe searching for VFD as Volunteer Fire Department

[@Sharklops]

@@EnglishLaw or Variable Frequency Drive

[@theelmonk]

I think he needs a thumbs down for 'sickly green'. Green is, of course, the finest possible colour for VFDs. His beloved orange is just a plasma wannabee (see burroughs panaplex for the real thing).

[@tomtheplummer7322]

I remember taking radio and tv 📺 tubes to the hardware store with my Dad to test. He knew down to 3 or less. So cool, the replacements were right at the test machine. I can’t remember the tube numbers anymore. Dad and clerk knew the numbers and price. No UPC nor laser scanner. No price tags. I miss those days and my Dad.

[@BillLaBrie]

I have the same memory, combined with getting that weirdly cylindrical ice cream at Thrifty Drug (that’s where the tester was). I loved testing tubes with my dad, and getting a double cone with chocolate chip on the way out. Sniff.

[@JourneysADRIFT]

Your videos are like watching you go on a journey of discovery and I love every moment of it.

[@tiago222ofnewyork8]

Dude, you make me so happy to be the same kind of observational and inquisitive person as yourself. Trust me, even the humor is nearly spot on. People who take the time to stop and ask about the “who?” and the “why?” and the “how come?” are In my opinion one of the greatest assets of the human race. They are usually great people to work and coordinate with and are often times thinking to themselves about solutions to issues before many of us even realize that there was an issue to begin with. I myself have always been the “go to” person in my area if somebody doesn’t understand how something works or why it works the way that it does. You are now my go to person with every video that you had made because the time and effort you have put into it makes them superb teaching tools for people of all abilities. I have learned a few things from you and for that I am forever humble and grateful. Your clever use of first rate graphics, diagrams, and props have been able to illustrate concepts very accurately and completely to many people. There have been instances here where I thought I had sufficiently described a concept (and I will use the examples of amber/European turning indicators, non-window portable air-conditioning units, and Winter with the Bolt) where my people have come back to me and told me about how much better they understood what was going on after they saw your presentation. Keep up the great work guy. I am personally delighted and pleased to see your enthusiasm and obvious satisfaction and the success generated in the work that you do. And even in times of frustration (i’m not even going to mention the word “heater”) you are still coming out light years ahead. 👍

[@arbayer2]

100% in agreement there - he's great at using metaphors and concisely demonstrating a technical concept while simultaneously narrating it. It's the same sort of content direction and packaging that draws me to older educational/public access and technical series and basically anything lauded as "historically important/classic" as examples because more often than not you'll find some incredibly compelling content there if you're in the mindset to do so. Why was this so important? Here's a brief synopsis of what this damn thing is and then just how many other things are related to or dependent upon its existence. Suddenly there's historical context, and perhaps consideration for what once was just a thing you heard of over and over again, tangentially related to a more personally important subject. You get a web of people talking about a few of these things at random, perhaps glancing over at each other for subject trends for maximum views, and you quickly find yourself assembling a technical understanding of macro-level human concepts like industry and technology before too long - even if there's errors here and there.

[@77x5ghost]

4:42 that random "HAH" in the background made me jump

[@RRansomSmith]

*4:48

[@hellelujahh]

So delightfully delightful!

[@lukeduhe9978]

Yeah what the heck was that lol

[@TheTerrabyter]

I can't stop laughing about it XD caught me off-guard hah

[@ElectroNeutrino]

@@lukeduhe9978 He was laughing at himself for making an incorrect assumption.

[@JLoon824]

I love this channel. As always, the content is interesting and informative, but I do feel that your talent for writing entertaining (and sometimes self-deprecating) material had grown over time, and I am grateful to have been able to watch this development. Best of luck, as always!

[@RaysGamingChannel2003]

Yep and Same

[@phuturephunk]

Dude, I grew up with this stuff...and I didn't know I needed to know how this all worked...but in the end I did need to know how all this worked. Well done!

[@m1lkweed]

"While not the obsession of a certain Lemony Snicket" I love this channel

[@crazyrocketguy4687]

I see you are a man of culture as well. No seriously, I read the entire series when I was younger. They where good books and I'm glad they haven't been forgotten.

[@m1lkweed]

CrazyRocketGuy Somewhere I still have copies of the decatrilogy(?). I'm hoping to get the beatrice letters and the rest of the books in that universe.

[@Anastas1786]

@@m1lkweed "Tridecalogy".

[@Procket12]

Because I saw Nixie Tubes, the following is legally obligated: "THE NUMBERS MASON! WHAT DO THEY MEAN!?"

[@skuzzyj]

ARGHGHFFFHFHFHFJFDJD - an actual quote from later on in that same cinematic

[@Chris-tn9bf]

how many media references can we get from this one video -cod:bo -asoue -maybe something else

[@Sypaka]

And we changed worldlines while watching the nixies.

[@Archgeek0]

El. Psy. Congroo.

[@Sypaka]

@@Archgeek0 El. Psy. Congroo.

[@Clobercow1]

Your channel is getting better and better. I look forward to more content!

[@morganghetti]

Your videos keep getting better. Had a good chuckle during this one.

[@Gloworm17]

I love the VFD of old yet recent two way radios, it fits perfect in my 20 year old truck!

[@dschlangoe6255]

These videos are all phenomenal. The credits joke was great, and i was legitimately hoping floaters would be the song on that CD. Such aggressively smooth jazz. Of course it's always great to learn something too

[@ryantowers5380]

I always love your videos :) so happy to see you cover the stuff I grew up. Please do more mini disc stuff

[@shutupjade0420]

Dang a Series of Unfortunate Events reference in 2019? No wonder I love your channel so much, a man of fine tastes

[@Noname72105]

I didn't realize this was a sad occasion.

[@DmanYTofficial]

A Series of Unfortunate Events reference on this channel. My life is complete.

[@ivanpatarcic73]

It is not the only one. I remember one from before, but I cannot remember which video.

[@onedeadsaint]

didn't know these were called VFDs or even what they were exactly, but I'll always remember them fondly, nostalgia and all that!

[@theunknownandunsolved6963]

Another great video my man, you're channel is quickly becoming my favorite. Keep it up bro!

[@SylvesterAshcroft88]

It seemed like you had a lot of fun making this video, i hope you get to make more content like this, it was incredibly informative!

[@md_vandenberg]

"Am I off my rocker? Well my rocker is in the corner and I'm clearly off it. This was just a silly joke." I threw my laptop out the window upon hearing that gag. Don't worry, it's my "window tossing laptop", so I trust it to not break.

[@buddyclem7328]

Did you toss your laptop at your laptop tossing window, that you trust not to break?

[@fltchr4449]

Your defenestration laptop.

[@adrianquintanar5696]

This guy has the best fanbase.

[@EricLS]

Fltchr beat me to it

[@sedge6591]

That’s awesome. And now, a good use for Windows!

[@newfelo]

But more importantly... Are those pixels(?)

[@cloviscareca]

Brasileiro?

[@K-o-R]

Depends on whether they need to be in a grid, as well as being individually addressable.

[@newfelo]

@@cloviscareca Chilean hahahaja

[@AdamChristensen]

[Technology Connections waiting room] Me: [chanting] pixels, pixels- Other viewers: pixels, PIXELS Secretary: [pounding her clipboard] PIXELS, PIXELS, PIXELS!

[@Fuzy2K]

*Vsauce music plays*

[@LOKO22Bach]

Comedy in this video was on point, hope you'll come back to us with more info about these

[@redvanim2401]

Great way to showcase actual struggle of creativity with bloopers

[@holdenwilhelm7995]

You almost got me with the random CD thing, mate. Almost. Smooth as usual.

[@power-max]

Negative LCDs are pretty common on Digikey and Mouser, where I (as an engineer for the DoD) buy many things for the projects I work on. See what cool parts you find there! Another parameter for LCDs is the viewing angle, usually expressed in time oddly enough. "this LCD has a 6 o'clock viewing angle" for instance.

[@Julian_Pepper]

These videos are very good, very interesting when watching for watching's sake, and very very satisfying sound for background noise application. Seriously, these are great.

[@rufusconnolly8489]

I love that you leave your mistakes in your videos, makes you seem way more personable

[@YounesLayachi]

1:49 "those electrons become photons" Physicists : wait that's illegal

[@LordEvrey]

Not if VFDs are charged with anti matter. °^°

[@josephyarzebinski9585]

Was looking for this comment!

[@dozog]

It's not illegal, its just very very improbable.

[@Omega3131]

@@dozog No, it's impossible because of conservation of electrical charge.

[@dozog]

@@Omega3131 A bunch of electrons hitting a positively charged anode, i don't think conservation of electrical charge is going to be a problem. Conservation of energy is not a problem either. Particles appear and disappear spontaneously all the time, they "borrow" energy, temporarily. You can not keep them for very long though.

[@QuixoteX]

"JUST EDIT"

[@nthgth]

Haha, that bit was awesome

[@kinyutaka]

I was in the middle of making a Volunteer Fire Department joke when he mentioned Lemony Snicket.

[@HashanGayasri]

Same here.

[@Murdoch493]

I have no idea why I laughed so hard when the subtitles said *Recklessly smooth jazz*

[@drcarrot415]

0:53 dude your tapedeck is running fast, also based on the inconsistency in L and R, I’d imagine you either need to clean the head or adjust your bias. Sorry if I was annoying just noticed it lol

[@WanJae42]

I had a handheld VFD game from Bandai in 1982 called Frisky Tom, and at the time, it looked like THE FUTURE!

[@willypep]

Super cool video! I listened to this through a really old sound system my parents gave me, including a JVC RX-450 that resembles the unit you showed! Crazy!

[@radiognomeinvisible]

Left a like. Came here for a Lemony Snicket reference, wasn’t disappointed. I always love your videos!

[@SomeBorkedAccount]

I like the occasional unprofessional video like this. Great work as always.

[@patrik5123]

Unprofessional!?..

[@AdamChristensen]

@@patrik5123 I think he's referring to it being more laid back, relaxed and less scripted.

[@tiago222ofnewyork8]

Even his “unprofessional” videos are pretty darn professional.

[@bsadewitz]

The gentleman doth profess too much.

[@kwastek]

I was expecting Rick Astley. I was tricked :/

[@I_Santos_]

Did you get... reverse Rickrolled? 🤷‍♂️

[@ianphilip6281]

Another top shelf video. Nice work. All the older displays all the time.. Bl**dy love 'em! Keep up the good work and the inevitable, indispensable , utterly priceless dry humour.

[@randomrant3886]

I greatly appreciate your videos. Even the ones I think will be boring are still somehow entertaining and informative. Kind of like Bob Ross or the series "How it's made.".

[@90msg90]

How 'dumb' is the brain, where it can be fooled by flickering display and the persistence of vision and yet be the one responsible for inventing this in the first place ;) EDIT: The brain retaliated at 7:34 ;)

[@Nor1MAL]

The brain named itself! :)

[@TheCandoRailfan]

Our brains are both smart, and dumb.

[@bsadewitz]

The attribute "dumb" applies to persons, not brains. ;-) Indeed, given that I am already waxing pedantic, "dumb" actually means "speechless", hence the phrase "deaf, dumb, and blind". It goes without saying that I use it informally just as everyone else does because civilization is in decline.

[@notahotshot]

@@bsadewitz, "dumb" has been used to mean, slow witted or stupid since at least the 19th century.

[@blankpage9277]

@@TheCandoRailfan just like computers, but in a different way.

[@mrflamewars]

My parents had a VCR with a bangin' Stereo VU meter on it that would light up when you played a stereo tape. I have not ever been able to figure out what model it was. They also had a Technics receiver with all kinds of awesome displays on it.

[@cjcomrie]

Seeing that multi CD tray hit me with the nostalgias hard. Classic

[@recklessroges]

Its not the [length of your video] that is important, its the amount of pleasure that you bring.

[@onedeadsaint]

that ending CD track! lol good one!

[@pyromen321]

4:47 That noise...

[@tomf3150]

pyromen321 NAAAH !

[@sageslightbulbs7508]

I have a similar receiver amplifier from JVC that I believe is in the same series as this one and it has a super cool display. The display fills up basically the whole front of the thing, and has a whole bunch of different lights and different colors etc. and about 1000 different buttons. I would love to see how they accomplish such an elaborate bright and pleasing display.

[@csbluechip]

When I'm sitting on my own laughing out loud ...You've come so far since your early stuff dude - keep it up :)

[@Gonzo345]

My first “quest” in order to be hired as a developer on the enterprise I’m working at was programming a library for one of those VFD!

[@joeblow8593]

Ha! And here I thought that VFD stood for Volunteer Fire Department

[@JamEngulfer]

Really? I thought it was Very Fresh Dill!

[@dominateeye]

The Volunteer Fire Department that isn't (volunteer? or a fire department? either way, would be an interesting video!)

[@joeblow8593]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volunteer_fire_department

[@mattbartley2843]

Or Variable Frequency (AC motor) Drive.

[@PhoebeAlwaysWins]

​@@JamEngulfer Huh, well I was certain it meant Verdant Flammable Device

[@SechristCircus]

The humor in this video was truly inspired. Loved it. Also loved the "random" CD track.

[@marcemarc6516]

The same way we can’t see fast things we can’t hear fast breaks. So if I cut up 1 audio second into 1000 pieces and cut out 9 of every 1/1000 you’ll hear the same message. This is how a single pair wire can carry multiply phone conversations. First convo is on 1/1000 , 11/1000 , 21/1000 .. second convo is on 2/1000 , 12/1000 , 22/1000 and so on. Some electronics to cut the audio and receive the audio and where to start the pause is all that was needed. Everything is digital today which is very very different but I love that someone really smart figured this out

[@olafwagner]

"Liquitron Luma +" is definately what Apple's marketing department would have called it ;-)

[@tiago222ofnewyork8]

...And there will most definitely be a compatibility dongle released for that with the next update of the MacBook Pro.

[@getbackjojo23]

Shout out for the series of unfortunate events reference that you made!

[@sanguinesomnambulist]

The aesthetic and legibility of VFDs are so great. I actually didn't know the name of them until this video, thank you.

[@snoopii2507]

I came because I thought you meant Variable Frequency Drives. I stayed because I learned stuff. Thanks for the quality videos!

[@BobbyDukeArts]

You've lost weight and gained humor.

[@josephpoole3942]

Commenting on weight loss is not actually a compliment.

[@caymanhilldesigns453]

@@josephpoole3942 Yes it is. Fat is not healthy. No matter what year it is.

[@SuperMikeFender]

@@caymanhilldesigns453 It's still not a compliment.

[@okaydetar821]

​@@SuperMikeFender saying it isn't a compliment, isn't a compliment either. I will explain the relevancy once you do.

[@benni5541]

@@SuperMikeFender it is if you knoe the person is activly trying to lose weight

[@0KylePrior0]

I used to flip the polarized layer in the calculators at school for a similar effect.

[@chesthairascot3743]

A few projects back, I designed in a VFD into a centrifuge that I was working on. The UI was controlled with a rotary encoder. It was a pretty basic deal with like three or so settings to change (something like RPM, time, and acceleration.) There's some interesting design considerations when using this type of display with a rotary encoder- The rotary encoder on it that had a quadrature output (translation: the resolution on the knob was quite fine). The encoder had detents to prevent drift and give a tiny bit of tactile feel. The combination of the high resolution of the encoder, and the mega high refresh rate of the VFD allow you to make an adjustment knob that has instant feedback to the user with negligible latency. It's hard to explain how right it feels when done correctly. You know the gas pump keypads for putting in your credit card zip code that take ~2 seconds to update? This is the exact opposite of that. One of the interesting things I found though, was that the polling rate of the knob may not necessarily match that of the display. If I recall correctly, I slowed down the polling rate of the encoder, such that the digits of lesser significance would still be readable. If the polling rate and refresh rate where the same, the lesser digits would just be a blur. I still had a super high refresh rate on the display so that the navigation would feel right. As far as the display in your video- Dude, that thing is absolutely gorgeous. This makes me want to design an incandescent lamp into my next project. Thanks for sharing!

[@kentworch]

Haha I love the thing about the rocker being in the corner. That was a good one.