Four-Byte Burger

Soundtrack is available on Spotify:
also on Bandcamp:
And you'll also find it on most other streaming services.

The recreated Four-Byte Burger is here:

00:00 Introduction
01:49 Parameters
09:09 Reproduction
17:20 Finishing
23:35 Original Hardware
29:20 Conclusion

[jacke.haeger]

How do you thank a total stranger from across the Atlantic Ocean who selects an obscure and irrelevant piece of art you did years ago and turns it into an Archaeological-Techno Adventure Park Ride? (allow me to wipe tears from my eyes) And he got everything RIGHT! - Thank you Stuart.

[cyriak]

Computer files are so endlessly and accurately reproducable its easy to forget how temporary they are. When I think of the hours I spent making pictures on old machines, in formats that are no longer supported, for software that no longer exists, saved on floppies that I will never be able to access. That work is pretty much gone forever. Granted a lot of it was probably shit though...

[..]

>.iff "Save As" exists in Photoshop for decades
>somebody finally clicks it _not by mistake_
>it doesn't work

[sumirunihon]

This is the most passionately i've ever heard Stuart talk about anything and the fact that it's about a picture of a burger is pure perfection.

[kirbylover]

I just realized that he writes his own music for these too, what a crazy talented man

[pershingpower]

And so my binge of Ahoy videos begins again

[Rmanan_Hr]

Hearing Ahoy get so happy about pixel art really warms my heart.

[McAster]

"Art makes you care" is a quote from an unknown artist, but one that has always stuck with me. This burger made us care for the journey it took us all on.

[JaldaboathIrghen]

This was NOT a waste of time.

This was fascinating and I could feel your love for the original piece. Thank you for sharing this.

[gallow_walker]

This is why I love YouTube so damn much. An hour ago, I had no idea this piece even existed. Now I am fully invested in its restoration.

[labrat]

Dancing four-byte burger, looks like the perfect 'loading animation' for a pixel art restraunt sim.

[ericduran-valle]

This proves that Ahoy can make a video about goddamn anything and it will be just as intense, captivating, and enthralling as an 80's action thriller.

[martron]

This is by far the most niche obsession I have ever seen. And I couldn't be happier to see you succeed with your little digital fascination.

[Racecarlock]

I never thought I could be interested in pixel art of a burger, but you have the uncanny ability to make even the most mundane things fascinating.

[Hyperionid]

This is absolutely amazing Stuart.

Many years ago, early 90s, I was studying illustration. As a student I was marvelling at amiga digital artwork from magazines. One of them was the four-byte burger.

Fast forward, 30 years later... damn something got into my eye.

Thank you.

[captaindragon]

I didn't know what to expect from the thumbnail and name but I loved this.
You gotta find the original artist and present it to him.

[SirPembertonS.Crevalius]

This man could talk about paint drying and it'd still be the best story you've ever heard.

[BitMoreDave]

Hello Ahoy it’s Dave here formally “mrdavetherave411” we played together way back in modern warfare 3. I have since switched channels and I wanted to say thank you because you are the person who inspired me to start YouTube in the first place and I’ve just hit over 100, 000 subscribers so thank you very much love the videos keep them up!

BMD

[jobie]

Ahoy finally mustard the courage to tell us how much he loves burgers. I'd grill him for more information, but I know he already has good taste.

[Orzorn]

I think the final image on the Amiga screen is very important. The fact it has phosphors and not pixels reminds us that computer artists of the time were often going for a final image meant to be displayed on those contemporary tubes. You can see how the dithering disappears into the phospors to create a smooth shading effect. Modern dithering on pixel perfect screens is an evocation of this era, but not a recreation of its actual appearances (not without CRT filters, at least).
Digital art is very interesting to me, because we seem to have relied upon the concept of files and the internet as eternal, when the reality is that they are not. Data can fade into obscurity, file formats can become forgotten, lost, nonconvertible, or unreadable. We can find ourselves losing valuable pieces of historic computer art with no remaining copies, only facsimiles in the forms of photos, alternate resolution/rescaled images, etc.
We may reach a time when well known digital artists of today have bodies of work that may not be viewable in the future because of loss of the files. At least if a physical media artist passes on, their work remains unless destroyed, and if they are particularly famous, the work remains in collections or museums. The thought has always troubled me.