EEVblog #633 - Mailbag

The Ben Heck Show:
Speak'N'DaveJones
Don't forget the Hack-A-Day Prize Go to Space!
Tektronix MDO3000 swag
Indiegogo Campaign Very Serious USB Button:
Metrawatt Analog Multimeter Unigor A43
Geppetto Electronics Hydra J1772 Electric Vehicle Charging Station:
Kevex 2003 Scanning Electron Microscope Preamplifier & Pulse Processor
Showview Video Recorder controller.

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[ScottHenion]

Those right angle standoffs are actually hinges. you did not need to remove them; just unscrew the other side of the board and it hinges up.

That preamp looks like a great box to make your own custom LAB stuff; already has BNC's. Looks like there was something hiding in the big aluminum block at the other end.

Yeah, when I started, the draftsmen were doing 2x and 4x PCB masks with tape and precut pads. We were doing 0.012" traces high tech ;)

[MantisRay]

I'd say that antenna looking right angle bracket on the scanning electron board is a hinge to let you raise the board up and out of the way to get underneath

[charleswolfman]

Dave is going to get like 15 telephones in the next mailbag because he mentioned he needed one.

[Tuttomenui]

18:40 those right angle stand offs look to also double as hinges. =)

[marcrhsn]

The Showview thing is an automatic universal remote for a VCR. It has a built in clock and if you programmed it, by entering the showview number, it turned on your VCR, set it to the right channel and started, and later stopped, the recording.
Before that, you had to program it to let it know which channel was stored on which number on the VCR.
The numbers are still printed in some tv guides and some modern DVD-recorders still offer showview programming. In some countries, the system was named VCRPlus or Videoplus.
There was also a "deluxe" version you could use as a normal remote for your TV and VCR.
I had the deluxe version and I think my parents still have got the version you got, but rarely, if ever, used it. It was easier and more logical to enter "monday, 20:15 to 21:45, memory 5" into the VCR than a 10 digit number.

[OskarBernberg]

Just finished my thesis in electrical engineering, what way could possibly be better to celebrate than with Ben Hecks “Speak and Dave”?

[ChipGuy]

Showview was basically a remote control just to setup your VCR to record a show from TV. Many people were not able to program their VCR by using the built in menus etc, too complicated. So they printed codes in the magazines like "291 582 294 911 812" for every single show. You only needed to enter this code into your ShowView device and point it to the VCR like the IR remote control. Bang, the show got programmed for recording.

[electronicsNmore]

How many people do you know that get gifts all year long? :-) Must be nice.

[MetalheadBuser]

In shool (for Electronics trainees) we are still using those Unigors :) On the measurements we do there we don't need that high accuraty so Analog Multimeters work fine. The main reason they are still used is a): They are still working fine and b) They are basically like indestructable. You can't blow a fuse. And trust me, my classmates aren't that carefull using stuff so you'd have to replace fuses every day.

[JesusisJesus]

Dave, Gemstar was the company licenced under JVC to produce G-Codes for VCRs to record a show out of the TV Guide. 
That gadget would sit on top of the VCR and hang over the front and at the correct time, it would change the channel on the VCR and hit record, by blasting ALL the codes out for ALL known remotes. That thing kept the time and the date though, and could supposedly be put anywhere in the room so long as the IR signal could hit the front of the VCR somehow.

[dhpbear]

34:10 - Q: "Do you like Franklin?" A: "I don't know - I've never frankled!"

[voltareamstereo]

I remember G-Code in guides, Panasonic used a barcode version. they also had a barcode sheet with Record start, end times, days channels etc...

Manual programing was easier,   Day(s), Channel, start time, end time, remember insert tape, wound to begining, press timer record and set operate to off.

I learnt to program an old JVC vcr back in the late 80's when i was 7ish, the instructions were on the front door. amazed me for years how many didn't know how to set the clock.

[Polaventris]

Those ShowView codes were pretty common here in Finland during the VHS era. I remember all TV schedules in the newspapers having the ShowView codes after each television program. Made it easier to record a program just by punching in code than manually set the date, channel, start and end times.

[henriprevost]

I need the Dave speak and say so that I can constantly be reminded of the EEVBlog when I am without internet!

[MAYERMAKES]

i had such a vcr recording showview device back in the days, it works with every vcr that has a remote, you programm the recording time into it, and it sends out IR pulses allthe way around it and forces the vcr to record at the desired time. you can use codes provided in the manual to st it up for different brand vcrs. its just like a multi-device Ir-remote but programable to do differnet things a pre set times, really handy thing

[nowaymangoshtomuchna]

show view was a system where TV guides gave out codes so you can simply punch in a code and your VCR perfectly records the show where it exactly cuts recording when there is a commercial breake and then restarts recording once the show is back on. was a nifty idea

[DaedalusYoung]

We used to have Showview codes printed in the TV mag in the Netherlands. I never used it though. As I understood it, you have to enter a string of seemingly random numbers to program your VCR. It'd be easier to just program the VCR with the times.

Our VCR remote had a different system, which used a red LED with which you could swipe barcodes, and that would automatically set the VCR start and stop times in the remote, all you had to do then was click the 'Send' button to program the recorder.

[speardfrog]

I would really like to have the speak and say. My engineering teacher at school also watches your videos and it would be so cool if i surprised him with it at school. It would also give us an excuse to watch you vids in class :)

[DrWarfighter]

Wow, I watched Ben Heck build the SpeaknSay, was surprised to see it turn up in the mail bag :P

[Rockey]

I have a little brother, he can read and write, so it is time he learned about electronics. This seems like the perfect add-on to his instruction