12th Jun 2017, 9:10 pm | #141 | ||
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Re: Museum of failure.
Quote:
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12th Jun 2017, 9:18 pm | #142 | |
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Re: Museum of failure.
Quote:
They're a more up-to-date version of the Binatone shoulder-mounted one-45rpm-a-go record player I mentioned in an earlier post.
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12th Jun 2017, 9:31 pm | #143 |
Heptode
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Re: Museum of failure.
Hmmmm ...... I still have [a Thompson] personal CD player somewhere which will play MP3 format i.e. you can get four or more standard CD's [AKA LP's!] on one disc. It's power consumption was pretty frugal as I recall .............
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12th Jun 2017, 9:35 pm | #144 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
It was often used to connect semi-professional digital video equipment and worked quite well back in the days that USB stood for Unused Serial Bus or Useless Serial Bus.
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12th Jun 2017, 9:41 pm | #145 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
I still use Firewire for transferring video from my DV camcorder to my laptop. I managed to get a Firewire card from Maplin that plugs into the expansion slot. As my camcorder has phono and S-video inputs for external video, I can transfer stuff from VCR to DVD via the camcorder. My Panasonic VHS/DVD recorder is one of the earlier ones that has a Firewire port for recording only: in later models this was replaced by a USB port.
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12th Jun 2017, 10:19 pm | #146 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
AEW Nimrod?
I recall Dad having a NOTAM of the need to give it at least 0.5nm clearance because of the radiated field, I still have it somewhere. The Boeing E3 was available and proven, but NIH and politics intervened. Last edited by turretslug; 12th Jun 2017 at 10:28 pm. |
12th Jun 2017, 11:12 pm | #147 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
I have just remembered an article on failures that were actually patented, which I used to photocopy for my students. A few highlights I recall:
-A gunpowder powered helicopter (by Edison!). Prototype blew up in the lab, apparently which was probably just as well. -An all-in-one coat-sleeping bag-tent. -A greenhouse hat. Idea being that you walked around with a type of space helmet on with plants in, you breathed in the oxygen and they used your CO2. -An automatic dog washer with washing and drying areas. And was about the size of 4 washing machines... -A gun fitted into a helmet, for hands-free shooting. Great idea on paper but broke the neck of the first person to use it! -Helium -filled furniture: when not in use the sofa would float up to the ceiling, freeing up floor space (quite like that one!)
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12th Jun 2017, 11:34 pm | #148 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
personal cd players are realy useful as a cheap replacement for the built in cd in the hifi when it dies, which they all seem to after a short life
JohnB |
13th Jun 2017, 9:27 am | #149 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
I would like to add the Quadrophonic system.
The Quadrophonic test broadcasts where the BBC used two of there FM stereo networks, Radio 2 FM for the front two speakers and Radio 3 FM for the rear speakers. I have an album which also boasts its recorded in 4 channel quadrophonic but was still compatible with stereo turntables. This was a late 1960's early 1970's now forgotten technology. I never remember seeing a quadrophonic systems in operations and it all died a death later in the 1970's. Some would argue that a modern version appeared a few decades later in the form of the Surround sound systems that we see today.
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13th Jun 2017, 9:45 am | #150 | |
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Re: Museum of failure.
Quote:
This example pictured is an interesting bit of history because it incorporates a 50Hz motor for the UK market and lacks the 'RCA-Victor' American logo. It may have been marketed here by EMI. I've restored it by adapting the arm for a red/black Chinese ceramic cartridge, so it now plays well as a cheerful little jukebox. Commercially though, it was very soon overtaken in the UK by Decca's adoption of the LP, so qualifies for the Museum. Martin
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13th Jun 2017, 11:06 am | #151 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
You may be correct, Martin, that the RCA Victor 45RPM Autochanger was sold here by EMI. I have no proof of that, except that early EMI(HMV) 45rpm records were made with the large centre hole and that RCA used the HMV Logo on their U.S. Records and other products.
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13th Jun 2017, 11:43 am | #152 |
Heptode
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Re: Museum of failure.
maybe the 16rpm record should be put into the museum. Though most record decks from the late 1950s onwards had the 16rpm speed, I have never seen a 16rpm record in my 63 years.
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13th Jun 2017, 11:52 am | #153 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
They were used mainly for foreign language courses such as Linguaphone. SP??
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13th Jun 2017, 12:19 pm | #154 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
I was under the impression that 16RPM was used for advertising on floppy 7 inch disks.
They were obviously made to be played only once or twice. |
13th Jun 2017, 12:35 pm | #155 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
I don't think 16rpm was used on flexidiscs, those promotional flexidiscs were usually 33.3 rpm, they sounded very weak. Any slower and the background noise would have drowned eveything out!
16 rpm was quite widely used in the USA for talking books and education. So, like other formats, may not have found mass market appeal but had a niche market, hence not really a failure. I once saw a 16rpm disc which was a compilation album of easy listening music, I think a family member may have got it in the philippines but it was decades ago.
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13th Jun 2017, 3:14 pm | #156 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
I remember my cousin getting a 78RPM flexidisc birthday card in the late 1950s. Unfortunately the postman had folded it to get it through the letterbox, so it didn't play properly.
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13th Jun 2017, 8:35 pm | #157 | |
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Re: Museum of failure.
Quote:
Materials technology helps with the rotor seals and wear hurdles- but combustion chamber profile limitations are inherent and fundamental. |
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14th Jun 2017, 1:44 am | #158 |
Heptode
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Re: Museum of failure.
I'm surprised that the DVD camcorder was considered a failure by some people on here. I have a couple of the Hitachi ones and thought they were amazing compared to tape-based camcorders. No need to fast forward through a tape to find a blank space, or accidentally record over something important. You can see what's on the disc via a menu screen. Recordings can be transferred at high speed onto a computer for editing, or you can even edit on the camera itself. Both those things are impossible with tape.
The first Hitachi DVD camcorder was a bit of a failure in that it used 8cm DVD-RAM discs in a cartridge. These could not be played in ordinary DVD players or most PC DVD drives. You could transfer the files to a PC by USB or put the disc into a DVD-RAM compatible PC drive, which I bought to go with it. The later models were multi-format DVD-/+RW. Those discs could be played in most DVD players and you could make copies of the DVD at high speed using a PC DVD writer drive. I did this 2 years ago at a family wedding. I recorded it on the DVD camcorder, then made a copy of the disc and gave it to the groom's father before I left. He was quite impressed! The personal CD player, again not a failure in my opinion. The early models were quite greedy on batteries but later ones improved. I used an early Sony Discman in my car with a cigarette lighter adaptor and cassette adaptor, when car CD players were too expensive. Then I bought a personal CD player that could play MP3 CDs. This was even better. Fit around 170 tracks on one cheap blank CD. Battery life was better and it never skipped. The MP3 CD player had a 2-minute RAM buffer. It read the MP3 into RAM and the disc stopped spinning for a minute or so, saving battery life. Of course, MP3 CD players quickly disappeared once the cost of other storage technologies came down. While on the subject of CD players, anyone remember the 3" CD player? Just like vinyl records were available in 7" and 12" sizes for singles and albums, there were 3 inch 'single' CDs as well as the 5" standard ones. The 3" CD never caught on. I have a promotional 3 inch CD with an adaptor to make it a full size disc if necessary. Several years ago, I saw a Freecom Beatman 3 inch CD player (pocket sized, and only able to play 3 inch CDs) for sale in my local Cash Converters. It must have remained in the shop for a year or more. Eventually the shop closed for refurbishment. When it reopened a couple of weeks later, the 3" CD player was gone - presumably chucked in the bin due to lack of interest. (I was tempted, but didn't want to pay money for a practically useless item.) |
14th Jun 2017, 5:15 am | #159 | |
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Re: Museum of failure.
Quote:
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14th Jun 2017, 9:31 am | #160 |
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Re: Museum of failure.
The primary school where my children went had a Sony Mavica digital camera where the images were stored on a 1.44Mb 3.5" floppy disc.
I'm not saying this was a failure as such, more a case of technology being rushed out into the marketplace whilst better alternatives were on the cusp of development. The kudos acquired by Sony for producing one of the world's first digital cameras must've outweighed any marketplace obsolescence that was surely (cynically?) known about at the time.
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