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  • Barcode in top right hand corner of "Craft Store TV" channel (LCN 85, m

    From NY@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jan 28 15:21:45 2022
    I happened to be idling skimming through the shopping channels and I
    noticed that Craft Store TV is permanently displaying a very narrow
    barcode across the top right hand side of the screen. As far as I can
    tell it remains constant and doesn't vary as the item being "plugged"
    changes, but it's so blurred that detail could be changing without me
    noticing.

    https://i.postimg.cc/XYXq9LW6/vlcsnap-2022-01-28-15h03m15s952.png

    What is odd is that on 544x720 sub-SD (the only resolution that the
    channel is broadcast on), it's so low-resolution that a bar code reader
    hasn't a hope of resolving the necessary detail, otherwise I'd have
    thought it might encode a URL for the item being sold.

    I'm intrigued...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From williamwright@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jan 28 17:46:16 2022
    On 28/01/2022 15:21, NY wrote:

    https://i.postimg.cc/XYXq9LW6/vlcsnap-2022-01-28-15h03m15s952.png

    It thinks I'm in Northampton and in need of a Russian prostitute.

    Bill

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to All on Fri Jan 28 20:03:49 2022
    NY wrote:

    What is odd is that on 544x720 sub-SD (the only resolution that the channel is
    broadcast on), it's so low-resolution that a bar code reader hasn't a hope of resolving the necessary detail

    I did try, but no chance, and it's not preset on the web stream.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From NY@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Fri Jan 28 21:40:06 2022
    "Andy Burns" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
    NY wrote:

    What is odd is that on 544x720 sub-SD (the only resolution that the
    channel is broadcast on), it's so low-resolution that a bar code reader
    hasn't a hope of resolving the necessary detail

    I did try, but no chance, and it's not present on the web stream.

    Yes I later found the web stream on their web site and although that is a higher resolution where the code might have been readable, as you say it's
    not present - probably because there's a big panel "item now being sold" alongside the video screen ;-)

    I bet the *intention* was to display a scanner-legible bar-code that viewers could scan with the camera and a bar-code app on their phone - but it has
    been knackered by the very low resolution of its terrestrial version. Maybe
    it would have been borderline-legible at 720x576, but at 544, there's no
    hope :-(

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Theo@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Fri Jan 28 21:28:36 2022
    Andy Burns <[email protected]> wrote:
    NY wrote:

    What is odd is that on 544x720 sub-SD (the only resolution that the channel is
    broadcast on), it's so low-resolution that a bar code reader hasn't a hope of
    resolving the necessary detail

    I did try, but no chance, and it's not preset on the web stream.

    It looks quite odd. Evidently 1D, and I could believe it has grey and black square pixels. But they're not split into regular length blocks, and the pattern doesn't look much like binary data. If it was a ternary code (grey, black, white) the placement of the white seems more structured than what you would expect.

    I wonder if it's some text on the original video material, that has been
    scaled down so badly that it's only 1 pixel per letter (and then scaled up
    to 4x4 in the SD image)? That might explain why there are 'black' or
    'grey', because it's due to the density of 'ink' in each letter.

    The message would then be something like:

    O O@O@OO@O @OOOO @O@OOO @O@OO@O@ OOO@O@ OOOOO@ O@OO O OO O@O @OOOO O@O@O@O@ OOOO O@O@OO@ @OOO O@O@O

    where O is a light (grey) letter and @ is a heavy (black) letter.
    We could then draw up a table of which letters are light when sampled at 4x4 and which are heavy.

    Anyone good at crosswords?

    Theo

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From SimonM@21:1/5 to All on Sat Jan 29 10:44:17 2022
    On 28/01/2022 21:40, NY wrote:
    "Andy Burns" <[email protected]> wrote in
    message news:[email protected]...
    NY wrote:

    What is odd is that on 544x720 sub-SD (the only
    resolution that the channel is broadcast on),
    it's so low-resolution that a bar code reader
    hasn't a hope of resolving the necessary detail

    I did try, but no chance, and it's not present
    on the web stream.

    Yes I later found the web stream on their web site
    and although that is a higher resolution where the
    code might have been readable, as you say it's not
    present - probably because there's a big panel
    "item now being sold" alongside the video screen ;-)

    I bet the *intention* was to display a
    scanner-legible bar-code that viewers could scan
    with the camera and a bar-code app on their phone
    - but it has been knackered by the very low
    resolution of its terrestrial version. Maybe it
    would have been borderline-legible at 720x576, but
    at 544, there's no hope� :-(

    I would immediately think stationary one-line
    timecode of some format. Not possible?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From NY@21:1/5 to SimonM on Sat Jan 29 13:15:08 2022
    "SimonM" <[email protected]> wrote in message news:st35q1$e31$[email protected]...
    On 28/01/2022 21:40, NY wrote:
    "Andy Burns" <[email protected]> wrote in message
    news:[email protected]...
    NY wrote:

    What is odd is that on 544x720 sub-SD (the only resolution that the
    channel is broadcast on), it's so low-resolution that a bar code reader >>>> hasn't a hope of resolving the necessary detail

    I did try, but no chance, and it's not present on the web stream.

    Yes I later found the web stream on their web site and although that is a
    higher resolution where the code might have been readable, as you say
    it's not present - probably because there's a big panel "item now being
    sold" alongside the video screen ;-)

    I bet the *intention* was to display a scanner-legible bar-code that
    viewers could scan with the camera and a bar-code app on their phone -
    but it has been knackered by the very low resolution of its terrestrial
    version. Maybe it would have been borderline-legible at 720x576, but at
    544, there's no hope :-(

    I would immediately think stationary one-line timecode of some format. Not possible?

    I'd thought of a timecode, but:

    a) it doesn't change eg once per second

    b) it's not the very top line(s): there is a line or so of picture, then a white border within which the black bar code is placed

    I bet it was a really clear bar code when it left the studio at 1920x1080
    which has then suffered appalling indignities by being down-converted to 544x576.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)