RZX Archive on YouTube

[PeterJ]

Sadly the RZX Archive YouTube channel is no more. This was always going to happen at some point.

Thanks to Paul Finn on Facebook for alerting me to this.

Please can you remove the links in the next update @Einar Saukas?

Examples are as follows:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/9 ... rum/Cookie

[5MinuteRetro]

Sadly the RZX Archive YouTube channel is no more. This was always going to happen at some point. Thanks to Paul Finn Facebook for alerting me to this.

Please can you remove the links in the next update @Einar Saukas?

Examples are as follows:

https://spectrumcomputing.co.uk/entry/9 ... rum/Cookie

This is really shitty. I'd not been following this so didn't know it was on the cards. I'm honestly astonished that YouTube doesn't permit some form of account memorialising, as does Facebook et al -- but apparently not. I'm guessing it means that hundreds of hours of footage that's valuable to this small community is now gone forever.

[PaulF]

Sadly the RZX Archive YouTube channel is no more. This was always going to happen at some point.

Thanks to Paul Finn on Facebook for alerting me to this.

No problem. I'm sure I viewed it only yesterday but might be wrong, it's such a shame.

Paul

[5MinuteRetro]

Sadly the RZX Archive YouTube channel is no more. This was always going to happen at some point.

Is anyone here in contact with the passed-away person's next of kin, perhaps? Is it crazy to suggest asking if it'd be possible to execute a Google Takeout, assuming it isn't now too late?!

[Ralf]

Why did Youtube remove it? It had quite a lot of views and didn't break any law.

[5MinuteRetro]

Why did Youtube remove it? It had quite a lot of views and didn't break any law.

I'd imagine it's a simple case of inactivity by the account owner: Google can (and does) delete accounts that have not been used for over two years. Next of kin/nominated attorneys can liaise with Google for access -- hence my earlier comment/question about perhaps asking if the deceased's next of kin can execute a Google Takeout.

[equinox]

As an extreme RZX maker (and someone who had the pleasure to chat to Daren now and again) this sucks -- but it's the same old: never have a single point of failure. We know people die (in programming they call it the "bus factor", i.e. what if the programmer is hit by one), and we also know that social media and sites like YouTube rise, fall, monetise and demonetise like the moon. ON STEROIDS.

And because we knew that, and already did, we have all the RZX files that can recreate the videos.
I wonder, in 2024, perhaps you could just stick a JavaScript Speccy emulator on the page, and give it the file as input. Who needs a pre-recorded video file?
(If you're thinking "yeah, but then it wouldn't be on YouTube" -- that's a separate problem, and why musicians feel they must turn pure audio tracks into 'videos' because Soundcloud wasn't good enough SEO... ugh. -- Also, okay, you couldn't seek to 30 minutes, you'd have to wait, I see the issues.)

Might be nice for any future RZX display project to use Daren's name in some way, after all the love he put into it. Now he did once ask me to remove his name (from that old Speccy Easter eggs web page I had) but I think that was just healthy paranoia. Doesn't matter now.

[PeterJ]

I wonder, in 2024, perhaps you could just stick a JavaScript Speccy emulator on the page.

There already are two on each appropriate game page @equinox for playing games in the browser. If they can also play RZX files, then I'm sure that's a possible addition.

EDIT: I just checked and I don't believe JSSpeccy 3 or QAOP handle RZX files. If you know of a suitable JavaScript emulator do let me know.

Might be nice for any future RZX display project to use Daren's name in some way

Nice idea. We still credit him on the SC homepage, which I think is the right thing to do.

[Ralf]

Nice idea. We still credit him on the SC homepage, which I think is nice.

Also remember that there was another earlier project which stored snapshots with Spectrum game endings:
https://worldofspectrum.net/speccyspoilers/index.html

It became obsolete when rzx format appeared.
And the man who ran it also passed away much too early. So don't forget about Jim as well. He was a nice, friendly guy.

[equinox]

Also remember that there was another earlier project which stored snapshots with Spectrum game endings:
https://worldofspectrum.net/speccyspoilers/index.html
It became obsolete when rzx format appeared.
And the man who ran it also passed away much too early. So don't forget about Jim as well. He was a nice, friendly guy.

Indeed jimlang was cool, he was on the ancient #speccy IRC.

And Michael "Frankie" Desert Island Disks. I can't remember now, I feel like that pre-dated RZX, but then how was it organised? You can't just email and say "yes I got a score of 200,004". -- Ah I think this is why they introduced a special "key" number you could put in your RZX. Still hackable if you're a real cheater-cheater-pumpkin-eater.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Very sad news, first due to the reason that originated it, and second due to the number of videos hosted, a true treasure that should be preserved

[Pobulous]

There already are two on each appropriate game page @equinox for playing games in the browser. If they can also play RZX files, then I'm sure that's a possible addition.

EDIT: I just checked and I don't believe JSSpeccy 3 or QAOP handle RZX files. If you know of a suitable JavaScript emulator do let me know.

Using an embedded emulator to play the files would also get around the compression artifacts on YouTube - there are a lot of old low-res Spectrum captures which look terrible.

[firelord]

Who needs a pre-recorded video file?

Actually, I show zx walkthoughs to my younger elementary classes to teach them how a simple game is made and how it works. I usually start with Yeti ( and tell them the game story - famous explorer and the Yeti and them make them draw more game screens). I also use RZX youtube videos when another teacher is absent and we want just to pass the time.

Is there a place where we can download the RZX videos? I might need to upload some of them (If I can't find them elsewhere).

I see that almost all of my links are gone . I had many links to the RZX archive.

[equinox]

Actually, I show zx walkthoughs to my younger elementary classes [...]

Wow I can barely believe this. But I WANT it to be true, and I don't think our firelord would tell lies.
This is great!
BTW for technical reasons I'm going to be in the World's End (you know, the pub opposite the tube) next Monday, probably with a friend, but any Speccy nerd Londoners who can still stand me, come and say hi, eh. I'll be there from 8pm.

[PeterJ]

If anybody has the skills to create a browser based RZZ player, then I'm sure we can incorporate it.

[Juan F. Ramirez]

Actually, I show zx walkthoughs to my younger elementary classes [...]

Don't show Dinamic games to them, or they will get a childhood trauma!!!

[Morkin]

Ah, this is sad.

I hope Jim's family know how much the Speccy community appreciated him putting the .rzx recordings on the channel. A very small thing for a niche hobby group but thousands of people would have watched those vids, they always used to appear in game searches.

[Ralf]

Using an embedded emulator to play the files would also get around the compression artifacts on YouTube

You are missing an important quirk here.
With Youtube video you can skip to any minute of the walkthrough at any moment.

With .rzx you can't. If the walkthrough takes 3 hours then you have to watch it for 3 hours to see the ending. Only possible trick is to
speed up the emulator but you still have to watch it from the very beginning.

It's a very serious weakness of watching .rzx files.

[hikoki]

If it helps, this is how I convert FMF to video with perfect quality.
Add another .bat to convert RZX to FMF, and you'll have a way to automate the process from RZX to video.
Although, in my opinion, the best option is to try to recover the YouTube channel.

Code: Select all

fmfconv speccy.fmf | ffmpeg -i - -vf palettegen palette.png
fmfconv speccy.fmf | ffmpeg -i - -i palette.png -filter_complex "crop=288:216,scale=1440:1080:flags=neighbor [x]; [x][1:v] paletteuse" -c:a flac -c:v zmbv -compression_level:a 12 speccy.mkv

pause

[TMD2003]

I have just discovered this myself today, via the "QL" thread (i.e. that was its title).

Far more annoying than merely losing the "more accessible" ThemTube versions of all those hundreds of RZXs is that, now, there are all those that are not accessible AT ALL due to being distribution-denied games. And while some have apparently left that status (e.g. the Dizzy games, where I assume the Oliver Twins overruled Codemasters), there are quite a few more that have been hidden away (e.g. various Elite and Gremlin titles).

So, you wanted to watch Jamie Angus' completion of Heartland without incurring the wrath of Paul "not the hypnotist as far as I know" McKenna? Then you're completely out of luck.

Also, to keep an eye on such matters, I reckon it would be very useful to be able to produce a list of which games are distribution-denied at any moment in time. I know absolutely LN 1 about databases but surely there's a flag in there that causes a title to show on screen as distribution-denied that could be put after a ? in the URL bar... something like that, right?

[PeterJ]

@TMD2003,

Check out the availability option on the home page advanced search. Probably combine that with the years, and ZX Spectrum filters.

[Lee Bee]

This is so sad. After we lost Daren, I thought "Well, at least his channel will live on forever". It's still the biggest and most relevant Spectrum YouTube channel, always top of the results when you search for a game. (Or… it was.)

I honestly don't understand why YouTube would take down a channel that's making them ad revenue. Apparently it has something to do with stopping spammers hijacking the accounts, but why not just lock the account and keep the videos online, rather than taking it down? Doesn't make sense.

Just before he passed, I actually made Daren a new logo and channel banner (to celebrate 10 years of his channel). He approved it while in hospital but we never got to upload it. I had thought about trying to get it uploaded, with an added memorial to Daren on it.



If no one else has a contact for Daren's family, I was in contact with his mum a couple of years ago. PM me and I can try and dig out the details.

[kolbeck]

If no one else has a contact for Daren's family, I was in contact with his mum a couple of years ago. PM me and I can try and dig out the details.

Yes please, if in any way can save them for the future, that would be great. I'm also looking into if video files can be generated one way or another (unless anyone already knows that).

[Lee Bee]

Yes please, if in any way can save them for the future, that would be great

OK, give me a day or so with this, as I'll have to dig through some files to find it which are on another machine.

I'm also looking into if video files can be generated one way or another (unless anyone already knows that).

FYI, I know that Daren's method was to generate them all in real time by playing them on Spectaculator (and presumably recording the screen). In other words, he didn't use a method of exporting, which would possibly be faster than real-time.

Even if we got the videos back, it would be sad to lose 13 years of YT comments. Mainly for Daren's sake. Poor guy, I still feel so sad for him and his family.

[kolbeck]

FYI, I know that Daren's method was to generate them all in real time by playing them on Spectaculator (and presumably recording the screen). In other words, he didn't use a method of exporting, which would possibly be faster than real-time.

I've never used RZX - and as I'm on a Mac, think I'll be challenged by this