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)

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)

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)

"Andy Burns" <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote in message news:j5j0h5F3mclU1@mid.individual.net...

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)

Andy Burns <usenet@andyburns.uk> 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
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On 28/01/2022 21:40, NY wrote:

"Andy Burns" <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote in
message news:j5j0h5F3mclU1@mid.individual.net...

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)

"SimonM" <somewhere@large.in.the.world> wrote in message news:st35q1$e31$1@dont-email.me...

On 28/01/2022 21:40, NY wrote:

"Andy Burns" <usenet@andyburns.uk> wrote in message
news:j5j0h5F3mclU1@mid.individual.net...

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)