Loading from VHS to Zx Spectrum

[anonUK]

Any machine with the ability to record and playback sound in mono can be used to load a program into a Spectrum. This includes a modern PC playing back specially downloaded programs as a sound file. The Spectrum can only interpret audio signals, not video signals: it generates a video output, but that's not the same as video input. I'm sure the same goes for most other home computers of the time that used tapes instead of disks.

[richsmif]

I loved that program when i was like 5!! Nice memories.

[CoolDudeClem]

I'd like to find a real spectrum and try this for myself, BTW what were you saying at the beginning of this video?

[decicoder]

@CoolDudeClem

It's the audio of a TV station. When a vhs video player is stopped, normally you can see and hear a TV station.

[ganirintiniano]

similar DINAMITE DAN!

[nrdesign1991]

how long does it take using regular tape?

[shalroth]

@nrdesign1991 About four minutes.

[nrdesign1991]

@shalroth Woah! What an improvement! I guess it loads a loader before loading the game

[shalroth]

@nrdesign1991 I would imagine there's a bit of TurboLoad going on - I used to have a machine code routine from 1983 that halved load/save times, the frequency of the tones on tape were doubled and the duration of the tone was halved, I guess there's an extreme form of this going on, and videotape certainly has enough fidelity to cope with it without dropouts.

Or it could be magic.

[nrdesign1991]

@shalroth I had something similar for the C64, I think it was called TurboTape or something. I downloaded several demos from the net, processed it through a program that makes cassette tones out of the files and then finally processed it through the turbo loader program. It worked perfectly when loaded from CD or my MP3 player :)

[Dant2142]

May I ask how this was done?

Is it also loading from the video signal?

[decicoder]

@Dant2142

No, only from audio signal. But for recording a sound to a VHS tape it's necesary to input a video signal. It doesn´t matter the video source

[shalroth]

@decicoder Is there some digital trickery going on here - recording the spectrum's signal as a NICAM track for instance? That would help explain the ten-fold increas in bandwidth...

[wannos27]

@Dant2142 its really simple. the spectrum, used cassete tapes to play games.. all he has done is record the tape onto a vhs and then plugged the vhs into the spectrum useing some very nifty wireing skills and the result is a really fat casssette tape with a spectrum game recorded onto it.

a cassette tape and a vhs is all the same stuff. one just happens to be fatter than the other.

[Dant2142]

@wannos27 I know, I just thought that to achieve the faster load times, he had somehow figured out how to interface the video signal to have an extra transfer line to the spectrum.

[mig189189189]

Awesome video. Keep on with that good work!

[MaximussPoosus]

Almost the same Speccy as I had.

Mine was the 128k+

[doncool001]

wtf?! Wish I'd known about that 25 years ago!

[MaximussPoosus]

Yeah waiting 10mins only to have it crap out on you as the volume was a little to high!

[doomed13]

Where can i download k7zx4.0?

[Keijz74]

Is it a reliable solution?

[Keijz74]

Nice "Datasette"!

[Dani128]

Esa pedazo de tele ELBE! Yo tenía una igual, menudo petardazo pegaba al encenderse. 11 Kbps, qué pasada :D

[Jarowdowsky2]

beautiful

[dreamerm42]

cargar un juego desde un vhs? jajajaja

[rpcinsanity]

Ay va la hostia, que cojones es esoooooo, parece la peli esa de los marcianos que se comunican por luces de colores, ajjaajjajaja.

[VectorOmega]

Great! BTW, how does one do that with a VHS player? Was the game data recorded on a VHS tape?

[decicoder]

You record using de input line of VHS recorder.

In de Video conector you plug any source of video.

In the audio conector you plug the sound card of PC. The you record the wav generated with k7zx.

if you play the the VHS you will see the the video signal you pluged and you will hear the sound to be load to Spectrum.

[raymondleeleggs]

old comps made awful sounds

[cyborg4r]

No tienes otro puñetero juego que no sea el manic miner?, ya lo has cargado como 20 veces de formas distintas

[Pai3000]

JAJAJJAJAJAJJAJAJAJJAJ!!!!

[whiteb89]

I take it then, that this "Special" loading technique, will not work with loading schemes such as The turboloading schemes of the ZX Spectrum, what about "Bleepload" and such.

Does it work for the Rubber key 48K spectrum ?

[zxspectrum128]

Nice. Is k7zx4.0 in English now? I tried it once, but I couldn't understand the options. If I'm not mistaken the same person who developed k7zx did a video player, to load video animation from tape using turbo load. Thanks for the video.