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kitsunebi

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Posts posted by kitsunebi

  1. It was the right decision to split this into two files.  I once saw someone release a scan of a flipbook EXACTLY as it was printed.  Meaning the first half was normal, but in the second half, all of the pages were upside down and went backwards from last page to first.  I tried convincing them of the stupidity of doing this to a digital file that can't be physically flipped, but they insisted they were doing the right thing in preserving the book exactly as it was printed. 🙄

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  2. I think the key to pinpointing the cause is figuring out how/why your flatbed scans and ADF scans are identical (if I understood you correctly.)  I'm not familiar with your printer and have never used the ADF scanner on my printer, so perhaps they function differently from a standalone ADF scanner?  Because an ADF scanner moves the page across the glass while the laser remains motionless.  That's why if there is something on the glass blocking the laser, the scan line will run the length of the page as that spot is blocked the entire time the page is pulled across it.  A flatbed is the opposite - the page remains motionless while the laser moves across the length of the page.  So if there's something on the glass, it will only block the laser at that one single point as the laser moves past it.  The fact that you say you get identical streaks on both types of scans surely holds a clue to the mystery, as it doesn't seem like that would even be possible.

    But yeah, on a brand new scanner, you may as well send it back under warranty, because that's huge problem.

  3. That doesn't look anything like a scan line created by dust.  On an ADF scan, dust lines will typically be perfectly straight and quite thin (not more than a few pixels wide), and they will be a solid color, often red or blue depending on the background color of the page.  You can't see the image on the page behind the scan line, because the laser has been completely blocked by the dust particle.

    What your pics look like is scratches on the glass.  Those will be opaque discolorations like are seen in your examples, since the laser light can still pass through the scratch, but it's distorted, causing the discoloration.

    Another less catastrophic thing that can cause images like you're seeing is glue.  Sometimes glue from the page binding can rub off onto the glass and cause streaks like you're seeing.  Luckily, that can be carefully cleaned off with glass cleaner and a microfiber cloth.  If it's scratches, you're S.O.L., though.  I'd check the glass very carefully - scratches can be very hard to see.  Hopefully it isn't that though and it's just something that can be cleaned, although I suspect you've already tried cleaning the glass. 

    A flatbed scan, btw, shouldn't even have scan lines, since any dust on the glass just gets scanned into the image.  The only way to get streaks like that on a flatbed scan would be to have some sort of scratch or smudge running the entire length of the glass.

  4. I've written extensively about CBR/PDF in the past and honestly don't have the energy to repeat myself or see if I can locate any of those old posts, but I would like to point out that it isn't just "this site" that uses CBR - it's all of them.  All of the major sites creating magazine scans of English-language magazines, at any rate.  Granted, there aren't many sites like that out there, but ever since Oldgamemags (which has 4 times the amount of scans that Retromags does) switched to CBR, no one in the scanning community uses PDF anymore, outside of a few independent individuals throwing stuff up at the Internet Archive.

    Suffice it to say, for something like game manuals, a PDF would probably be adequate.  For magazines, it's a very restrictive format.

    (Of course - anyone out there using a PDF reader like Sumatra to read a CBR isn't benefiting from the CBR format at all, so hopefully everyone is using CBR readers to read their CBRs, since that's what they're made for...whodathunkit?)

  5. 8 hours ago, PixelBoy said:

    Magazines and reviews have evolved, perhaps matured. Back in the day there were four game reviews on one page, these days one game review can take four full pages. So today's reviews are more thorough and try to cover some background, whereas the early reviews were more like "it's a nice game with nice graphics, four stars".

    I'm not sure what country's magazines you're talking about, but I should have been clear that I was talking specifically about American video game magazines.  Of which, currently, there is only ONE still in publication.  And that's Wal-Mart's mag, which I've never bothered looking at, because...well, it's published by Wal-Mart.  But yeah, once Game Informer went digital-only recently, there isn't a single print magazine about videogames you can buy in America anywhere but at Wal-Mart or through the Internet (small press/Patreon mail-order type stuff, which certainly can't be counted as significant or influential).

    So unless I'm not giving them the credit they deserve and Wal-Mart Game Center is actually the greatest magazine about video games ever published, I don't think any argument saying that video game magazines (in America) still have much to offer has any legs to stand on.

     

    Other countries may be different.  Certainly Japan still publishes a decent array of books and magazines about games, even if they're in far fewer numbers than the past.

     

    The high-school-English A.I. OP post briefly touches upon the one thing mags DO still have to offer, which is a look at the past.  Current mags...well, they don't even exist for the most part.  But older mags, especially pre-Internet mags, offer a solid look at the history and evolution of gaming - information that sites like this try to make more permanent by digitizing via scanning so that it can be freely disseminated to all.

  6. Just read the OP and I kept thinking "what video game magazines are they TALKING about?"

    "immersive and engaging reading experience?"

    "detailed reviews that provide readers with a more comprehensive understanding of the games" (cited as a reason they're better than online resources.)

    WHAT?

    Hahahahahahahahaha.

    Video game magazines have their place, especially from the point of nostalgia.  But most of them offered only the most superficial form of journalism at best (which is fair, considering most of them were primarily marketed towards teens).  I'm supposed to believe that a four-sentence review from EGM is more insightful than an 8 paragraph review from an established online gaming site?

    Let's be dead honest.  when you were a kid, what excited you the most about the latest gaming mag?  Was it hard hitting, literary journalism (🤭) or was it the copious screenshots of upcoming games that fired up your imagination?

    Gaming mags have one purpose nowadays, and that's simply being a physical collectible for those interested in owning things.  Nothing in their contents is better served on paper than it is online.  (The exception being guides full of maps and reference material which can be more easily referred to in your lap while playing the game than by looking them up on a computer screen in the other room.)

    • Like 1
  7. 23 minutes ago, Phillyman said:

    Box H1 on my Inventory sheet is going to be chopped up and scanned this week. Anything already preserved will be listed for sale in the Retromags store or set aside for blindboxes.

    The only issue of Games for Windows I'm not scanning is #5, which is conveniently in that box. 🙂  The other 2 in that box have already been scanned (one I've already uploaded, and the other is waiting to be edited).

     

    Btw, that word "chopped" gives me chills, especially as I'm neck-deep in trying to edit together all of the 2-page ads in the gallery, most of which have been "chopped" to blazes. 😫

    Looking forward to the Hero Illustrateds.

  8. 19 minutes ago, Areala said:

    Not to brag, but I have a complete-in-box copy of Madden 2005 for the original Xbox. I'm not entertaining any offers for sale at this time, but rest assured, if the day ever comes when I just REALLY need some Taco Bell, it'll go up for sale. :)

     

    *huggles*
    Areala :angel:

    Wow, I think that's the first year that EA sports paid out the wazoo to have a monopoly on the NFL license so they wouldn't have to bother trying to develop quality games anymore because no one would have any choice but to buy Madden no matter how bad it sucked. 

    Probably worth a mint.

    A really small one.  Like they leave on pillows.

    • Like 1
  9. Probably not, which is scary, but still.

    Japan has some seriously crazy figure collectables, like this Silent Hill bubble head nurse resin statue/figure. 

    5u66e0ff.jpg

    At the current exchange rate, this retails for $981 USD.

    This isn't the price of a super rare older collectable, this is the PRE-ORDER price...

    JFC.

    Meanwhile, this one retails for $30.  Looks good enough to me.

    10919761a.jpg

     

    I imagine St Peter at the gates of Heaven, distractedly waving through murderers and telemarketers alike as he tries to get some guy to tell him what was running through his head when he dropped a G on a Silent Hill toy.  "We don't let just anyone in here - you got some 'splainin' to do, son."

    • Like 1
    • Haha 1
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