Tech Stuff
Marker
Posts: 162MI6 Agent
I'm an analogue person living in a digital world but I thought it might be a good idea to open a thread were members can discuss and review new technology they've seen, used, bought. The more Q Branch better but as far as I'm concerned anything from robot vacuum cleaners to the latest car seat ejection system from Temu.
Also as a place where we can ask advice about tech matters.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Comments
I'll go first. I need some advice from you tech savvy people.
Is there any way I can transfer scanned documents into Microsoft Word (Word 7 in my case) so I can edit them? I've a load of typed documents which I want to transfer onto my PC and don't want the hassle of one-finger typing them all.
Any advice will be greatly appreciated and thanks in advance.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
Mr Marker,
Here is an easy way to convert a digital or scanned PDF document into a word document, but it only works for Word 2013 and beyond (2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2024).
If upgrading to a newer version of Word is not possible, you could try newocr.com.
Here is a video showing how it is utilized.
Here is the link for newocr.com
I hope this helps.
Thank you.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR in the above post)
a scanned document is just dots of colour, the computer doesnt know they represent text even though we humans can read the letters.
OCR is a process that recognises the patterns, eg the typical pattern of dots that makes a letter A, and generates a text file thats supposed to consist of the letters in the scanned document. It can produce lots of errors so you need to proof and correct the results.
My bank started using OCR in its ATM machines, and a couple of rent checks bounced because it misread the numbers I'd written. Not my fault the bank relies on such technology! I kept pleading with my landlord to quit using the ATM machine to deposit my check, just go the teller who is a human being and can read my handwriting!
on the other hand I've seen scanned survey maps where very tiny text running at all angles is (mostly) accurately OCR'd, and thats legal information so very important. so it depends on the algorithms for the OCR software. I'm thinking my bank just cheaped out.
@caractacus potts
Thank you for the primer on Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology.
@Sonero @caractacus potts thank you for your replies.
Author of 'An Ungentlemanly Act' and 'Execution of Duty'. The WW2 espionage series starring Harry Flynn.
@Marker
You are most welcome.
SHADERGLASS
I love watching old films and TV shows and our modern day flat panel monitors and TV's do a fantastic job with image clarity and resolution, but there is a certain charm to watching these old shows on an old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) TV, the way they were originally intended to be seen.
How can you get your modern day monitor to look like an old TV from the 80's.
Well ShaderGlass does it for you.
It is a freeware that can be downloaded from github (link below) and it will put a CRT filter on your screen making your old films and TV shows look like they are being viewed on an old cathode ray TV.
Well to test it out, I used the Bluray version of my favorite film Dr. No.
The image above is from the bluray.
This is with the filter. I am afraid you wont be able to clearly see the differences with the attached screenshots, as I have scaled down the images to preserve storage space, but there is a marked difference. Now lets see some other images...
Please try this program and see for yourself.
P.S.
For full screen press Ctrl+Shift+G
Thank you.
That looks like fun @Sonero thanks for sharing. Would definitely feel strange to watch a new movie with that filter.
@Quentin Quigley Thank you for the kind words.
It is a weird way of watching films, but adds a certain charm, especially DVD quality films.
Old documentaries as well.
'Shaderglass' almost sounds like a Bond title!
@emtiem Indeed, a very cool name for an app.
One of the issues I faced while using ShaderGlass, was an inability to watch films in the full-screen mode. According to the team that made ShaderGlass, full-screen mode does not work on Windows 10 but does work on Windows 11.
I searched the forums and figured out a way to utilize full-screen mode in Windows 10.
This is how it is done.
How to use ShaderGlass in full-screen mode on Windows 10:
Simple.
Open a media file on your media player.
I am using the Blu-ray version of Dr. No in VLC player. (It could be any media player for that matter...)
Now open ShaderGlass and you will get a window like this.
Now simply go to Input in the ShaderGlass window menu
From there go on to Window
And from here click on the respective media file in the drop down section. In my case it is Dr. No - VLC media player.
Now once you do this, ShaderGlass will open the film in its own window.
So you will now have two windows running simultaneously on your computer.
One media player window and one ShaderGlass window, both running the same film.
Please see below. You can see one on top of the other.
Now go back to the VLC player window and make it go full screen.
For VLC player, just double clicking at the screen with your mouse, puts it into full screen mode.
Now please go back to the ShaderGlass window and press Right Ctrl + Shift + G on your keyboard to make ShaderGlass go full screen.
And there you have it.
The film will now run in full-screen mode in the ShaderGlass window.
It took me ages to figure this sequence out.
Anyways...I hope it helps.
To get out of the full-screen mode in ShaderGlass, please press Right Ctrl+ Shift + G once again and it goes back to windowed mode.
Thank you.
SUBTITLE EDIT
For people who like vintage films like me, one of the problems I have is following the dialogue, as sometimes it is expressed to quick or is beyond my comprehension.
Well thankfully we have subtitles nowadays, which once switched on make the viewing experience much better.
Now the problem is...sometimes the subtitles maybe out of sync with the film.
On VLC player, you can forward up or double down the speed of the subtitles, but you do not get that precision, where the subtitles and the voice line up perfectly.
There is a way out.
'SUBTITLE EDIT'
The freeware can be downloaded at the link below:
Once downloaded, you will open up to an interface like this.
The program can simultaneously run the film and the subtitles at the same time.
Now lets imagine, I have a film whose subtitles I want to get properly synced.
For this purpose, I have downloaded 'The Upturned Glass' from 1947, a film starring British screen legend James Mason, from the Internet Archive.
I have also downloaded subtitles of this film from the internet, as the ones on Internet Archive are not of good quality.
In Subtitle Edit, once I open up the subtitles and the film, it looks like this...
The subtitles and the film are completely out of sync.
I can run the film on the right and see the subtitles as they are being displayed.
I can also read the subtitles on the left and the time shown on them, and can easily calculate the difference between the voice and the subtitles being displayed.
Once adjusted with the scene, in the synchronization tab, they can all be batch adjusted forwards or backwards for a perfect sync.
There are many tutorials on using Subtitle Edit on YouTube, which explore all the editing capabilities of the program.
A very useful tool, especially for folks who like to read subtitles.
Thank you.