From The Lounge Room - New Archival Project

[Radio_TVGuy]

When did they make their last post here on MS?

[OnAir]

Can’t recall - they threw a hissy fit at one point here as well and shut down their account.

[SouthCoastTV]

@MichaelPower

Fair enough - I’d be more than happy to see you contribute when you’re ready! There is no rush at all, take whatever time you need to prep the files. Watermarks aren’t a big issue, and WMV conversions are very welcome once you’ve had a chance to sort through them.

Okay, sounds good! I’m aiming to try and submit some of my recordings by the end of this week.

@MichaelPower

I wouldn’t mind adding a section decicated to archiving radio in the near future - we honestly have such a unique market, and to see some of that get archived would be the next step forward. You’re right that YouTube isn’t the most forgiving with music-heavy content, and having a home for those clips outside of Google’s control is something I’ve will be keen to support.

Also, please don’t hesitate to bombard away - I am open to hearing ideas!

Haha, no worries. They’re not anything too daunting. Something I was also thinking of is that we could possibly have a category dedicated to historic news coverage? I’ve recorded content (from the free-to-air channels) of historic events like the death of the Queen, the 2016 US election etc., so I feel like it would be great to have a category where recordings of things like election coverage, breaking news coverage (e.g 9/11 coverage) would all be in the one place.

My only other suggestion would be to have a page dedicated to media-related pieces out of newspapers/magazines. I collect old newspapers with historic front covers, and many of these papers also have articles about shows being cancelled, overnight ratings etc.

People could take photos of these and submit the photos onto From The Lounge Room. It would be similar to the old Media Spy archive, when people used to be able to submit screen-captures of idents, logos etc. There could be a page similar to that on From The Lounge Room, but it would be dedicated to pictures/scans of old TV guides, historic front covers, newspaper articles etc. instead.

I know you would be busy with managing the site as it is and I would totally understand if you didn’t want to make any changes, but they’re just a couple of ideas I had in mind if you decide to archive other forms of media content in the future.

[MichaelPower]

hey all,

I have noticed some performance issues affecting the site at the moment, so I’m focusing on fixing that as a priority, so there will be a backlog of clips which I will get to once I get the site back to performing well again. Appreciate everyone’s patience!

[MichaelPower]

I have re-enabled the website for now - I’ve contacted the host for further support, so let’s see how things go.

[MichaelPower]

@SouthCoastTV

Haha, no worries. They’re not anything too daunting. Something I was also thinking of is that we could possibly have a category dedicated to historic news coverage? I’ve recorded content (from the free-to-air channels) of historic events like the death of the Queen, the 2016 US election etc., so I feel like it would be great to have a category where recordings of things like election coverage, breaking news coverage (e.g 9/11 coverage) would all be in the one place.

My only other suggestion would be to have a page dedicated to media-related pieces out of newspapers/magazines. I collect old newspapers with historic front covers, and many of these papers also have articles about shows being cancelled, overnight ratings etc.

People could take photos of these and submit the photos onto From The Lounge Room. It would be similar to the old Media Spy archive, when people used to be able to submit screen-captures of idents, logos etc. There could be a page similar to that on From The Lounge Room, but it would be dedicated to pictures/scans of old TV guides, historic front covers, newspaper articles etc. instead.

those are some great ideas! FTLR should be more than just clips, and your ideas will be a great addition to the website.

I’ve even got some stuff I can upload too as a “proof of concept” for the photo gallery too when i get stuck into that part of the website too.

and the historic news clips is also a great idea too - especially as it’s always a good way to see how different networks, and parts of the world at that as well.

[Bas_Tech]

Whilst checking the website, I saw @MichaelPower has approved clips from me and @Zampakid. When will he do the next “weekly” report?

I’ve got some more TV content on a hard drive, which I will submit later this month.

[MichaelPower]

i just did the report as a tweet for this week, and will be the format moving forward

[MichaelPower]

no updates this week/next week - needed this weekend to rest up from work, and going to a convention next weekend

sorry all

[MichaelPower]

Hi all,

Been a while! Sorry for the lack of updates regarding FTLR, with me being the main guy doing the Windows 11 transition at work, and some other things for me personally, haven’t really had the time to devote my efforts to FTLR - but I am still dedicated to the project, and with the year ending, I am about to have a bit more time to work on the site from December onwards!

The core focus will always remain archiving Aussie TV first and foremost, and I do believe the site does a good job at that. Even if it’s stagnant at times in terms of updates, it’s still serving a purpose of showcasing Aussie TV of old.

That being said, I want to brainstorm ways to make submissions easier to process. Right now, I still create a new page for each clip and copy everything from the submission form into the site manually. It’s not hard work, but it does take a bit of time, especially when a few come in at once, and I do want to make the flow of submitting quicker, to the benefit of both contributors, and visitors, so I would love to look into automating some of that.

Rest assured, I’ll still be manually checking every clip if I go down this route - so that I can maintain the level of quality control that sets FTLR apart from sites like YouTube.

If you got ideas in this space, please let me know!

In the meantime, FTLR is still live for you ot watch, and still doing what it’s meant to do. Big thanks to everyone who’s submitted material or offered ideas - it really does keep the project going.

[MichaelPower]

just letting everyone know the Cloudflare outage extends to FTLR, so clips might not be viewable.

[MichaelPower]

Been a while, hasn’t it? I do apologise for the dead air, life has been busy, but I am still as committed as ever to FTLR, and I have a huge update that should hopefully make this our comeback era (just like SBS2? )

Recent events have proven the justification for an independently curated Aussie TV archive site, away from people being easily able to flick a switch to take down a video, or even worse, an entire YouTube channel of archive work, and that’s why I won’t hang up the boots, even if there are times of the site at a standstill - it serves a purpose serving clips YOU submitted - and I thank you for that.

HERE COME THE UPDATES.

Firstly, there is now a NEW submission form that will help the process of getting your clip up and ready for viewing much more quickly.

The process in the past has included me manually making the clip page, and links and whatnot, but the advantage of this new form is that it immediately drafts a clip for me immediately after you submit, ready for me to review and manually approve

That’s the important part I want to stress - I will still manually approve clip submissions for quality control, this automation will not diminish the quality of clips submitted on FTLR.

I am working across a new look page galleries too, that will also streamline things in this regard. I am hoping that this work on the backend allows for people to regain confidence in submitting clips and publishing for everyone to see, so over the coming days, you will see a new gallery design rollout that reflects this new system, as i roll that part out, so there will be a period where you see the two different looks in the clip pages.

The new form has replaced the older manual form effective tonight.

Thank you all for your support, and let’s get this show back on the road!

[TV4]

Approx May 2022.