Back in 92/93 i was a senior at my school and therefore had access to our computer lab with networked computers.
I distinctly remember discussions like this "You going to class? No? Wanna play Doom against each other?"
Even our mostly computer illiterate teachers were amazed how we were able to play against each other on the network, that was a completely new technology for most of them.
This made me go look up the video yearbook from my graduating class (it was digitized and put on Vimeo eons ago, as were other videos from our school days in 1988-1989). Some parts make me miss those days, and others make me glad those days are over. LOL
I remember as a kid being taken to a college still using Netscape to show off the internet we'd be using in the future. If only they knew how fast tech would pickup and what I'd actually use would change many times due to it.
I was watching women in bikinis and like Cindy Crawford. My teenage mind thought it was ok, because technically it wasn't porn. And I would be covering my monitor, too.
You can get SeaMonkey which is still kinda maintained(December 2025) and feels like Netscape Navigator complete with browser, pop/imap mail client, newsgroups, and composer(HTML editor)...
Netscape decided to rewrite their browser code from scratch. Joel Spolsky (Joel on Software) has an interesting read on how that basically set them back a year just to get back to square one while their competitors were spending a year moving ahead by polishing and adding new features.
Didn't really appreciate BBS' until I got older and realized how back then you could dial a phone number on your 2400 baud modem, connect to a site, and download stuff. Took it for granted. That was some amazing stuff back then.
We were still running green monochrome monitors with the 5.25 inch floppies on some of the pc's. Those the teachers allowed games on, newer pc's were reserved for schoolwork only. Not that it stopped us once we realized the internet blockers.password was 12345
That's a good question. I wonder if it was originally film and not video? But you can see the monitors flicker....maybe it was upscaled after digitizing?
This is definitely video and not film. Video camcorders could be fairly decent if you had enough lighting, used a blank tape and kept the tape in good environmental conditions. It could be Hi8 camcorder, but watching how the camera moves, I'm thinking it might be a VHS or S-VHS shoulder mounted camcorder.
Analog video tapes degrade over time, so digitizing now is a lot about how much of the signal is still there & getting a player that still works.
Mid 2000s the tapes were in better condition, it was simple as many DV camcorders had a feature to work as a VCR and take analog video signals and record to the MiniDV tape, or just pass through the analog audio / video signal through the 1394 IEEE / Firewire port directly to your computer
Granted, an hour of DV at 25mbps equals about 12GB per hour and at the price of hard drives, few people were digitizing all their home movies to a hard drive.
I guess if the film was fresh enough, DV passthrough with the associated line TBC would be sufficient for this quality, but it's so damn clean that it's hard to believe there isn't some additional filtering at work. I'm just not used to seeing that in this day and age.
Ok, yes, you need decent software to know what interlacing is and when exporting to progressive to de-interlace. Which not all software does and it upsets me so much. If that tape is only 5-10 years old, and kept in climate controlled place w/ low humidity, digitizing is easy w/o a TBC.
Video Capture Guide vibe-coded something that you might be interested in, if you're a Windows user. They have it hosted in github. Kind of neat, though more testing is required. Might be worth a shot.
"Free Windows GUI for QTGMC deinterlacing of analog video captures (VHS, Hi8, Video8). Drag-and-drop simplicity — perfect for preparing footage for Topaz Video AI."
halkeye
How'd they get those pictures of me? I think i have some transfered (vhs to cd) highschool graduation videos like this.
somebackup
They don't know about rotten dot com yet...
loopdesigns
"illegally"
FPAlpha
Back in 92/93 i was a senior at my school and therefore had access to our computer lab with networked computers.
I distinctly remember discussions like this "You going to class? No? Wanna play Doom against each other?"
Even our mostly computer illiterate teachers were amazed how we were able to play against each other on the network, that was a completely new technology for most of them.
JinxRocks
This made me go look up the video yearbook from my graduating class (it was digitized and put on Vimeo eons ago, as were other videos from our school days in 1988-1989). Some parts make me miss those days, and others make me glad those days are over. LOL
TheFastpaws
I remember as a kid being taken to a college still using Netscape to show off the internet we'd be using in the future. If only they knew how fast tech would pickup and what I'd actually use would change many times due to it.
Goldmarble
Can confirm. Was there. Yes, my back hurts.
Hatsodoom
In the 00's for me it was Runescape.
jcflea
So nice seeing people not wanting to be filmed
hsalonen3000
I was watching women in bikinis and like Cindy Crawford. My teenage mind thought it was ok, because technically it wasn't porn. And I would be covering my monitor, too.
brokehackfourlane
mac performa! kinda a misnomer
stoots24
Wow - totally reminds me of stuff I've seen from Columbine....
DrKonrad
They were 18 at the time, today they are 46.
LuLuPennyAndOdium44
If they're all alive
theresaschu713
I was there Gandalf…
pullingsixty
Why does everyone look like they just got out of bed or have hair products just gotten that much better in thirty years?
Sinlok
Who remembers token ring networks
Frecklefoot
Bah, younglings! Back in my day, the computer lab was full of Apple II's! And we were grateful to have them!
OrkenMork
that's funny
xerasiel
OhIfIMust
We had Maelstrom, such an iconic game! I can't find any gifs, but this showed up in a search, so have it instead.
Kwyjor
Maelstrom was open-sourced, so you should still be able to play it one way or another. (Alas, no such luck with Apeiron or Barrack.)
OhIfIMust
I juat want to be able to complete “Harry the Handsome Executive.”
daddyslittleiceskateingprincess
LeftRightThere
CookieDave
Netscape Navigator. Be still my heart.
xcrit
You can get SeaMonkey which is still kinda maintained(December 2025) and feels like Netscape Navigator complete with browser, pop/imap mail client, newsgroups, and composer(HTML editor)...
sadurdaynight
Netscape decided to rewrite their browser code from scratch. Joel Spolsky (Joel on Software) has an interesting read on how that basically set them back a year just to get back to square one while their competitors were spending a year moving ahead by polishing and adding new features.
3Davideo
"Ok." *heart attack sounds*
B0ardski
napster and winamp ftw
donpat
Lynx was my first browser back in 93 at uni.
OhIfIMust
Mosaic...
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
first browser I saw, running on fvwm / SPARCstation
thisplaceisjustanothernewssitenow
Firefox
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
whole different beast from the one you're seeing here, based on the last version of Netscape (6.x IIRC)
my 486 couldn't run it well so I stayed in 4.x aka Netscape Communicator for a while
quade
shittiest camera work ever.
VosperOfAntarctica
My guy. Go check out 'newest' in usersub. This probably isn't even the shittiest camera work I've seen today!
wejustdontknow
Ah yes I was expecting Scorsese level work from this random high school
quade
At least let us read the screens that were being shown
wejustdontknow
They're using Netscape Navigator. The first girl is on a Fraggle Rock fan page.
JarJarDrinks
Who else remembers Mosaic? BBS's? ASCII?
sadurdaynight
Didn't really appreciate BBS' until I got older and realized how back then you could dial a phone number on your 2400 baud modem, connect to a site, and download stuff. Took it for granted. That was some amazing stuff back then.
Thorketil
autoexec.bat
OhIfIMust
I remember, but I can't recall why I entered into this room.
ByThePowerOfSCIENCE
lynx, gopher, iirc, FTP in at jobs (we called our uni's Internet link "the wet string" because of its astounding speed)
igglebotato
gopher? nntp? telnet? MUDS?
donpat
Ah.. connecting to a local BBS on my C64 with a 300 baud modem for the first time in '83 or '84.
"MOOOM! you picked up the phone and disconnected me!!!"
mistersartori
Damn you have me beat :D Connecting up to the UK Prestel service in ~84, but with a blazing 1200/75 modem on my ZX Spectrum!
donpat
Oh man.. I remember the elation when I saved up enough money to upgrade to a 1200 baud modem
vonKaiser
Needs more kings quest and Oregon trail
OkButWhyWereTheyFilming
Maybe a little Mavis Beacon
MechKelly
Doom, Half-Life, Need 4 Speed.
HankScorpioAndHisAllGirlBand
Ah, life giving water, nectar of the gods
joegod
Given the year it’d be more likely to have Warcraft II. That’s what my friends and I, plus our science teacher, had on all the computers.
vonKaiser
We were still running green monochrome monitors with the 5.25 inch floppies on some of the pc's. Those the teachers allowed games on, newer pc's were reserved for schoolwork only. Not that it stopped us once we realized the internet blockers.password was 12345
Detacheddavid
Amazing how much things change in 20 years.
Thorketil
Only people don't change.
TyPfhhv
ToastLifter
Hate to do this but 1997 was almost 30 years ago 🫠
BeachsideBarghest
https://media1.giphy.com/media/v1.Y2lkPWE1NzM3M2U1NDZseXA4dWZ3OWh5dGh6eG9tZHk2eWd5YjRnZmRxemo5aGtybXU5bSZlcD12MV9naWZzX3NlYXJjaCZjdD1n/U7isUDZ6VPWJW/200w.webp
FoxVoxDK
Amazing how much things change in 20 years, yes that's what he said, no taking backsees.
MechKelly
Congratulations. You solved the joke.
TheMayorOfTittyCity
AMAZING HOW MUCH THINGS CHANGE IN 20 YEARS!!!
CookieDave
The video quality is really clean. I wonder how they digitized this.
nupoile
That's a good question. I wonder if it was originally film and not video? But you can see the monitors flicker....maybe it was upscaled after digitizing?
seehemewe
This is definitely video and not film. Video camcorders could be fairly decent if you had enough lighting, used a blank tape and kept the tape in good environmental conditions. It could be Hi8 camcorder, but watching how the camera moves, I'm thinking it might be a VHS or S-VHS shoulder mounted camcorder.
Tarmaccian
CRT scrolling flicker is an artifact of any shutter system, not just digital.
seehemewe
It is less a question of how and more of when
Analog video tapes degrade over time, so digitizing now is a lot about how much of the signal is still there & getting a player that still works.
Mid 2000s the tapes were in better condition, it was simple as many DV camcorders had a feature to work as a VCR and take analog video signals and record to the MiniDV tape, or just pass through the analog audio / video signal through the 1394 IEEE / Firewire port directly to your computer
seehemewe
Granted, an hour of DV at 25mbps equals about 12GB per hour and at the price of hard drives, few people were digitizing all their home movies to a hard drive.
CookieDave
I guess if the film was fresh enough, DV passthrough with the associated line TBC would be sufficient for this quality, but it's so damn clean that it's hard to believe there isn't some additional filtering at work. I'm just not used to seeing that in this day and age.
seehemewe
Ok, yes, you need decent software to know what interlacing is and when exporting to progressive to de-interlace. Which not all software does and it upsets me so much. If that tape is only 5-10 years old, and kept in climate controlled place w/ low humidity, digitizing is easy w/o a TBC.
CookieDave
Video Capture Guide vibe-coded something that you might be interested in, if you're a Windows user. They have it hosted in github. Kind of neat, though more testing is required. Might be worth a shot.
"Free Windows GUI for QTGMC deinterlacing of analog video captures (VHS, Hi8, Video8). Drag-and-drop simplicity — perfect for preparing footage for Topaz Video AI."