Teletext Time Travel by Russ J. Graham.
From the post:
Transdiffusioner Jason Robertson has a complicated but fun project underway – recovering old teletext data from VHS cassettes.
Previously, it was possible – difficult but possible – to recover teletext from SVHS recordings, but they’re as rare as hen’s teeth as the format never really caught on. The data was captured by ordinary VHS but was never clear enough to get anything but a very few correct characters in amongst a massive amount of nonsense.
Technology is changing that. The continuing boom in processor power means it’s now possible to feed 15 minutes of smudged VHS teletext data into a computer and have it relentlessly compare the pages as they flick by at the top of the picture, choosing to hold characters that are the same on multiple viewing (as they’re likely to be right) and keep trying for clearer information for characters that frequently change (as they’re likely to be wrong).
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I mention this so you the next time you complain about your “dirty data,” there is far dirtier data in the world!