So there I was, minding my own business, doom-scrolling my way through Facebook posts when I happened upon one that hit me straight in the nostalgia. A photo of a 1980s home computer, a cassette player and some tapes. The text underneath proclaimed "In the 1980s, people could download video
There was also a system where some TV screen pixels were used to send data, but I’m struggling to remember how you were supposed to get it into the computer.
I suspect that you needed to build some light sensor with a serial cable, that you held to the screen, but I’m not sure.
This was in the Netherlands, not sure if it was done elsewhere.
I had heard of this but your comment sent me searching for more info. I think you might be referring to Visicode.
https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1985-07/page/286/mode/2up?q=visicode
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxo1Gs46ti0
https://archive.org/details/PersonalComputerWorld1985-08/page/194/mode/2up?q=visicode
That looks interesting, but it’s not ringing any bells.