Pacific Freeview glitching: Skills Centre advertisement

These images were captured from a Pacific Freeview set top box by manipulation of the signal input. Made all the more amusing by a particularly cheesy and annoying advertisement, I must say.

About Auto Glitcher

A glitch, according to the dictionary, is a "malfunction in a machine or plan"; in computing, any sudden or unintended error can be classed as a glitch.

But what if a glitch was meant to happen? What if input was manipulated by a human or some other force in some way to create, at least to some extent, a deliberate glitch? Some sort of system to create semi-automatic errors, or autoglitches?

Deliberate or not, whilst a malfunction typically brings about frustration, when viewed from a distance there is something glorious about such errors. Forget for one moment their annoyance, take a step back and revel in their visual attractiveness.

This blog collects instances of glitches for their aesthetic appeal, both from the public domain and from my own collection. The source of all images is noted.

Set top box glitching

A very common form of glitch is caused by poor reception to a digital set top box. My own Freeview box, a relatively primitive and cheap model, is highly prone to glitching and is therefore an excellent source of amusement. It can get very annoying, too, though I am willing to put up with this for the occasional eye-catching, and sometimes jaw-dropping, results.