• From: Ohio
  • Registered: 2021-09-30
  • Posts: 172

Is there any particular reason why we separate UPC codes with spaces? When scanned, these codes are not spaced, and if not spaced in the database, we could have searchable UPC codes, which would come in handy when shopping for games. While not a true indicator of the disc inside the case, it would provide a fast and dirty way to check to see if you own a game before buying one at a thrift store or yard sale.

Plextor PX-755UF, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3

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2 Reply by NovaAurora (edited by NovaAurora 2023-08-15 12:49:27)

  • From: the Internet
  • Registered: 2020-05-23
  • Posts: 1,853

Redump has a general stance of recording stuff verbatim, as they are on the disc/packaging.

You can download all barcodes here: http://www.redump.org/barcodes
And then filter out all spaces, dashes, and other extra characters.

Digital Archivist / VTuber / Purple Cat
☆ ☆ ☆ PX-W4012TA ☆ PX-716A ☆ GGC-H20L ☆ BW-16D1HT ☆ ☆ ☆
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  • From: Ohio
  • Registered: 2021-09-30
  • Posts: 172

That seems odd to me. The barcode is, in fact, printed without spaces. It is only the human readable numbers that represent the code underneath, that appears to have spaces. We record it imperfectly, with extra spaces which do not exist in the barcode itself. We try so hard to preserve some data, requiring it be read by specific hardware that is able to record the data, not as it appears to the masses, but as close to the original bits as possible, but not other data such as barcodes.

I am not at all trying to be combative, or argumentative, just seems strange to me. Thanks for the link, I was unaware we could even get the barcodes that way. And thank you for the reply. While I don’t agree fully that we are recording it as it appears, I do understand your point, at the end of the day, the truth is, it is this way because that is the position of ReDump, which I get.

Plextor PX-755UF, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3

EmuGuru's Website

  • Registered: 2017-09-29
  • Posts: 163

The numbers on the barcode are indeed printed with spaces, not without, in most cases. It's best to record the data as thoroughly as possible, which means including spaces when they are present, and leaving them out when they are not. We also include the "T" at the beginning of Japanese barcodes that have that, despite it not being a "real" part of the barcode. It's easy to transform our barcode set to "raw" barcodes by a simple regex, the same cannot be said for the opposite if we left these characters out.

PX-4824TA (offset +98), PX-755SA (offset +30), ASUS BW-16D1HT (offset +6)
  • From: Ohio
  • Registered: 2021-09-30
  • Posts: 172

Sorry, what I meant was, the barcode itself, is not spaced. The numbers written underneath are not the code that is encoded in the bars. I totally agree with the inability to add spacing later. That makes total sense. I also was unaware of the Japanese codes having the "T". Again, it totally makes sense, it just seemed odd to me because we are reading the data on the discs, and in my head should have been reading the data in the code. However I can definitely see your points ^_^

Plextor PX-755UF, Nintendo Wii, PlayStation 3

EmuGuru's Website