In The Lab With Jay Jay

About The Show

In The Lab With Jay Jay is the video blog of John Elliot V.

My name is John but my friends call me Jay Jay.

On my main channel I make videos about electronics.

The content is fairly wide ranging but in general it should be of interest to electronics hobbyists, particularly beginners.

Website Conventions

On this website internal links are in light blue, external links are in dark blue, and affiliate links are in green.

Usually external links and affiliate links will open in a new tab/window.

Video Content

My videos are primarily about my misadventures in my electronics lab. I should be very clear: I am not an expert! I am a beginning electronics hobbyist and in my videos you will see me fumble around and make a lot of mistakes as I go about learning this dark art.

Also I'm just starting to learn about video blogging so please bear with me as I figure out how to create high quality videos.

If you have any suggestions concerning how I might improve either the content or the video quality I would be very happy to hear from you!

Content Structure

The various channels, shows, features, and content are organized roughly like this:

• Main Channel: In The Lab With Jay Jay
  • Main Show
    • Old Book Teardown
    • New Book Teardown
  • Special Shows
    • Maxitronix Xin1 Kits
• 2nd Channel: Elliot's Extras
  • Extra Content

When I refer to "the show" I'm usually referring to any and all of the above. Maybe I should call it "the spectacle". :P

YouTube Channels

The show is delivered across two separate YouTube channels.

Main Channel: In The Lab With Jay Jay

The main channel is known as In The Lab With Jay Jay and is on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/@InTheLabWithJayJay

The main channel is for high quality video content of interest to electronics hobbyists.

For a list of main channel content visit the main channel page.

2nd Channel: Elliot's Extras

The second channel is known as Elliot's Extras and is on YouTube here:

https://www.youtube.com/@ElliotsExtras

The second channel is for longer form content which has received less editing attention. (Yes, that's right, it's the crap that wasn't good enough for the main channel.)

For a list of second channel content visit the second channel page.

Main Show

The main show on the main channel covers miscellaneous electronics stuff. I'm pretty interested in old gaming consoles, particularly OG Xbox, so you can expect to see a fair bit of that.

Beyond playing with old gaming consoles I do all sorts of other electronics projects, from simple things like making cables to more complex things that involve microcontrollers and custom software.

I love doing unboxings and teardowns, so I will do that whenever I can.

Basically the main channel is and will be a mixed bag. The only rule is that the content be of interest to an electronics hobbyist.

I am hoping to be very beginner friendly (I am a beginner myself!) and hopefully we can all learn more about electronics together.

For a list of main shows visit the main show page.

Main Show Features

There are a number of regular features on the show. These regular show features are actually spun off as separate standalone videos. Each time I do a video for the main show I also record videos for these regular features.

Book Teardowns

I love reading and I love books. I have a lot of books and I'm always buying more. I have a particular interest in old books, especially old technical books. I also have a lot of new books, also technical books.

The book teardowns are a fun way for me to share my love of books with you. I hope you enjoy them!

The books I teardown are STEM related, which is pretty broad, and includes anything science, technology, engineering, or mathematics related.

The reason I call it a "teardown" and not a "review" is because that is a better term for what I actually do in these videos. Usually I haven't read the book before, usually I am looking at it for the first time, and what I do on the video with you is have a look of what's inside. I have a look at the front and the back and then go through the table of contents in detail. Usually I will also take a close look at some specific thing which takes my interest as I'm reading out the contents. So these are not simply book reviews, they are book teardowns, which is a particular and specific type of review.

I would certainly encourage you to buy your own copy of any of the books that you see me teardown, if you can still find a copy for sale anywhere!

Old Book Teardown Video

In the old book teardown of the show I introduce and teardown an old book.

To count as "old" the book needs to have been published more than ten years ago.

New Book Teardown Video

In the new book teardown of the show I introduce and teardown a new book.

To count as "new" the book needs to have been published within the last ten years.

Special Shows

In addition to the regular content on the main show I do some special shows. At the moment special shows are based around Maxitronix Xin1 kits, but in future I will also be doing some other collections of projects such as the Learning the Art of Electronics projects and the Jaycar Short Circuits projects, so standby for those.

Maxitronix Xin1 Kits

The Maxitronix Xin1 kits are electronic project labs of various sizes. I own pretty much the full set:

I am slowly making my way through my collection, making one video for each project in each Maxitronix project lab:

• Maxitronix 10in1
• Maxitronix 20in1

For an introduction to the Maxitronix Xin1 kits see the Maxitronix Xin1 page.

Extra Content

In addition to the main channel content I also sometimes release content on the second channel. This is lower quality content which has received less editing attention.

I keep this extra content on the second channel so that people who only want the best content don't need to give it their attention.

Video Resolution and Framerate

My videos are usually 4K @ 30fps, but not all of my cameras can record at that resolution. The framerate doesn't make much difference for the sort of content that I make, but the resolution certainly can. I will get better recording equipment as soon as I can afford it. If you want to help out on that front you could consider sponsoring me. :)

4K is 3840 x 2160 pixels (sometimes called 2160p), and is four times the resolution of 1080p.

Lab Costume

When I make main channel content I wear my costume, which includes:

• Lab coat
• Pocket protector with tools
• Orange safety goggles
• ID badge

This is cosplay and my costume is inspired by Egon Stetmann, the chief scientist from StarCraft II:

Of course he has more hair than I do. :)

Silly Job Title

On my ID badge is a silly job title which I change for each main show on the main channel. I don't change the silly job title for special shows or for content on Elliot's Extras.

Contact

If you need to get in contact you can find my contact details here:

https://blog.jj5.net/blog/contact/

Sponsors

My show is very generously supported by my sponsors.

If you would like to support the show I would very much appreciate it and the best place to do so is over here:

https://www.patreon.com/JohnElliotV

Affiliate Links

When I link to equipment which can be purchased on the web I try to do so with an affiliate link. This has no cost to you but means if you purchase something from an affiliate after clicking through on one of my affiliate links I may earn a small commission from the sale of equipment. Clicking through on affiliate links is an excellent way to support the channel.

Click-through to the equipment page for a list of the equipment I own and use along with links to further information and to buy.

Thank You

Thanks very much for your interest and I hope you enjoy the show!

Where To From Here?

You made it to the bottom of the homepage, huh? Well done! I'm a bit of a scroller myself. :)

Where you go next depends on what you're interested in. Here are some suggestions:

• Main Channel, for all my high quality content including my special shows.
• Main Show, for my main show videos, which include the old book and new book teardowns.
• Equipment page, if you're interested in any of the equipment I use. If you're putting together your own electronics lab I would certainly recommend checking this out!