Yes, I am getting back to the video and DVD writing thread again. I know that there are probably a lot of my readers that are not interested in this topic, but I generally write about what I do and video happens to be the topic of the day. But even if you aren't converting your old tapes to DVDs today you might be doing it tomorrow, or perhaps using a service to do it. Hopefully these columns help.
You might think that this is a "winter" project and we have certainly had enough of this cold winter weather to last me for years. But unfortunately I just wasn't ready. First of all, I didn't get the DVD writer drive until Christmas. Then I decided that I needed a new PC with lots of horsepower to do the work and it took a while to buy this and then get it installed. Finally, I had a lot of technique to learn. The end result is that it took me until now to seriously start to do the work.
The first thing to do is to inventory all of your old tapes. This basically means playing them all again. Oh, you can certainly skip and fast-forward, but the idea is to write down all of the doings on each tape. I especially focus on the cute little scenes that characterize people and situations - those that you would want to move to DVD. Moving the entire 2 hours of some Thanksgiving celebration to DVD is just not the right thing to do - you have to choose the best moments. And don't trust the tape label - I have found a number of gems that weren't described in the tape label that I put on the tape years ago.
So, there I was, on the floor with literally boxes and boxes of old tapes. The tapes brought back a lot of memories, but the tape technology itself also had a memory stream of its own. Most people think of VHS tapes as being the first videotapes in common use, and they were. But most people recall using one of those large VHS camcorders of the mid 80's. My experience goes back even prior to that.
My first videotape unit required a backpack. It was made by RCA and had a handheld camera (about the size of one of today's Digital 8 cameras and far bigger than one of today's miniDV cameras). A healthy-sized cable connected the camera to a VHS tape deck. This tape deck served two purposes; it could be used as a regular VHS tape deck by sliding it into a docking station and it could be used as a portable unit by sliding it into a backpack and slinging it over your shoulders.
The deck contained a large battery, but it still wasn't enough to power the units for the full two hours of taping. So I also bought an external battery pack consisting of two gel-cell 12-volt batteries on a belt. So, you put the backpack on your back, the batteries on your belt, a cable went from the batteries to the tape deck, and another cable went from your back, along your arm, to the camera. Whew!
But I took a lot of tapes with this rig. One that really surprises me is a tape of me on the back seat of my father-in-law's snowmobile in Pennsylvania. It was one wild ride! Unfortunately, the quality of this unit wasn't as good as the VHS camcorders when they came out. I see that by comparing some of my tapes with one of my brother-in-law's work. But we kept that camera in-use until the early 90's when I traded it in for a 8mm unit.
Also during that period, Sony was pushing Betamax. Many people remember that the Betamax quality was better than VHS (and the tapes were physically smaller), but Sony kept it as a proprietary standard and thereby lost the battle. It is interesting that in the current DVD format wars, Sony has taken a leadership position in being the first provider of DVD writers for both DVD-R (minus R) and DVD+R (plus R) formats. They learned their lesson, it seems.
Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport / Oak Island area. You can visit his web site at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.