May 11, 2005

• What kind of machine do you have (windows, mac, etc...)?
• Good question - unfortunately I have no choice with my work computer, PC w/Windows XP (a Dell Latitude D600).
• You'll need an analog-to-DV converter, either a TV or graphics board or an external device. I use the ADS Instant Video 2.0, which retails for $99 (shop around for a better-quality product...this one is crap). Check out this article at Tom's Hardware for lots of good info about hardware options. If you don't have a long-term need for such a device, you can try a video conversion service. Tobits.com charges $25 for up to 2 hours of footage.
• Hmm... it's only 10-20 seconds, not sure if it's worth the cost and/or hassle. However, I do prefer a digital format for easier storage. I wish I had a friend who did this kind of stuff. Hmm...
• Try VideoHelp. They are a great source of the how to's of backing up to DVD and offers freeware etc. It may be of some use. Good luck!
• D'oh! That should be VideoHelp - corrected link
• You may find someone in your Yellow Pages that will do it for you, because the cost of a TV capture card wouldn't be worth it. A mini-DV camcorder can work in lieu of a capture card, if you can borrow one. Plug the VCR into the camcorder and the camcorder into the PC. It must be a mini-DV camcorder to work. If you can get hold of one, I'll get #2 to provide a more detailed explanation.
• As far as I understand, all television is acted out by the tiny magical pixies who live in your set. What you should do is take your set apart and pour cough syrup all over the insides, so the pixies will go to sleep. Then collect them and mail them to your Granny, and when she opens the envelope they'll leap out and hide in her underwear, creating a tickling sensation that is not at all unpleasant. Oh, how she'll dance about, trying to get the pixies out of her drawers! Ha ha! That'll teach her, the horrid witch.
• This is not easy I'm afraid, either with Pixies or The Pixies. I work for a large TV company and it took me nearly 6 months to persuade TV and digital media engineers to work out how to plug a VHS into a hi-end Digital Rapids professional media encoding PC so I could encode the VHS of my mates band to DVD (they didn't cover any Pixies songs) As #1 says your best bet is to look in Yellow Pages to find someone who will do this professionally for you - most of the video capture cards mentioned above will give you a pretty poor quality picture which will be quite small ...
• Ask around first and see if anyone can do it before you pay someone. There are more and more set top dvd burners and they work just like vcrs in that you just plug the rca cables into them and hit record and many of them have vcrs built into them so there aren't any wires to hook up. If you ask around, I'm sure you will eventually find someone that has one. Or heck, you could go to bestbuy and say, "well, let me try it out before I buy one" and do it there in the store!
• Yes, ask people at work or church or whereever you know groups :) I'm sure you'll have no problem finding someone to do it for you, since it's so short. If not, I'd be willing to do it for you, if you'd be willing to risk sending the tape in the mail...
• agreed - if this is the only time you want this done, to buy the means for doing it won't be cheaper / less hassle than having someone else who's already equipped do it for you. check around where you work - I just got lucky that way, I needed access to a PAL-format vcr to make a dub from, five minutes after putting out my email, I had a coworker come up who cheerfully dubbed 3 hours of early-90's hardcore punk band videos for me - all I needed to do was supply blank dvd's for her recorder. but even paying someone $15-25 is going to be cheaper than setting yourself up with transfer equipment - my capture device is cheap as dirt, and still cost me $40, not to mention software configuration & the multiple steps it takes to do it right...
• SEriously, if it is only 10-20 seconds, go to BestBuy or some other electronics store where they have the vcr/dvd burner combos and say, "I'm really intersted in this, but I want to check out the quality before I buy it." I would be willing to bet they would let you try it out on something that short. Heck, with it that short, they might even just let you do it if you are honest with the salesguy, or you could do it before you got caught!
• If you live in the Los Angeles area, I'll do it for you for free.
• I have been wanting to convert some home videos to DVD for a long time. You all have convinced me that it's probably worth the money to just have a pro do it and then edit them myself.
• jccalhoun is on to something there. That's bloody brilliant.
• Ok, this is my first posting since I am a brand-spanking new monkey. I'm impressed with the overwhemling response. Thank you to everyone, except I don't get the pixie jokes (inside joke, perhaps?). Too many options for me... head hurting... I'd consider 2 of the above options: The Best Buy thing sounds interesting, but I'd be too embarrassed! Squidranch - I do live in LA and I can send it out, but would the quality be ok?
• cynnbad - if you have a bunch of video to transfer, and you're comfortable with editing digital video, it's not that expensive - between capture card and software, I've spent less than $125, which is about 10 hours of footage at average transfer costs.
• What joke? What are you taking about? Your brain must have been taken over by goblins - the mischievous little bastards!
• Why not just point a web cam at the TV screen? You might even have 10 or 20 seconds of MPEG built into your cell phone or the digital camera you take vacation snapshots with.
• Big Davey - sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ideas... I can try it, but the quality would be low, yet small enough to send by email. Brilliant, I must say, brilliant.
• well, Big Davey is a little elf - and they're quite smart, the pointy-eared little freaks.
• Big Davey is a little elf - and they're quite smart, the pointy-eared little freaks. Hey! My hood is supposed to hide those! Maybe you have xray vision?
• sMhyla, squiddy's pretty much our resident vidtech guy. Have a look back through the archives sometime and find the link to the movies he made of Monkey meetups in LA. I'm thinking it'll be quality. We went through all this with our son's 20-week scan, as the clinic put the whole thing on VHS for us and we wanted to be able to send copies to our families back in NZ. We had the capture card already, so it wasn't a big deal to do it ourselves, and it came out pretty well after a couple of failed attempts.
• sMhyla, I just sent an email to the address in your profile. No prob doing a DVD. But you are going to have to come to me with your VHS and a couple of blank DVD-Rs and we can do your burn. Write me at my address in my profile and I will set you up, my sweet monkey.
• Whoops, I was writing from my sister's mofi account while visiting her in Palm Desert. It was I, squidranch who wrote the missive above. All that I wrote still stands.
• squidranch - sometimes you're a girl, sometimes a boy, which one is it? it must be hard getting it straight (no pun intended). j/k. as i should not bite the hand that feeds, right? or something like that at least. i posted the same call for help on my personal blog, then one of my friends said he told me that he'd help me, but i did not remember (yes, my memory is going with age). let me try this route first, then i'll take you up on your generous offer. thanks for being so helpful even when you don't know me. ttyl.
• Let me check. *looks in pants* I'm a boy? Yea!!! I'm a boy!!! Sorry, as I said, I was writing from my sister's computer and forgot to sign in as myself. Anyway, best of luck to you. Let me know if you need my help.
• Thank you, squidranch, for confirming your status, as your "story" about using your sister's computer was soooo unoriginal. ;)
• Perhaps unoriginal, but true my sweet monkey.
• if i'm sweet, are you sour???
• No, I am sweet too. All monkeys are sweet, my sweet monkey.
• hmm... (shall i get the last word?)
• (shall i get the last word?) Around here? Unlikely.
• nope.
• Monkeys are what they eat.
• heya. is it still a place to talk about vhs to dvd?:) i've got a couple of thoughts to sell here ;)
• I hope you are kidding. Alas, it doesn't appear so from the looks of your profile. May you banhammered to the depths of eternal rotten monkey hell... If you are a sock puppet, may the ogreish silverbacks toss maggot-infected fecal matter upon your body. Please update your smilies, they are not hip.
• It's not a front page post, at least. I've got no quarrel here.
• Hmph.