(036) Time Machine

I retrieved the VCR from the attic today along with a box of video tapes that may or may not contain footage transferred from video camera. After a search through various boxes of old cables I eventually found the cable necessary to connect the VCR output to the DV camcorder that will act as a pass-through device in order to record the VHS tapes on the PC as .avi files. I've already found that 30 minute DV tapes equate to anything between 5Gb and 10GB so I can only imagine how much HD space will be taken up by a 3 hour VHS! That's only half the process though. The next step is to transfer the .avi files to the MacBook for converting to .mpeg files as the PC won't handle this task. When I started the job of digitising video tapes I was using USB flash memory stick to transfer .avi to the MacBook but this is painfully slow. My current system is to save captured .avi files via the PC to an external HD which is formatted as NTFS which can be read directly by the MacBook, which then converts the video files to mpeg and writes to an external SanDisk 2TB SSD. All in all it's an acronymonious process ;-) 

Having now digitised the first VHS tape I thought about titling this blip as 'TARDIS' as the inside of the tape is so much bigger than the outside. I've discovered long forgotten sights and sounds of family and friends from 20 years ago. Incredible to think they have been hidden away unseen on magnetic tape all this time.

Also, I should explain that in the picture I had to remove the VCR casing to extract a cassette that was reluctant to be ejected due to the tape having become caught in the mechanism. I had forgotten just how horrible the sound of crinkling, twisting tape was and the sense of dread that was experienced when pulling the cassette from the VCR, hoping that the tape was safely back in its casing. By taking the VCR casing off I was able to save the video tape but I now have to open that up and manually rewind the tape back to the beginning, rather than risk playing again from the same point at which it got stuck. One big advantage I have now when trying to figure out VCR problems, compared to in the 1980s, is I can now go look for a handy YouTube video that will show me how to fix almost anything!