Recording/Transferring VHS to DVD

If I may talk about a different kind of technology today...I'm having a lot of fun converting my VHS tapes to DVD-r. And its easier than I thought it would be.

I'd originally thought that I'd need a special machine to make the conversion, but not so. All you need is a VHS player - the one you've got now, if you've got one, is fine, and a DVD player that also records. Those are pretty inexpensive, you should be able to get one considerably less than a hundred dollars.

These days, the backs of these machines are color coded, so you know exactly where to plug in the coaxial cable and the other cables, the names of which I admit escape me, but have red, orange and yellow connectors.

You set the machines up so that the VHS machine plays into the DVD-r, which shows on your TV screen. You then just hit record as you normally would. Of course the tape records to the DVD-r in real time, not in super speed.

Easy.

I'll edit this entry tomorrow to attach photos (I'm typing this at night and my camera flash isn't working, and the light's too dim.)

For now, here's what you need to know.

Coaxial cable
Connect this from Antenna-IN of the VCR to Antenna-In of the DVD-R

Connect the cable with white, orange and yellow connects to the VCR-OUT of your VHS machine, to the DVD- Video IN of your DVDR

Connect another cable with these same collor connects, from the DVD-R OUT to the Video IN of your TV.

And there you go.

Of course when I say I'm having fun... I've got about 300 tapes, most of which I haven't watched since the day I taped them off the TV. Right now I'm going through about 50 Perry Mason tapes starring Raymond Burr. Fun and nostalgic to watch!

Keep A Notebook By Your Computer

And in this computer, document everything you do.

Have a page where you list all the passwords you create - more people forget their passwords than you'd think possible.

If your computer has a habit of freezing or bombing, start a record of when it freezes - what were you doing just prior to freezing, etc. When asking for help, either on computer message boards, to me, or to someone at a computer store, this is the kind of stuff they'll need to know.

Also, if you create webpages - or are going to, in future, use this notebook to keep track of all your work.

You can never have too much information - as long as its sorted properly!