Over the weekend Ezra purchased a nifty adapter thingamajig that allows us to capture video from analog devices like vcrs or an analog video camera (should we ever get one) and load them onto a computer. I have been wanting some such tool for a while, as I have something like 15 or 20 6-hour video tapes from about 1986-1994 that I’d like to convert to DVD before they disintegrate. I started the process of capturing and editing the clips over the weekend, and it was much fun. I started with one of the oldest tapes, figuring I’ll work my way through more or less chronologically. Many of my old tapes were recorded on a mono vcr and they’re well-loved, so some are in rather delicate condition. I took a certain nostalgic pleasure in dealing with all the blips and tracking issues. I particularly enjoyed seeing a 1987 MTV clip on REM in which an earnest fan says that she doesn’t think REM will ever get huge because she doesn’t think they’ll let themselves. In the feature, Michael Stipe is more on target (probably more than he knew) when he says that he thinks they’re at a crossroads.

Alas, my old mono vcr seems to have died with me only about an hour into the first tape. The mono tapes don’t play properly on Ezra’s stereo vcr, so now we have the adapter, but not the right vcr for the project. We’re working on that. If you know of a cheap mono vcr in excellent working order, speak!

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 23rd, 2006 at 12:09 am and is filed under Blather, music, the telly. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.