I’m digitizing analog tapes (VHS, Hi8, Mini DV, audio cassettes, whathaveyou) because I love tech. I love to learn. And I love to help. So, after spending loads of cash on putting together all the hardware, spending time on understanding the software and learning about analog versus digital signal and such, I offered to my colleagues to digitize shit for free. I figured, if it all goes well and I learn something out of this, maybe I could even register a little business? Whatever. One of these colleagues offered to give me their VHS player in exchange for digitizing their whole collection (20 ish tapes). They said it’s going to take some time for them to gather all their things and hand them over, so I thought, what the heck, why not help another colleague in the meantime, because that colleague wants help with Mini DV, which I am already able to do. So I did. Four tapes. FOUR. Now that other prick who later gave me the VHS player suddenly texts me, asking “how come you helped X before me?”
THE NERVE OF THIS PIECE OF…
- I’m doing it for free, so shut up
- You told me you’re gonna be late, so shut up
- I’m not asking for single dime, so shut up
- If you’re gonna be ungrateful, just shut up
Thanks for your kind words and encouragement! 🥰 If you’re interested, here is a post about it.
To be fair, the most crucial pieces are unfortunately the hardest to get by here in Europe: the analog to digital converter, which in my case uses a cheap Chinese chip. It has a quantizing resolution of 8-bits, so at least it’s able to do 256 kinds of “interpretation” (color info included, though…). There are professional ones out there which have either all been bought up and are being hoarded, are crazy expensive ($200+) and are not being made any more: some Sony or Black Box devices.
All this, I an open and transparent about with my colleagues. I tell them what to expect, give them a sample, and then it’s on them do decide whether to go through with it or not.
Sorry for the rambling. Thanks again! 🩷