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…

  1. I’m doing it for free, so shut up
  2. You told me you’re gonna be late, so shut up
  3. I’m not asking for single dime, so shut up
  4. If you’re gonna be ungrateful, just shut up
  • glibg@lemmy.caEnglish
    7·
    1 day ago

    I’d say: “Because you didn’t have your tapes ready yet, and I had some free time. What’s the big deal?”

    Cool hobby dude, super nice of you to offer such a service to your pals. My parents have some old VHS tapes I really need to digitize…

    • printf("%s", name);@piefed.blahaj.zoneOPEnglish
      2·
      1 day ago

      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! 🩷

  • MrOtingocni@lemmy.worldEnglish
    7·
    1 day ago

    As soon as you said ‘I like to help people’ I knew this story would turn to shit. People write the check that pays for their own ass kicking in advance.

    But anyway, that guy was a jerk and that’s good of you to help out your colleagues.

  • Z745812939054@lemmy.zipEnglish
    81·
    2 days ago

    “because X had their shit ready to go and you didn’t. also, the fee has gone from $0 to $20 per tape, which is a pretty good deal when you look at the big companies doing this service. yes, not everyone gets charged, only entitled karens. got a problem? call someone else. by the way, the longer those tapes sit on a shelf, the worse the quality gets due to magnetic tape print-through and other factors. if those are important to you, then you might want to get those digitized sooner rather than later. you’re welcome, that advice was free”

      • Z745812939054@lemmy.zipEnglish
        5·
        2 days ago

        i feel for you. the best job in the world could be the worst job in the universe due to one single toxic co-worker

      • Z745812939054@lemmy.zipEnglish
        3·
        2 days ago

        i also want to say, if you start making some money off this project, you might also consider investing in a high quality large format scanner for photos, scrapbooks, maps, handwritten letters, anything someone might want to preserve, and then promote yourself to libraries, churches, community centers, etc. in rural areas. a lot of people have home videos they’d like to have preserved, but there are probably a lot more people who’d like their old family photos etc available in a high quality digital format

  • ExperimentalGuy@programming.devEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    I’ve seen you around on Lemmy and I just want to say: you seem like a nice genuine person that really cares about the things they do and research. Don’t take other people’s faults as a reason to have less heart in what you enjoy doing.

  • deadbeef79000@lemmy.nzEnglish
    3·
    1 day ago

    “that was a practice run so yours come out with better quality”

    Not quite a lie, not quite the truth.

    Assuages that coworkers entitlement.

    Also gives you an out by also claiming that it didn’t work properly and destroyed the originals so that they might want to go to a professional instead.

    • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      1 day ago

      I was just thinking the same.

      This is also why some TV shows filmed on MiniDV are almost impossible to upscale to HD/4K

      The data is simply not there.

        • stoy@lemmy.zipEnglish
          2·
          1 day ago

          What I mean is that if the data exists in the original raw material, you can ingest it at a higher resolution and rerelease the show at a better visual quallity. If the data doesn’t exist it will take far, far longer and require heavy computing just for the upscale: