The Day just Flew

So, this was my project today. I have gotten it into my head that I will transfer all my old Hi8 tapes to my computer, learn how to use the movie software, and edit everything down and burn some DVDs for posterity. Step one, I looked into having a service do the transfer for me, but I think that will be prohibitively expensive, and I'm not wild about sending all the movies we made of Leila as a baby/toddler/kid into the ether and maybe never seeing them again. The videos also contain her birth, and I'm not sure I want some video geek seeing that. I'm not even sure I want to see it; it may have been my finest hour, but definitely not my prettiest.

Anyway, my friend L tells me, "No problem! Borrow my camera! It has backward compatibility capability (mouthful much?) and I have a magical cable that you plug into your computer and it will download in real time." She lends me her camera, but the batteries are dead, and she can't find the power cord. Strike one.

Then, I send my need out into the universe, and A. a mom at school, says "Yeah, I have one of those cameras, with a power cord and the magical cable." She even remembers to bring it to school the next day, and I am on my way. Except I'm not, and all I see when I put my old Hi8 tapes in, is blue screen. I do lots of internet digging only to find that her camera is a 250, which is not supposed to have this capability, instead of a 350 that does. She does not believe me, and we have yet to put this issue to bed, but, basically, strike two.

I still have L's camera, and I've used A's power cable with it, and I think I am on my way again, except I'm not. Still getting a blue screen. I do all the same internet research for L's camera that I did for A's, hours worth, and I learn that the 460 should be able to do this, and L says she has done it loads of times. After even more research and trouble shooting, I am about to conclude that her camera needs service, and its just not going to work. At that moment, I hear voices, and I realize that the camera is playing my tape! I am watching a 4 year-old Leila look for easter eggs in the back yard! So I quickly rewind and plug everything in, and for about five minutes, everything works according to plan. I am very excited, and I tell the whole family not to touch anything on the computer or camera, lest the whole thing fall to pieces, which it does anyway for no reason I can fathom. It stops importing, and I can't replicate anything, and I'm back to concluding that the camera is fucked. Strike three.

I'm now sitting at my desk surrounded by three camcorders, none of which can do the job I need them to do. In the last day, I have not won the lottery, so I still can't afford send the tapes to a service. I did buy a lottery ticket today, so maybe by tomorrow this will have changed. But I just jinxed it, so nevermind.

Have you ever noticed that these types of projects can so easily suck up an entire day? So, if you are out there, and you have a solution to this problem that I can afford (rent another camera or machine that can do what I need it to do?) I want to hear about it ASAP. And don't tell me to clean the tape heads; I just don't see that making any difference (although, if it saves me $ I suppose I could part with a few q-tips and rubbing alcohol...)

AND ANOTHER THING! What's with the no comments on Leila's rock video? Are you immune to the cuteness or something? Come on!