Posted on 10/10/2003 2:23:07 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
Edited on 10/10/2003 2:27:00 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Dear Free Republic Friends,
My old friend and brother-in-arms BADJOE has promised to warm the cockles of our hearts by publishing an expose (the truth about JimRob and Free Republic according to Joe) on the 18th of this month, which represents the one year anniversary of the date he last posted to FreeRepublic.com and started up with LibertyPost.org.
So, as I believe that only the truth can set you free, and based upon the stratergery of pre-emptive strike, I have a confession to make (before BADJOE makes it public):
I have poisoned the well.
By my sly innuendos behind the scenes.
By my intellectual ineptitude.
By not trusting those that brung me to the dance to bring me home.
By my biting every hand that fed me.
By my arrogance that causes me to think I did it all by myself.
By my stubborness not because of principle, but because of my lack of ability to see what is transpiring.
Evidenced by:
One would think that with half again as many Freepers. with a recovering economy, It would take a great deal less time to raise the necessary funds.
By this time in the June 2002 effort with a goal of $70,000 we had raised $73,000. Not because of who did the fundraising, but because the sense of purpose, of family, of comaraderie, was still present.
BADJOE rang the warning bell, but none heard.
Conclusion:
It is a sad day.
For what was once a great hope, a means of bringing together those who are willing to pay dearly in blood, sweat, and money to save this country, we all love, has been reduced to an asterisk.
So sayeth BADJOE as he promises to publish all this and much more on the 18th. He's been feverishly working on this "project" for one full year. In addition to the "truth about JimRob" BADJOE intends to further betray our trust placed in him by revealing the names of our moderators. And who knows what else?
I can hardly wait.
Is it the 18th yet? Tick, tock.
Good for you! Bad for Texas that Florida has overtaken us again. Our Lone Star pride is on the line here.
"Consistency" is one of those words with positive connotations that is usually very admirable. But don't pursue it to the point of restricting managerial flexibility. In order to exercise control, ya gotta sometimes tighten the reins, sometimes loosen 'em and still other times ya gotta crack the whip to make everybody fall in line (whether it's "fair" or not). It's not easy trying to keep a mob from getting too unruly and out of hand.
Looking back, it would have been MUCH simpler for me to simply pay a company to transfer the film directly to DVD. I eventually did get them to convert about 1200 feet of the 4000 feet of movie film I have to DVD (a company on EBay advertised a deal for $99.00), and I'm using those as source files as I add my own titles, soundtrack, etc. to it.
But if you want to do it the hard way:
1. Get an 8MM movie projector, run the film through it, then camcord the displayed picture. The bulbs for these projectors are the most expensive part of the process - I had to get three bulbs for my old Kodak Brownie projector as I ran film through it, and they were $35 apiece. I projected the image onto a big piece of white paper, which produced only a small amount of background roughness on the projected image. A DV camcorder is best, but all I had was an analog camcorder.
2. Transfer the video to your computer. I have an ATI All-in-Wonder video card that has video/audio inputs. I connected the camcorder directly to the video card, ran the tape and recorded the image using the video card's software, and the card converts the video to mp2 files I can work with. You can also use a Firewire adapter to transfer video from an analog source.
3. Use a video authoring program such as Pinnacle Studio to cut out bad spots from the video, add a soundtrack, add titles and graphics, and generally edit the video. This is where I am now (and that program's drivers are VERY sticky and fussy to work with).
4. Copy the resulting movie files to a DVD-R disk that will play on most DVD players. I have a Memorex DVD+RW/+R drive that lets me do that.
I'd like to do this for safer storage of the family home videos.
That was my plan as well. Some of the film has shrunk and faded, which is why I wanted to transfer it as soon as possible. As a storage medium, DVD lasts about 200 years and the image will never get any worse.
If yes, how?
And you, madam, are part of the problem. Your compulsive, knee-jerk posts only add fuel to the flames. Please cease bathing yourself in a holier-than-thou light.
I did read your post, and it is great, answered most of my questions.
I would freepmail you but I think lots of people are interested in this.
Like your mention of firewire. What do you use? is the firewire essential to the process?
I remember a few years ago, the price of transfer was exorbitant, like $35 a roll. Times 200 rolls, = heart attack.
I am pleased to hear prices have come down.
I own a "transfer box" I bought many years ago which fits on the front of the projector and the small screen is then copied with a camcorder. I agree that a digital camcorder is best to maintain quality in the editing and copying process. But not necessarily mini-DVD.
Your statement about DVDs lasting 200 years is sadly, probably not true. I would be ecstatic if the "writeable" ones last 10. But I figure I'll let my kids/friends/whoever deal with that when the time comes.
One last comment. A listing of the brand name and model of your equipment and all the softwre plus when you got it would be very useful.
A Firewire video transfer card is one way to quickly transfer video from a digital video (DV) camcorder to your computer without having to adjust color and white balance, change formats, etc. Like I said, I have an analog camcorder with audio and video out jacks, so I used my ATI video card to transfer the video instead. Using DV and a Firewire card is much faster though and lets you omit a LOT of intermediate steps.
I remember a few years ago, the price of transfer was exorbitant, like $35 a roll. Times 200 rolls, = heart attack. I am pleased to hear prices have come down.
The company I used did a great job of transferring my film, even the film that had broken. I'm not allowed to advertise on FreeRepubic, so I can give you their name (with my highest recommendation) and a URL in a Freepmail if you wish. I already had the software (DVD2AVI and TMPGEnc) necessary to convert the video from the .vob format on the DVD to mp2 format.
I own a "transfer box" I bought many years ago which fits on the front of the projector and the small screen is then copied with a camcorder. I agree that a digital camcorder is best to maintain quality in the editing and copying process. But not necessarily mini-DVD.
True. It was recommended to me early in the process that transfer boxes are more trouble than they're worth, and that I should just use a plain piece of white paper to project the image on.
Your statement about DVDs lasting 200 years is sadly, probably not true. I would be ecstatic if the "writeable" ones last 10. But I figure I'll let my kids/friends/whoever deal with that when the time comes.
That was the figure given in promotional literature I saw (and I know, believe nothing you hear and only half of what you see). DVD-Rs are chemical in nature and probably won't last any 200 years. There are archival-quality transfer services available, but the ones I've researched charge a bundle. Like you, I'll allow those who survive me figure out how to save the material on the disk "forever."
I suspect that the easiest way to do "archival" quality storage of my video will be to pick up a cheap, 40 GB hard drive somewhere, copy all the video files to it, uninstall it from the computer, and throw it in a drawer somewhere.
One last comment. A listing of the brand name and model of your equipment and all the softwre plus when you got it would be very useful.
Wow - I'll take a stab at it.
Camcorder - RCA CG6351. Got it from the bargain bin at a pawnshop for $10 - it needed cleaning and a drive gear replaced which I did by parting out another old RCA camcorder. It worked much better than my fancy Sharp LCD display camcorder, which I couldn't stop down enough to remove the flicker from a lot of the projected video.
Video card - ATI All-in-Wonder VE PCI card. Got it at Frye's in Arlington TX - cost a bill and a quarter.
Software:
DVD2AVI - converts the .vob files on DVD disks to a format that can be converted to mp2 by TMPGEnc. Available on the Web - shareware.
TMPGEnc - converts DVD2AVI files to mp2 files that you can edit. Available on the Web - shareware.
Pinnacle Studio 8 - bundled with the AVI video card. Lets you add titles, cutlines, an audio soundtrack, and edit video. You can save the finished product to AVI files, MP2 files, or several other different formats.
For ALL software, be sure to get the latest drivers from the manufacturer's website. I had to replace drivers on all software with the newest available, and the process of updating the crappy drivers that came with the ATI video card with the newest ones has been a little slice of hell so far. (A Windows XP issue I'm afraid - there are numerous FAQs available on the Net showing how to do this exacting process). They're STILL not working quite right, and it is an issue I continue to sweat over.
Also, I have 256 meg of RAM in my computer, but I highly recommend having at least 512 meg (I've eaten bottles of Rolaids trying to troubleshoot software crashes that I've traced to file swapping issues due to not having enough RAM).
Hope this information helps. All in all, I should have just paid the two dollars and had the film transferred directly to DVD by the company I mentioned. But I've learned a bunch about video transfer and about how my computer really works by doing it this way, and no commercial company could have produced the cool opening title I designed for the family video without it costing an arm and a leg ;)
I have been there (suspended appropriately once) and some other times I have said things that I KNEW were too far and wanted that magic undo function.
I really thought I was the only one (or one of a very few). Thanks for making me see that I am OK and that I can stop beating myself up (I can, can't I?).
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