Cornell games VHS to DVD

[Trotsky]

Somebody raised the topics of DVDs on another thread and it reminded me.

Once upon a time, when we were young and dinosaurs roamed the Earth, several of us tallied up the Cornell games we had on VHS and hatched a plan to pool them onto a set of DVDs.

It didn't happen.

What can we do to make it happen?  Who would like to be in on it?  Does anybody want to be Project Manager?  (Great real life experience, students!!!)

[Rita]

Somebody raised the topics of DVDs on another thread and it reminded me.

Once upon a time, when we were young and dinosaurs roamed the Earth, several of us tallied up the Cornell games we had on VHS and hatched a plan to pool them onto a set of DVDs.

It didn't happen.

What can we do to make it happen?  Who would like to be in on it?  Does anybody want to be Project Manager?  (Great real life experience, students!!!)

I am still working on converting my 1980's/90's cassette tapes to mp3 files, so I can't be project manager. However, I do have some cornell games on VHS that I would be willing to send to someone. I don't know the quality, they are from the 90's and have been through 3-4 moves.

I'll find the tapes and list what I got.

[marty]

It is relatively painless to make a copy of a VHS tape to DVD if you just let the tape run for two and a half hours.  When I transfer from DVR to DVD I typically have at least five sections - three periods and two intermissions - with as little commercial interruption as possible.  This means the games normally fit on the DVD in the two hour recording mode.  It also means that games are often stacked up my DVR waiting to be transferred.

If I do a simple 2.5 hour transfer from VHS the quality of the DVD will go down a bit due to recording in a 2.5 hour mode.  

My DVD recorder is a Pioneer DVR 220 that functions much like a VCR.  It does not do as nice a job with longer recordings (especially over 2.5 hours - it is OK at 2.5) as some of the newer machines.  A quirk of the DVR 220 is that the recorded format of the DVD is not the same as a commercially produced DVD.  Hence I have varying degrees of success making exact copies of its DVDs.  Since I do this rarely I often have to relearn just what works best when I use the PC to make extra copies. This DVD cloning from the DVR 220 is a once or twice a year occurrence - hence the brain freeze.

I'm up for transferring all of the VHS I own but not for making multiple copies.  So if someone else wants to duplicate DVDs that I make on my Pioneer, I'm in.  (The DVDs in addition to being of an uncommon format are only DVD-R yet typically play fine on all three of my current DVD players.)

[CowbellGuy]

DVDs. How quaint. I've abandoned that practice, if for no other reason than the average shelf life of writable optical media being roughly that of a robust fruit fly. I've gone to all-digital archiving of stuff I want to keep. I have a Canopus ADVC110 for doing VHS capture, as it does a good job of noise reduction and doesn't crap out when there are audio breaks like all the cheaper stuff does. I also have an HD capture device for stuff off DVRs. MP4 files mean I can stick them on a USB stick or even stream to a computer, PS3, Apple TV, or whatever. IMNSHO, the way to go is have someone do digital transfers, then torrent out the files so everyone can have them. And if you still really insist on a DVD, you can just burn one from the MP4. I'd be happy to do the work for stuff I don't have and make available the stuff I do. I think the right first step is for everyone to compile a list of the games they have and on what media, then go from there.

[ugarte]

DVDs. How quaint. I've abandoned that practice, if for no other reason than the average shelf life of writable optical media being roughly that of a robust fruit fly. I've gone to all-digital archiving of stuff I want to keep. I have a Canopus ADVC110 for doing VHS capture, as it does a good job of noise reduction and doesn't crap out when there are audio breaks like all the cheaper stuff does. I also have an HD capture device for stuff off DVRs. MP4 files mean I can stick them on a USB stick or even stream to a computer, PS3, Apple TV, or whatever. IMNSHO, the way to go is have someone do digital transfers, then torrent out the files so everyone can have them. And if you still really insist on a DVD, you can just burn one from the MP4. I'd be happy to do the work for stuff I don't have and make available the stuff I do. I think the right first step is for everyone to compile a list of the games they have and on what media, then go from there.

I hope you weren't using MegaUpload.

[jtn27]

Great real life experience, students!!!

Would this experience come with a glowing letter of recommendation?


(Just kidding).

[Trotsky]

Great real life experience, students!!!

Would this experience come with a glowing letter of recommendation?


(Just kidding).

I've written GLORs for less, trust me.

[Ben]

Great real life experience, students!!!

Would this experience come with a glowing letter of recommendation?


(Just kidding).

Yes, literally.

(That would be something.)

[Tom Lento]

Great real life experience, students!!!

Would this experience come with a glowing letter of recommendation?


(Just kidding).

Yes, literally.

(That would be something.)

Would it be better or worse if it's in the shape of a paper crane?

http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Valley-Glow-Origami-Paper/dp/B002DYURL8

[billhoward]

Taiyo Yuden media should outlast all of us. It's now under the umbrella label of JVC. Thirty cents a disc for single layer DVD (4.7GB) in lots of 100.

[jtn27]

Great real life experience, students!!!

Would this experience come with a glowing letter of recommendation?


(Just kidding).

Yes, literally.

(That would be something.)

Would it be better or worse if it's in the shape of a paper crane?

http://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Valley-Glow-Origami-Paper/dp/B002DYURL8

A letter of recommendation written on glow-in-the-dark paper and folded into the shape of a crane? Sounds like a sure-fire way to get a good job.

[Jim Hyla]

DVDs. How quaint. I've abandoned that practice, if for no other reason than the average shelf life of writable optical media being roughly that of a robust fruit fly. I've gone to all-digital archiving of stuff I want to keep. I have a Canopus ADVC110 for doing VHS capture, as it does a good job of noise reduction and doesn't crap out when there are audio breaks like all the cheaper stuff does. I also have an HD capture device for stuff off DVRs. MP4 files mean I can stick them on a USB stick or even stream to a computer, PS3, Apple TV, or whatever. IMNSHO, the way to go is have someone do digital transfers, then torrent out the files so everyone can have them. And if you still really insist on a DVD, you can just burn one from the MP4. I'd be happy to do the work for stuff I don't have and make available the stuff I do. I think the right first step is for everyone to compile a list of the games they have and on what media, then go from there.

What do you use? I've been looking for something to capture my HD games on my DVR. I've got 2 old DVRs I'm holding onto till I can unload them. I just went to whole house DVR with TW and that uses completely different DVRs. So now I've got 5 DVRs at home.::nut::

As an aside, next fall I'm going to ask what's the best satelite TV offer to capture college hockey games. I may add that. I don't want to get rid of TW since they do so much local sports.

[Trotsky]

I think the right first step is for everyone to compile a list of the games they have and on what media, then go from there.

All VHS:

12/1/1991 at BC
2/15/1992 at Brown
1/15/1992 Colgate
3/13/1992 vs Clarkson (ECAC SF)
3/14/1992 vs St. Lawrence (ECAC F)
3/15/1996 vs Clarkson (ECAC SF)
3/16/1996 vs Harvard (ECAC F)
3/14/1997 vs RPI (ECAC SF)
3/15/1997 vs Clarkson (ECAC F)
1/17/1998 Colgate
2/12/1999 at Vermont
3/6/1999 Clarkson
3/11/2000 Harvard (ECAC QF Game 2)
11/24/2001 at BU
3/15/2002 vs RPI (ECAC SF)
3/16/2002 vs Harvard (ECAC F)
3/23/2002 vs Quinnipiac (NCAA 1R)
3/1/2003 at Yale
3/13/2003 RPI (ECAC QF Game 3)
3/21/2003 Brown (ECAC SF)
3/22/2003 vs Harvard (ECAC F)
3/30/2003 vs BC (NCAA QF)
4/10/2003 vs UNH (NCAA SF)
2/4/2005 at Colgate

[marty]

DVDs. How quaint. I've abandoned that practice, if for no other reason than the average shelf life of writable optical media being roughly that of a robust fruit fly. I've gone to all-digital archiving of stuff I want to keep. I have a Canopus ADVC110 for doing VHS capture, as it does a good job of noise reduction and doesn't crap out when there are audio breaks like all the cheaper stuff does. I also have an HD capture device for stuff off DVRs. MP4 files mean I can stick them on a USB stick or even stream to a computer, PS3, Apple TV, or whatever. IMNSHO, the way to go is have someone do digital transfers, then torrent out the files so everyone can have them. And if you still really insist on a DVD, you can just burn one from the MP4. I'd be happy to do the work for stuff I don't have and make available the stuff I do. I think the right first step is for everyone to compile a list of the games they have and on what media, then go from there.

What do you use? I've been looking for something to capture my HD games on my DVR. I've got 2 old DVRs I'm holding onto till I can unload them. I just went to whole house DVR with TW and that uses completely different DVRs. So now I've got 5 DVRs at home.::nut::

As an aside, next fall I'm going to ask what's the best satelite TV offer to capture college hockey games. I may add that. I don't want to get rid of TW since they do so much local sports.

I reran a search of Time Warner DVR transfer and came up with at least one post that claimed the file format on TW DVRs is encrypted.  This might be an anti-piracy "feature".

So I also am wondering what capture device you use for the DVR and whether it works with all DVRs.

[CowbellGuy]

I use a Hauppauge 1212 HD-PVR for HD capture. I was a bit skeptical about the price, but it actually works great. The only problem I've run into so far is audio sync issues when using optical digital audio input, and that only happens when the feed changes between 5.1 and 2-channel during capture. No problems with 2-channel analog audio input. It has component video input, so there shouldn't be any copy protection issues (or at least I have yet to experience any). Only other drawback is Mac users have to buy software independently written by a Hauppauge engineer for capture, but it works well.

Bill, when you pull a DVD-R out of the closet in ten years and nothing reads it, don't come crying to me. Actually, do come crying to me so I can say I told you so. They said the same thing about 100-year shelf-lives for CD-Rs and all my early burns have been coasters for quite some time.