Flagle's Law of DVD Dubbing
When you buy a new Windows computer these days, it is likely to come without a full CD version of the operating system, Windows XP. Instead, it typically comes with a "restore disk", which is a CD that you can boot from and either repair your current installation, or return the state of the machine to the point where it left the factory (the so-called OEM system). Some machines, indeed, have no backup CD. The entire system restore is on a hidden partition on the C: drive to be used only in extremis.
A few weeks ago, I started doing a lot of copying of home movies that had been transferred from the original 8mm format (yes, I'm that old) to VHS, or were from Sony Betamax format that had to be connected to a DVD burner. They covered a period of about 1938 through to about four years ago. I've mentioned this process before, but as I age, I become repetitious.
I had a couple of sad experiences with the Betamax transfers, including watching the Beta machine snarl the first few feet of tape. I went to Hamilton Freecycle to see if perchance there might be a working machine that nobody wanted. Indeed, there was, but when I set it up, it was simply dead. Finally, I found a working machine on eBay, although the rewind makes you hold your breath in anticipation of disaster. Most used video recorders have this problem. (Aside: it amazes me that the rewind belts don't last longer, considering the number of people who rent or borrow VHS tapes and don't rewind them when finished).
To simplify the entire process, I bought a combination VHS-DVD burner, which, at its most mindless level, allows you to pop in a VHS, pop in a blank DVD, and press one button to start dubbing. With the Betas, I had to connect the Betamax to the inputs on the combo machine, which is not a challenge. I then transferred the collection, which meant reliving all the great moments (hours, weeks) of family history, histrionics and hysteria. Indeed, several of the earliest tapes were ones where I had used an 8mm projector, throwing the dark and fuzzy family frenzies on a screen for capturing by an early beta camera on a tripod. The obnoxious flutter of the projector motor is forever immortalized.
The alternative is, of course, to use a computer, but you're into a new ball game with that approach.
The VHS transfers went much more smoothly, although the beginnings of several tapes have deteriorated (one had mold on it). So now, 39 DVDs later, we are mailing a complete duplicate archive of the DVDs to my sons in Saskatchewan.
All right. The snags I hit in trying to make copies were these:
1) Using the wrong media. As in the old days of VHS v. Beta and⁄or 8-track v. cassette, there are competing standards. Older players will not play newer media in some cases, at least not without considerable updating. I started with DVD+R, and found out that DVD-R, having greater reflectivity, pretty much can be played regardless of make and model.
2) Not finishing the disk. Being a cheap sort, I hated to see a DVD end up with more than an hour unused, so I shoehorned different clips into the unused space. This resulted in a number of disks that I hadn't "finalized", and hence, they would not play on my computer and therefore would not copy until I had done so.
3) Not getting sequences in the right order. It may be amusing to see the new baby being carried into the house in a diaper bag, but what happens when the next sequence shows "baby as 15-year old scoring goal in recreational hockey league"? Kind of leaves you scratching your head. See number 3 above.
4) Trying to create a new movie out of a number of sequences. This is called "authoring" in the argot of those who do it. If you have more years left than I have, you're welcome to try it. MovieMaker 2 comes with XP, and works fine. I gave up and went back to straight-through dubbing.
5) Using media that's too cheap. My second revelatory experience was that some brands will burn fine for the first 7⁄8ths of the disk and then hack a hairball just as you think it's going to finish. Go for the extra dollar: as with people so with DVDs: life is too short to economize on media.
Acting on the theory that "you can never have too much memory", I added 512 MB to the 512 MB already there. Almost immediately, the DVD copying software failed. Worse, there were sudden blackouts and reboots. It got to the point of being able to run for about 10 minutes and then stop, halt, seize and other Roget synonyms for "die".
"You have a bad memory", said my spouse. "So does my computer", I replied.
At this point, I backed up some "desert island" files, shoved the Recovery Disk into the machine, rebooted, and let it replace the state of the art with whatever it came with. Using the recover function, I was amazed to find that it didn't destroy any of my data files or my desktop. But not long after that, the problems reappeared.
After many days of googling and trying different solutions, I ran a memory test written by Microsoft. Nary a problem was reported. And so far, the machine is working. It will even copy DVDs.
Tue Feb-21-2006