Quitting Time

I apologize for the lack of pictures of my house. I'll get them uploaded tomorrow! Today, I need to vent some frustration about something completing unrelated to my house. Rather, it involves a big project and technology.

Recently, I completed a project where I transferred old cassette tapes of my grandma over into CD's so we can have them to listen to forever. The project had a few bumps along the way, but I adjusted and got it all done with cheap technology from Amazon and a small learning curve on using sound-editing software. Not bad? I thought so. I also thought it would be easy to take my family's old video tapes (8mm or Hi8) and change them into DVD's.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

Fail #1: Dad sent the video camera, but the cord was missing and it had no battery.

Fail #2: I ordered what I thought was the right adapter for it. It turned out to only charge batteries and the adapter didn't fit the video camera.

Fail #3: Lots of searching at thrift stores and online was met with no success for finding the actual adapter to the camera.

Fail # 4: Dad found the camera case with an adapter in it. The adapter was the correct voltage but still didn't fit.

Fail #5: Two brand-new batteries that were in the case failed to work either. (That charger I accidentally got did charge them, but the battery part of the camera doesn't work at all. So, new batteries or not, it doesn't matter.)

Fail #6: The software that came with my video capture device refused to work, even after uninstalling and reinstalling, plus other troubleshooting. I downloaded a newer version and got it to work with my VCR, but it only has a 15-day trial.

Fail #7: I got one of my VHS tapes onto my computer and burned two different DVD's, but neither had sound.

Fail #8: I tried transferring the video file to two other programs. Neither was compatible, so I couldn't try burning another DVD.

Fail #9: Radio Shack couldn't help us find something to fit the video camera.

To quote Napoleon Dynamite, "It's a piece of crap; it doesn't work!"

I am usually pretty persistent, but I think I'm going to quit right here. Can anyone blame me? I feel like I've tried everything in the book (and more) to get this process to work, but it just doesn't.

Solution: Get someone else to do it for me and pay $10 per DVD. Will it be worth it? Yes. It's frustrating to have to admit defeat, but my family's videos will still be preserved. That's what really matters. I can't wait to watch them. I've been wanting to, but life happens. Lesson learned: technology from the 90's is not really compatible with today's. If you can't get it to work, you probably aren't alone!