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Tech News & Commentary
Lance from Fairbanks, Alaska and listening via News Radio 970AM KFBX – calling in via the App sent us the following question: “I have quite a pile of 8mm video cassettes that we would like to save to a disk. Is there a VCR available that one can play these on and transfer them to a disk? I know you can do that with a camcorder but they don’t sell that anymore.”
Lance, Most of the devices that will let you convert tape to DVD work with computers as a middleman, you plug in the camera or VCR, play the whole tape, and then burn the DVD from the video captured on the computer.
The problem is that if you don’t have a working camera, you need one to use that method, so you have to buy one, you also need to buy the adapter to connect to your computer. When you add those up, it may actually be cheaper to go with a company that will do the conversion for you.
Standalone devices that take a tape and convert them to DVD without computers or anything else being involved are rare and most of them are professional equipment and priced as such. Have a look around, even Walmart is converting 8mm tapes to DVD, you may find a better deal than buying a lot of equipment for a one time conversion.
YesVideo.com will charge you $12.99 per tape to convert tapes. After conversion they will make your movies available to you for watching online. If you order DVD copies at the time of the conversion it’s $6.99 per set of 2 DVDs. If you want and decide to get the DVDs later, the price is $9.99 per set of 2 discs.
The website VideoConversionExperts.com provides a transfer service as well, priced by the hour. The regular price is $13.95 per hour but right now on their website they’re advertising a special rate of $8.95 per hour. Working by the hour might be better than working by the tape. That price is for the SD conversion, by the way, they charge more for a “Pro SD” or “HD” conversion, so you will pay more for better quality.
Either way, if you really do have a lot of 8-millimeter tapes, converting them won’t be cheap. But using a professional service should give you a better transfer quality than using your own PC-based solution.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
“This Week in Tech History” Weekly Feature with Chris Graveline
Facebook participation: Do you still have a landline at home, or just cellular service, or both? Why?
Sherri in Topeka, Kansas: I have a cell phone that does everything I need. A landline would just be a waste. I am never home enough to justify one.
David in Hialeah Gardens, Florida: Cell only. Got rid of the land line because nobody would call me there.
Diane: Cell only because I got rid of expensive comcast. Why pay all that money for two phones? Economics
Stuart in Miami, Florida: Still keep a landline. After Hurricanes Rita and Wilma, cell service was extremely spotty, but my landline never skipped a beat. Worth the money for a proven back-up.
Samantha in Miami, Florida: We have both so it is convenient for the guard gate to call when one of us travels often! OOMA is awesome!
Jeff in Pembroke Pines, Florida: We still keep both, too – each is a back-up for the other….just in case.
Norman in Iowa: I have a cell, first for business and now for convenience when I am away. But I prefer a landline for my home and I will keep it until they pry it out of my hands. Too many dropped calls and annoying time lags on cell phones.
Robert in Miami Beach, Florida: Land line only I hate dropped calls
Roni in Atlanta, Georgia: If you’ve cut your land line but are struggling with indoor dropped calls, zBoost may be the solution.
Tom: Just cellular. Wired internet.
Bart in West Palm Beach, Florida: Sadly I have to have a hard wire for my alarm system.
Scott in Ladysmith, Wisconsin: I still have a landline for business use. Don’t wanna talk to a customer and drop a call with a cell phone. It’s more reliable.
Sree in Raleigh, North Carolina listens on WPTF and is calling in via the App asked us: “I have my personal DVDs – like camcorder shot. I wanted to rip them into my Windows 8 computer. I don’t know how to do that and what is the format most suitable. Something future-proof so that I can open the files like 10 years from now.”
Sree, Almost any format will be compatible with Windows 8 as long as you have the right codecs.
What you probably need to look for is the format that will give you the smallest file without any loss of quality, and any of the mainstream ones, MP4, WMV, AVI and the rest should do a decent job.
As for future-proofing, it’s hard to tell, odds are the formats we use now will evolve in some way over the next decade, MP4 seems to be a popular distribution format now, that may be your best bet for a while, but it may not be for the next 10 years.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
CEA Update with Samantha Nevels
The International CES is the world’s largest annual technology tradeshow – but did you know that it actually takes place year-round? Krista Silano with the Consumer Electronics Association explains that the excitement of CES comes to the Nation’s Capital next week – in this week’s CEA Update.
Guest Segment:
Mario Riveron, Retail Sales Representative – Verizon Wireless
Troy in Gonzales, Louisiana and listening via CenLa’s Talk Radio 970AM KSYL asked us: “I’m a truck driver and I need an iPhone or some phone that has lots of verbal command ability and decent size screen to also use as a GPS, can you help me?”
Troy, Pretty much any modern cellphone will have a decent screen, GPS and something of a voice command capability.
If you’re looking at iPhones, obviously the 5 (either C or S) has the largest screen, it can talk to the GPS and GLONASS (Global Navigation Satellite System) networks for global positioning and it has Siri for your voice commands needs.
If you want a really big screen, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will give you the biggest one out there, it also does GPS and you can use S-Voice for your voice commands. The Galaxy S4 has a smaller screen, but bigger than the iPhone 5’s anyway, and it can still do GPS and S-Voice.
The two Galaxy phones are Android under the Samsung customization, so if you don’t like S-Voice there’s a good chance you can just disable it and use Google’s version as well.
Troy, whichever device you choose, there are a lot of third party apps out there that are great for drivetime use. One that we’ve talked about a lot on the show is Vlingo, which runs on Android. It is packed with features, will speak incoming texts and emails, has great voice recognition, and gives Siri a run for her money in the research department.
You should also consider a small tablet that has GPS capability. The Google Nexus 7 has GPS, will run Google Maps for directions, and gives you a nice large screen. Now it requires a wireless Internet connection, which means you’ll need to have a mobile hotspot either on your phone or a dedicated device, but the plus side is that the Nexus 7 is inexpensive, has a large and bright screen, and Google’s Voice Control is widely regarded as the best you can get.
For more information tune in to Hour 2 of our podcast.
This Week’s Prizes for Our Listeners
Noizy: Kameleon Series Bluetooth earbuds
Other World Computing (OWC): Nuguard KX phone cases for Samsung Galaxy S4, iPhone 4/4S and 5
Ventev: Assortment of their new products — like the PowerCell 6000+ Rapid Charger, cases for the new Galaxy S5 Smartphone, ChargeSynce tangle-free USB cables for Android & Apple devices & more.
“Into Tomorrow”: Microfiber Screen Cleaning Cloths with Dave’s cartoon on them, for all your smartphones, tablets, TVs, camera lenses and computer screens!