My latest project has been a Christmas-related one. I had recently transferred our old videos of the kids and others, from VHS or 8mm to DVD. Talking about this with my mom, she mentioned how many old tapes she had. I offered to transfer them for her if she'd send them to me. Let's call it your Christmas present, I said, since they are VERY hard to buy for.
That was a great idea to her so a few weeks ago a package arrived with lots of tapes. Since then, I've taken some evenings and a few days off to start the process. It's been interesting! The first tape that I transferred ended up being from my baby shower, almost 25 years ago. I had a copy of that on Beta (that's an older format than VHS for anyone who might not know) so couldn't transfer it. Got to see myself VERY pregnant, that sure brought back memories!
Some of the other tapes haven't really involved me so it's easier to get it going and start doing other things. Some have been interesting to watch, though, as they were of my own kids as small fry, or my sister's kids, or other people I knew. I found, though, that a 2 hour video tape isn't necessarily 2 hours. If the entire tape was used, it ends up being more like 2 hrs, 15 minutes or even more. I don't think they were precise in measuring the amount of tape they put on a cassette! Or sometimes, you would think the entire tape was used and all of a sudden it was done. Or throw in 6 hours on one tape (extended format taping) and 3 DVDs are needed. (Each DVD does hold exactly 2 hours of tape.)
I still have about half of the tapes to finish, then will send them back to my mom. Much of what is left is from my stepfather's family and from their class reunions so it won't be as fun to watch.
Glad to give my mom & stepfather something useful for Christmas!
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