New gadgets for old
Last night my VCR gave out. Hmm. Some time ago my father sent me a DVD/VCR thingy, saying that it didn't duplicate well, but at least it was a player and it could decode HD-TV signals. I'd never set it up because I already had a working VCR and DVD player.
So, I connected the thing up. No connecting cables, but that's OK, I have the ones from the old machine, plus some spares. But the VHS tape door is blocked, like there's something soft behind it. I finally get it open and see... styrofoam packing peanuts.
PACKING PEANUTS. The machine is full of packing peanuts, in the area where the tape goes, and all through the electronics behind that. Why on earth would anyone cram a machine with moving parts and electrical bits full of those?! It just doesn't seem possible that it could have happened by accident.
Anyway, with much effort I got all of them out - I think - and tried to play a tape. It would play, but very statickily. Screw that. That hunk of crap went back in the box.
This morning I went to Best Buy to get a plain ol' VCR. Guess what? Those don't exist any longer. (I wouldn't know; I've had no cause to look at those machines in over 10 years.) So I ended up getting a VHS/DVD player copier, which is a good idea anyway, as I have some things on tape that I don't expect to ever see on DVD unless I make my own. And it did simplify some connections, once I took down both the dead VCR and the working DVD player, which I guess will be a backup or something.
Now to price writeable DVDs...
So, I connected the thing up. No connecting cables, but that's OK, I have the ones from the old machine, plus some spares. But the VHS tape door is blocked, like there's something soft behind it. I finally get it open and see... styrofoam packing peanuts.
PACKING PEANUTS. The machine is full of packing peanuts, in the area where the tape goes, and all through the electronics behind that. Why on earth would anyone cram a machine with moving parts and electrical bits full of those?! It just doesn't seem possible that it could have happened by accident.
Anyway, with much effort I got all of them out - I think - and tried to play a tape. It would play, but very statickily. Screw that. That hunk of crap went back in the box.
This morning I went to Best Buy to get a plain ol' VCR. Guess what? Those don't exist any longer. (I wouldn't know; I've had no cause to look at those machines in over 10 years.) So I ended up getting a VHS/DVD player copier, which is a good idea anyway, as I have some things on tape that I don't expect to ever see on DVD unless I make my own. And it did simplify some connections, once I took down both the dead VCR and the working DVD player, which I guess will be a backup or something.
Now to price writeable DVDs...