"Swingman" wrote in message
...
... was apparently greatly exaggerated hereabouts last year?
----------snip---------
Now, to figure out the best way to get them onto DVD for my _private_
viewing pleasure in the shop ...

No problem...

GigaPocket. GigaPocket is a Sony subsidiary
http://www.sonystyle.com/intershopro...t/gp_demo.html
TV viewing software/program that comes with Sonys. (There are others, of
course) Allows the recording of cable based TV shows directly onto the
computer.

(Requires a tuner card, a cable feed AND a separate decoder box for the
higher channel numbers. All those channels under 120 will come through
without the separate decoder box. Pirate software is probably available to
crack the encryption so that you wouldn't need the decoder box, but I've
never gone searching.)

There is site on the WEB, hmmmm...IPEG that lists all the TV shows on every
channel. Puruse the site, click on the REC button for a particular show,
and it will load all the relevant data on your computer. (You can set it up
to record how ever often you want.)

After Set up and it'll record anything you want. (Exactly like a VCR; in
fact it probably won't take as long to set up the program as it took you to
program that old VCR!) And then all manner of programs, from Roxio to Nero
will happily burn all the DVD disks you want.

Using MPEG2 format, I edit all the commercials and usually put three of
Norm's shows on one DVD disk, complete with menus. A burning program called
ClicktoDVD came on my Sony box. It's almost a turnkey operation, with
editing allowed if you really want to fuss around a little bit. It'll
probably take you about two hours to figure out how to do the editing, IF
you don't read the directions. (I assume that Real Men still don't read
directions.) If you read the directions, it's down to about five minutes.

Pop for a big second drive, and you can go wild. I record all manner of
shows, just for backup, just in case I end up missing one. If I don't need
it, deletion of a "video cabinet" is but a keystroke away.

Hint: Spring for some RW DVD's and then when your just cruising the net and
run across innovative ideas, copy them to a discrete little directory,
directly on your computer. I'm building a very nice collection of various
jigs, and plans from the net. Last year, I bought another cheap scanner.
Now, I simply scan in anything from a magazine that strikes my fancy, and
save them as JPG's. Every so often, I transfer all the saved data to a RW
disk, for storage. When that disk gets full I then recopy them back to the
computer, and use one of the editing programs to burn a final disk complete
with indexs and menus. Adding background music is probably a bit much.

Now I have a fully accessable disk, plus a backup. BTW, DVD's hold a LOT of
data. Rename all the files with descriptive names that will facilitate
re-location in the future.

Very Evil Grin You can set all the files to play across your TV just like
some of those animated screensavers. It drives my beloved SIL nuts when she
comes to visit, and sees different jigs playing across the TV screen.

As a manner of fact, if you want to do a little searching, you can get some
fairly sophisticated software for free, on the net.