First, you’d need to buy something to play back the tapes. If you still have the camcorder they were recorded on (and if it’s still working) that would be perfect. If not, you’ll need to pick one up used from eBay or something. It’s possible to get stand alone Hi-8 players, but they’re normally much more expensive and not really any better for your use case.

Every camcorder should have a video out port, but there are lots of different models out there so check that it has one before you buy. From what I’ve seen, Hi-8 camcorders normally have 3.5mm AV out ports. That means you’ll need a cable like this.

Whichever port yours has, you’ll need a capture card compatible with it. You can get capture cards pretty cheaply on Ali express. I’ve never used it personally, but this one has some pretty favorable reviews.

So, at this point you have your camcorder, your 3.5mm av out cable, and you’re capture card. You also need a computer with OBS installed. What you do is plug the av cable into your camcorder, plug the av cable into the capture card, and then plug the capture card into the computer. I don’t often use OBS (I’m using it in this guide because it’s free), so I can’t remember exactly how to set it up. But what you need to do is select the capture card as an external capture device, and then tell OBS to record from that device. I don’t think I will be hard to work out with a bit of internet searching.

Once you have all of that set up, all you need to do is tell your camcorder to play the tapes! It should automatically playback through the AV out, and you’ll be able to watch the tapes through OBS as they’re being recorded.

Hopefully this isn’t too complicated or expensive. Once you’re done, you could try to re-sell your camcorder if you want to recoup some of the costs. Good luck!

My job is to digitize cassette tapes, VHS tapes, and other magnetic media.

So first I’d have to explain the miracle of how we managed to capture moving images and sounds onto these thin strips of plastic covered in rust. I’d follow that up by explaining how that technology is now considered quaint and out of date, and that these days we just get a thinking machine to remember that sort of thing for us.

Here’s a few things that helped me when I was at university during the pandemic.

1. Make sure your room is well lit. Natural light is best, but artificial light is better than nothing.
2. If you have a tv, try watch some of your lectures on that instead of on your computer/phone. Focusing on stuff that’s a bit further away is easier on the eyes.
3. Just listen to the audio. I know a lot of lectures have vital visual components, but if you can avoid looking at a screen completely that’s a big win for eye comfort.

I hope some of these help.

I picked up RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 on GOG after learning about OpenRCT2. Pretty much it’s an open source engine that allows the game to run on modern operating systems really easily. I’ve never played any RollerCoaster Tycoon before, but so far I’ve been having a great time with it!

Here in New Zealand (and probably many other countries) we get each book in Brandon Sanderson’s Stormlight Archive split across two volumes. At first I was neutral towards it, but due to circumstances beyond my control, I ended up with the fourth book in just one volume. This thing is gigantic! I’d find myself having to read in much shorter sessions than I normally would due to my arms getting tired. In the end, I had to switch to the ebook for purely ergonomic reasons.

I think I did end up paying more for the books that were split up, but to me it’s worth it. I understand that won’t be everyone’s experience though.

You can’t copyright game mechanics. So, if you replace the sprites with legally distinct ones and write the code yourself, there are no laws broken.

I’m a big fan of that series (the second one being my favorite), but I also get where you’re coming from. I felt that, as books went on, they became more about the Science-Fiction concepts and less about the characters. I do hope you come back around to it though, as I thought that the second half of The Dark Forest was better than the first.

My absolute favorite audiobook narrator is the late Frank Muller. I’m currently listening to his narration of Interview With The Vampire and it’s incredible how well he’s able to convey the tone and atmosphere of the story.

I first encountered him when I was listening to the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. When I discovered that (due to his passing) the series switched narrators after the fourth book, I considered switching to the print copies rather than hear someone else narrate those books. I’m glad I didn’t, because George Guidall did a very good job finishing up the series, but no one can quite compare to Frank Muller.

I just did a bit of research and it looks like if you have a free account it will almost always play the Youtube video instead of the album version (possibly as an attempted foil for ad-blockers?).

I use YouTube Music and this (usually) isn’t a problem if you have premium. The only times I’ll get the music video audio instead of the studio track is if I’ve liked the music video on YouTube. In that instance it’ll sometimes show up in my automatically generated Playlist. For me, it’s worth it for the huge music library that YouTube Music has.