I have spent the afternoon learning to use my Dazzle, a handy dandy little device from Pinnacle Systems that makes it easy to digital vhs tapes. Actually, learning to use the Dazzle part was easy: install the software, find the right cords, and press play. And, learning to use the software that came with it–Studio Quickstart–was also easy. I liked the simple-to-use crop feature and quickly created several movies. Which I saved as AVI. Which do not play on my Macintosh. (Did I mention I created the clips on an Acer TravelMate which does not have a DVD burner in it.) Did a little searching for codecs but am now back into the Studio software trying out the mpeg option. My husband has access to a DVD burner so if I can get it to his computer, I might be able to try burning a DVD.
So, I am doing all this to prepare for a workshop on Monday. What is the lesson? Using technology to support instruction isn’t always easy! If a teacher is going to create digital video, it has to be quick and dirty, and in my mind that means using a Macintosh. But, I don’t have what I need here at home to do that. I would have been done a long time ago because I just would have saved as Quicktime to start with! At least, I have a huge hard drive that is making file transfer much easier!
