Frustrated today.

I have been messing with Video stuff today, and it is causing me some real frustrations.

I want to put some video of my kids on DVD for family. But that isn't happening. And I want to take and put some video up of my spinning for the blog. But That isn't happening right now either.

Know why these things aren't happening?

Because despite having the Camcorder (an old analog one with no USB and no digital ports, sadly) and having the Pinnacle box and software which is supposed to be the converter and allow me to upload to the computer, it isn't working.

I think there are a couple of factors.

Factor 1, we recently got a new computer. it has Vista 64 bit operating system. It is not compatible with loads of things. Very frustrating right there. I think it also means I need a new web cam, and the one I have is not even old.

Factor 2, the stupid pinnacle box does not have full AV inputs... it has an S-Video, and a video jack for the yellow part of the AV cord, but a stereo jack for the audio... which my camera does not have.

Factor 3, I am just about ready to throw the whole get-up in the trash or out the window.

So... in order to put any video on my computer, even the low quality that comes from a webcam, I need to buy MORE stuff!

And you know none of it is cheap. It means spending more money we don't have on things we already do have but which are no longer compatible with our frustrating, but very fast and also very expensive brand new computer.

Its just not fair. I want life to be fair. Actually, what I really want is whatever it takes to get all this stuff working.

So, if anyone out there has any technical knowledge of how to get this all working without spending a fortune, please let me know.

Part of me wants to just run out and buy one of these:

But... My DH would just kill me, and that is even if I had the car to run out and shop, which I do not. Plus, it is still a fairly low quality video, so great for web applications (which is really what I want it for, since I'd love to give all you readers some cool videos to watch), but not so great for awesome family videos. On the other hand, it is compact enough to keep in a pocket for spur of the moment use, though they only have 30-60 minutes of recording, depending on the model.

I did try to convince DH once that it would be a cool toy, but he would not bite. He only likes to spend money on games he can play with, not cool gadgets for me. Plus, in his defense, I do have a lot of expensive things, too, even though most of them he did not actually spend the money on, but I saved for and got myself.

Unfortunately, all of my current money is caught up in the new wheel that is ordered (and should arrive in a couple weeks)

Too bad Walmart does not take yarn in payment... I could probably whip up some skeins of pretty hand spun to pay for new toys, lol.