This Old House Videos/DVDs

[seriph1]

Hi all

I am wondering if any farsighted individuals thought to record the This Old House shows that ran on paytv over the past 5 or so years? I managed to record a heap but only as far back as 2 years ago and am busily transferring them to DVD. FYI in Australia it is not illegal to do this for personal use, just like it is not illegal to modify a DVD player to play content from anywhere (the world was split into zones to prevent consumers from doing just this - it was deemed restrictive and prejudicial here in 2000). Anyway, I am not asking in order to produce commercially - I love (d) these shows and lament their disappearance and would love the chance to see earlier shows as they always contain brilliant material. Anyone loaning them to me for viewing will receive them back in perfect order and with the Ads removed

Have fun and merry Christmas, from an oh-so-hot Queensland

[grinner]

This Old House is still on the Lifestyle channel, They had one of the newer series (with the new host) running on Monday Nights for the later half of the year. Also the have been showing 4 or 5 episodes in a row on Sunday Afternoons, the one yesterday was the kitchen upgrade they did.

Also Real Reno's, the one about the Canadian Builder, has just started showing on the How To channel on Wednesday nights

Grinner

[Gaza]

Real Reno's was on last year as well but late at night, not much of a how to show more of a builder having the sh**s show.

[seriph1]

Hi again

Pretty sure I have all the most recent ones - it's the older ones I am really interested in...... when home (in brissy until NYE) I record the lot then spend a few mintues editting out the ads etc. I shouldve taped them in Short Play but wasnt really aware of a DVD recorder's capability back then - now that I know, it has opened up a whole new opportunity to retain these great shows for future reference - I should say EASY future reference! Non Linear access rules! I know Real Reno's well - you can count on Jim....to display his efforts "warts n all" - American Homestyles, and another one with a guy called Bruno Reich are entertaiing as well. We no longer have paytv due to TOH and NYW being repeated ad nauseum...... in order to record it all over again I might subscribe, just to get it all in perfect transfer - but even though my existing recordings are not high quality, all the details come through just fine.

[seriph1]

UPDATE:

have just finished transferring all the New Yankee Workshops I have from VHS to DVD. Ended up with 51 episodes in all which isnt too bad. Norm has made hundreds though. As far as This Old House goes, I would dearly love to get more but have had no luck. by next week I should have finished transferring the rest of my tapes over to DVD. That will give me the following seasons of TOH

Bermuda
Concord
Manchester
Winchester
West Palm Beach
Charlestown
Billerica
Santa Barbara

This represents basically 1/3 of the seasons that have been made. hopefully the rest will come in time, but so far I have had no luck even buying the seasons on VHS from the States, though I have managed to buy Ask This Old House - season 1 on DVD. Foxtel/Austar dropped the show, just as the Carlisle project was about to begin - this was their 25th anniversary show and a biggie....... was NOT happy, but anyway.

FYI, I am using a Panasonic DVD recorder with a 200 Gig Hard drive, which enables up to 355 hours of recording time. Once the material is on the HDD (real time ie: VCR on - hit play - DVD-Recorder on - Hit record - go to bed and be greeted with 10 hours of programming the next day) it is a piece of cake to edit out Ads and trim off intro's and outro's without affecting the feel of the shows.

Also, it is a one-button job to split one title from another, so for example, an episode of TOH, followed by a NYW is separated into two titles within moments. Once all that stuff is done, I just burn them in sequence to a DVD, which gives up to 4 hours of shows on LP (which is fine, as the source material if from VHS and isnt brilliant quality) - I have made individual covers for each season/show (being a graphic designer had to come in handy somewhere!) and have access to single size DVD cases that hold up to 4 discs. It's been a lot of fun so far. If anyone wants further details about the relative benefits of these new recorders I will be happy to provide any info I can

have fun!

[renomart]

Those crazy Americans sure know how to throw a lot of money at renovation work! I think it's a great show. Also like Jim Caruk on Real Reno's.

[womble]

Those crazy Americans sure know how to throw a lot of money at renovation work! I think it's a great show. Also like Jim Caruk on Real Reno's.

yeah they often skirt around the money issue a lot on 'this old house', probably because they spend more on doing just a kitchen than most people spend building an entire house! :eek:

[rrich]

Those crazy Americans sure know how to throw a lot of money at renovation work! I think it's a great show. Also like Jim Caruk on Real Reno's.

It's not crazy American woodworkers but rather crazy American SWMBO!:rolleyes:

[rrich]

probably because they spend more on doing just a kitchen than most people spend building an entire house! :eek:

Tell me about it but don't tell SWMBO. :rolleyes:

[scooter]

Thanks for the info, Steve, on the DVR setup and dubbing process, always interested in how this sort of thing is done, capabilities of new technology, etc.


Cheers mate................Sean :)

[seriph1]

Hi Sean - Youre welcome .......... I have just now completed putting another three seasons of This Old House onto DVD ..... three more to go and I will have done the ones I "own". I have been trawling around different groups/forums and websites for others, to no avila as yet, but time reveals all. In the meantime I have a further 8 copies of American Bugalow and 9 copies of Fine Homebuilding on their way to me. Life is good :D:D:D:D:D

have fun

[seriph1]

ummm Grinner (or others) - you don't happen to record those TOH's do you? I have just spent the better prt of the arvo looking for the 1st 4 episodes of the "Concord" project on all my remaining tapes without luck - I have a sneaking suspicion the tape was loaned out to record one of the wife's faves on.............. oboy

[burn]

Seriph,

Have you searched the Peer-2-Peer networks for your missing shows? I've noticed a lot of New York Yankee around.

Burn

[seriph1]

hi Burn

I don't yet know of any P2P's that have This Old House Shows - but youre right, apparently there are a LOT of Normie's on them (which I would love ot get as well). A couple of friends have attempted searches for TOH's but to no avail. I don't belong to any of those groups but will be trying to find some later today. the one I did check out is not allowing new members at the moment. any further hints much appreciated

thanks

[burn]

Seriph,

Given you have windows, get limewire (www.limewire.com) - it costs nothing. Then search for New Yankee Workshop.

Burn

[Ingin]

I lived in the US from 1981 to 1986 and This Old House was a regular then on PBS, a public chanel. It was a great show then and I gues from what I read still is. I still have a lot of envy with the tools and timber (sorry lumber) available in the US.

[seriph1]

yeah it has been going for years and from strength to strength I feel. I am still hunting for the series on VHS and just managed to pick up the entire Manchester On Sea series - not cheap but worth it .I already have it, but not a great copy, so I am happy about that..... The thing I love about the show is the detail they go into - it seems over here we skim the surface in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator. We bemoan small market size yet there are world class production facilities here as well as a vast knowledge base so why couldn't we create such shows and export them? The principles employed by the TOH people are EXACTLY the same as could be used here - all that would change would be the measurement system (both would be easily catered for) and the sub-stories about specific providers of services, but this is no different to over there ..... the TOH team interview and visit the premises of great local AND (inter)national firms and beautifully display universal techniques and manufacturing principles

The amount of species available in the US is substantial but we have a lot here too ..... cost is higher but English oak, Cedar, Walnut are all get-able. I would love it if Cherry were as readily available here though! Aussie timbers are wonderful too but we still keep getting fed Vic Ash by the truck load, though with the craze for timber flooring, other species are really starting to take off.......... mostly hardwoods though of course.


ok - now to get back OFF my hobby horse

:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D

have fun!