Hi, everyone, and welcome to another episode of Twilight Tries!
Now before we get going with today’s episode, I feel I should point out that it’s another one that’s been brought to us by our good friend Sunset Shimmer and her world! And what it is from Sunset’s world that I’ll be trying today is…programming a VCR!
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I’m guessing you might have just asked yourself, ‘What’s a VCR?’, and if you did I can assure you that you’re not alone in asking that. I asked the exact same thing when Sunset and I were in the antique store. But I’m getting a little ahead of myself here, so let me start at the beginning.
You see, the other day Sunset and I got together for a visit over in her world, and during that visit we decided to go to a small antique shop in Canterlot City since we both love antiquing.
I mean, who doesn’t love antiquing?
Well, who other than Starlight that is.
Anywhoo, while we were browsing through this antique store Sunset stopped to take a look at this machine that I’d never seen before. I asked her what it was and she said it was a VCR, which was when I then asked her, ‘What’s a VCR?’ Sunset explained that a VCR, which is short for Videocassette Recorder by the way, was an electromechanical device used long ago to play a form of recorded media called a Video Home System, or VHS. See apparently these VHS things used magnetic tape to record analog audio and analog video, and the VCR was the machine that allowed one to read those magnetic tapes and transmit them onto a television for viewer consumption.
Also, Sunset said that there were some models of VCRs that were capable of recording analog audio and analog video onto a VHS and that perhaps the one we were looking at was one of those models.
It was hard to tell if it was or not just by looking at it.
But anyways, I told Sunset that I thought the VCR sounded like a pretty neat device even if it was a bit dated, to which Sunset replied, and I quote, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard that they were pretty neat. Well, if you ever managed to get them up and running correctly that is.’ Needless to say, I was a bit confused by Sunset’s reply so I asked her to elaborate, and she said that even though VCRs were great at playing recorded media they were notorious for being incredibly difficult to program and get set-up properly.
Her elaboration didn’t alleviate my confusion much.
As I continued to look at the VCR I thought to myself, ‘How could this possibly be difficult to program and set-up properly?’ I also remember thinking that maybe initially when it was a brand-new piece of technology it could have been troublesome to get up-and-running, but even still I had a hard time believing that over the entire course of their relevance VCRs were so consistently abstruse.
I mean, speaking from personal experience, the only piece of technology that’s consistently abstruse is video cameras.
So basically I shared my doubts about the VCR being difficult to program and set-up with Sunset, and she said that if I was so convinced that it wasn’t so tough maybe we should see if we could do it or not. And yes, you heard me right – we. So at this time allow me to introduce our special guest for this episode: Sunset Shimmer!
Thanks for being here, Sunset!
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Well I’m always glad to have you both back in Equestria and on my vlog. And speaking of the vlog, thanks also for the idea of turning this whole VCR thing into an episode of it. I honestly don’t think I would’ve ever thought of synergizing the two.
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I’m sorry, Sunset, but I have to disagree with you on that. Synergizing is a real word.
I think.
Well regardless, what do you say we get started?
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Great!
Now then, let me just move the camera little bit so you all can see the VCR I’ve been talking about.
Just a second.
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And here it is: the Omnivision S model PV-S4670. And just an FYI, it is a VCR that’s capable of recording analog audio and analog video onto a VHS.
At least according to the manual.
Now of course we can’t try programming this VCR without a television set, which is why when we bought it from the antique store we also bought a TV that we can hook it up to.
Sunset, the TV if you please.
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Oh my.
Let me help you with that, Sunset.
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Phew.
Sweet Celestia, even with both of us using our magic that TV was awfully heavy.
I’m not even going to ask how you managed to get that thing here all by yourself.
Okay, let’s make sure we have everything we need. VCR…check. TV…check. Remote control…check. Various cables…check. VCR manual…check.
Looks like we’re good to go, so let’s get to it!
What’s the first step in the manual, Sunset?
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We need to connect the VCR to the TV? Makes sense.
Let me just grab the cables real quick.
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So many cables and cable accessories.
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Okay, which cable do we need?
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Coaxial cable, huh?
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And we need the UHF/VHF band separator for it?
Um, can I see the manual for a quick second, Sunset? I’m not sure I know what a UHF/VHF band separator looks like.
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Thank you.
Mmm.
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Oh, it’s this part right here.
Okay, let’s get connecting.
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This isn’t connecting right.
Are you sure we needed the UHF/VHF band separator, Sunset? Because when I looked at the manual it seemed to me like maybe the 75-300 ohm transformer was what we needed given the UFH/VHF configuration on this TV.
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Well just look right here. See? The TV doesn’t have the kind of VHF configuration like in this picture.
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Huh, you’re right. It doesn’t have the same configuration like the one in the transformer picture either.
So what the hay goes with the UFH/VHF set-up on this TV then?
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Oh, yeah, I see it now too, Sunset. We need the other UHF/VHF band separator.
Geez, who knew there were two kinds of UHF/VHF band separators?
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Okay, I think we’re hooked up correctly now. Let’s turn on the TV and see if we’re good.
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Yes, we’re good! Now let’s get to programming.
Do you have the remote over there, Sunset?
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Good.
Now then, the manual says to hit the Menu button to get to the language selection screen.
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Perfect. Now rotate and push the little wheel on the remote to select the desired language.
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Wait, what language did you just select, Sunset? That’s not a language I’m familiar with.
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Huh?
What do you mean it was an accident? I told you to rotate and push the wheel to select the desired language.
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No, I told you to rotate and push the wheel, not rotate and push the wheel at the same time!
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Well I’m sorry if I’m a little testy right now, Sunset, but it’s not my fault that you misunderstood the directions!
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Okay, just…let’s unplug the VCR and start over.
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All right.
Okay, now that we’ve managed to get past the language selection screen we can move on to setting the clock.
Let’s see here.
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Sunset, do you see anything on the screen that says, ‘Auto Clock Set’?
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Of course not.
All right, it looks like we’re going to have to set the clock manually then. According to the manual, you need to hit the Menu button, then select ‘Set Clock’, followed by ‘Manual Set’.
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Okay, now I assume we just use the number buttons to set the clock.
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What do you mean hitting the number buttons isn’t doing anything, Sunset? Let me take a look at the remote.
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You’re right, the buttons aren’t doing anything.
I don’t get it, how are we supposed to set the clock if the number buttons don’t do anything? Let me take another look at the manual.
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Seriously?! We have to use the wheel to scroll through all the possible times until we get to the correct one?!
Who designed this thing?
Well I guess we better get scrolling then.
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By Luna’s mane, this is taking forever.
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Okay, that looks like the correct time, right, Sunset?
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Good, then let’s move on. It looks like the only thing left to do is –
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Oh you’ve got to be kidding me!
All right, let’s just keep scrolling until we get to 6:43 p.m. then.
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Finally.
Okay, now that we have the correct time and correct time of day, let’s select the channels.
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Yes I know we won’t be watching any channels, Sunset, but that’s beside the point! We said we were going to try programming this thing 100% correctly and that is exactly what we’re going to do!
Now, do you see anything on the menu screen that says, ‘Channel Auto Set’?
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Oh thank Celestia.
Okay, just hit that and we should be good to go.
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This is taking an awfully long time.
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Yes, it worked!
Now for the true test. Sunset, the VHS please.
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Oh, I love this movie.
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Woohoo, it’s playing!
We did it, Sunset! We got it working! It nearly drove us insane, but we got it working!
Well since the VCR seems to be up-and-running correctly, I think this is a good place to end the episode. Before going though, I’d like to once again thank Sunset Shimmer for joining me today. And as always, thank you for watching, everypony, and I’ll see you ne-
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What was that, Sunset?
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What!?
How…I mean just, why…why the hay is the clock still showing 6:43 p.m.?! It’s been way longer than a minute since we finished getting the clock programmed!
Let me see the manual!
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Seriously?! We had to hit the menu button twice before exiting out of that screen to get the clock to start running?!
AAAAAHHHHH!
That’s it, we’re done here! I’m not wasting anymore time trying to get this hunk of junk programmed properly!
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Oh come on, Sunset, with the way things have been going it won’t be that simple. Sure, we’ll probably be able to get the clock to start running, but then that’ll somehow screw up the channel set-up or the language selection or the UHF/VHF band separator. No, we’re done here. I admit it, you were right; these things are incredibly difficult to get up and running correctly.
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Oh that sounds lovely. I’m sure some jasmine tea will help me calm down and forget all about this vexatious VCR.
You go on ahead and get it ready, Sunset, I’ll be along shortly.
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Well, everypony, I guess I was a little too quick to assume that we’d gotten the VCR working 100% correctly. I mean I think that we did a good job getting as much as we did running correctly, but I’m still a bit disappointed that we didn’t get everything running correctly, you know?
But anyways, I’m going to actually end things here and go have some tea with Sunset. So as always, thanks for watching, everypony, and I’ll see you next time on Twilight Tries!
Geez, I never thought I’d find another piece of technology that was frustrating as my video camera, but I sure as Tartarus found one today.