This article explains what equipment you need to record audio for transcription from VHS tape and how to go about doing so. It refers to the use of the Goldwave software programme as a sound editor but any sound editor can be used.

What you need

A VHS player
A PC/laptop
A twin phono to 3.5mm (1/8 inch) Stereo Jack Lead (available from (for example) Maplin - UK, RadioShack -USA)
A SCART phono out adaptor (available as above)
Sound recording software such as Goldwave (Shareware) or Audacity

Setting up

Put the VHS cassette into the player and check that it’s the correct tape! With the VHS machine turned off, put the SCART adaptor into the SCART socket. If you’re planning to record video as well as audio, now or in the future, you’re better off purchasing the slightly more expensive SCART to phono/S-vido input-output adaptor, which does exactly what it says on the tin – allows you to both input and output sound and video. To output video to your PC though, you would also need an S-video card.

In order to transfer audio only, plug the twin phono sockets (red and white) at one end of your lead into the matching colours on the SCART adaptor.

Plug the other end of the lead into the microphone socket of your PC.

Using Goldwave

In the control box set preferences as follows:

Record tab: record mode: unbounded
Volume tab: Device: your sound card (e.g. NVIDIA sound card in my case)
Device tab: Playback device: Primary sound driver
Device tab: Record device: Primary sound capture driver

You can chose the time in advance e.g. if you know the video is 1 hour long
you can set to record for one hour. Or you can leave it to just record. If
you record a lot of blank at the end you can ’save selection’ (from the file menu) and select the relevant bits.

The settings I use are ‘mono’ at a sample rate of 44100 if it asks, but I have to confess that I don’t really understand sample rates fully and would welcome advice from an audio wiz!

In Audacity I believe you have to set the file as x amount of silence and then record over it, but I’m not sure about that as I’ve only used Goldwave.

Recording

Press record in your sound editing software.

Press play in your sound editing software.

Press play on your VHS machine.

The VHS is recorded into digital audio.

Finishing

Once recorded you MUST save - this is a bit slow for a large file, but if
you don’t do it you lose it!

I believe Goldwave automatically defaults to WAV files (see my article on digital file types if you’re not sure what file type to use) but if WAV is too large for you e.g. if you need to send the file to your transcriptionist, you can convert. Probably due to my settings and through no fault of the software itself, I get very poor results converting to wma (a really compressed file) but I get excellent results converting to mp3 (fairly compressed). To do this simply ‘save as’ and choose mp3 from the bottom box in the dialogue box.

You should now have a fully functioning audio file which can be sent to your transcriptionist or loaded into your transcription software.

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Praising a group for its contribution is a positive thing, but it can be even more valuable to praise the individual group members.

Praise is often given to groups of people in recognition of a group achievement. This is a good thing. When we’ve all pulled together to meet an objective, that recognition helps extend the “feel good” moment that comes with achievement.

Unfortunately, individuals within the group can be left feeling anonymous, not sure that their individual contribution has been noticed.

A number of years ago, the Vice President of Marketing asked me to help him write a speech. Our company, a major energy corporation, had been sold, which resulted in some substantial internal changes. Consequently, our department was being disbanded, and the people dispersed to different departments and functions. The speech was to be made at the end of a special dinner in honour of us all.

In talking of some of our major accomplishments, he was hesitant to mention the individuals who had clearly made huge contributions, for fear of disappointing those who were omitted. I pointed out that there were just over thirty people in the whole department; instead of mentioning no names at all, why not mention everyone by name? So here’s what we did.

First, we listed the major projects he would be mentioning, with the leader’s name and a list of team members. Then we looked at the complete staff list to see who had not already been mentioned. As he talked about each project, he worked in the names of all the team members. Then he reminded us that there was more to our department’s work than individual projects, and that each of us had made an important contribution over the years — and that’s when he incorporated all the other individuals’ names.

His speech was greeted with loud applause, and many people had tears in their eyes as their names were mentioned. To be mentioned in the same context as those who always seem to get the credit can do wonders for people’s self-esteem.

When your group is smaller, it’s easy to compliment everyone by name. Simply say, “The new software rollout went off without a hitch. I want to thank each one of you — Andrea, Tom, Ricardo, Jennifer and Ali — for your hard work and enthusiasm. I appreciate the contributions made by each of you to the success of the project.” More junior members of the team will be delighted to be included.

As human resources professionals know, what’s rewarded is repeated. Individual praise by name is more of a reward than we realize, and will often encourage people to give even greater efforts to future projects.

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Flow charts come in several different formats, whether a business wants to see the intricate details of a process or just the bigger overall steps.

Flow diagram software is being increasingly used in all kinds of business processing environments where processes need to be streamlined and depicted in a sequential or graphical manner to get better output. Flow diagrams are a series of actions that need to be undertaken in order to complete a process. Since businesses are using a lot of processes in order to get their final outputs, there is also a need of several flow diagrams to be used. Manually, it is possible to get flow diagrams done, but it is a very cumbersome process and may not be that efficient also. That is the reason why businesses are saving time and getting a better job done by investing in flow diagram software.

There are three main ways in which flow diagram software can help business processes. These three ways actually cover the entire processing function. Here is a list of the three processes in which flow diagram software can help streamline work.

System Operation

The first and most obvious benefit is that the flow diagram software helps to design a visual representation of the entire way in which the process will go into operation. There can be many alternatives of each factor in a process, but with the help of a flow diagram, it becomes easy to look into the repercussions of these different factors. Most of the things that one can visualize with a flow diagram are quite difficult to express in words or even to explain in written language; but a flow diagram can perform the commendable task of giving a pictorial depiction of the entire process.

System Accomplishment

The flow diagram makes it very clear what the process will accomplish under various conditions. This is of great importance in chemical processing plants, where different conditions can product different products. With the help of a flow diagram, even a lay worker at the chemical plant can be made to understand what the results of the different conditions will be. In general, the flow diagram software can help chalk up a sequential mode of cause and effect to each aspect of the process under consideration.

System Implementation

Finally, the flow diagram can help users to know perfectly well how they should go about applying the system to get the results they expect. That helps to a large extent in maximizing production in businesses and hence, maximizing profits.

In this manner, flow diagram software can help to create a diagram that will enlist the entire processing carried on within the system, give a clear idea of what results one should expect, and to take the proper decisions to get the maximum possible output. Thus, the flow diagram software becomes a very important ally in the workplace environment.

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