If you've ever found yourself competing professionally in any kind of national or international videogaming send-in-your-high-scores competition, then the time may well come when you are called upon to provide proof of your achievements. It may be that a photograph of the relevant high score screen will not be sufficient to validate you, for any of a multitude of reasons (not least because high-scores can be altered by cheat devices). In this case, what you really need to is to send in a videotape of your achievement being made. Here is how to make that tape.
YOU WILL NEED:
Instructions
- Plug your TV, VCR and console into wall power sockets. Put the game in the console and plug in a joypad. Turn them all on.
- Find a videotape with something already on it - Toy Story, let's say - and put it in the VCR. Hit PLAY on the VCR.
- Take your coaxial cable, and plug one end of it into the AERIAL IN socket on the back of your TV. Take the other end and plug it into the TV OUT socket on the back of your VCR.
- Change channel on your TV until you can see Toy Story. Hit STOP on the VCR and eject the tape. This was just so you could find the VCR channel.
- Take the output cable from your games console and plug it into the VCR. If the output is coaxial (small and round with another smaller round thing in the middle), plug it into the AERIAL IN socket on the back of your VCR. If the output is SCART (big and kind of rectangular but with a pointy bit on the end, and about seventeen small pins), plug it into a free SCART socket on the back of your VCR, usually marked "AV1" or "AV2".
- Now you need to persuade the VCR to be able to "see" the signal that the games console is sending to it. If you used a SCART cable this job is easy: simply switch to channel AV1 or AV2 and the game will appear on your TV. If you used a coaxial cable, this is more tricky. You'll need to change your VCR to a spare channel (note: none of your usual TV stations will be accessible, this is perfectly normal) and follow the instructions in your VCR manual to tune this channel until you find the game console's signal.
- You now have the game visible on your TV, coming through your VCR. Stick a video in your VCR and hit RECORD.
- Pick up your joypad and get your really insane high score.
- Hit STOP. Rewind. Mail your tape to a proof moderator. Tell them you're doing so beforehand, so they don't assume it's a bomb.