Mary Sheridan started our Windows SIG at 6:00 PM. William LaMartin was presented with a nice award from our group for the fine work he has done with the group’s web site. FACUG, the state body that governs users groups, judged our site as second place among all users group sites in the state.

CD recording software became our next topic, with most of the group singing the praises of Adaptec. It was pointed out, though, that you should make the plunge and buy the full "Deluxe" version, as the "Lite" version that ships with most CD burners is too lite.

Hard drive upgrades are always a fun topic, and this time was no exception. When a question was put out on how to move Windows 3.1 programs onto a new computer the obvious response was, "Why?" But, thankfully, someone had a useful response with "Aloha Bob," which allows moving programs from one hard drive directly to another without the original disks.

The general meeting began at 6:30 PM with official business. Sign up sheets were passed out for SIGs and attendance. The Office Depot on Fowler has asked us to display our newsletter at their location. Other users groups have found this a benefit in gaining new members.

Jay Kirth of CompUSA presented a demonstration of digital cameras and video recorders. While setting up, he went over CompUSA’s warranty policies. Most work is done on site, but most people aren’t aware that Sony requires any system or component be sent back to the manufacturer for warranty work. This can be inconvenient for customers, but it is one of those things out of CompUSA’s control. Mr. Kirth also pointed out that CompUSA has an on-line presence for ordering products or ordering can be done by calling 1-800-8-DIRECT.

Jay set up a Sony Viao laptop to demonstrate the different cameras. By plugging the video camera directly into the laptop, the laptop became a large viewfinder, and, with the software included with the camera, movies or still images could be captured to the hard drive for editing. For people looking to add video to web pages, some of the less expensive cameras on the market would be more than sufficient. For high quality movies with a VHS or 8mm clarity, look for as high a megapixel count as you can afford. Also, different cameras handle zoom and stabilization by mechanical or software means. Digital zoom works by cutting out the borders in the view screen and interpolating the magnified pixels between the real pixels. At lower magnification this can work well, but higher magnification causes fuzzy or blurry images. Mechanical magnification uses lenses like on your old trusty 35 mm. Digital stabilization works in a similar manner by cutting out the edges of the image in the viewfinder and attempts to keep the remainder of the image in the center of the screen. Mechanical stabilization, like in the Sony cameras, uses servos and optics to provide a clearer, better image. When downloading images from a still camera to a computer, Jay recommends using a card reader instead of plugging directly into the camera. By plugging into the camera, it becomes a removable drive in the eyes of your computer and its batteries will soon die.

Jay brought in an HP970CSP printer for the demo. The colors and resolution on the more expensive Sony cameras was impressive. Jay warned that with printers, though, you get what you pay for. He also pointed out a major difference between HP and Epson printers. HP uses a built in heating unit to warm the ink before printing. This helps prevent clogging of the ink jets if the printer has sat unused for any great length of time.

Mike Hodges won the big prize of the night, a digital camera. Not bad for someone who wasn’t supposed to be in town. Clark Evans won a PC tool kit. u