I have a "Video Stabilizer" device inline with the video input to a VCR. Its purpose is to remove the Macrovision copy protection where it is included in the signal (in my case from a DVD player or Foxtel On Demand movies). It works very well for Macrovisioned PAL video but it doesn't work for Macrovisioned NTSC video, although un-Macrovisioned NTSC video passes through it unaffected. Any ideas why this would be the case and whether it should have been easy to design it to work on both signal types? I suppose there's nothing I can do to get around it other than bypass the VCR.
While I'm not fully clued-in on what's out there, I do know there are different "versions" of Macrovision copy protection.
I can only guess that one would make boxes in both PAL and NTSC flavours, it does not mean that said boxes cover ALL forms of Macrovision protection.
The other question I have to ask, is since the tape is copy protected (and that costs money), it's likely from a higher budget production company (hollywood?), and if so, do you not have the means to use torrents? You get DVD rips that are arguably as good as (if not better) than tape copies.
Unless you're dealing with non-popular material, in which case that's not an option...
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I've got morals. I just don't know where they are.
**Dunno why David wants it, but I can attest that, despite my best efforts to move my mother and my partner's parents into the 21st century, they stubbornly refuse to record to their PVRs and DVD recorders (which I lovingly installed and spent hours teaching them to use), preferring instead, to stick to VHS. Likewise, they don't watch DVDs either. And yes, I've patiently explained that in around 12 months, they'll have almost no choice in the matter.
I think I'll sneak in one night and steal their VHS machines. It's the only way.
Don't they have any old tapes they want to watch sometimes? There must be a massive amount of stuff on tapes out there. People either chuck them out or they need a VCR.
Yes, so it's watchable. Macrovision copy protection doesn't stop you copying anything.
It affects my Sony VCR whether recording or not. The Macrovisioned DVDs were unwatchable just having the video pass through the VCR. I think a Panasonic I had a while ago was the same.
I explained enough for what I was asking. I want to remove Macrovision from the video into the VCR. That's all. I know TVs are not affected. I was forced to connect the DVD player directly to the TV to fix it, but I shouldn't have had to do that. Going through the VCR gives me more flexibility, such as choosing audio output to an amplifier or TV sound any time.
This from the most pedantic Usenet poster on the planet when it comes to trying to wriggle out of erroneous posts with technicalities. Have you ever admitted a mistake? Witness your use of "criteria" as singular a while back.
Irrelevant. I asked on an electronics ng why an electronic Macrovision-removing device does not work with NTSC. I mentioned the VCR only for background, since if the signal were not going into a copying device I would not need the video stabilizer at all. Even if I were copying, what difference should that make to the answers? I described the setup and asked a question pertaining to the behaviour of a device _in that setup_.
For about $40 you can get a little gadget with 3 RCAs on one side and a USB plug on the other that converts whatever video comes in to DVD via your PC. I'll chuck the pile of tapes and the VCR when I get around to doing it :)
PS Of course the result looks just a shitty as the original did, but we didn't know any better in those days.
** See how this utter f****it ignores the main point completely .
** Fraid it is 100% relevant to my posted question.
** A f****it question to begin with.
** FFS - imbecile, the whole purpose of Macrovision is to defeat RECORDING of a video signal by a VCR.
** We can all see what you wrote and it is completely MISLEADING !!
Some are. I had a combination PVR/VCR/Tuner box, that would refuse to deal with Macrovision (and another form of digital-based protection) at the inputs.
So I couldn't plug my DVD player into it (to use the PVR as a defacto switch box) because it would forcibly blank the video.
In my case, at that time, I was lucky enough to be able to modify the DVD firmware to disable Macrovision and that other protection signal, so it worked. I also had the added bonus of disabling the "FBI warning" blocks, that otherwise force you to watch certain streams, so I could easily skip them.
There are also some TVs (OK, admittedly I haven't seen any for ages) that are not tolerant of some versions of Macrovision signal. But I'd disable Macrovision out of principal anyway.
Personally, since I started using a PC to handle the job of DVD/BlueRay/AVI whatever media, all those issues went away. But I still refuse to use HDMI or Displayport, again purely out of principal. VGA, or DVI isn't going out of style for a long time, and I'm happy with that situation. When VGA, DVD (and composite) become extinct, then I would of course be forced to use something like some more modern incarnation of HDMI or DisplayPort.
But only grudgingly, even though it could never possibly affect me in the first place.
Don't get me wrong. In certain circumstances, I'll sell out and squeal like a little girl for a chocolate bar and a pat on the back. But when it comes to copy protection on media, forget it.
Two out of two VCRs I've mine of the biggest VCR brands you could buy don't make the distinction. I think you are simply wrong about this. In any case, what did you expect me to add?
Questions don't need your approval, Phil.
Irrelevant to my question, which was about the device.
No. If you just stuck to what I wrote instead of jumping to assumptions you would have been relevant.
Im at that point now that I dont buy any of it. Im completely over the crap.
All it you are doing by buying such products is is funding companies who then use the profits to attack the public by bribing politicians and spending on solicitors to push laws to ban (with no due process) people from internet access, if in the company's opinion they have downloaded "illegally". As well as this IINET crap lawsuit that just ends up costing money which is passed on to internet subscribers.
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