DVD to VHS

Do you mean a standalone DVD-player? Does your DVD-player have macrovision disabled? If you don't know, then it's probably not. You need a Macrovision disabler that you plug between your DVD-player and VCR.

You also need a suitable cable for the task. What kind of a cable depends on the kinds of connectors available on your VCR and DVD-player.

 

Hi Jari.

I'd want an awful lot more info than that which is supplied from that link before I'd plunk down my dollars.

Even though it specifies *DVD* macrovision elimination in it's name, most of these units are pretty useless with modern-generation dvds.

I have had a similar product (similarly-priced) shipped to me which was almost totally useless. In truth, these units are not so much macrovision *eliminators* as they are macrovision (quasi)-neutralizers - that is - they TRY to minimize the effects of macrovision, but never really succeed.

The unit I had got rid of the rolling/tearing and that annoying lightening/darkening cycle, but overall, the picture was WAY DARKER than normal, creating a most unpleasant vhs copy, even though the unit itself proclaimed "Removes ALL forms of macrovision."

No it didn't.

Specifically, never buy an outboard, plug-in unit like this unless the supplier can honestly tell you it removes "Color Stripe II" macrovision, the latest, most ornery type of macrovision used by modern dvds, or else you'll get thin horizontal lines throughout your movie which destroys all viewing enjoyment.

The only *true* macrovision REMOVER is a device, or patch, or fix, that totally cuts out the macrovision chip within the dvd player itself. That circuit has got to be totally disabled, and if so, you'll get clean vhs recordings without the need for any plug-in boxes.

Macrovision is an insideous cancer right up (down) there with lung cancer.

-- KlingonAgent --

 

A_Klingon, do you know if the new macrovision cancer can be cured using a Time Base Correction unit? It's been a while since I last had to clear macrovision...

 

Klingon,

Right you are, as always. DVD-player modification just isn't an option for everyone, and can't be done on all the players out there. The easiest, and by far the best solution would be to purchase a player that is either cheap to modify, or can be modded out of box (eg. with a remote controller code). Apex AD600a was one, untill they removed the loopholes menu. There are tons of DVD-players available in Europe that can be easily modified at home, but I don't know if they're available in the states.

One could also consider using TV-out from a display adapter with macrovision disabled drivers, but that often yields as poor results as a Macrovision remover -plug.

 

jnihil: My apologies, but I don't know whether Color Stripe II can be cured (eliminated/minimized/neutralized) with a time base correction unit or not, but I don't think so. I'm not overly familiar with the inner workings of the new macrovison (or even the old), but I don't think that the two problems are related anyway.

I forget the particular US website where I saw it, but there is *only* ONE case where I ever saw an outboard unit that proclaimed itself to be able to remove color stripe 2. The unit itself cost far more than most Hi-Fi vcrs. Since the proclaimed "cure" came "after-the-fact" (that is, only after macrovision distortion had been created), I'd want to see the vhs-taped output before I would be able to judge it's apparent effectiveness.

Ketola: You're absolutely right - electrical modification of dvd players is almost 'black magic' as it is. It's very hard to do without potential repercussions (the machine buggering up elsewhere), it's expensive, time-consuming, offers no guarantees, and although it offers the very best solution overall, it is NOT for most people, no.

Mostly all new dvds incorporate flags (trigger bits) that set off the mac chip within all newer-generation dvd players. The pin-stripe lines are horrible. I know of no simple, add-on box that can get rid of it to the point where you'd want to watch the resulting vhs copy.

The best way is still, unfortunately, the hardest way - the offending mac circuitry has got to be cut right OUT of the loop. OR, at least, by using an older-generation dvd player that didn't yet incorporate the color stripe 2 disease.

(All of the above is why I routinely make vcd copies of the original dvds - macrovision not applicable).

- K.A. -

 

Klingon Agent: Do you know if all (analog) copy pervention schemes can be disabled with bits on the DVD itself, or are there some.. umm.. forced distortions on modern players? If the player behaves as the disc dictates, then ripping the VOBs, disabling Macrovision bits, and toasting a DVD-R, would of course be a solution.. Though only for the select, lucky few =)

I'm glad I have my Apex still in running order. Even though to date I've made just one DVD->VHS copy, it's comforting to know I have a player that both circumvents Macrovision, and does a proper NTSC->PAL conversion (unlike my Pioneer 525, which only does a NTSC->PAL60 conversion, which isn't suitable for PAL VHS recording).

I wonder if the AD600a is still available..? One can easily find Macrovision disabled/region free firmwares for the unit on the Net.

 

Ketola: I'm not sure of what you're trying to accomplish. But you have said it correctly - it is the dvd *disc* which forces the player to engage it's mandatory mac circuit whenever it (the dvd player) detects that you have a vcr hooked up and in 'recording' mode. No manufacturer of dvd players can breach this requirement if they wish to keep their license to continue manufacturing the dvd player. Macrovision is *not* encoded into the dvd video itself.

I see no reason why you couldn't rip a vob; convert it to a dvd-mpeg2-compliant video stream, and with appropriate dvd authoring (burning) software, create a macrovision-flag-free disc, which then *could* be played back & recorded to a vhs tape. (Is that what you were trying to do?)

So far as I know (I have no dvd burning experience) dvd-authoring software doesn't recognize the macrovision trigger-bits, so you would presumably not be transferring them to your new (burned) dvd.

If someone could figure out how to intercept & block the trigger bits from ever *reaching* the macrovision circuit, that would be another perfect solution, as good as electrically chopping out the mac circuit itself.

"Forced Distortions". Ha! You have it correctly! That is what modern dvds instruct your dvd player to do if you come near it with a modern vhs vcr. If I wish, I can play my dvds through the vcr's analogue inputs and everything will be fine *until* I press the "Record" button. Then, all hell breaks loose.

Since the trigger bits are digital in nature, I don't see how any outboard plug-in analogue device would ever be able to remove them.

It's a shame. I have several dvds that transfer beautifully to tape (no mac flags), but those types of discs are becoming rarer and rarer as movie studios shell out the few extra pennies per disc to have them "macro-ized".

Hang on to that Apex. It may be a dying breed. I wish I had kept my original, Sony flagship dvd player when dvds first came out. There was no mac chip inside of it.

-- KlingonAgent --

 

Klingon: Yeah, that was pretty much my point. I know the Macrovision isn't embedded in the DVD Video stream. There's no way to embed it, since it's not a video signal at all, and MPEG2 doesn't give a rat's ass about anything else. =) I suppose studios would just love it if they could force the Macrovision scrambling and not worry about the player manufacturers obeying the DVD specifications. Lucky for us =)

The analog Macrovision "removers" should probably be called "Macrovision diminishers", since that's pretty much what they try and do - diminish the Macrovision scrambling to the extent that the VCR's automatic gain control won't kick in. Of course that pretty much ruins the picture in the process.

Come to think of it, you could, of course, also modify your VCR's AGN so that it wouldn't be tricked by macrovision... =)