Seeing as VHS tapes have this protection, and it causes problems trying to save them to the hard drive, besides dual deck VCR's, and the newer VHS/DVD-RW combo units.....is there any other device around that gets rid of the copyright signal?
Hello, You might want to try some of those 'Digital Video Stablizer' which actually removes macrovision protection on VHS. They can be easily found when you do an online search.
Thanks bud. I did some looking around, and did find a component you hook between the output of the VCR and the TV/or input of the computer, which will unscramble the signal. 100.00 for it though, guess that money would be better invested towards the newer DVD-R/VHS combo units.
Hello, a cheap decent 'Digital Video Stabilizer' is good enough and I bought mine around USD$10/- on ebay. I think even if you get the DVD/VHS combo, it only allows you to convert home VHS and not movies that has macrovision protection especially from Disney and Warner Bro.
The dual deck VCR's, now with two recording heads, neutralize all copyright protection...it's what they were built for....I was just hoping to get some old VHS tapes to VCD before the tapes get ruined. I'll be looking into the new systems here shortly...and will bringing my media from home to test it in the stores.
I was just curious as to which dual-deck VCRs you're referring to? Go-Video used to make them with the chip inside that disabled Macrovision but it lost in court many years ago so every dual-deck VCR they currently make can't disable Macrovision. (I haven't seen any other manufacturers with double-deck VCRs but they may very well be out there.) The only reason I know about Go-Video dual-deck recorders is that I bought one when it still had the chip to disable Macrovision. It worked great for backing up all my store-bought videos, but as I found out later, it doesn't really remove the Macrovision, it just overrides it so the copy can be made. And I only found this out when I bought a Philips DVDR985 DVD recorder a couple of years ago and I got the "copy protected" message when I tried to archive store-bought VHS tapes to DVD -- so I thought I'd be clever and I went and dug out my back-up VHS copies but found out the DVD recorder said "copy protected" with them too! I ended up buying a "video stabilizer" on ebay for <$20, re-copying my store-bought VHS tapes using a two-VCR set-up with the video stabilizer in the middle, and then archiving THOSE copies to DVD using the Philips DVD recorder. Seems like there's gotta be an easier way? If you've found it out please post! I just bought a DVD recorder for my computer too but I don't have the set-up to capture analog sources ... that's my next purchase. These forums are very helpful in learning how to do these things. (And oops, I just re-read your message and it looked like you were referring to a DVD/VCR combo -- but onestop is correct, those don't get rid of the Macrovision. In some ways the dual-deck units are even worse than hooking up two separate units because with a dual-deck unit you obviously can't hook up a video stabilizer between them.) In any case, good luck!
Canopus ADVC100. It's a analog capture box that connects to your PC via firewire (ilink, 1394, whatever you want to call it.) It has an undocumented feature to remove copy protection from the incoming signal. You hold down the button to get the color bar test signal until the signal goes away. It will also allow you to run a video signal from a DVD or VCR into the front and out the back to another recorder (VHS or DVD) without ever going to the PC. It's not cheap ($260) but it is an awesome little box for getting video in and out of your PC and I've never had a single issue with dropped frames or audio sych issues. If you're going to do much of this I recommend it. My only complaint would be that it only handles RCA and SVid, but not component cables.
