I once modified a umatic tape recorder to more effectively "eat" the copy protection back before there were dvd recorders. Some playback setups with umatic were more or less immune to macrovision but the only really good monitor I had would show darkening at the top of the screen. Having no funds for a better monitor I did get perfect results by adding a photo interrupter on the umatic drum itself to "switch out" the VBI macrovision. In other words it put black right over just the macrovision area of the signal. It was made of an overhead projector transparency sheet formed into a loop that fit just inside the video head drum. Two black pieces of tape, placed in just the right location would interrupt a photo sensor. Of course it needed a schmitt trigger and an amp so the signal would trigger the vertical blanking "black insert" switch but it did work perfectly... until I realized the occasional color streaks meant the chroma was also being "copy protected"; and I just about passed a brick. However, 1/4 turn of a tuning slug on one of the video boards in the umatic locked the color right back in. I think it was a burst flag interval muting adjustment...
+DrCassette Any device with a Time Base Corrector (TBC) will remove MacroVision, including Sony Handycams with an A/V input, many S-VHS VCRs, and most "video enhancers", such as the JVC JX-C7 Video Corrector.
+vwestlife Some yes, others no. For example my old AG1980 has a TBC in it, but if I play a tape on that I still can not record the signal.Full frame store TBC which digitizes only the video componets, and totally rebuilds the sync will work. Unfortunately most cheap units are line by line TBC, and that does nothing to stop it. Also VCRs made for consumers are prohibited from removing copy protecting signals, and these units like the one I showed are now illegal to manufacture or sell under the digital millennium copyright act which makes it illegal to manufacture or distribute devices to circumvent copy protection signals. So if you build one yourself, or find an old one at a flea market you are good, but don't expect to find these units new anymore.
I have some friends that know I can do various things with computers and audio/video, they asked me to put their VHS to DVD, I bought the Roxio VHS to DVD3, the initial install was a bit of a pain as it would go part way and then just quit, I swapped USB ports and then it installed just fine. I have installed and uninstalled some other audio/video programs and every single time it messes up the Roxio so that I have to put the install disk back in and do the repair function, which I find a bit ominous that has a function that is appropriately named repair. I got a scrubber via Ebay anyway it was 26.00 plus 6.00 for shipping it came today. I am most definitely not at your level, but I know my way around building computers, stereo systems and running all the various RCA cables and what have you. its the same in the military, penetration vs armor each one competing to outdo the other, so it is with Hollywood protecting their investment and those circumventing said protections.
I was kinda hoping for more of a MacGyver style workaround. The solutions here seem to be either 1. hope you can find a magic decoder box on E-bay (and hope it still works) or 2. try PVRs until you find one that doesn't implement Macrovision. Is there any way to bread-board the functionality of the decoder box using standard bench-top gear?
*Help Please* I'm recording from my 8mm home video collection to PC. When I play the videos on my computer, it looks like there is some sort of copy protection messing up the video. The colors are all washed out. Any thoughts as to why this is, and better yet, how to fix this?
I once made a Macrovision remover in the early 90's here in the UK and it worked first time, which is a first for me, anyway, although it did VHS to VHS recording, when DVD's came along it refused to work on those, I searched through issues of Radio Electronics which you mentioned but could only find a different one with more components from the December 1987 issue, which also won't work on the PAL system used in the UK, but here is the link anyway ; worldradiohistory.com/Radio_Electronics%20_Master_Page.htm
There are numerous dvd players/ recorders out there where you can simply input a code via the remote and it will disable macrovision protection. A liteon lvw5002 is a example of a machine that can. The liteon lvw5006 can do the same thing but requires a software update to do that is a bit awkward to do 👍
@12voltvids OK, it is 2023 and I live in France. My wife recently retired when they shutdown operations and she inherited a bunch of old, commercial VHS tapes. I have an LG MG66 VCR and a SCART to HDMI and then HDMI to USB video capture dongle. This setup works perfectly to get the video to my PC for some of these tapes and our own recorded tapes. However it does not work for most of the commercial tapes, I'm assuming it is MacroVision? Can your offer some help to get something currently available, hardware (or magic) so I can recover these tapes for her? Thanks...RDK
For my sky HD & youview box I use a powered 2 way HDMI spliter which works very well and helps me to copy in HD and not have to use a DVD recorder. That might be useful for people wanting to copy HD though and not VHS but my PVR Rocket HD can take a VCR or any other source to. For blu ray you can also use anydvdhd so you can copy just about anything.
I have a Magnavox DVD Recorder and would like to record protected programming off of HBO (through Verizon Fios) to DVD, but always get the notice that the programming is copyrighted and cannot be recorded. Which device would you recommend for me to get around that?
The device I show in this video works perfect for HBO and on demand content. I use it all the time for just that. Also a videonics mx1 video mixer will do the trick as well as it strips out macro vision.
If you have an older video camera that has the pass-thru feature...you can connect the output from your cable box to the camera...then the output from the camera to your DVD recorder. You can also try using an EzCap (you can get these on Ebay and Amazon). Connect the Ezcap to the output of your cable box via RCA plug and then connect the USB plug from the Ezcap to your computer. Ezcap comes with capture software.
What if you have a vhs to dvd converter and no other player? If you hooked both the macroliminator's in and out s-v cords to both of converter's in and out s-v holes, would it allow you to convert a protected tape to dvd that you otherwise wouldn't be able to convert?
Does this Macrovision remover work for the really old VHS that had a rolling picture copy protection? I beleive it was called "stop copy" Old Warner Bros. movies would mention it and disney tapes mentioned it also. Modern TV's I find that I need to pause then hit play to stop the picture from rolling after the initial start.
I am sure you know it but in case on the small chance not, there are various software programs that strip the Macrovision from the DVDs as they are copied to hard drive or SSD. From there, it is game on in all things you might want to do with the material: 100% unprotected in all ways. "DeCSS" most are based on this or very similar. As for tape, I don't know as I never had the need or want. That's a cool device you built though. Awesome!
It also screws the hell out of other things besides the AGC - I'm surprised it doesn't screw up more. The only saving grace is it changes state in the VBI on the FIRST falling edge, and ignores the other 4. Not sure what they do to the colorburst - over-amp or invert it?
+Horrifyingly Hillarious This one works with all flavours of Macrovision, including color stripe such as from satellite and cable boxes used to protect PPV.
A professional TBC is a different animal. Most are not full frame stores, however some are.Many are only a process a few lines at a time. They require facility sync from an external sync generator. That can be a stand alone black generator, or a TV camera. Master Sync Generators use a crystal controlled oscillator that is heated in an oven for frequency stability, and the entire TV station is references to it (Also called Genlock) The playback VTR and TBC are both referenced to this gunlock. This is required in an analog TV station, so that the color burst reference can be phase synced to the master genlock clock.There are also 2 different types of TBC for broadcast use. For high band direct color recorders, and for heterodyne recorders.Some TBCs such as some of the Ampex units had a switch for direct color or color under (heterodyne) color. VCRs use heterodyne color, where the color signal is converted down in frequency and recorded, and then converted back up to the proper frequency during playback, by contrast to direct color used on 1' and 2" formats, that records the color in the video signal as a composite signal. Then there is the betacam and M2 formats that use component color recording, and they need a TBC all of their own. Confused yet?
Hello the only thing I remember them telling me is it is full frame and does work with vhs units I do have some that can excepet an external tbc but I dont have cables to hook it up with.
I heard another way you can remove it is by using an RF modulator on the composite video output, then using a second recorder hooked to the RF modulator. The RF modulator re-transmits the signal but without the macro-vision signal
i've tried to make back-ups from three different vhs tapes and none of them would back up onto dvd. i used the machine that you show in your video (most recent version) and wired it up as instructed, it's not rocket science. so, what gives? is this just a plot to sell these machines? I did, however, enjoy the explanation of what was going on, although I didn't understand most of it. do you have any suggestions?
Watch the fucking video. He couldn't have explained it any more clearly. It's not rocket science, so how come you ignored what was shown and discussed?
Does anyone have a copyright issue when you transfer MONO recording to a DVD. it gives me the same copyright image i see except for thing. the mono recording are actually tapes i made 20 years ago on TV.
Not for making a recording from the VCR top the DVD recorder, but it will if the signal is external such as a seperate DVD player, VCR or cable box, run through the macro eliminator and then into the VCR or DVD recorder.
Analog content protection macrovision comes in several different "versions" the "original" just inserted pseudeo-sync pulses into the vertical blanking signal that trip up a Recording devices Automatic Gain control Circuits and is also presence detected by newer recorders locking out there recording ability "but" later revisions of macrovision "also" mess with the Colorburst signal " Macrovision creates a rapidly modulated colorburst signal. This confuses the chroma processing circuitry used in NTSC video recorders. The will usually result is a picture spoiled by horizontal stripes or other unwanted effects DVD players (And cable boxes playing protected content like pay per view) also apply this signal to there "Analog outputs" to try and prevent recording of content.
I have a video stabilizer macro 2000 and even though it helps to record a copy protected movie to vhs, it doesn't help if i want to record a copy protected vhs to dvd. The dvd recorder somehow still detects the copy protection. Are some of those "copy protection killers" weaker then others or what could be the problem?
Yes there are different levels of macrovision suppression. The one I built uses a full synch replacement. It uses an RCA synch generator for a camera that genlock to the incomming sync then the new synch is gated in over the existing vertical blanking interval and the first 21 lines of video. Many just clamp the max video level during the vertical blanking interval to reduce the amplitude of the white and black pulses so they do not mess with the AGC of a VCR but a dvd recorder can detect the signature because they are still there. The one I have completely replaced the sync.
@@12voltvids aha that's what i thought. Damn. Looks like i have to find a device so i can capture the video with my computer. Hope i can find one that also works on a mac.
@@12voltvids So if i already have that video stabilizer is it possible to replace some components or ics to make it work like the one you have or do i really need a different device or video grabber?
I always thought it was a treat to rent movies and a VCR. Copying movies was a dumb idea to me when there was no point to watch the same one more than once every two or three months. Then they got even cheaper, but I also preferred the real artwork and quality. When DVD came out I found it strange how the brightness would change when connecting through a VCR without trying to record. I now know why.
Great video! I have a few SIMA Copymasters and A/V "Enhancers" I found over the years flea marketing, stops Macrovision. Think these were available at Best Buy for a short while before the chain was forced to stop selling them because of this.
The Sima Copymaster offered S-Video in and out as well as composite. My JVC S-VHS offers these INs and OUTs. I would like to know if these units remove the keying signal that prevent recording on a DVD recorder.
I've been trying to backup my vhs tapes to pc..I've been using clearclick vhs2dvd..when I copy copied vhs tapes there's no problem. But when trying to capture original vhs tapes the pc capturing software will freeze the picture..its not crashing , the preview screen will freeze. There's still audio though. Is this a type of macrovision copy protection?
A 16x9 broadcast? Mine will work on the "Y", luminance, or "Grreen" component cable as long as it's a 480i broadcast (don't think it'd be timed for HD). Are you talking letterbox or full 1080P? I had something called a Video Stabilizer to help my electronics with the random extra falling edges (usually 4, switching from high to low in 10sec intervals), along with some color burst overdriving. It used a monostable, along with some gates. I've tried drawing a schematic many times I need MAT lab I have crappy writing.
Yes it will work on the lunanence signal as long as in 480i. I made a break out cable to loop it into an s-video cable which works great for recording protected content from say Netflix or other on demand service.
I used to have an ATI TV Wonder TV card in my PC and that did not have any video copy protection but the ATI TV Wonder Pro did have the Copy Guard built in. A Digital Video Stabilizer for about $50 was quite useful when recording from VHS to re-archive to DVD. I'm using an ATI Theatre 650 now for the ATSC signals.
I have a hauppague 1600 for the STSC off air signals, and a Hauppague HDPVR to record HD component signals from my cable box, which is usually what I record from as ATSC there are only a few channels here, and those channels are al on cable anyway.
No Cable service out in remote areas. Using Windows with ATSC has a Region Lock. Win Install with CDN credentials can't see any TV. Too far from CDN Broadcats. Re-Install Win with US credentials and get the American broadcasts. Called MS and I swear that they are certified stupid.
Yup I found that out too. Couldn't get any Canadian stations either, just analog because my card was made before Canada switched over. The solution was to use a US zip code
i had a similar product. it was called DVD Xpress. It came out in like 2000. it let me copy ANY macrovision-protected media. I still have it, but i have moved on from WindowsXP, and use a later version of Windows, which the device would not work with. I use a device called Video Clarifier VC-3 to copy macrovision protected content.
Great video, and I have acquired a used HD PVR to capture some old tapes, but may I ask, how are you connecting the VCR, with it's old coaxial cable output, to the HD PVR, with its component video inputs? I have tried connecting the VCR to my TV, and the TV to the HD PVR, but the component ports are input only and the HD PVR is not getting a signal.
I connect to the AV inputs on the front for composite or S video input. The component inputs are connected to the HD component outputs on my cable TV box so I can record TV shows in HD.
12voltvids Thanks. I guess I need a different VCR. My old VCR, while it works fine, does not have the three RCA cable ports on the front that some do, and which I could connect up to the HD PVR, or an S video port -- just coaxial cable connectors and the audio cable ports in the back.
No. The one I have does nothing to the video. It is a genlock device. Locks to the sync of the macrovision video and generates new sync. Then the new sync is gated over the original sync and the first 20 or so lines of video to eliminate the macrovision signal. It also removes close caption data as that lives on line 17
@@KylesDigitalLab I totally forget what line, could be, 17 might have been where the VIR. There were many test signals in there. Color bars, multiburst, chroma phase reference. Closed captions, text telemetry. All kinds of stuff between line 11 and 21. Been so long since I actually looked at an ntsc waveform.
+Mitchell McCreath This video was not about circumventing copy protection on digital media. It was about removing analog copy protection from old video tapes, to demonstrate the steps to backup old obsolete VHS video tapes. There are many tapes out there that were never released on DVD that people would like to archive, and they can't due to Macrovision.
What about when I connect the VHS player to computer and use screen grabbing tool to record the movie? I mean, the computer only plays it on the screen. Recording device is not taking direct signal from the VHS machine, but instead takes the screen signal and records it in a video. Pretty simple. VHS tape doesn't recognise it's being captured and doesn't activate anti-copy protection :)
Yes it probably does because an RCA to HDMI adapter is generally meaning you're trying to play analog sources onto a television that only has HDMI inputs. So you're not actually trying to copy anything. Macgravation was there to prevent recording on to analog devices such as VCRs and DVD recorders which had chips embedded to detect the signal and lock out the recording circuits.
I just bought a Digital Video Stabilizer, Brand New, And It Only Recorded One Movie, And Then I Tried To Record Another One From DVD - DVD and WON'T LET ME, I CONNECTED EVERYTHING PROPERLY, BUT IT WONT LET ME DO IT, BTW, THE FIRST MOVIE I COPIED WAS COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, AND IT RECORDED IT ANYWAY, DO YOU KNOW THE REASON WHY IT WONT LET ME RECORD OTHER DVD COPY PROTECTED MOVIES??
Most of those commercial ones do not remove 100% of the macrovision signal. The first disk may not have had the full macrovision turned on. Or it just said copy protected and it was not.
12voltvids i know for a fact the first dvd concert video i recorded has copyright protection, because i tried to record it before without pluging it to the stabilizer, to find out if it was protected, and IT IS, which means the stabilizer only kills macrovision on some dvds, Not in all of them.
@@AlexDeChristian6323 there are different levels of macrovision protection and a different license (more expensive ) for higher levels. There are actually 3 layers of protection. Analog which is just the AGC trigger, digital which puts a watermark into the keying pulse in the last lines of the frame and color stripe which messes with the burst level. Most cheap stabilizers will defeat the analog macrovision that was used on VHS and some dvds. Digital water marking is much more difficult to remove. You have to totally strip the sync and rebuild it. My scrubber works with analog and digital. It does not work with color stripe which results in thin colored lines in the copy. For that I have to use a time base corrector in locked frame mode. It completely rebuilds each frame. All the sync and the color burst. A videonics mx1 will do that.
If you copy in 1987 a VHS => Video2000 the Macrovision Copyprotection don't work. The Reason is that the Video2000 don't measure the Black level after the Vertical Impulses. It measure the Black level and the Maximum Luminance Level in each Line so this will be Protect the System against the Macrovision. The VHS Video Input Chip measure the Luminance and the Blacklevel everytime after the Vertikal Sync. If you make a copy from VHS => VHS the Cheapest Way was to unsolder (disconect) the AGC Pin Connection on the Videoinput Chipset. So you copy the Macrovision also on the new Tape - and there is no Problem about the Video Gain because the Videosignal is coming from a VHS Tape and not from the Tuner for that the AGC is build in the Videomachine. The FM Dynamic must be in this VHS Range that the Videotape is not clipping. FM Signal on the Tape will not clip or over speak and no Dropout can occur. I'm asking me why the Video2000 System never came out in the US or in Asia that was a Super System - maybe they shall make a PCM Audio or a Sound in Sync - the Audio Tone was bad like max 10kHz then Stereo but no HiFi Audio. But Grundig have one Videorecorder in development the Video V200 with a PCM Audio Stereo.
I have an Ion video to USB capture device and it seems to ignore macrovision. I usually have it hooked to my Sony PS2 game console to record gaming footage and I also play my DVDs in it. I had the capture program running and a movie playing and I figured id test it. Well I recorded some video and it looked fine. Some of my DVDs don't have macrovision like my Starship Troopers DVD b/c I had the same game system hooked to a 19 inch TV/VCR combo and I recorded a few minutes of the movie onto the tape and played it back and it was perfect. No distortion.
+coondogtheman1234 Some DVDs didn't use it because it costs money to license macrovision, and if a studio doesn't think that copying will be a problem they just don't do it. Others do. Usually there is a logo, 2 disks a black and grey disk side by side in a red circle with a slash through it and the words copy protected. Some tape it a step farther and say this copy protected disk may only be played on licensed devices.
12voltvids All mine say region 1 and they play in all my DVD playing devices. I usually use VLC to play movies on my PC but mostly I use my PS2 b/c It looks really good on my flat panel (non HD TV. A good friend of mine gave me this TV and it's been thru three power supplies. I'm not sure why, the TV works fine but the original power supply died (bad capacitors) a new one my friend bought online didn't work. (piece of crap) I made one from an XBOX 360 console and that died after maybe 5 years so I made another from an old PC power supply and it's still working.I usually keep it off and unplugged unless I'm using it b/c it does have a fan and it's loud. If that dies I have other computers kicking around that I can modify the power supply from.
What you have us a proc amp with tbc. A tbc does not have controls to adjust. It simply reads the video into memory then reads it out again locked to a fixed time base. A tbc that works on a full frame us called a frame store tbc. Most tbc built into VCRs are 3 line tbc as they only store 3 lines. One being read into memory one stored and the oldest being read our as the next is stored.
@@12voltvids Lol yeah but would have thought that now days with the technology and vcrs becoming hard to come by a device like that would be as common as a rf modular or the capture devices you can use to connect a vcr to a computer. so people could back up there vhs collections.
@@scottriffe222 these devices were made illegal to manufacture cell or even possess in the United States. Company scrambled to make newer models that would reduce the amplitude of the macrovision signal but not totally eliminated and that was because all new VCRs and DVD recorders had a chip in them to detect the watermark and shut down the recording so in order to sell them because the initial excuse for selling them in the first place was because some televisions would not play nice with the extreme overshoot in the vertical blanking and it would cause them to roll even if you were just trying to play a macrovision tape. The macroscrubber I have, that I built uses a TV camera signal generator IC Gen locks to the incoming video signal generates new horizontal and vertical sink pulses which is then keyed on vertical blanking the blank lines 9 through 21 and replace it with new sync. They were deemed as devices designed to circumvent copy protection and we're DMD legal by the US supreme Court if I remember correctly. Manufacturers some being sold under the brand name Curtis responded by producing new units which just clipped the white overshoot in the luminance signal to approximately 40 ire. This stopped the distortions on television and it stopped the distortions if someone was looping a macrovision encoded signal through a VCR for example it would stop the bright dark bright dark pulsations but it still allowed enough of the signature to get through to prevent VCRs and DVD recorders that had the watermark detection chip installed from going into record which was basically every VCR made after about 1991. If you look online you will probably find someone selling some of these old devices but keep in mind the majority will not provide a 100% elimination of the macrovision signal. The only ones that will are ones based on the chipset that was used in the one that I built. I don't even remember which publication it was from might have been radio electronics, the plans were given to me by somebody else that had built one so I built one too. He had made several boards that was selling us the boards and a bag of parts to put together. I think at the time I paid about a hundred bucks for the parts. I looked up the main chip which is an RCA CD22402E which was a sync chip for tv camera and that chip at the time was selling for 68.00. it is long obsolete. The one I have was a digital tech Corp macroeliminator. That's the design you want it you can find it. I keep mine connected between the cable box and my DVD recorder so I can make hard copies on DVD of anything I want to keep including off Netflix and on demand
+laughing nutter It was being recorded on a Toshiba DR430 stand alone DVD recorder.It will record on DVD-R +R -RW and +RWThese units have all but disappeared from the market now, but they provided the best quality DVD transfer because they all had built in TBCs and hardware encoders.
MY DVD recorder refuses to record the Video. It happily goes into record whack I a TBC in the way of the video signal. Homade from a Electronic Australia in the mid 80s. Great explanation mate. (Y)
Someone told me that if you had an SVHS deck that you could copy VHS tapes that had macrovision and it would remove the macrovision signal and allow you to record. Is that true?
I built this about 36 years ago from a circuit published in an electronics magazine. I have no idea where you could get the same design I have as this one was not commercially available. There were other similar units that were available.
@@user-dt8iz6sr3o Sorry don't have one and even if i did the tv sync generator for tv camera (RCA) is not made any more and was in short supply when i built this back in 1981
Sorry to ask. I need to make resevr copies of videotapes . But the video capture board sees copy protection . I was looking for an adapter on the Internet , but this thing is either expensive or out of stock . Dead end.
Can I buy one of these macrovision eliminators from you? I used to have one but lost it in a move and need one to back up all my Disney VHS tapes I spent so much money on.
I don't have one for sale. The one I have I built back in 1982. It was published in a magazine called Radio Electronics. The TV Sync generator for TV camera is long obsolete now. If you could find that part it would be relatively easy to make one, The design I have is one of the few that removes 100% of the macrovision signal. The ones sold under names such as Curtis leave a little bit of it behind, enough to trigger the anti copy circuit on digital devices. A time base corrector will also do the trick, such as the Videonics MX1 mixer.
All time base correctors will remove macrovision, however they will also slightly soften your picture. The device I have only generates the distorted sync. It locks on to incoming sync, and then is gated in only from the start of vertical sync for the first 20 lines or so then gated out allowing the original unaltered video signal through. A TBC digitizes the signal, stores it, and then reads it out. That process of A-D D-A rolls off some of the high frequencies. The Videonics MX1 switcher, which meets FCC broadcast standards causes slight degradation of the picture. A source from say a DVD player or cable box does not have time base errors as they are digitally generated in the device, so converting to digital and then back to analog causes a noticeable drop in quality. The device I show here does not. That said, you can't buy this device easily, as it was banned, and is illegal to manufacture, import or sell. The device was sold in the early 80's, and the circuit was published in Radio Electronics as that is where I got the plans, and ordered the parts kit from North County radio way back in 1982. I am sure there are units floating around Ebay and stuff, as I know lots of people that like me bought the parts kit for 50.00.
@@12voltvids Ok, well I thought the chip might of been after the tuner but before the processor as a stand alone. I guess they knew people would remove it so they integrated it into the processor? Thanks
wow. Where did all of the comments go??? did someone say something to get them erased?? as always that's for posting your videos...Have you made a video about region codes on dvds/vhs ?? I have a couple of dvd region 2 and have my dvd player that will play them...
@@NunYa953 No just a client for a video project and there was a credit card lying on top of my dvd player. It was expired but didn't want anyone seeing the number. It was easier to just put a big black square on the screen.
@@12voltvids Is there a simple way to dial in tape path alignment (I think is what it would be called) without a scope? I'm working on a Magnavox ZV427MG9. Bought it from eBay with the usual "eats tape" disclaimer. Cleaned the mode switch, heads, checked belts etc. Then when put a tape in the audio was clear but picture was "rolling" and then TV says "no signal" then would come back all jumbled up. My guess is the person I bought it from adjusted the little potentiometer and the alignment knobs on the VCR tape path pins. I don't have a scope. I've become pretty proficient at cleaning up the switch and doing a basic service but this one has me puzzled.
@@NunYa953 It is possible to get close without a scope. Close enough to play a tape. Look at the noise in the pix. The top part of the picture is the left guide and the bottom the right. Easiest on a crt TV. I'll do a video where I will mess up the alignment and do it without a scope.
With exception to preserving your old purchases, why would you want to copy from vhs to dvd when the quality is poorer For any one wanting to shout out what about home movies? A. They wont have macrovision Copy protection naturally
There were many titles, concerts, kids videos ect that were released on VHS and never released on DVD. Also not everyone is willing to spend more miney to buy the DVD version of a tape they already bought, but they will record it onto DVD if they were able to. Macrovision puts a stop to that.
My question was purely academic. I am NOT interested in actually trying to accomplish this. As you may know, the technology is similar as to what is being accomplished in Macrovision. I was hoping for more of a discussion on how to isolate the signals and how they are processed by the hardware, as you have done here with Macrovision. By the way, you are circumventing copy protection when you are doing what you're doing with Macrovision whether or not you're trying to copy it to another media to back it up or not.
+Scott K Absolutely, breaking the copy protection signals may be illegal in your country regardless of the reason. However under the copyright act there are also provisions for fair use, and archiving a copy of works that you own, would in most jurisdictions classify as fair use if it met this criteria, that being transferring from as obsolete medium.It is not like they are going to kick down your door. Now on the other hand, if you copied that tape or disk, and placed it on the internet, that would be an entirely different matter. Fortunately for us, many artists understand that they may have rare works that show up from time to time showcasing their work, and in many of these cases the owners allow their work to be uploaded to youtube and run their own set of commercials. In this case copyright works. It allows us to see some fine works of art that we may never be able to see as it may have been a performance in another country that was never available in ours, and the rights holder can market their material to a global community.Even I have posted some rare performances I have on tape, and youtube has allowed them to stay, but the copyright holder runs ads on it, which is fine by me.Anyway back to the technology side. Macrovision is purely analog, and as I showed, it is just a series of precisely timed pulses that shoot way up into the extreme white area, and down into black below the pedistil reference.What this goes is confuse the AGC in an analog video processing circuit which causes the circuits to constantly try to adjust gain. The modulator sets the frequency deviation for the FM carrier for the luminance component my referencing the vertical blanking area. If you set up your modulator based on the difference between sync which is -40 IRE and the front and back porch which is 0 IRE and the black reference which is +7.5IRE you can determine what 100 IRE will be. Just set the gain so that the black video on the leading lines of the frame before active picture begins and you can reference the entire frame.Mess with those levels and you mess with the linearity of the modulator.That's for the analog portion. (the part that rises up and down on the scope) the 6 square wave pulses is to trigger a digital circuit on newer VCRs and DVD recorders, and that signal also disables time base correction on cheap TBC.The same signals are used on DVDs, plus DVD (and some cable operators) add another signal called "color stripe" which from what I understand, and I may be wrong on this, is modifying the burst phase on the horizontal lines. Basically adding an additional cycle or 2 or burst, but slightly out f phase. The idea is a TV will lock on, but a recorder will just record it, and because the color circuits in a VCR down convert the color to 629KHz for VHS, 688KHz for Beta and 729 for 8mm this slightly out of phase signal beats with the down converter carrier and causes a nasty color banding on playback.Enter HDMI, which is a digital signal, and can be either sent as clear data or fully encrypted, and decoded by the display device.HDMI causes a lot of compatibility issues between different generations of equipment.
+DAVID GREGORY KERR That's why newer VCRs and DVD recorders looked for other signatures of the macrovision signal. They need to be removed if you want to record on these devices.
Radio-Electronics December 1987 had a Macrovision remover project. To download this complete RE edition go to this public Library: archive.org/details/radio_electronics_1987-12 JP
+Chevy Chase I don't miss VCRs as far as time shifting goes, but I am finding that I am using them more these days than ever archiving video to digital for clients. Just got another 45 2 hour tapes to put on a hard drive last night.
+12voltvids for sure! Any plans to do videos on newer protections like HDCP or HDCP 2.2 on 4K? I more so just find them very interesting just like Macrovision was back in the day. Keep up the great work
+Chevy Chase I have shown a few HDMI to component and HDMI to composite devices. The HDMI to component allows recording of HD component signals from a variety of devices, but no plans to circumvent encrypted video because under the DMCA removing digital locks from content is illegal. As a content creator I am in full support of protecting content from unauthorized copying. The only reason I showed this unit in the first place was to give insight in ways to archive protected analog content, as many of these analog playback devices are wearing out, and people need a way to preserve their content.
ok then would you please answer my question please I use XDIMAX GREX-7.4 Grex Video Stabilizer , the only problem I have and I dont like and you have the same problem is the bottom of your created dvd 's picture its moving and kind of distorted .
What you are seeing at the bottom of the picture has nothing to do with copy protection. That is the head switching point. On VHS this is 6 lines before the vertical sync pulse that signals the end of the frame to trigger vertical retrace to start at the top of the picture. This is where the hand off from 1 video head that has reached the end of it's track, to the other video head on the opposite side of the drum is beginning it's track. Head switching is done 6 lines before the end of the track to ensure than there is no disturbance to the vertical sync pulse, called the "hammerhead" as if the vertical sync pulses were distorted, the picture would roll like crazy. On a tube TV you would never see this because all tube TVs had the vertical size set slightly larger then the screen size so as to hide this switching point outside of the picture area. If you play an analog tape on a TV that has a vertical hold control, and you adjust it slightly so the vertical sync bar is in the picture you will see it. If you look up my video where I demonstrated a Conrac professional monitor, I show the horizontal and vertical delay circuits that intentionally delay the scan so as to show the sync pulses and color burst area in the picture for engineering evaluation. This is only an artifact of consumer video gear. Professional gear was built to much higher tolerances. Professional 1" tape for example used a single head, and therefore did not require head switching in the active picture area. 2" quad did, and actually did it several times throughout the picture, but that format required an engineer to operate it, and the signals always were routed into a time base corrector to fix any time base errors before the signal hit the transmitter. Betacam hid their switching point in the vertical blanking (sync) area, however those playback decks were also operating with a time base corrector and the servos were locked to an external time base so the switching would occur during the time that the TBC was generating it's own sync. But all consumer analog formats, VHS, Beta, SVHS, 8MM Hi-8 and 3/4" all had the switching point in the active picture area. Now, digital 8 and mini DV also switched in the active picture area. Mini DV actually did it 5 times in each frame. Because it is digital you will never see it, but if 1 head clogs on a digital tape, you get 5 frozen bands of picture. The last output from the clogged head will be held on the screen until the head clears.
Hands down , this was the best explanation I've ever read about this .very helpful. thank you so much. We are a group of 6 friends trying to save classic movies Dubbed in Farsi before revolution 40/50 years ago . All dubbed audio tracks are saved and we already synchronized the audio tracks to more then 3000 of them to bluray or dvd . some of them don't have DVD and only available on VHS. online vhs rips are mostly divx so we rather transfer ourself . we using XDIMAX GREX-7.4 Grex Video Stabilizer , but we like to buy macroliminator , we now believe a very professional and knowledgeable person like you cant be wrong . can you help us find one ? thanks again
Speaking of head switching points, one of my vintage Beta machine's recordings have the head switching point visible even on CRT TVs. Is there any kind of adjustment to make it look like a thin line at the bottom of the screen?
Kinda late to the game as far as technology goes. The only application I can see for this is if you have an old chs of a movie never released to dvd and you want to convert it. The only other major reason to convert vhs to dvd is home videos which dont contain macrovision. That being said I always wondered about macrocrap, so I found this video very interesting!
OOP VHS with no DVD release are what I seek out a thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales. For example, most PBS and BBC documentaries from the 1980s have never been re-issued, so this technology still interests me. I would like to preserve closed captioning if possible. The XDiMax Grex claims it can preserve closed captioning while removing all forms of Macrovision and is currently available on Amazon. No clue how this device is compliant with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
@@12voltvids I tried copying a dvd to a vhs and it got dark/bright/dark/bright you get the idea and I couldn't do it. It was walle 2008 dvd back in October 2011.
@@austinthevhsvideogamelover5265 dvd uses macrovision. I am talking laserdisc which is a 12" disk the size of an LP and analog video. They have a beautiful picture and no macrovision.
@@12voltvids but certain dvd companies did not do it as much, like disney stopped using macrovision in 2014, universal in 2006/07, WB 2008 dvd of the dark knight was the newest one I know that uses it, paramount around 2008 the 2008 dvd of iron man is the oldest one I have to entirely lack it, etc.
I once modified a umatic tape recorder to more effectively "eat" the copy protection back before there were dvd recorders. Some playback setups with umatic were more or less immune to macrovision but the only really good monitor I had would show darkening at the top of the screen. Having no funds for a better monitor I did get perfect results by adding a photo interrupter on the umatic drum itself to "switch out" the VBI macrovision. In other words it put black right over just the macrovision area of the signal. It was made of an overhead projector transparency sheet formed into a loop that fit just inside the video head drum. Two black pieces of tape, placed in just the right location would interrupt a photo sensor. Of course it needed a schmitt trigger and an amp so the signal would trigger the vertical blanking "black insert" switch but it did work perfectly... until I realized the occasional color streaks meant the chroma was also being "copy protected"; and I just about passed a brick. However, 1/4 turn of a tuning slug on one of the video boards in the umatic locked the color right back in. I think it was a burst flag interval muting adjustment...
I've got one of those Macrovision boxes in my storage room. Bought it decades ago, and it worked good copying rental tapes.
It's the same on the PAL TV system. I once found a Macrovision removing device on a flea market, but I didn't get it. Probably a mistake...
+DrCassette Any device with a Time Base Corrector (TBC) will remove MacroVision, including Sony Handycams with an A/V input, many S-VHS VCRs, and most "video enhancers", such as the JVC JX-C7 Video Corrector.
That's good to know :)
+DrCassette Yes they have them too for PAL. The one I have will work on either.
+vwestlife Some yes, others no. For example my old AG1980 has a TBC in it, but if I play a tape on that I still can not record the signal.Full frame store TBC which digitizes only the video componets, and totally rebuilds the sync will work. Unfortunately most cheap units are line by line TBC, and that does nothing to stop it. Also VCRs made for consumers are prohibited from removing copy protecting signals, and these units like the one I showed are now illegal to manufacture or sell under the digital millennium copyright act which makes it illegal to manufacture or distribute devices to circumvent copy protection signals. So if you build one yourself, or find an old one at a flea market you are good, but don't expect to find these units new anymore.
I have some friends that know I can do various things with computers and audio/video, they asked me to put their VHS to DVD, I bought the Roxio VHS to DVD3, the initial install was a bit of a pain as it would go part way and then just quit, I swapped USB ports and then it installed just fine.
I have installed and uninstalled some other audio/video programs and every single time it messes up the Roxio so that I have to put the install disk back in and do the repair function, which I find a bit ominous that has a function that is appropriately named repair.
I got a scrubber via Ebay anyway it was 26.00 plus 6.00 for shipping it came today.
I am most definitely not at your level, but I know my way around building computers, stereo systems and running all the various RCA cables and what have you.
its the same in the military, penetration vs armor each one competing to outdo the other, so it is with Hollywood protecting their investment and those circumventing said protections.
I was kinda hoping for more of a MacGyver style workaround. The solutions here seem to be either 1. hope you can find a magic decoder box on E-bay (and hope it still works) or 2. try PVRs until you find one that doesn't implement Macrovision. Is there any way to bread-board the functionality of the decoder box using standard bench-top gear?
*Help Please*
I'm recording from my 8mm home video collection to PC. When I play the videos on my computer, it looks like there is some sort of copy protection messing up the video. The colors are all washed out.
Any thoughts as to why this is, and better yet, how to fix this?
I once made a Macrovision remover in the early 90's here in the UK and it worked first time, which is a first for me, anyway, although it did VHS to VHS recording, when DVD's came along it refused to work on those, I searched through issues of Radio Electronics which you mentioned but could only find a different one with more components from the December 1987 issue, which also won't work on the PAL system used in the UK, but here is the link anyway ; worldradiohistory.com/Radio_Electronics%20_Master_Page.htm
Yes, that's the Issue December 1987 page 49 because there is nothing from 1982 & 1983 which i checked on.
There are numerous dvd players/ recorders out there where you can simply input a code via the remote and it will disable macrovision protection. A liteon lvw5002 is a example of a machine that can. The liteon lvw5006 can do the same thing but requires a software update to do that is a bit awkward to do 👍
@12voltvids OK, it is 2023 and I live in France. My wife recently retired when they shutdown operations and she inherited a bunch of old, commercial VHS tapes. I have an LG MG66 VCR and a SCART to HDMI and then HDMI to USB video capture dongle. This setup works perfectly to get the video to my PC for some of these tapes and our own recorded tapes. However it does not work for most of the commercial tapes, I'm assuming it is MacroVision?
Can your offer some help to get something currently available, hardware (or magic) so I can recover these tapes for her? Thanks...RDK
For my sky HD & youview box I use a powered 2 way HDMI spliter which works very well and helps me to copy in HD and not have to use a DVD recorder.
That might be useful for people wanting to copy HD though and not VHS but my PVR Rocket HD can take a VCR or any other source to. For blu ray you can also use anydvdhd so you can copy just about anything.
Really enjoyed the video, would have liked to have gotten a better view of the pcb though.
I have a Magnavox DVD Recorder and would like to record protected programming off of HBO (through Verizon Fios) to DVD, but always get the notice that the programming is copyrighted and cannot be recorded. Which device would you recommend for me to get around that?
The device I show in this video works perfect for HBO and on demand content. I use it all the time for just that. Also a videonics mx1 video mixer will do the trick as well as it strips out macro vision.
Thanks for the info! I was thinking about buying either one of those items or possibly the XDIMAX GREX-7.4 Grex Video Stabilizer as well.
If you have an older video camera that has the pass-thru feature...you can connect the output from your cable box to the camera...then the output from the camera to your DVD recorder. You can also try using an EzCap (you can get these on Ebay and Amazon). Connect the Ezcap to the output of your cable box via RCA plug and then connect the USB plug from the Ezcap to your computer. Ezcap comes with capture software.
What if you have a vhs to dvd converter and no other player? If you hooked both the macroliminator's in and out s-v cords to both of converter's in and out s-v holes, would it allow you to convert a protected tape to dvd that you otherwise wouldn't be able to convert?
Does this Macrovision remover work for the really old VHS that had a rolling picture copy protection? I beleive it was called "stop copy" Old Warner Bros. movies would mention it and disney tapes mentioned it also. Modern TV's I find that I need to pause then hit play to stop the picture from rolling after the initial start.
Yes it will because it generates new sync.
I am sure you know it but in case on the small chance not, there are various software programs that strip the Macrovision from the DVDs as they are copied to hard drive or SSD. From there, it is game on in all things you might want to do with the material: 100% unprotected in all ways. "DeCSS" most are based on this or very similar. As for tape, I don't know as I never had the need or want. That's a cool device you built though. Awesome!
It also screws the hell out of other things besides the AGC - I'm surprised it doesn't screw up more. The only saving grace is it changes state in the VBI on the FIRST falling edge, and ignores the other 4. Not sure what they do to the colorburst - over-amp or invert it?
I still have a Copymate Deluxe CM-2 from back in the day. This was ideal for making copies of Macrovision protected tapes.
Is this also like the RXII box too that is a workaround for it?
I bought one of these a while back, very convenient for movies never released on dvd/blu ray preservation
+Horrifyingly Hillarious This one works with all flavours of Macrovision, including color stripe such as from satellite and cable boxes used to protect PPV.
Hello do you know how to use a professioanl tbc I got one from a tv station and it works but I dont think i got it hooked up quite right
A professional TBC is a different animal. Most are not full frame stores, however some are.Many are only a process a few lines at a time. They require facility sync from an external sync generator. That can be a stand alone black generator, or a TV camera. Master Sync Generators use a crystal controlled oscillator that is heated in an oven for frequency stability, and the entire TV station is references to it (Also called Genlock) The playback VTR and TBC are both referenced to this gunlock. This is required in an analog TV station, so that the color burst reference can be phase synced to the master genlock clock.There are also 2 different types of TBC for broadcast use. For high band direct color recorders, and for heterodyne recorders.Some TBCs such as some of the Ampex units had a switch for direct color or color under (heterodyne) color. VCRs use heterodyne color, where the color signal is converted down in frequency and recorded, and then converted back up to the proper frequency during playback, by contrast to direct color used on 1' and 2" formats, that records the color in the video signal as a composite signal. Then there is the betacam and M2 formats that use component color recording, and they need a TBC all of their own. Confused yet?
Hello the only thing I remember them telling me is it is full frame and does work with vhs units I do have some that can excepet an external tbc but I dont have cables to hook it up with.
Not yet! But you explain it so well. Did the M2 format ever catch on in North America?
I heard another way you can remove it is by using an RF modulator on the composite video output, then using a second recorder hooked to the RF modulator. The RF modulator re-transmits the signal but without the macro-vision signal
Yes, however the quality degradation would be significant.
i've tried to make back-ups from three different vhs tapes and none of them would back up onto dvd. i used the machine that you show in your video (most recent version) and wired it up as instructed, it's not rocket science. so, what gives? is this just a plot to sell these machines? I did, however, enjoy the explanation of what was going on, although I didn't understand most of it. do you have any suggestions?
Watch the fucking video. He couldn't have explained it any more clearly. It's not rocket science, so how come you ignored what was shown and discussed?
Does anyone have a copyright issue when you transfer MONO recording to a DVD. it gives me the same copyright image i see except for thing. the mono recording are actually tapes i made 20 years ago on TV.
Any way to modify a combo recorder in order to bypass the macrovision? Without buying separate hardware I mean, and without using a computer.
No it is buried into the circuitry.
would this method work for a toshiba vhs dvd combo recorder?
Not for making a recording from the VCR top the DVD recorder, but it will if the signal is external such as a seperate DVD player, VCR or cable box, run through the macro eliminator and then into the VCR or DVD recorder.
Analog content protection macrovision comes in several different "versions" the "original" just inserted pseudeo-sync pulses into the vertical blanking signal that trip up a Recording devices Automatic Gain control Circuits and is also presence detected by newer recorders locking out there recording ability "but" later revisions of macrovision "also" mess with the Colorburst signal " Macrovision creates a rapidly modulated colorburst signal. This confuses the chroma processing circuitry used in NTSC video recorders. The will usually result is a picture spoiled by horizontal stripes or other unwanted effects DVD players (And cable boxes playing protected content like pay per view) also apply this signal to there "Analog outputs" to try and prevent recording of content.
I have a video stabilizer macro 2000 and even though it helps to record a copy protected movie to vhs, it doesn't help if i want to record a copy protected vhs to dvd. The dvd recorder somehow still detects the copy protection. Are some of those "copy protection killers" weaker then others or what could be the problem?
Yes there are different levels of macrovision suppression. The one I built uses a full synch replacement. It uses an RCA synch generator for a camera that genlock to the incomming sync then the new synch is gated in over the existing vertical blanking interval and the first 21 lines of video. Many just clamp the max video level during the vertical blanking interval to reduce the amplitude of the white and black pulses so they do not mess with the AGC of a VCR but a dvd recorder can detect the signature because they are still there. The one I have completely replaced the sync.
@@12voltvids aha that's what i thought. Damn. Looks like i have to find a device so i can capture the video with my computer. Hope i can find one that also works on a mac.
@@12voltvids So if i already have that video stabilizer is it possible to replace some components or ics to make it work like the one you have or do i really need a different device or video grabber?
@@freund333 not possible as far as I know but what do I know about that unit.
I always thought it was a treat to rent movies and a VCR. Copying movies was a dumb idea to me when there was no point to watch the same one more than once every two or three months. Then they got even cheaper, but I also preferred the real artwork and quality. When DVD came out I found it strange how the brightness would change when connecting through a VCR without trying to record. I now know why.
I was so happy my dad was able to copy tapes late 80s/early 90s-- said one of those kids who was playing some all day every day xD
The mad scientist!!! My kind of guy yo! New subscriber here!
Great video! I have a few SIMA Copymasters and A/V "Enhancers" I found over the years flea marketing, stops Macrovision. Think these were available at Best Buy for a short while before the chain was forced to stop selling them because of this.
They became a banned item under the digital millennium copyright act.
The Sima Copymaster offered S-Video in and out as well as composite. My JVC S-VHS offers these INs and OUTs. I would like to know if these units remove the keying signal that prevent recording on a DVD recorder.
I've been trying to backup my vhs tapes to pc..I've been using clearclick vhs2dvd..when I copy copied vhs tapes there's no problem. But when trying to capture original vhs tapes the pc capturing software will freeze the picture..its not crashing , the preview screen will freeze. There's still audio though. Is this a type of macrovision copy protection?
+Terry Delport yes more than likely. The pulses are driving the capture card out of range. Some brands of capture card work others not.
U might have a slow computer
A 16x9 broadcast? Mine will work on the "Y", luminance, or "Grreen" component cable as long as it's a 480i broadcast (don't think it'd be timed for HD). Are you talking letterbox or full 1080P? I had something called a Video Stabilizer to help my electronics with the random extra falling edges (usually 4, switching from high to low in 10sec intervals), along with some color burst overdriving. It used a monostable, along with some gates. I've tried drawing a schematic many times I need MAT lab I have crappy writing.
Yes it will work on the lunanence signal as long as in 480i. I made a break out cable to loop it into an s-video cable which works great for recording protected content from say Netflix or other on demand service.
Enjoyed the video. Quick question, What version is your Hauppauge HD-PVR?
The original one. Runs under win7 only
I used to have an ATI TV Wonder TV card in my PC and that did not have any video copy protection but the ATI TV Wonder Pro did have the Copy Guard built in. A Digital Video Stabilizer for about $50 was quite useful when recording from VHS to re-archive to DVD. I'm using an ATI Theatre 650 now for the ATSC signals.
I have a hauppague 1600 for the STSC off air signals, and a Hauppague HDPVR to record HD component signals from my cable box, which is usually what I record from as ATSC there are only a few channels here, and those channels are al on cable anyway.
No Cable service out in remote areas. Using Windows with ATSC has a Region Lock. Win Install with CDN credentials can't see any TV. Too far from CDN Broadcats. Re-Install Win with US credentials and get the American broadcasts. Called MS and I swear that they are certified stupid.
Yup I found that out too. Couldn't get any Canadian stations either, just analog because my card was made before Canada switched over. The solution was to use a US zip code
i had a similar product. it was called DVD Xpress. It came out in like 2000. it let me copy ANY macrovision-protected media. I still have it, but i have moved on from WindowsXP, and use a later version of Windows, which the device would not work with. I use a device called Video Clarifier VC-3 to copy macrovision protected content.
Great video, and I have acquired a used HD PVR to capture some old tapes, but may I ask, how are you connecting the VCR, with it's old coaxial cable output, to the HD PVR, with its component video inputs? I have tried connecting the VCR to my TV, and the TV to the HD PVR, but the component ports are input only and the HD PVR is not getting a signal.
I connect to the AV inputs on the front for composite or S video input. The component inputs are connected to the HD component outputs on my cable TV box so I can record TV shows in HD.
12voltvids
Thanks. I guess I need a different VCR. My old VCR, while it works fine, does not have the three RCA cable ports on the front that some do, and which I could connect up to the HD PVR, or an S video port -- just coaxial cable connectors and the audio cable ports in the back.
very well explained !!
How could I connect my Hauppauge to copy from my streaming device? It's only HDMI Out from streaming device.
Couldn't tell you as my streaming devices have component output and my hauppague has component input
@@12voltvids What Streaming device are you using?
@@franklinsterlen6817 it's a Cisco IPTV box.
@@12voltvids Does it let you download Apps such as Netflix and Sling TV?
@@franklinsterlen6817
I have only Netflix.
Does it effect the actual video/audio signal? Like a second generation tape or anything?
No. The one I have does nothing to the video. It is a genlock device. Locks to the sync of the macrovision video and generates new sync. Then the new sync is gated over the original sync and the first 20 or so lines of video to eliminate the macrovision signal. It also removes close caption data as that lives on line 17
@@12voltvids Doesn't CC data live on line 21?
@@KylesDigitalLab
I totally forget what line, could be, 17 might have been where the VIR. There were many test signals in there. Color bars, multiburst, chroma phase reference. Closed captions, text telemetry. All kinds of stuff between line 11 and 21. Been so long since I actually looked at an ntsc waveform.
I'm interested to know if there is similar technology to remove Cinavia, though I think this would need to be done digitally?
+Mitchell McCreath This video was not about circumventing copy protection on digital media. It was about removing analog copy protection from old video tapes, to demonstrate the steps to backup old obsolete VHS video tapes. There are many tapes out there that were never released on DVD that people would like to archive, and they can't due to Macrovision.
+12voltvids Agreed. I have removed Macrovision a few times from old video tapes that I wanted to archive...
Is your hdpvr model 1212?
What about when I connect the VHS player to computer and use screen grabbing tool to record the movie? I mean, the computer only plays it on the screen. Recording device is not taking direct signal from the VHS machine, but instead takes the screen signal and records it in a video. Pretty simple. VHS tape doesn't recognise it's being captured and doesn't activate anti-copy protection :)
You can also record protected signal on a BT878 based capture device.
SAA713x too.
Interesting video. I have a RCA-HDMI converter from Amazon that is not affected by macrovision. Does it just ignore the signal?
Yes it probably does because an RCA to HDMI adapter is generally meaning you're trying to play analog sources onto a television that only has HDMI inputs. So you're not actually trying to copy anything. Macgravation was there to prevent recording on to analog devices such as VCRs and DVD recorders which had chips embedded to detect the signal and lock out the recording circuits.
@@12voltvids I tried this RCA to HDMI option. Now I get stable video but only in black and white...RDK
This is good if you have separate units. I have a single unit that dubs vcr - dvd. Hos can I do this on my unit? I can't afford to buy more equipment.
No will not work on combo units. You will need a separate VCR.
I just bought a Digital Video Stabilizer, Brand New, And It Only Recorded One Movie, And Then I Tried To Record Another One From DVD - DVD and WON'T LET ME, I CONNECTED EVERYTHING PROPERLY, BUT IT WONT LET ME DO IT, BTW, THE FIRST MOVIE I COPIED WAS COPYRIGHT PROTECTED, AND IT RECORDED IT ANYWAY, DO YOU KNOW THE REASON WHY IT WONT LET ME RECORD OTHER DVD COPY PROTECTED MOVIES??
Most of those commercial ones do not remove 100% of the macrovision signal. The first disk may not have had the full macrovision turned on. Or it just said copy protected and it was not.
12voltvids Do You know Which Stabilizer Removes ALL COPYRIGHTED DVDS, is it one available out there that does the complete job?
12voltvids i know for a fact the first dvd concert video i recorded has copyright protection, because i tried to record it before without pluging it to the stabilizer, to find out if it was protected, and IT IS, which means the stabilizer only kills macrovision on some dvds, Not in all of them.
@@AlexDeChristian6323 there are different levels of macrovision protection and a different license (more expensive ) for higher levels. There are actually 3 layers of protection. Analog which is just the AGC trigger, digital which puts a watermark into the keying pulse in the last lines of the frame and color stripe which messes with the burst level. Most cheap stabilizers will defeat the analog macrovision that was used on VHS and some dvds. Digital water marking is much more difficult to remove. You have to totally strip the sync and rebuild it. My scrubber works with analog and digital. It does not work with color stripe which results in thin colored lines in the copy. For that I have to use a time base corrector in locked frame mode. It completely rebuilds each frame. All the sync and the color burst. A videonics mx1 will do that.
12voltvids Thank You So Much FYI Blessings.
the audio capture disc looks very good
Thanks for the valuable info.
UK Ferguson VCR’s were never bothered by Macrovision!
If you copy in 1987 a VHS => Video2000 the Macrovision Copyprotection don't work. The Reason is that the Video2000 don't measure the Black level after the Vertical Impulses. It measure the Black level and the Maximum Luminance Level in each Line so this will be Protect the System against the Macrovision. The VHS Video Input Chip measure the Luminance and the Blacklevel everytime after the Vertikal Sync. If you make a copy from VHS => VHS the Cheapest Way was to unsolder (disconect) the AGC Pin Connection on the Videoinput Chipset. So you copy the Macrovision also on the new Tape - and there is no Problem about the Video Gain because the Videosignal is coming from a VHS Tape and not from the Tuner for that the AGC is build in the Videomachine. The FM Dynamic must be in this VHS Range that the Videotape is not clipping. FM Signal on the Tape will not clip or over speak and no Dropout can occur. I'm asking me why the Video2000 System never came out in the US or in Asia that was a Super System - maybe they shall make a PCM Audio or a Sound in Sync - the Audio Tone was bad like max 10kHz then Stereo but no HiFi Audio. But Grundig have one Videorecorder in development the Video V200 with a PCM Audio Stereo.
VCR's and DVD/HDD Recorders are excellent.
Excellent 😀 Thank You
Do they still have these macro scrubbers
They are illegal to manufacture and sell. You can use a time base corrector such as the one in the videonics mx1 mixer.
I have an Ion video to USB capture device and it seems to ignore macrovision. I usually have it hooked to my Sony PS2 game console to record gaming footage and I also play my DVDs in it. I had the capture program running and a movie playing and I figured id test it. Well I recorded some video and it looked fine. Some of my DVDs don't have macrovision like my Starship Troopers DVD b/c I had the same game system hooked to a 19 inch TV/VCR combo and I recorded a few minutes of the movie onto the tape and played it back and it was perfect. No distortion.
+coondogtheman1234 Some DVDs didn't use it because it costs money to license macrovision, and if a studio doesn't think that copying will be a problem they just don't do it. Others do. Usually there is a logo, 2 disks a black and grey disk side by side in a red circle with a slash through it and the words copy protected. Some tape it a step farther and say this copy protected disk may only be played on licensed devices.
12voltvids
All mine say region 1 and they play in all my DVD playing devices. I usually use VLC to play movies on my PC but mostly I use my PS2 b/c It looks really good on my flat panel (non HD TV. A good friend of mine gave me this TV and it's been thru three power supplies. I'm not sure why, the TV works fine but the original power supply died (bad capacitors) a new one my friend bought online didn't work. (piece of crap) I made one from an XBOX 360 console and that died after maybe 5 years so I made another from an old PC power supply and it's still working.I usually keep it off and unplugged unless I'm using it b/c it does have a fan and it's loud. If that dies I have other computers kicking around that I can modify the power supply from.
Been doing this for years by running through a pro TBC which also means I can adjust other video parameters as well. (Not all TBS,s will do it though)
What you have us a proc amp with tbc. A tbc does not have controls to adjust. It simply reads the video into memory then reads it out again locked to a fixed time base. A tbc that works on a full frame us called a frame store tbc. Most tbc built into VCRs are 3 line tbc as they only store 3 lines. One being read into memory one stored and the oldest being read our as the next is stored.
How can I get one of those Macrovision scrubbers?
Will be tough to find one these days. You are about 40 years too late!
@@12voltvids Lol yeah but would have thought that now days with the technology and vcrs becoming hard to come by a device like that would be as common as a rf modular or the capture devices you can use to connect a vcr to a computer. so people could back up there vhs collections.
@@scottriffe222 these devices were made illegal to manufacture cell or even possess in the United States. Company scrambled to make newer models that would reduce the amplitude of the macrovision signal but not totally eliminated and that was because all new VCRs and DVD recorders had a chip in them to detect the watermark and shut down the recording so in order to sell them because the initial excuse for selling them in the first place was because some televisions would not play nice with the extreme overshoot in the vertical blanking and it would cause them to roll even if you were just trying to play a macrovision tape. The macroscrubber I have, that I built uses a TV camera signal generator IC Gen locks to the incoming video signal generates new horizontal and vertical sink pulses which is then keyed on vertical blanking the blank lines 9 through 21 and replace it with new sync. They were deemed as devices designed to circumvent copy protection and we're DMD legal by the US supreme Court if I remember correctly. Manufacturers some being sold under the brand name Curtis responded by producing new units which just clipped the white overshoot in the luminance signal to approximately 40 ire. This stopped the distortions on television and it stopped the distortions if someone was looping a macrovision encoded signal through a VCR for example it would stop the bright dark bright dark pulsations but it still allowed enough of the signature to get through to prevent VCRs and DVD recorders that had the watermark detection chip installed from going into record which was basically every VCR made after about 1991. If you look online you will probably find someone selling some of these old devices but keep in mind the majority will not provide a 100% elimination of the macrovision signal. The only ones that will are ones based on the chipset that was used in the one that I built. I don't even remember which publication it was from might have been radio electronics, the plans were given to me by somebody else that had built one so I built one too. He had made several boards that was selling us the boards and a bag of parts to put together. I think at the time I paid about a hundred bucks for the parts. I looked up the main chip which is an RCA CD22402E which was a sync chip for tv camera and that chip at the time was selling for 68.00. it is long obsolete. The one I have was a digital tech Corp macroeliminator. That's the design you want it you can find it.
I keep mine connected between the cable box and my DVD recorder so I can make hard copies on DVD of anything I want to keep including off Netflix and on demand
Have you ever been requested to transfer a Copy Protected VHS onto DVD by people that come to you for help.
what capture device are using. it looks good.
+laughing nutter It was being recorded on a Toshiba DR430 stand alone DVD recorder.It will record on DVD-R +R -RW and +RWThese units have all but disappeared from the market now, but they provided the best quality DVD transfer because they all had built in TBCs and hardware encoders.
Important because some vhs films are out of print. Eg maxheadroom.
Yes I have "archived" many VHS for collectors that can not find them on DVD anywhere.
MY DVD recorder refuses to record the Video. It happily goes into record whack I a TBC in the way of the video signal. Homade from a Electronic Australia in the mid 80s.
Great explanation mate. (Y)
Someone told me that if you had an SVHS deck that you could copy VHS tapes that had macrovision and it would remove the macrovision signal and allow you to record. Is that true?
Not a super VHS but a betamax would record perfectly. Sony never implemented image quality limiting copy protection. Their machines ignored it.
Where do you get one of these?
I built this about 36 years ago from a circuit published in an electronics magazine. I have no idea where you could get the same design I have as this one was not commercially available. There were other similar units that were available.
My old beta bypassed that macro deal do to the movie would flash on the TV with out it.
i found that if i copy the original onto another tape i can put the new copy onto a dvd
Have you made a device yourself that removes copy protection?
Back in 1981 i built one.
Can you give a diagram of your device that removes copy protection ?
@@user-dt8iz6sr3o
Sorry don't have one and even if i did the tv sync generator for tv camera (RCA) is not made any more and was in short supply when i built this back in 1981
Sorry to ask. I need to make resevr copies of videotapes . But the video capture board sees copy protection . I was looking for an adapter on the Internet , but this thing is either expensive or out of stock . Dead end.
@@user-dt8iz6sr3o that's the problem with copy protection. A videonics mx1 mixer will remove macrovision as will a good frame store TBC.
Thank You!!!
Can I buy one of these macrovision eliminators from you? I used to have one but lost it in a move and need one to back up all my Disney VHS tapes I spent so much money on.
I don't have one for sale. The one I have I built back in 1982. It was published in a magazine called Radio Electronics. The TV Sync generator for TV camera is long obsolete now. If you could find that part it would be relatively easy to make one, The design I have is one of the few that removes 100% of the macrovision signal. The ones sold under names such as Curtis leave a little bit of it behind, enough to trigger the anti copy circuit on digital devices. A time base corrector will also do the trick, such as the Videonics MX1 mixer.
The Avt 8710 removes macrovision.
All time base correctors will remove macrovision, however they will also slightly soften your picture. The device I have only generates the distorted sync. It locks on to incoming sync, and then is gated in only from the start of vertical sync for the first 20 lines or so then gated out allowing the original unaltered video signal through. A TBC digitizes the signal, stores it, and then reads it out. That process of A-D D-A rolls off some of the high frequencies. The Videonics MX1 switcher, which meets FCC broadcast standards causes slight degradation of the picture. A source from say a DVD player or cable box does not have time base errors as they are digitally generated in the device, so converting to digital and then back to analog causes a noticeable drop in quality. The device I show here does not. That said, you can't buy this device easily, as it was banned, and is illegal to manufacture, import or sell. The device was sold in the early 80's, and the circuit was published in Radio Electronics as that is where I got the plans, and ordered the parts kit from North County radio way back in 1982. I am sure there are units floating around Ebay and stuff, as I know lots of people that like me bought the parts kit for 50.00.
Will a "datavideo VP-299" device remove macrovision? (= black picture) - Thank you!!
@@12voltvids It was published on December 1987 issue page 49 I have the PDF on that issue.
You are very Good
i did not turn off the adds which you people post may be by mistake i must pressed the wrong button please continue your adds thanks..bye krishna
Can't you remove the chip from the recorder?
Sure then the recorder would not record, or play. It is buried in the main processor.
@@12voltvids Ok, well I thought the chip might of been after the tuner but before the processor as a stand alone. I guess they knew people would remove it so they integrated it into the processor? Thanks
The first DVD recorders I bought in 2005 had no copy protection. One was made by Cyberhome I believe.
Do you know the exact model number?
@@Anthonybchannel No I don't. I returned them or threw them away.
You can do 1080p on VHS??
Where did you get that idea ?
@@12voltvids VCR says 1080p on it
@@papahuge
That is the DVD recorder. It has hdmi out and it up converts the output to 1080. The video it records is still 480i like all analog video
You can upscale 1p to 1080p
do you sell these?
The ONLY one he built himself and still owns? Why don't you watch the video, then you wouldn't post dumb questions.
of course i have a stablizer which i put between the vcr's when i make the new copy of a movie
wow. Where did all of the comments go??? did someone say something to get them erased?? as always that's for posting your videos...Have you made a video about region codes on dvds/vhs ?? I have a couple of dvd region 2 and have my dvd player that will play them...
+Anthony Kurtzweil
Comment show on my end.
everytime I find a VC-1 or VC-2 at the thrift stores, I pick them up for about 2-3$ each. Video Clarifier.. That works too.
09:24 anyone know what's behind the black spot? Top secret project?
No, just a phone number for a client
@@12voltvids
Trudeau perhaps? 😂 Isn't it late where you are?
@@NunYa953 No just a client for a video project and there was a credit card lying on top of my dvd player. It was expired but didn't want anyone seeing the number. It was easier to just put a big black square on the screen.
@@12voltvids
Is there a simple way to dial in tape path alignment (I think is what it would be called) without a scope? I'm working on a Magnavox ZV427MG9. Bought it from eBay with the usual "eats tape" disclaimer. Cleaned the mode switch, heads, checked belts etc. Then when put a tape in the audio was clear but picture was "rolling" and then TV says "no signal" then would come back all jumbled up. My guess is the person I bought it from adjusted the little potentiometer and the alignment knobs on the VCR tape path pins. I don't have a scope. I've become pretty proficient at cleaning up the switch and doing a basic service but this one has me puzzled.
@@NunYa953
It is possible to get close without a scope. Close enough to play a tape. Look at the noise in the pix. The top part of the picture is the left guide and the bottom the right. Easiest on a crt TV. I'll do a video where I will mess up the alignment and do it without a scope.
Plot twist: 6:41 This box could also make the movie easier to understand in terms of the content.
With exception to preserving your old purchases, why would you want to copy from vhs to dvd when the quality is poorer
For any one wanting to shout out what about home movies?
A. They wont have macrovision Copy protection naturally
There were many titles, concerts, kids videos ect that were released on VHS and never released on DVD. Also not everyone is willing to spend more miney to buy the DVD version of a tape they already bought, but they will record it onto DVD if they were able to. Macrovision puts a stop to that.
How to record Disney VHS to DVD? I have magnavox combo. Thanks
You need a macrovision stripper like the one I have or a time base corrector like the videonics mx1 mixer.
Also, I can't use a computer. My computer does not burn discs.
Solution: Buy a new computer that works.
Did you work that out over the past 3 years?
My question was purely academic. I am NOT interested in actually trying to accomplish this. As you may know, the technology is similar as to what is being accomplished in Macrovision. I was hoping for more of a discussion on how to isolate the signals and how they are processed by the hardware, as you have done here with Macrovision. By the way, you are circumventing copy protection when you are doing what you're doing with Macrovision whether or not you're trying to copy it to another media to back it up or not.
+Scott K Absolutely, breaking the copy protection signals may be illegal in your country regardless of the reason. However under the copyright act there are also provisions for fair use, and archiving a copy of works that you own, would in most jurisdictions classify as fair use if it met this criteria, that being transferring from as obsolete medium.It is not like they are going to kick down your door. Now on the other hand, if you copied that tape or disk, and placed it on the internet, that would be an entirely different matter. Fortunately for us, many artists understand that they may have rare works that show up from time to time showcasing their work, and in many of these cases the owners allow their work to be uploaded to youtube and run their own set of commercials. In this case copyright works. It allows us to see some fine works of art that we may never be able to see as it may have been a performance in another country that was never available in ours, and the rights holder can market their material to a global community.Even I have posted some rare performances I have on tape, and youtube has allowed them to stay, but the copyright holder runs ads on it, which is fine by me.Anyway back to the technology side. Macrovision is purely analog, and as I showed, it is just a series of precisely timed pulses that shoot way up into the extreme white area, and down into black below the pedistil reference.What this goes is confuse the AGC in an analog video processing circuit which causes the circuits to constantly try to adjust gain. The modulator sets the frequency deviation for the FM carrier for the luminance component my referencing the vertical blanking area. If you set up your modulator based on the difference between sync which is -40 IRE and the front and back porch which is 0 IRE and the black reference which is +7.5IRE you can determine what 100 IRE will be. Just set the gain so that the black video on the leading lines of the frame before active picture begins and you can reference the entire frame.Mess with those levels and you mess with the linearity of the modulator.That's for the analog portion. (the part that rises up and down on the scope) the 6 square wave pulses is to trigger a digital circuit on newer VCRs and DVD recorders, and that signal also disables time base correction on cheap TBC.The same signals are used on DVDs, plus DVD (and some cable operators) add another signal called "color stripe" which from what I understand, and I may be wrong on this, is modifying the burst phase on the horizontal lines. Basically adding an additional cycle or 2 or burst, but slightly out f phase. The idea is a TV will lock on, but a recorder will just record it, and because the color circuits in a VCR down convert the color to 629KHz for VHS, 688KHz for Beta and 729 for 8mm this slightly out of phase signal beats with the down converter carrier and causes a nasty color banding on playback.Enter HDMI, which is a digital signal, and can be either sent as clear data or fully encrypted, and decoded by the display device.HDMI causes a lot of compatibility issues between different generations of equipment.
Sima go dvd will do a good job I have 4 of them
I guess you could turn off the AGC.
+DAVID GREGORY KERR That's why newer VCRs and DVD recorders looked for other signatures of the macrovision signal. They need to be removed if you want to record on these devices.
Radio-Electronics December 1987 had a Macrovision remover project. To download this complete RE edition go to this public Library:
archive.org/details/radio_electronics_1987-12
JP
oh VCR how I don't miss you at all, but this is still really cool to see videos like this!
+Chevy Chase I don't miss VCRs as far as time shifting goes, but I am finding that I am using them more these days than ever archiving video to digital for clients. Just got another 45 2 hour tapes to put on a hard drive last night.
+12voltvids for sure! Any plans to do videos on newer protections like HDCP or HDCP 2.2 on 4K? I more so just find them very interesting just like Macrovision was back in the day. Keep up the great work
+Chevy Chase I have shown a few HDMI to component and HDMI to composite devices. The HDMI to component allows recording of HD component signals from a variety of devices, but no plans to circumvent encrypted video because under the DMCA removing digital locks from content is illegal. As a content creator I am in full support of protecting content from unauthorized copying. The only reason I showed this unit in the first place was to give insight in ways to archive protected analog content, as many of these analog playback devices are wearing out, and people need a way to preserve their content.
why did you delete my comment ? bottom of your final dvd has problem and you instead of answering it , you just deleted it . shame on you
I didn't delete it, it was likely trapped by the spam filter. I don't delete any comments unless there is profanity in it.
ok then would you please answer my question please I use XDIMAX GREX-7.4 Grex Video Stabilizer , the only problem I have and I dont like and you have the same problem is the bottom of your created dvd 's picture its moving and kind of distorted .
What you are seeing at the bottom of the picture has nothing to do with copy protection. That is the head switching point. On VHS this is 6 lines before the vertical sync pulse that signals the end of the frame to trigger vertical retrace to start at the top of the picture. This is where the hand off from 1 video head that has reached the end of it's track, to the other video head on the opposite side of the drum is beginning it's track. Head switching is done 6 lines before the end of the track to ensure than there is no disturbance to the vertical sync pulse, called the "hammerhead" as if the vertical sync pulses were distorted, the picture would roll like crazy. On a tube TV you would never see this because all tube TVs had the vertical size set slightly larger then the screen size so as to hide this switching point outside of the picture area. If you play an analog tape on a TV that has a vertical hold control, and you adjust it slightly so the vertical sync bar is in the picture you will see it.
If you look up my video where I demonstrated a Conrac professional monitor, I show the horizontal and vertical delay circuits that intentionally delay the scan so as to show the sync pulses and color burst area in the picture for engineering evaluation.
This is only an artifact of consumer video gear. Professional gear was built to much higher tolerances. Professional 1" tape for example used a single head, and therefore did not require head switching in the active picture area. 2" quad did, and actually did it several times throughout the picture, but that format required an engineer to operate it, and the signals always were routed into a time base corrector to fix any time base errors before the signal hit the transmitter.
Betacam hid their switching point in the vertical blanking (sync) area, however those playback decks were also operating with a time base corrector and the servos were locked to an external time base so the switching would occur during the time that the TBC was generating it's own sync. But all consumer analog formats, VHS, Beta, SVHS, 8MM Hi-8 and 3/4" all had the switching point in the active picture area.
Now, digital 8 and mini DV also switched in the active picture area. Mini DV actually did it 5 times in each frame. Because it is digital you will never see it, but if 1 head clogs on a digital tape, you get 5 frozen bands of picture. The last output from the clogged head will be held on the screen until the head clears.
Hands down , this was the best explanation I've ever read about this .very helpful. thank you so much.
We are a group of 6 friends trying to save classic movies Dubbed in Farsi before revolution 40/50 years ago . All dubbed audio tracks are saved and we already synchronized the audio tracks to more then 3000 of them to bluray or dvd . some of them don't have DVD and only available on VHS. online vhs rips are mostly divx so we rather transfer ourself .
we using XDIMAX GREX-7.4 Grex Video Stabilizer , but we like to buy macroliminator , we now believe a very professional and knowledgeable person like you cant be wrong . can you help us find one ? thanks again
Speaking of head switching points, one of my vintage Beta machine's recordings have the head switching point visible even on CRT TVs. Is there any kind of adjustment to make it look like a thin line at the bottom of the screen?
Kinda late to the game as far as technology goes. The only application I can see for this is if you have an old chs of a movie never released to dvd and you want to convert it. The only other major reason to convert vhs to dvd is home videos which dont contain macrovision. That being said I always wondered about macrocrap, so I found this video very interesting!
OOP VHS with no DVD release are what I seek out a thrift stores, flea markets, and garage sales. For example, most PBS and BBC documentaries from the 1980s have never been re-issued, so this technology still interests me. I would like to preserve closed captioning if possible. The XDiMax Grex claims it can preserve closed captioning while removing all forms of Macrovision and is currently available on Amazon. No clue how this device is compliant with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Warner Bros did macrovision the least.
Laserdisc had no macrovision it was great.
@@12voltvids I tried copying a dvd to a vhs and it got dark/bright/dark/bright you get the idea and I couldn't do it. It was walle 2008 dvd back in October 2011.
@@austinthevhsvideogamelover5265 dvd uses macrovision. I am talking laserdisc which is a 12" disk the size of an LP and analog video. They have a beautiful picture and no macrovision.
@@12voltvids but certain dvd companies did not do it as much, like disney stopped using macrovision in 2014, universal in 2006/07, WB 2008 dvd of the dark knight was the newest one I know that uses it, paramount around 2008 the 2008 dvd of iron man is the oldest one I have to entirely lack it, etc.
But I never owned any laser discs before.
ဣ၁စ
Composite Video, how quaint.
Idiotic comment, how quaint.