Understanding HDCP and video capture

[Dave189]

Another newbie here with what is probably a dumb question for the experts.
I have visited this forum may times looking for information on the best way to transfer home video from VHS tape to DVD or to PC then DVD. I settled on buying a VHS-DVD Combo. It looks as if combos are going the of the dinosaurs, very hard to find any good used ones and most all of the new ones have very poor reviews from the users

Anyway back to the question, the unit I purchased is a Toshiba DVR620 mainly because of the 1080 up and HDMI out. My thoughts were if I am going to spend the time to transfer hours of VHS tape I want the best looking video I can get and with 1080 out I could then connect to the HDMI in of my Hauppauge Colossus for further editing and burn to Blue ray disc until a little thing called HDCP put a stop to my video signal.
Will I have this problem with all DVD players that have HDMI 1080 out or just
this player ? I can play back the recorded DVD on the Toshiba DVR and record to the Colossus using component video jacks but now I have lost the 1080 upscaling.
From what I have learned about HDCP it is use to stop copyrighted material from being re-recorded, so why is my personal DVD blocked ?

FYI on the Toshiba DVR620, it does a very nice job of dubbing from VHS to DVD, easy to use and the DVDs played back on my Sony NSZ GT1 to 42 Samsung never looked this good.

[edDV]

Most players will only activate HDCP if the disc has copy protection and then only for upscaled output.

I suggest you are not getting highest quality by recording the upscaled output to Colosus. Instead rip the DVD and edit at 720x480 resolution for example in Video Redo (lossless editing). Play that file in an upscaling player to the TV. This way you get no re-encode loss.

[jman98]

From what I have learned about HDCP it is use to stop copyrighted material from being re-recorded, so why is my personal DVD blocked ?

To please their Satanic lords in Hollywood, many manufacturers make recording devices that are overly sensitive. Sometimes they block the recording of things they shouldn't block at all. We've had reports of DVD/VCR combo units doing that very thing when trying to dub from VHS to DVD. *You may not ever face that problem, but others have. In fact it happens so much that I personally do not recommend combo units just for that reason. If you end up with that problem you'll wish you'd bought some other brand, but it looks like you may be lucky. Be glad that the only problem you have is being unable to record your personal DVD.

[jbloggs]

I'm also looking at capturing/converting my VHS to digital format and looking for the highest quality, but in my case some of my VHS are in PAL format which throws a wrench in the possible solutions. (My thread about it here -> LINK)

But in your case, once you have your VHS video on DVD then can you not just use something like DVDDecryptor to rip the DVD on the computer and then go from there?

[pandy]

but now I have lost the 1080 upscaling

there is no loss - 1080 upscaling can be performed probably better in PC than in Your DVD.

follow jbloggs advice

[Dave189]

I’m not sure I really got an answer to my main question. Will DVDs created by the Toshiba DVR620 play back on any other brand of DVD player connected from HDMI out to my Colossus HDMI in or will all be blocked due to HDCP ?

[edDV]

I’m not sure I really got an answer to my main question. Will DVDs created by the Toshiba DVR620 play back on any other brand of DVD player connected from HDMI out to my Colossus HDMI in or will all be blocked due to HDCP ?

Depends on how the player implements HDCP. They are suppose to follow the HDCP metadata on the disc but some just flag all upscaled video.

You do understand HDMI capture is not the best quality? Better to rip the DVD.

[pandy]

I’m not sure I really got an answer to my main question. Will DVDs created by the Toshiba DVR620 play back on any other brand of DVD player connected from HDMI out to my Colossus HDMI in or will all be blocked due to HDCP ?

HDCP is for protection of HD content - upscaled SD is not an HD - if Your DVD player protect HDMI with HDCP, contact vendor support and request firmware without HDCP.