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  1. For curiosity's sake, I just attempted to capture a short section of a live HBO television-stream from the RCA/composite-out on my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300HD DVR to my USB video capture device.

    The resulting AVI file is distorted with regards to color:





    I'm curious as to what sort of copy-protection this is, and if there is a way to circumvent it (purely for personal use, of course!).

    Any thoughts?
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    Dvr's use proprietary copy protection. And, since a dvr is a closed system device unlike a computer, it's pretty easy for the manufacturers to keep the protection secure.

    So basically your only option with protected dvr video would be screen capture.
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  3. DVR's can't use proprietary copy protection on the analog composite output. Nothing would be able to display the video, or recording devices would ignore it. They are using Macrovision or CGMS-A and the capture device is responding to it.
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  4. Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    They are using Macrovision or CGMS-A and the capture device is responding to it.
    I see. Is there any way around this, other than bypassing the direct video-out altogether and just doing some sort of telesync-type arrangement with a camcorder on a tripod synced to direct audio-out?
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  5. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    TBCs will strip out, regenerate and replace the sync signal, and in doing so will also be getting rid of most forms of MV.

    Scott
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    Is there any way around this? Maybe. But it will cost you a lot of money to try.

    First of all, you are using a "USB video capture device". Which one?

    Second, why are you using USB? Is this being done on a laptop? Hauppauge makes some nice capture devices such as their excellent Colossus card that I'm sure could handle your video fine. They also have some USB based devices called "HD PVR" that would likely be able to handle this capture. But it will cost you well over $100 to try and until we try (I know absolutely nothing about your Scientific Atlanta box) I suppose there is always some chance that you'll still have problems. The Hauppauge devices can record from component video. Perhaps you are using composite. Or perhaps your capture device is just a cheap piece of junk. I think that Hauppauge devices ignore CGMS-A but you can search online to confirm that.

    HBO always sets a CGMS-A flag on its recordings to deny copying. Your suggestions around it seem to be less than ideal, but if you are stuck with whatever capture device you bought and don't want to buy something better, your only other solution is to roll the dice and look for the video on the Bit Torrent servers and hope that HBO doesn't come after you for downloading it.
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  7. Originally Posted by TrackingError View Post
    Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    They are using Macrovision or CGMS-A and the capture device is responding to it.
    I see. Is there any way around this...?
    Several. Get a capture device that ignores Macrovision and CGMS-A. Video "stabilizers" can get rid of some forms of Macrovision. A full frame TBC will get rid of them -- except those that are designed to see the signals and shut themselves down.
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  8. Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    First of all, you are using a "USB video capture device". Which one?
    A Geniatech iGrabber; I'm capturing through Stoik Capturer to uncompressed AVI or Lagarith, depending on my mood.

    Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    Second, why are you using USB? Is this being done on a laptop?
    Yes - I'm using my father's Windows 7 laptop for capturing purposes until I can get my capture device to communicate with my laptop, which is running a derivative of Debian. Sadly, Geniatech has not made it easy to capture under Linux-based systems using their products.

    I do have an HP desktop box into which a friend stuck a RCA video-input board, but I don't have Linux drivers for the board yet so it's unusable for the moment.

    Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    Hauppauge makes some nice capture devices such as their excellent Colossus card that I'm sure could handle your video fine. They also have some USB based devices called "HD PVR" that would likely be able to handle this capture. But it will cost you well over $100 to try and until we try (I know absolutely nothing about your Scientific Atlanta box) I suppose there is always some chance that you'll still have problems.
    I'm very aware of the Hauppage products - I spend a lot of time working with analog videotape in my off-time, as I love creating short lo-fi video art pieces.

    I'm sure I can find a Hauppage capture card of some sort on eBay - I looked a few weeks ago and there were several available for $22-ish. Short of that, I have a friend who may be able to chip in a bit of cash in exchange for my helping to transfer some of his old Hi8 and VHS tapes.

    Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    The Hauppauge devices can record from component video. Perhaps you are using composite. Or perhaps your capture device is just a cheap piece of junk.
    That's always possible. It was only $30ish. I realize that it is not the best solution - I only purchased it to use as a quick-and-dirty solution for transferring some tapes until I can get something better.

    Originally Posted by jman98 View Post
    I think that Hauppauge devices ignore CGMS-A but you can search online to confirm that.

    HBO always sets a CGMS-A flag on its recordings to deny copying. Your suggestions around it seem to be less than ideal, but if you are stuck with whatever capture device you bought and don't want to buy something better, your only other solution is to roll the dice and look for the video on the Bit Torrent servers and hope that HBO doesn't come after you for downloading it.
    Thanks for the tips! BitTorrent is always an option, but I did manage to use a Hi8 camcorder + the DVR's audio line-out to create a simple telesync-type recording of the short section that I wanted
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