Why disable Macrovision?

[wayneklay]

I have a Sungale 8208 that allows me to turn Macrovision off as one of its features, but when I do, the dvd becomes unwatchable much less unrecordable. Am I missing something here? Why would anyone use this feature when this is the result? Would someone please enlighten me? Thank you.

[Craig Tucker]

Something is not quite right if that is the result. Turning macrovision on and off should make no difference to the playback of the DVD. Macrovision is a copyright protection system which prevents you recording from your DVD player (say to vhs). With macrovision on the recording would be unwatchable, the picture loses verticle sync and colour at regular intervals. Switching macrovision protection off allows you to record from the DVD player without these adverse affects.

[wayneklay]

Hello...Thank you for responding to my question. Yes, that is why I'm concerned. I was hoping to simply backup some dvd's to VHS, and this highly promoted feature was the main reason I bought this particular "region-free" machine. I type the correct code in on the remote and the "version" option appears on the set-up screen as it is supposed to. Then, after selecting the "version" option, the toggle macrovision option appears along with the "region code" options, and some other technical stuff that is not accessible. When I change the macrovision option to "off" (actually a number-zero) and return to the main menu to play a disc, the playback goes crazy-color flashing, vertical jumping, typical macrovision effects. Believe it or not, it even worsens if I try to record the result onto a VHS tape! Any ideas? Is the VCR being in the mix, messing something up? Or is the DVD player itself messed up? I bought it new a few weeks ago. Thanks for any ideas!

[Craig Tucker]

Are you displaying it on the TV through the VCR, if so, does the same thing happen when the DVD is connected directly to the TV.

[handyguy]

Looks like your macrovision button doesn't do anything but turn macrovision ON.....

[wulf109]

When you turn macrovision off in the players menu are pressing the enter or select button to lock in the change? Sounds like macrovision is not being turned off. Are you sure the player can be made macro free thru the menu? That's a very rare option,most players require a firmware update to turn off macrovision.

[wulf109]

I looked up your player in the players section on this website and that indicates that your player can be made region free with the remote not that it can be made macro free.

[vitualis]

Firstly, have you tried recording a DVD from your player onto VHS without "turning off" Macrovision?

Does it work properly?

There is always the possibility that your player has it "off" by default and what you are actually doing is turning it "on". This hasn't been made clear with your previous posts.

Regards.

[wayneklay]

Thanks everyone for the replies and your willingness to help. Sadly I can address all your replies except for one. First, yes, it does indeed seem like all my player does is turn macro vision ON! But seriously....I bought this model thru Ace Karaoke, and on their website this player is actually advertised as being not only "code free" or "region free", but also having a "turn on and off macrovision" feature. The CONIA brand is the same model basically and they tout that feature as well. It's really promoted on the websites that sell this model, but curiously (or perhaps not) it's not mentioned in the sparse owners manual. I didn't believe it either until I got the unit and turned it on. It is actually a menu selection, once the "code" is entered on the remote. The region selection options are directly beneath it on the screen. I know it seems weird but it's true. Only a few places on the net sell this unit so I can understand your doubt, but please check it out for yourself...yes, I have tried recording onto VHS with macrovision turned "on", in the event they got something screwed up. The result wasn't as bad as with macro turned "off", but not good. The only scenario that works perfectly is: macrovision turned "on" and simply watching the DVD on the tube. The others go as follows1) macro ON while recording onto VHS-quality only fair with occasional flicker and color shifting;(2) macro OFF while simply watching a DVD-very bad-unwatchable-constant rolls, flickers, and color shifts; (3)macro OFF while recording onto VHS-quality very poor with constant color shift, flickers, and vertical rolls, worst of all....so I don't know folks. it sounds crazy I know, but that's the story. The only thing I haven't tried that one of you suggested is to try switching macro off while just going thru the tv, rather than thru the VCR. I will try that tonite. One final thought: When the unit arrived, I noticed that the "elapsed time" window stayed on the screen. The company had me download something that cleared that "bug" up. You don't suppose that messed something up do you? Thanks all for trying to help me. Sorry for such a long and confusing post.