Help needed: Capturing VHS to DV Camcorder

[geck072]

Hi there,

Need some help here. I have been trying to record some VHS from my VCR to my Sony TRV17E DV camcorder.

This is how they are connected: line-out of the VCR (yellow and white only) to my Audio / Video I/O of my DV camcorder.

I have successfully recorded some VHS. Those that I have problem with were usually marked "Stereo HI-FI". So when I pop in such a tape, my LCD screen on my DV camcorder will have no image but there is audio. But when I pop in a non "Stereo HI-FI", I can see it played on my LCD.


Anyone has any idea? Thanks.

[thecoalman]

Ummm are the ones marked "stereo hi-fi" commercial movies? If so it's because they are copyright protected and can't be copied without using additional video hardware to circumvent the protection or a capture card that doesn't have copy protection enabled.

[Capmaster]

You may end up needing a timebase corrector or some other device that strips off the macrovision protection.

Try doing a forum search and use "macrovision" as the search term. There have been many informative threads here on this subject

[geck072]

Thanks for the replies. Really appreciate them. Yes, they are commercial tapes. But those that I have successfully recorded were also commercial ones. How do I verify if the tapes are indeed "macrovision"? I am trying not to spend too much money by going out to get hardware that I may not really need. Thanks.

[thecoalman]

Due to the fact that Sony is almost fanatical in their efforts to thwart piracy I'll bet that is just the case. Ever see the steps you have to go thru to use their mp3 type player, I say mp3 type because it uses a propietary Sony format. Hence you don't see any Sony mp3 type players in use, guess they didn't learn there lesson with beta. Anyhow I don't see how Hi-Fi would be the reason for you not being able to copy them. Are the ones labled hi-fi possibly newer, maybe the ones you were able to copy are old enough to not have MV, it's not on all commecial tapes. Have you tried copying them from one VCR to another?

[geck072]

I have not tried using another VCR. I think you are right to say that those that I have trouble with are newer than the 2 that I had no problems with. Do you know of any capture card that will solve this problem? Thanks.