capture vhs with macrovision?

[pettinej]

I have an ATI card and can capture home movies and other types of video. I have some movies that I believe are copyright protected because the video is shifty at near the top and changes brightness. The movies I have I paid for and want to convert them to DVD for trips in the car. Is there anyway to get around this? I did some reading and used the hacks but I think it is only used for the TV out.
Pettinej

[kisrum]

It's not what you asked but you might consider picking up a dvd of the movie in question at your library or video rental place and just backing up a copy. I fretted and stewed with this issue and just decided that spending a few dollars to rent one more copy and back it up was less hassle with a better picture and probably wide-screen. Could be there's no DVD of what you want though.

Otherwise a TBC ($250.00?) or one of the Sima products ($50.00 - $100.00?) would probably remove macrovision. Others on this forum will probably post. TBC would probably help with the quality of your VHS home movie captures, which I presume do not have macrovision protection.

Many TBC threads in the past including this one which is current.
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=289311

You are in breach of the forum rules and are being issued with a formal warning. This is theft.
/ Moderator Cobra

[MOVIEGEEK]

"It's not what you asked but you might consider picking up a dvd of the movie in question at your library or video rental place and just backing up a copy."


You might consider buying a DVD.If you have a camcorder with analog passtrough and transfer via firewire you can make a higher quality DVD.

[pettinej]

Thanks for your response but I do have a wedding video that I would like to transfer as well. Don't know why it would have macrovision protection but I think it does.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Some ATI capturecards(or your VCR) will distort the picture such as you're describing,a TBC will correct that.An analog to digital device(such as the camcorder) will bypass Macrovision and give you higher quality.

[pettinej]

Do you mean use the camcorder to take in the analog and convert to digital so I can capture it with my PC?

[whitejremiah]

TBC is probably the best bet....and Kisrum, your post is being reported now, since thats advocating warez.

[Cobra]

Piracy is not tolerated at VideoHelp. It's a lot more interesting to learn how to capture video than rip a DVD, too. The end result is extremely satisfying.

[mikiem]

I have an ATI card and can capture home movies and other types of video. I have some movies that I believe are copyright protected because the video is shifty at near the top and changes brightness. The movies I have I paid for and want to convert them to DVD for trips in the car. Is there anyway to get around this? I did some reading and used the hacks but I think it is only used for the TV out.

VCRs themselves can send out a flaky signal, or tape can/will deteriorate, or macrovision & similar can mess up the signal -- it takes a stronger signal to record then it does to display on a monitor.

Best bet is to use another box to filter and improve the signal coming out of your vcr, or get one of those go-video boxes that include the same circuitry.

[kisrum]

TBC is probably the best bet....and Kisrum, your post is being reported now, since thats advocating warez.

Now that I've taken my lithium, let me rephrase my post so as not to advocate warez or theft. If, like me you own 15 or so Disney VHS movies purchased at $20.00-$30.00 each in 1990 dollars and they are worn out and your VCR is worn out too, then buy a new VCR, buy a TBC, and get busy-and keep your proofs of purchase. Or spend another $20.00 on new DVD copies of the same 15 or so Disney movies so as not to thieve from Disney. This is the only honorable way to behave.

-but go ahead and remove Macrovision. Those guys are pure evil.

You know, you're right. I feel so much.....cleaner.

[wcb4]

no thievery here.....

I own a lot, and I mean a few hundred VHS tapes. These tapes will decay. I would like to keep them. The AIW will not capture them. My Cannon Camcorder will not pass them through either. My solution?

$50 to buy the iloDVDR04 (which is a rebranded LiteOn DVDR machine, do not get the iloDVDR05 from Walmart, which is a rebranded cyberhome) I thnn burn the modified firmware to a CD and pop it in and it updates. I am perfectly legal so far, I own the machine, I can put modified firmware on it should I desire. This modified firmware causes the DVDR04 to ignore the Macrovision signal and just copy whatever is fed into it. It makes very nice real time DVD captures. The menu is ugly, but the captures are exceptionally good. It is perfectly legal for me to back up my VHS tapes. I usually capture to DVD/RW so that I can pop the resulting capture into my computer, where I use DVDShrink to backup just the movie portion, and specify the start and stop points so as to not see the time codes etc that the VCR displays initially.

So, for far less than the cost of a macrovision remover, I have a modified DVDR that captures without macrovision. I also do not have to rent the DVD and RIP it. All I am doing is instaling new firmware on my DVDR and backing up my VHS Tapes....

[handyguy]

Sony sayz VHS turns to fuzz around 15 years. I don't know if this is the case but some of my EP mode stuff turned a bit fuzzy before that.

If you really want, search the net for a macrovision free vcr. They are out there believe it or not.

[pettinej]

Based upon some other reading I have done I purchased a black box from MCM under $30. This unit did nothing. I have a ATI 8500DV capture card and two VCR's Panasonic PV-V4521 and a Qusar VHQ560. I can caputre some VHS tapes with no problem but I have two tapes that have disortion at the top of the frame. It comes and goes when trying to record. One tape is a Barney Video that I want to put to DVD for the car and the other is a wedding video that I want to put to DVD. I tried to send the signal through both VCR's and almost every combination that you can think of but nothing worked. I did not want to put a lot of money into fixing this problem but maybe I will be forced to purchase a TBC. I have also found several other devices that claim to fix my problem but I am afraid they wont....

[oldfart13]

Hmmm...looking at my worn out copy of "Dr. Syn Alias The Scarecrow" on VHS. The DVD is where???

[pepegot1]

A cheap solution that works:
ATI has macrovision built in. This works for me.
Copying rental DVD's is a NO!, NO! and violates copyright law.


http://www.checkhere22.com/stabilizer.html

[pettinej]

Thank you. I will try it and let you know how I make out.

[thecoalman]

..... but I do have a wedding video that I would like to transfer as well. Don't know why it would have macrovision protection but I think it does.

It's the AIW that thinks it does. MV is just a video error, older tapes have errors. Plays fine from VCR to TV, tried different cables.... blah,blah,balh... been there, done that.

www.nepadigital.com/mv


Get a TBC or use a different capture device.

[pettinej]

So after trying several cheap devices I am thinking that thecoalman is right. It seems that I can not get my ATI card to record my wedding video and some other barney tapes. I guess my best bet is to find a different capture device. Thanks for all your help.

John

[dphirschler]

My Picvideo PCTV Pro and Hauppauge capture cards ignore the macrovision. You my luck out and find one yourself for cheap. Both cards cost me less than $35 each.


Darryl

[pettinej]

Where should I look for them. Can I buy them new or do I need to find something on Ebay.

[thecoalman]

So after trying several cheap devices I am thinking that thecoalman is right. It seems that I can not get my ATI card to record my wedding video and some other barney tapes. I guess my best bet is to find a different capture device.

John

BTW it's not just the AIW's, I had the same problem with the same tape using a Nvidia VIVO card. Some devices are just moe prone that others. Canopus ADVC worked fine.

[dphirschler]

Where should I look for them. Can I buy them new or do I need to find something on Ebay.

I got my Hauppauge card on Ebay. I believe it is the 401 model (called at the time "Hauppauge WinTV-Radio") it was $35 after shipping. My Pinnacle PCTV Pro card I got at CompUSA for $29 after rebates. I just bought a third card for $32 after shipping:

http://www.supergooddeal.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=TTOM878A

From all appearances, it looks like another Pinnacle PCTV Pro. I will report after I receive it (any day now) and have a chance to test it out.

I like the Pinnacle card better than the Hauppage mainly because of the connections on the back. The Pinnacle has both a composite connection and an S-video. The Hauppauge has s-video but requires that you use their adapter to connect composite through the s-video connection. I already had the adapter (an extra from work) and I don't think my ebay card came with one. So that is something to think about. For all I know Hauppauge sells the adapter for $1 on their website.


Darryl

[steelyplu]

I had the EXACT same problem (ATI 2006 AIW). I'm trying to back up Winning Basketball w/ Larry Bird and Red Auerbach (which is not available on DVD). I was unwilling to accept that I needed to buy another card. I eventually located drivers.
Here's a link to the solution:
http://www.biline.ca/ati_macrovision.htm
Scroll down midway, Method two worked on my machine. CREATE A RESTORE POINT!!!

I did a google search for: ati AIW 9600 drivers + macrovision. The second link is a driverheaven forum, and post 214 has the link to the guide. Many thanks to biline who had as many, if not more problems than we did but soldiered on anyway. It should be noted that biline actually DID buy another card, but I was quite satisfied with the capture on my machine. I imagine you can use Pinnacle Studio 9 which comes with the AIW, I used Pinnacle Studio 10 for capture.

Metallic Pea

P.S.
Here is a link that didn't work for me, but might work for y'all, but the web master admits: "They are also not guaranteed to work on all systems."
http://www.digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/capture/atimpeg/atimpeg.htm

[RDS1955]

http://www.digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/capture/atimpeg/atimpeg.htm

As of the time of this posting, this link is dead... Don't know if it's temporary or permanent

[whitejremiah]

yea, i was about to say that there are some hacked drivers floating around...and im honestly not sure if they do work, or how effectively they work if they actually do at all......but it may be worth a stab, particularly if you got a LARGE amount of vhs to convert......

[steelyplu]

http://www.digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/capture/atimpeg/atimpeg.htm

As of the time of this posting, this link is dead... Don't know if it's temporary or permanent

WOW! I can't even access the main domain. I hope I'm not responsible for that. I swear it was working @ 11:20, I had the site bookmarked, went to it and copied the link to paste in the post.
That particular site had a guide, some Macrovision bashing, and 4 zip files
Here is a link to those files (these files are intended for legal use only):
http://www.thinkplease.net/fairuse/
The digitalfaq author suggested using the first one, but it didn't work on my machine (green block was gone, but picture stuttered).
My position on fair use is the same as this site's Administrator:
https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=124514

[dphirschler]

And I feel I should point out that I am using the btwincap drivers with my $35 capture cards. Perhaps it is the drivers that are doing it for me. But I seem to remember using the Pinnacle for over a year with the original driver and never seeing the Macrovision problem. I only changed drivers because I installed Windows XP and decided to use the WDM drivers.

I also have two ati cards (a TV Wonder VE, and TV Wonder Pro I think). Neither of them ignore the macrovision. I can't remember if I have tried the btwincap drivers with either of them.


Darryl

[RDS1955]

http://www.digitalfaq.com/dvdguides/capture/atimpeg/atimpeg.htm

As of the time of this posting, this link is dead... Don't know if it's temporary or permanent

Site is back up again.. Apparently there were some issues with transferring the site from one host service to another one which bought out the old..