DVD recorder copyright problem

[lmltx]

I just bought this Sony 1080P Upconvert DVD Recorder recorder to record DVD, VHS, and DVR stuff off our cable the only problem is that it copy right protects. Should I just get a new one that doesn't or is there some way around this. Please help! I'm not very smart when it comes to this kind of stuff. Thanks for your help and advice!

[Baldrick]

I changed the subject so it actually includes something about your topic. You can change it by clicking on the edit button.

[redwudz]

Most any DVD recorder you buy in the US will likely have the same copyright protection built in. Unless your cable company permits you copying their video, you have a problem. But which cable service do you have? One of our members may have better information. But do read our rules, in particular: Warez includes downloaded copyrighted movies and TV-series/shows and copying rented movies.

[s:abc7b5a111]And lmltx, in the future please use a more descriptive subject title in your posts to allow others to search for similar topics. I will change yours this time. From our rules:

Try to choose a subject that describes your topic.
Please do not use topic subjects like Help me!!! or Problems.

Thanks,
Moderator redwudz [/s:abc7b5a111]

And welcome to our forums.

EDIT: Baldrick was faster. And lmltx, If you use the checkbox 'Disable BBCode in this post', 'underline' and most all text modifiers won't work.

[jman98]

DVD recorders may refuse to copy commercial VHS tapes and DVDs because of Macrovision. However, some DVD recorders are so paranoid that they may refuse to copy any tapes or DVDs, even non-commerical ones you made yourself of home movies. Recorders tend to be made to err on the side of "when in doubt, don't copy anything!" to please their Sith Lords in Hollywood.

Inability to record TV shows can be because your local cable TV provider may have set a no copy flag on the programs. HBO and similar channels often instruct cable providers to turn on this flag. Sometimes the flag is set incorrectly and nothing can be recorded. Theoretically the flag should not be set for local broadcast stuff, but cable companies typically have about 90% morons and 10% people who know what they are doing because they pay such bad wages to the morons. Almost everybody everywhere has problems with their cable company. Mine forgets to turn on free previews until a day or day after the free period starts. The 10% smart people in the cable companies keep the business alive and try to undo the damage the 90% morons cause. Unfortunately this has proven to be a workable business model in the USA. If you think that your cable company has screwed up with the flag, you'll have to talk to them, but don't be surprised if the people you talk to at first don't know what you are taking about.

TV shows on ABC, NBC and Fox can be viewed at hulu.com for free after broadcast. CBS offers viewing on their own website. I honestly don't know of any way to defeat the do not copy flag on TV broadcasts when using a DVD recorder. A time base corrector (TBC) could be useful with VHS copying issues, although I should add a disclaimer and say that such should only be used to make a DVD recorder backup non-copyright tapes that you made yourself and not ever used to copy commercial tapes. TBCs are not cheap though.

[lmltx]

Okay, first of all, I have COMCAST cable and the movies that I could not record off my DVR were mainly from HBO. There were some others, but mainly HBO.

Second, thanks for the corrections and help. New to this and didn't see all the instructions. Now I know for future posts.

Thanks for your help!

[hech54]

HBO uses a copyright protection mechanism that helps to enforce existing copyright laws. The technology is known as the "Copy Generation Management System for Analog" or CGMS-A. You are still able to make one copy (analog or digital) of a program that airs on either HBO or Cinemax, but you are not able to then further duplicate that copy. However, cable subscribers are not able to record HBO-On-Demand (HOD) or Cinemax-On-Demand (MaxOD) programs.
http://www.hbo.com/corpinfo/cgmsafaq.shtml

[Seeker47]

However, cable subscribers are not able to record HBO-On-Demand (HOD) or Cinemax-On-Demand (MaxOD) programs.

Fortunately, that has not been the case here. (Ditto for any of the other VOD options.) I just hope I am as lucky with my next provider, who almost certainly will not be cable.

[robjv1]

My dad had the same issue (specifically with archiving HBO shows off the DVR to the DVD recorder).

The only thing that worked for him after trying several devices was the Grex Video Stabalizer. Check their website to make sure your DVR model # is listed. Best you can run is S-Video though if your DVR has S-Video outputs. You can also use composite video.

http://www.xdimax.com/grex/grex.html

[Seeker47]

My dad had the same issue (specifically with archiving HBO shows off the DVR to the DVD recorder).

The only thing that worked for him after trying several devices was the Grex Video Stabalizer. Check their website to make sure your DVR model # is listed. Best you can run is S-Video though if your DVR has S-Video outputs. You can also use composite video.

http://www.xdimax.com/grex/grex.html

Did he try the Zorilla ? I've read that the Grex is a knockoff of it, but if the Grex is in fact different, I might want to add that to the arsenal.

[robjv1]

No I don't believe he tried that one.

[mail2tom]

I had a similar problem with a Sony DVD recorder that was bought for work to archive company DV footage of interviews that were going to be used for training. Once I did the edits and made a master I wasn't able to create an image to duplicate the master (since it should have been "unprotected"). It seems that Sony has some sort of copy protection even for non-copyrighted material once it's recorded by their DVD recorder.

[robjv1]

Yikes! Were you able to get around that?

[lordsmurf]

No, it's not protection.

[jkillin]

Hi-

I came across your post on this forum about the Dimax Grex. We just bought a Dimax Grex to use with our Sony dvd recorder and Directtv. I hook it up according to the diagram to "copy protected tv channels to dvd w/Grex", but would only get a gray/white screen (I could hear the audio just fine. Just no picture). I left the cords hooked up according to the diagram, but I had to take an S-Video cord from "In" on the dvd recorder to the "out" on the satellite box in order to get a picture. I could not set up the Grex via the diagram using the S-Video on the Dimax website because our dvd recorder doesn't have an S-Video "out". After hooking it up and getting a short blinking red light on the Grex (and having audio and video), I still can't record movies or shows from Directtv. I am not sure if it's because I have the S-Video cord added, that is the only think NOT hooked up according to the diagram. My husband had been working with it for a few days so I am not sure if he changed the operational mode (we didn't fully understand what the different blinks and light colors meant until now. I know you can change the Operational mode by unplugging the Grex at just the right moment mid blink so I am wondering if we did this on accident. I can't get it to pop up on the screen indicating what Firmware/Operational Mode the Grex is set at. Maybe this is why we can't record). Any ideas?

Thanks in advance. I know this is a lot of information. I am waiting for an e-mail back from Dimax, but you guys seemed to know a lot about it and thought I would check to see if you could help. Maybe we were missing a minor, but important step. Thanks again!