Panasonic DMR-E85 Macrovision Free ???

[bebeto94]

I recently bought this beast of a machine (Region free) and i must say im very chuffed with it . I bought it mainly because of the HDD and the fact i can ditch my VCR . On that subject it was purchased with the understanding that i could transfer my ageing VHS collection across to DVD-RAM or DVD-R . Most of these transfers have proved successful but there are those that refuse to copy im guessing because of the macrovision protection . If i try to record one of these onto the HDD for instance i get a message "Cannot record this is not allowed" . This is very frustrating as there is nothing illegal about transferring a VHS tape that you OWN onto DVD . My question is this , has anyone got a solution to this problem , ive searched many forums and although the region-free hack is constantly mentioned , no-one seems to mention the macrovision problem and that includes most modification sites !!! If all else fails and it is not a software related fix then i guess i`ll just have to go on ebay and buy a stand alone macrovision remover which sits in series between source and destination . Cheers , Steve , Plymouth UK

[samijubal]

You need a stabilizer.

[bebeto94]

What does that do and are they widely available ? So this problem is not to do with macrovision as suspected ? Cheers , Steve , Plymouth UK

[samijubal]

Yes it's macrovision, that's what the stabilizer is for. They are widely available and vary from $20 or so to $100 or more. I have one I paid around $20 for and it works fine for copying my VHS tapes to DVD. But when I tried to copy one of my DVDs it wouldn't let me on my Panasonic, it would on the JVC though. The one I use doesn't have a brand name, it just says digital video stabilizer. I bought it from Fox International years ago. I've seen them on e-bay, along with other places on the internet too.

[handyguy]

Your source has to be macro free. Get a macro free vhs player. There are other ways to make a uk machine macro free, should be lots of forum posts on it.

[bebeto94]

Thanks guys !!!

[RowMan]

Your source has to be macro free. Get a macro free vhs player. There are other ways to make a uk machine macro free, should be lots of forum posts on it.

You can disable Macrovision on (some) DVD players because the Macrovision signal is generated by the player itself due to an electronic "flag" on the disc. Macrovision cannot be disabled directly on a VCR because the Macrovision signal is embedded on the actual video signal of the tape. Only an external device can "mask" the signal.

I've used the product shown here...

http://www.bgsales.com/shop/product_info.php/cPath/32_64/products_id/99?

...to mask Macrovision on VHS tapes to back-up on a DVD recorder for a few years now. Results are excellent as long as the original tape is in good condition.

The description in the advertisement says "will not work with DVD recorders" but that just pertains to making DVD recorder copies from a DVD source and not a VHS source. For copies from VHS to DVD only, this unit will suffice.

If making DVD recorder copies from VHS and DVD, the following product works well...

http://www.facetvideo.com

I'm from the US. I don't know if either of these companies ships internationally.

[handyguy]

I have seen macrovision free VHS players for sale.

My JVC vhs recorder is immune to it. I can copy a vhs video to dvd recorder with it just fine. But can't copy the resulting vhs copy back to dvd.

Beta is also immune to macro.

[elkfir]

I've been using this and it seems to work fine:

http://www.dimax.com.ua/English/dvd_recorder.htm

[RowMan]

I have seen macrovision free VHS players for sale.

My JVC vhs recorder is immune to it. I can copy a vhs video to dvd recorder with it just fine. But can't copy the resulting vhs copy back to dvd...

Right. VHS recorders can be modified to IGNORE Macrovision, but not disable it. I had a Panasonic machine that I could record anything on. If the source was Macrovision protected, then so was the copy. My LiteOn DVD recorder has been modified to ignore Macrovision and CGMS/a from VHS and DVD sources, but the copies made will still retain those protections. The best case scenario when using a standalone DVD recorder is to copy things from a Macrovison disabled DVD player.

I'm just saying that an external device can mask Macrovision almost completely so you don't have to deal with it on subsequent copies.

[seb]

I'm in the UK too and have been using the model below for over a year - works fine and doesn't need an external power supply.

http://www.sonel.com/

[manikm]

it does need power, for SKY TV PPV's