NEwbie question On DVD recorder

[sbollapa]

Folks,

I plan to purchase standalone DVD recorder. I saw philps DVDR72 in costco.
My main idea is to convert DV/VHS tapes to DVD media.
I have already Toshiba DVD player. Can I copy DVD to DVD using DVD player & DVD recorder?

Iam not interested in creating Menus/chapters.

Thnks,
sbollapa

[hiflyact]

If I ventured a guess, I would probably say no. There's probably some sort of copy protection on the DVD that you would be copying. Not sure if the macrovision on VHS applies here.

I know it's possible to do DVD to VHS (not sure why anyone would want to). It just depends on the hardware you're using.

[Alfer]

No you can't copy dvd movies to the dvd recorder. The recorder detects the macrovision etc and prevents recordings of BOTH dvd and VHS.

You need the $30 Sima copymaster to hook between the two to copy any movies.

Alfer

[Bob W]

You can if you buy this device http://www.facetvideo.com/

The Sima CopyMaster won't work on DVD copy protection but does for most VHS tapes (but not all like Star Wars or Star Trek movies).

[donpedro]

You can't copy DVD or VHS that has Macrovision protection, which means that almost all sommercial VHS tapes and DVD have that.

To overcome DVD to DVD you can hack DVD player to macrovision free.

To evercome VHS to DVD you can try to use camcorders passthrough. I never tryied it but there is possibility.

It definitely not going to be easy and cheap task

[Bob W]

You can't copy DVD or VHS that has Macrovision protection, which means that almost all sommercial VHS tapes and DVD have that.

To overcome DVD to DVD you can hack DVD player to macrovision free.

To evercome VHS to DVD you can try to use camcorders passthrough. I never tryied it but there is possibility.

It definitely not going to be easy and cheap task

Actually it will cost $89 if you buy the device I linked to.

[donpedro]

Well it depends if $89 is cheap or not... I think it is a lot

[Bob W]

I agree it's not cheap but it does work. There well may be cheaper devices out there however this one I know about since I bought one.

[donpedro]

If I will be planing to buy one I would buy yours. I know that there are many devices that promise that function and I know that your works so why to experiment with cheaper, right ?

[grossjamesh]

If your TV has a monitor out this is easy to do.
DVD video out to tv. TV monitor out to Video in of the VHS.

[Saminai]

I never thought about using the TV out monitor on my HDTV set...I just figured it would propagate the copy protection crapola. Interesting!! Not that I really need to use this though.

[FulciLives]

You can get a PANASONIC brand DVD player that has been modified to be region free as well as copy protection free. Not all such modified DVD players are 100% copy protection free. Most only have MACROVISION disabled but some also have CGMS/A disabled as well and that is the kind that you want.

Check out this link:

http://www.jvb.nl/

JVB DIGITAL has some PANAONIC units that are what you want. They are region free and 100% copy protection free. Thus you can play any region DVD and output it to your stand alone DVD recorder.

The best deal on the site right now is the PANASONIC RV-32 which is only $159.00 + shipping

You will get better quality using this hooked up direct to your DVD recorder than you will using a "black box" because just about all "black boxes" that I know of will give you a signal that is copy protection free but the signal will be slightly degraded in the process. You won't have that problem if you use a DVD player that is modified internally to be 100% copy protection free.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[donpedro]

That is all niece for DVD to DVD, but what anout VHS to DVD ?

[Simon Charnick]

what about VHS to DVD?

You can get a device called a Copy Mate to sit between the DVD recorder and VHS machine. This provides picture stabilisation and disables copy-protection. A UK link for such a device is:
http://www.lektropacks.co.uk/dept.asp?Hash=218&dept_id=102

I have no doubt whatsoever a US/Canadian source could supply a similar device.

[handyguy]

My Panasonic e30 doesn't seem to have macrovision going out.

There are two types of protection: macrovision & CSS, you got to deal with both of them if you want to copy.

[donpedro]

If I may ask... What is CSS and where is it used ?

[goldmember1]

Even if you have a Dvd player with micro- vision removed you won’t be able to copy from player to recorder because of the CSS encryption which is an electronic flag that doesn’t allow copying. But if you have a back up that’s been copied on a computer using DVD decrypter it will copy because CSS has been removed.
:P

[donpedro]

Are you saying that becouse of that I can't copy DVD to DVD through analog signal ?

[FulciLives]

When trying to copy the analog video out of a DVD player there are two things to worry about. There is MACROVISION and then there is CGMS/A

As I indicated before you can buy a DVD player that has had BOTH of those disabled.

You can also use an external device that will filter out both of those so you can copy to ANY recording device which of course includes stand alone DVD players.

The best such stand alone device that I know about is the AVT-8710 Time Base Corrector.

For info on this device look here:

http://www.avtoolbox.com/avt-8710.htm

Please note the the description says nothing about the fact that this device disables all copy protection but it does. Look around the forums here and you will find many people using it with stand alone DVD recorders using such sources as VHS and DVD

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Saminai]

I've been reading up on this stuff, and it seems not only DVD's can have the newer 2nd form of copy protection. macrovision is a joke, any cheap $10 black box will remove macrovision. But the other one is harder to remove, and you need something better.

From what I've read, not only DVD's have this protection for their analog output, this protection is also on newer VHS tapes and even on some cable/satellite receivers for their PPV or special programming.

I haven't tried it yet, but I may not be able to copy PPV movies to my DVD recorder without some box that disables that 2nd form of protection.

Am I right??

[FulciLives]

I've been reading up on this stuff, and it seems not only DVD's can have the newer 2nd form of copy protection. macrovision is a joke, any cheap $10 black box will remove macrovision. But the other one is harder to remove, and you need something better.

From what I've read, not only DVD's have this protection for their analog output, this protection is also on newer VHS tapes and even on some cable/satellite receivers for their PPV or special programming.

I haven't tried it yet, but I may not be able to copy PPV movies to my DVD recorder without some box that disables that 2nd form of protection.

Am I right??

Yes it is true that some prerecord VHS videos have more than just MACROVISION but also have CGMS/A as well.

Again this can be gotten around by using the aforementioned AVT-8710 Time Base Corrector.

As for PPV so far I don't know of anyone actually encountering copy protection problems but again if you have a device ala the AVT-8710 then there would be no problem making a copy of a copy protected PPV signal.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
You are so right about the fact that most so-called "black boxes" only take care of MACROVISION and even then not all forms of MACROVISION. On top of that very few will also remove the CGMS/A signal.

[jennyandgreg]

So if I purchase a Apex AD-1500 that has a region free, macrovision free and RCE immune that doesn't allow backup copying because of CGMS/A?

[kc33]

I've been reading up on this stuff, and it seems not only DVD's can have the newer 2nd form of copy protection. macrovision is a joke, any cheap $10 black box will remove macrovision. But the other one is harder to remove, and you need something better.

From what I've read, not only DVD's have this protection for their analog output, this protection is also on newer VHS tapes and even on some cable/satellite receivers for their PPV or special programming.

I haven't tried it yet, but I may not be able to copy PPV movies to my DVD recorder without some box that disables that 2nd form of protection.

Am I right??

Yes it is true that some prerecord VHS videos have more than just MACROVISION but also have CGMS/A as well.
:
:
You are so right about the fact that most so-called "black boxes" only take care of MACROVISION and even then not all forms of MACROVISION. On top of that very few will also remove the CGMS/A signal.

For pre-recorded VHS, I used a generic "black box" to take care of MACROVISION and I put a second VCR between the playback VCR and my Panasonic E80 dvd recorder to remove the CGMS/A signal.

[FulciLives]

For pre-recorded VHS, I used a generic "black box" to take care of MACROVISION and I put a second VCR between the playback VCR and my Panasonic E80 dvd recorder to remove the CGMS/A signal.

You clearly must have degraded the video signal by doing all that business. Plus I don't see how passing the signal through a second VCR would remove CGMS/A

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[kc33]

For pre-recorded VHS, I used a generic "black box" to take care of MACROVISION and I put a second VCR between the playback VCR and my Panasonic E80 dvd recorder to remove the CGMS/A signal.

You clearly must have degraded the video signal by doing all that business.

I assume you would degrade the video signal regardless of the type of devices you use to remove MACROVISION and CGMS/A. I am simply using something I already owned and tested to work.

Plus I don't see how passing the signal through a second VCR would remove CGMS/A

This is likely the same reason that I can record from a copy of a CGMS/A protected tape but not from the original.

[webeye]

I know it's possible to do DVD to VHS (not sure why anyone would want to). It just depends on the hardware you're using.[/quote]

>>>>>>>>>
Could it be that not everyone has a DVD player???????????? 8)

[qpskfec]

So if I purchase a Apex AD-1500 that has a region free, macrovision free and RCE immune that doesn't allow backup copying because of CGMS/A?

My upgraded AD-1500 also removes cgms-a. Haven't had problems with copying to dvd recorder with it.