Interesting tests with my new Sima Color Corrector

[BrainStorm69]

I've purchased a Sima Color Corrector because I have some tapes that I was still having Macrovision troubles with even with the ATI Macrovision hacks and my JVC HR-S9900U. Even with the hacks, I was getting the alternating bright/dark problem that comes with level 1 Macrovision on Star Wars and Spy Kids (I haven't tested with other tapes except Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which captured fine).

I have now tested some more with interesting results. I did my testing with unhacked ATI drivers to see just what the hardware alone can do.

First of all, Harry Potter doesn't seem to have any copy protection at all! It doesn't matter if I use the JVC without any TBC, it captures just fine.

Star Wars is another matter. If I just use the JVC without TBC, MMC won't even let me start capturing. The capture button is grayed out. Same thing if I try to capture using just the JVC's TBC. Before when using the hacks, I could capture Star Wars, but got the alternating bright/dark even with the JVC TBC. Now, if I use the Color Corrector, I can capture Star Wars just fine, with or without the JVC TBC.

Spy Kids is the toughest nut to crack of them all. It requires both the JVC TBC and the Color Corrector to get a good capture. If I use the JVC TBC alone, MMC will gray out the capture button. If I use the Color Corrector alone, MMC will let me capture, but I get random screen distortion like Macrovision level 2 is still effecting the ATI card somehow (sometimes I think ATI's cards are just too damn sensitive). If I use both, then I get nice stable video to capture.

Just thought I'd let folks know how it's gone so far. Lordsmurf has previously suggested that perhaps my JVC's TBC isn't function correctly. I'd appreciate it if anyone else with a JVC 7000 or 9000 series VCR, an ATI AIW, and either Star Wars or Spy Kids on VHS could do a little testing and see if they get the same results I did using only the JVC's TBC. Thanks.

[jeex]

i like dealing with macrovision on dvd's better

good information.

has there been anything you couldnt capture with;

hacked drivers
JVC TBC &
SCC

all going at once?

are you sure that its the drivers preventing you from capturing? couldnt it possibly some kind of hardware detection on the card?

[Nelson37]

I have just the Sima CopyMaster and a JVC SVHS with no TBC, and the driver hacks. Have captured both SpyKids and StarWars tapes, no problems. The copymaster removes the visual Macrovision effects, but the card and/or drivers still refused to capture for more than two minutes unless the hack were installed. This last test was run on StarWars only.

[BrainStorm69]

has there been anything you couldnt capture with;

hacked drivers
JVC TBC &
SCC

all going at once?

are you sure that its the drivers preventing you from capturing? couldnt it possibly some kind of hardware detection on the card?

I'll try hacking the drivers later. When I used the hacked drivers before, the only thing problem with Star Wars and Spy Kids was the alternating bright/dark issue, which the SCC seems to correct well.