VHS Copyright Protection?

[waldodio]

I use an ATI All In Wonder Radeon TV Card in my PC. When I run composite cables from my VCR to the PC, and try to capture using VirtualDub, I can capture video that I originally recorded off a source to a blank VHS tape, but when I try to capture from a store-bought VHS tape, the audio is fine, but the video is just a green screen. Do manufactured VHS tapes contain some kind of copyright protection encoding that is causing this? If so, is there any way to get around this? I want to do a legal thing, which is just to put the video on another media for my own private use. Any help would be appreciated.

[Perro Grande]

Commercial tapes are protected with a scheme known as Macrovision. That is why you see the stuff on the screen that you do when attempting to copy a commercial tape.

[waldodio]

Yes, after doing a little research, I see there's a device manufactured by SIMA. It's called the Copy This! Video Enhancer. It's $60 at the Best Buy website, but they don't seem to have it at the retail stores. This device promises to remove Macrovision, and accomodates either composite or S-Video inputs/outputs. Now I have to decide if it's worth that kind of money to copy my store-bought VHS tapes to DVD.

[BrainStorm69]

Yes, after doing a little research, I see there's a device manufactured by SIMA. It's called the Copy This! Video Enhancer. It's $60 at the Best Buy website, but they don't seem to have it at the retail stores. This device promises to remove Macrovision, and accomodates either composite or S-Video inputs/outputs. Now I have to decide if it's worth that kind of money to copy my store-bought VHS tapes to DVD.

You could try the Macrovision ATI driver hacks suggested at lordsmurf.com. They may or may not work for you. They worked ok for me, except that the type 1 Macrovision (alternating bright/dark picture) was still a problem. So I bought a Sima Color Corrector, which removes that problem, and allows you to fiddle with the tint, color, sharpness, brightness, contrast, and red, green and blue. $88 at amazon.com.

[FOO]

If it's against your religion to spend money (like me )
there is an Avisynth script to fix the light/dark problem.
It's not perfect, but it is free
I have it somewhere

[racerxnet]

Foo,

Can you convert my wife over to your religion?

[indolikaa]

She-it. My wife will want me converted to that religion!

Never used the Sima products, but a dedicated TBC will work as well.

[FOO]

Foo,

Can you convert my wife over to your religion?

Sure
Send her over here with a six pack, and all your DVDs
and I'll work on it.

[kurtis388]

OK, I can convert anything from vhs to DV on my pc for dvd or vcd authoring and remove macro. I use a sony dv cam and use the vcr out to my cam then a firewire to the pc. I remove the tape from the cam and it automatically sees the vcr playing the movie. ie. I have all 3 original Star Wars flicks on DVD because of this and I heard you can do this with some other capture devices, BUT not a pc card. Any hardware installed on a pc will have copywrite protection, but the firewire system works, AND its a better quality cature than any card installed on the mainboard. PS, try to obtain Sonic Faundry or similar software. Pinnacle is easy to use, but the audio/video sync is terrible, and seems to haunt pinnacle software.

[kurtis388]

also, the cam trick works with dvd players too, BUT all u need to do is download DVD shrink or DVD_decrypter for that and dump it right into your pc anyway.

[waldodio]

Is DVD Shrink only for copying a DVD located in a DVD drive within the PC tower, or can it work for analog video being fed from an outside source, such as a VCR?

[steptoe]

There is a little device you can buy thats built into a scart lead, which will remove the macrovison protection

Its on the 'net, can't remember off hand where, but I'll have a look later and post the link when I fidn it again

Cost about £30, which is just guessing about $45



As far as you can see, its a normal scart lead, but the electronics are built into the scart plug itself