Some questions...

[Rautha]

Hi there.

Just got a new G5 and I'm gearing up to copy a bunch of videotapes to DVD. I did a search on the site and don't find much current information on the following, so I hope you can help:

1) Can anyone confirm that the Canopus ADVC100 still has that "secret" macrovision bypass? If the current models don't do it, then I'll probably end up buying the Plextor ConvertX - unless somebody can tell me that the Canopus is much better. Actually, I think there is some debate about whether or not the Canopus bypass even works - can you shed some light on this?

2) Failing that, what is generally considered to be the best macrovision-defeating gizmo? I was previously using a SIMA CT-2 GoDVD! and I found it only worked with about half of my tapes. What device has the best success rate?

3) What do you consider to be the best blank media for the Mac superdrive?

Thanks!

[terryj]

This line of questioning treads very THIN on getting it LOCKED DOWN,
so I'll try to answer it briefly without getting it slapped:

1. the bypass isn't a true "bypass" like the "black boxes"
you often see advertised on the net. I've tried the "bypass" feature on my Canopus -ADVC100, and on some titles it worked ok, but most it didn't.
Your better off replacing the titles
with original DVDs than going through the hassle
for breaking Macrovision on pre-recorded tapes.

2. Macrovision has changed as studios have gotten
"smarter" in thwarting piracy.
Last I looked ( 2002),
Macrovision was up to standard D, when I first started trading
online ( back in 94) they were at standard B.

Conversion from analog to digital works best when you have a clean,
1st time generated master, without copyguards.
The more hassles you encounter, the more time you spend
trying to unravel them. There are so many ways now
to acquire cleaner files, be smarter and avoid the hassles.

3. For the G5 we have at work, we use ProDisc, Samsung,
Maxell, Apple Brand, and TDK. At home on my G4, I use TDK.

[Frobozz]

FYI. The ADS USB Instant DVD for Mac comes with two versions of the PixeDV video capture application. One encodes either NTSC or PAL and the other is NTSC only. The first does not accept Macrovision-encoded video while the latter does. I guess that's why the latter is hidden several folders deep in the bundled software. Maybe the distributor doesn't even know it's there.