Capturing VHS Macrovision

[NKB]

Hi, another stupid series of questions -
I have about 30 protected (commercial) VHS films I want to transfer to DVD. My video tape player has just broken and I want to either 1) not replace it (and pay someone who can get around macrovision protection to copy my VHS=>DVD's) or 2) replace it with a DVD/VHS recording combo so I can copy them myself and ditch the tapes once and for all. Questions are: are there reliable companies anyone can recommend who can do this for a reasonable price, and/or can anyone recommend a simple machine that defeats macrovision (I think that's the vhs copy protection term) that would allow me to do the copying. I do not need editing. I do have Nero and dvd burning capability on my PC but have NO idea how to get the VHS tape recorded onto my computer. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks

[offline]

Hi NKB,

please start a new topic if you have new questions rather than use another persons thread. It's considered more polite. Thanks

I have created a new topic thread for you.

/Mod offline

[FulciLives]

The BEST though NOT the CHEAPEST solution would be a Full Frame TBC. Basically this goes between the SOURCE and the RECORDER/CAPTURE device.

A Full Frame TBC is made to stabilize the video image but as a "side effect" it will totally and completely remove ALL forms of copy protection.

One of the most popular is the AVT-8710 as it is the cheapest Full Frame TBC on the market (about $190.00 U.S. Dollars).

Oh and TBC stands for Time Base Corrector.

Please note that combo DVD/VHS recorders will not allow you to record from VHS to DVD when the VHS video is detected as being copy protected.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
Another optioin would be to buy a capture device that does not recognize copy protection meaning it will capture/record even when the source is copy protected. One such device (that works well with excellent quality) is the ADS Instant DVD 2.0 (it is an external USB 2.0 capture device for Windows based computers). This device can be bought on-line for approximately $100.00 if you search hard enough (try pricegrabber.com for finding a good price).

[ktnwin]

To get your VHS tapes in the PC for making DVD, there are many ways:

1) buy an analog capture card (click on Capture Cards on the left column), there are a lot of them to choose from. Be aware that most capture card will NOT capture tapes with macrovision.

2) use a DV camcorder with pass thru mode and connect it to PC with Firewire. If you have a DV camcorder, that will do. If you do not have one, maybe buying one is good if you plan also to video tape events in your life. This is so far the EASIEST and SIMPLEST way to capture analog video (and certainly DV video) to PC without crazy problems like dropped frames, audio out of sync, etc...

3) buy a DVD recorder (less than 100$ these day), make sure you buy the brand that has a firmware hack to ignore macrovision.

[SatStorm]

Just to add that the most common cards to capture macrovision tapes, are those older ones, based on bt87x chipset

[thecoalman]

And to add even further..... Not all DV Camcorders are going to ignore a MV siganl. I'd imagine it's the exact opposite with most preventing you from copying a MV tape.

and, No legitimate company is going to copy your copy protected tapes for you. I'd guess the ones that would be the Mom & Pop operations and probably don't have the knowledge or equipment to do it anyway.

As mentioned above get a card that doesn't detect the MV signal. The Hauppage 250 comes highly reccomended from those who have it and ignores MV. Only downside to that card is that it records in MPEG, if you want to do extensive editing that can be an issue.

A note on the TBC, that will do more for your tpaes than remove the MV signal. If they are in bad shhape it will improve the capture. There's also cheaper alternatives like the Sima products that notch out the signal....