LG RC199H CPRM Hack

[deneban]

I have seen hacks to make the LG RC199H region free, but does anyone have the hack to remove CPRM from the LG RC199H?

[hech54]

That would be illegal.

[deneban]

That would be illegal.

...depends on your location and purpose. Copying is not illegal in the US if you have paid license for the media, a pay per view, and in some cases a broadcast. You are legally entitled to a backup copy because if the media fails, the publisher or provider is not obligated to replace it (and likely cannot if it is out of print).

[hech54]

That would be illegal.

...depends on your location and purpose. Copying is not illegal in the US if you have paid license for the media, a pay per view, and in some cases a broadcast. You are legally entitled to a backup copy because if the media fails, the publisher or provider is not obligated to replace it (and likely cannot if it is out of print).

...but circumventing copy protection IS illegal.

[jman98]

hech54 is correct. In the USA circumventing copy protection is clearly illegal. A waiver has to be given by some US government office to do that legally. Look up the DMCA for details on why circumventing copy protection is illegal now.

Copying discs in the USA may or may not be legal. The courts have been somewhat inconsistent on this. The so-called "Betamax case" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betamax_case) is hailed by many to mean essentially "I can copy anything I can see on TV or buy", yet somehow 321 Studios (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/321_Studios) was put out of business after making a product that allowed you to backup legally purchased DVDs and kept CSS intact on the backups to prevent those backups from being illegally copied. 321 Studios lost their court case and went out of business, yet one could certainly argue that their product had taken very reasonable steps to prevent illegal copying (it asked you if you bought the DVD you were about to backup and warned you that CSS on the backups would prevent you from copying them).

Anyway, enough on the law. For what it's worth, I've never seen a hack that removes CPRM. The fact that I don't know of any doesn't mean that they don't exist, but don't get your hopes up. If you can make this device region free be happy with that as most DVD players sold in the USA cannot be made region free now.

[deneban]

...but circumventing copy protection IS illegal.

Not according to the US version of the RC199H manual. The only legal announcement applicable to this RC199H Macrovision version of CPRM is that it is unlawful to reverse engineer it or disassemble the CPRM hardware & software. There is no notice that disabling it is illegal. Such a legality would have limited effectiveness because CPRM is only implemented on DVD-RW and DVD-RAM VR mode recordings on this recorder. Thus the recorder can make a digital recording of any input it receives if the media is DVD+R/-R or DVD+RW.

Now with that out of the way, and with so many other CPRM disabling instructions given on this site for various recorders, I repose my original request:

does anyone have the hack to remove CPRM from the LG RC199H?

[jman98]

...but circumventing copy protection IS illegal.

Not according to the US version of the RC199H manual. The only legal announcement applicable to this RC199H Macrovision version of CPRM is that it is unlawful to reverse engineer it or disassemble the CPRM hardware & software. There is no notice that disabling it is illegal.

You are welcome to try that rather interesting theory in court. I refer you again to the DMCA and point out that what you or I think is irrelevant. What the US legal system thinks is VERY relevant and based on cases like the 321 Studios case, I don't think the odds are on your side here.

With regards to the hack, I refer you again to my final paragraph in my previous posting. The odds are against you.

[hech54]

Now with that out of the way, and with so many other CPRM disabling instructions given on this site for various recorders

Really?

does anyone have the hack to remove CPRM from the LG RC199H?

Ok...No. No hack exists for that model. Just like no hack exists for thousands of other DVD Recorders...including
my ancient Philips DVDR985.

[deneban]

Ok...No. No hack exists for that model. Just like no hack exists for thousands of other DVD Recorders...including my ancient Philips DVDR985.

I ask because I obtained sucessful directions for the RC199H's sister model, the DR1F9H. The implication is there would be an approach for the RC199H. However the DR1F9H approach did not work on the RC199H.

[deneban]

You are welcome to try that rather interesting theory in court. I refer you again to the DMCA and point out that what you or I think is irrelevant. What the US legal system thinks is VERY relevant and based on cases like the 321 Studios case, I don't think the odds are on your side here..

Such a prosecution would never come to pass due to the machine configuration. A case involving taking a single home machine with 20% CPRM functionality and making it 0% CPRM would never get into a courtroom.

The 321 analogy is hardly relevent, you are comparing a single machine circumstance to an OEM.

[jman98]

deneban - We're not even talking about the same thing here. Now you have changed topics to essentially saying "Nobody will prosecute me for doing this". Yes, you are probably right. However, the original point was that doing so is illegal, which is still true and absolutely nothing you have said changes that. hech54's original point was not "You will go to jail for doing this". It was simply that it was illegal. Your rebuttal seems to basically consist of "No it's not. Neener neener neerner!"

The 321 analogy IS relevant, but I'm wasting my time here talking with you.
Good luck here, newbie. With that attitude, I'm sure you'll go far.

[deneban]

However, the original point was that doing so is illegal, which is still true and absolutely nothing you have said changes that. hech54's original point was not "You will go to jail for doing this". It was simply that it was illegal. !"

I am responding to what you wrote above -- you progressed the topic from one of legality to testing of the legality:

You are welcome to try that rather interesting theory in court.

As far as:

Your rebuttal seems to basically consist of "No it's not. Neener neener neerner

You are not interpreting me fairly. My rebuttal consists of the legality is being misapplied by Hech54. It can only apply to machines with full or high utiliztion of CPRM. It is a fact that the RC199H is factory-capable of making digital recordings of non-copyrighted and copyrighted broadcasts which have no CPRM to disable their copy, movement or deletion. A charge of defeating a minor CPRM scheme on such a machine would never be entertained in a courthouse. The legal argument is "The defendents machine is factory-capable of making digital recordings of copyrighted material in several formats which could in turn be recopied indefintely. The machine had this capability both at purchase and up until this time. Since there has been no change in capability, the defendant is has not availed himself to any new copy features which were not available to him at the time of purchase. The allogation of circumventing copy-once protection is therefore moot."

I suspect (<-- note qualification) that LG US lawyers realized this when they reviewed the RC199H instructions, and therefore did not add any notice of CPRM circumvention, due the weak non-binding nature of such a notice on a machine where it is only implemented 20%.

The 321 analogy IS relevant, but I'm wasting my time here talking with you..

Nope, it differs both technically and proliferation-wise: a) that case has to do with making copies of entire copy protected discs. My issue is about making copies of copy once video clips recorded on disc. There is a difference between CPRM and copying copyrighted discs/broadcasts. b) the HUGE difference is 321 is an OEM which proliferated a capability whereas I am asking to alter a single machine from 20% CPRM to 0% CPRM for home use.

Good luck here, newbie. With that attitude, I'm sure you'll go far.

Hey, I did not attack your character, so please do the same courtesy in return.

[deneban]

Ok, still looking for that RC199H revision that removes the DVD-VR/-RAM CPRM.