Macrovision remover = cheap timebase corrector?

[miamicanes]

I have an old VHS tape that's NOT Macrovision protected, but has serious problems playing back on any VCR. By accident, I discovered that feeding the VCR's composite output into my old (mostly broken) camcorder's composite input produces a rock-solid image... but only on the camcorder's viewfinder. Unfortunately, the camcorder's tape mechanism is fried, and whatever it's doing to the video signal between the input and viewfinder apparently isn't being done to the video signal that's passed through to the composite output jack. Still, it DID show that the tape seems to be playable with a little extra help.

Apparently, the camcorder has a built-in timebase corrector that's fixing the problem. Unfortunately, a quick search on eBay for timebase correctors failed to turn up anything costing less than $300 (not counting ones sold "as is") that didn't seem to be gross overkill for the task at hand. I did a little more research online, and now suspect that some (all?) products sold as "video stabilizers" will do exactly what I need.

Is this the case? Do I just need a cheap Macrovision remover from Best Buy to clean up the image enough to let my AIW 128pro capture it? Is there anything in particular I should look for feature-wise to weed out ones that might be great for Macrovision removal, but inadequate for fixing mangled videotape output? Or is this a situation where they all just act like timebase correctors to take advantage of off-the-shelf chipsets, and macrovision removal is just a useful side effect that they happen to market as its primary feature?

[Coopervid]

Hi miamicanes,

some time ago I downloaded a 8kb ZIP file from the net. It consists of the source CPP code, a HMTL explanation page and an EXE that disables the AIW 128 Pro Macrovision detection on the inputs. Not for output! And it works! The bookmark unfortunately doesn't work anymore but you can search the net in Google or Yahoo +disable +macrovision +ATI. Or just let me know if you want me to e-mail it to you. However, it says it is for WIN2000 only. So as far as I remember you are using XP and I don't know if that is any good for you.

Vid

[Coopervid]

It's here

http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/articles/macrovision_graphics.html

[miamicanes]

Believe it or not, the problem REALLY IS due to it being an old, shitty VHS tape and isn't Macrovision-related. I just mentioned the Macrovision-remover video stabilizers because they're cheap and seem to be something that might work as a ghetto-grade TBC.

As proof that it's not Macrovision-related, ATI MMC is more than happy to try capturing it, as is VirtualDub -- they both just fail miserably at the task, producing video that looks just as bad as the tape does when played to a TV. If it were merely a matter of Macrovision, I think the card would detect it and refuse outright to capture it -- showing a green screen instead.

Personally, I think it's positively *insane* that a video capture card would *ever* need a timebase corrector to fix a video signal in the first place, given that a timebase corrector is a stripped-down capture circuit with single-frame buffer.

Sigh.

[kitty]

There are devices that are sold to correct video, one brand is Sima. I am not so sure they will do what you want as a time base corrector which does true stabilization. You might ask moderators skittelsen or BJ_M who know more about true video production.

[Anonymous65]

A Macrovision stripper will most likely not fix any bad VHS video problems. Only a TBC will insert new sync pulses so the capture device can work correctly. Going from one VCR to another *might* give you a more stable copy, but will also degrade your (already) poor video. So, a TBC is really the best (and only) option for really bad video tape.

[miamicanes]

Well, at this point, it's fairly moot. After doing some research this afternoon, I returned the $90 Sony VCR I bought for videocapture convenience to Circuit City and ordered a JVC HR-S7800U SVHS VCR for $185.86 (including UPS ground shipping to Florida).

Among other things, it has an internal timebase corrector w/2-meg buffer. Basically, nobody had anything BAD to say about it (besides general complaints about JVC merchandise in general), and the reviews I saw posted to usenet and other online forums was universally positive (one guy said it did a better job of noise-removal and chroma-cleaning than ANY VirtualDub filter). The overall impression I got is that it's not the best prosumer-grade VCR, and was an "ok" value at $399, but for $200 or less it's insanely great and blows away everything within a hundred dollars either way

Hopefully, I'll have it by the end of the week, so I can let you guys know whether it works as well as I'm hoping it will...

[yg1968]

That sounds like a good deal but you should also note that many digital camcorders have a built-in time base corrcetor (TBC). So for a little more, you can get a digital camcorder too!

[spiderman2k1]

you can get a Sime copy master for $50.00 dollars at best buy good for DVD to VHS or DVD to the PC capture card's not good for DVD to VHS there another box that does that only good for DVD to VHS that box is $100.00 dollars