CGMS A Removal??

You're damn right...it IS a pain in the ***. BUT, not to worry...have I found the ULTIMATE tool for CGMS A & Macrovision removal. http://home.cfl.rr.com/filter/. $145.00 but trust me...IT'S WORTH IT!!!

I couldn't record a damn thing with my Sony RDR-GX315 DVD recorder off my digital cable box...until NOW that is! I know that the digital and movie channels here in Canada are now using CGMS A like there's no tomorrow. In the USA, I believe most people are complaining about HBO doing the same. Lemme tell you...BEST $145.00 I spent! If you want to reclaim your right to record whatever comes into your house (like VHS in the good ole days), check this out. I guarentee you will NOT be dissappointed!

I bought one of those a few years ago when DVD Recorders first came on to the market....GREAT little gadget.

I don't know - looks like a big brother to the 9V black box thing on ebay. I'll spend the extra $50 to $100 on a consumer grade time base corrector like an AVTools AVT8710. Once you shell out $140 or more, you might as well get it over with, and buy the right hardware. Not speaking for how they work, but reason is taking over for me on this one.

Originally Posted by drtalk

Somehow I figured there would be more enthusiam about this little gem...lol. Seriously though, let me clear 1 thing up: This is NOT the Video Stabilizer that's been on the market for years.

That particular item is the exact same thing I bought in 2001(?) when I also paid almost $800 for my Philips DVDR985 DVD Recorder. It was/is designed to remove various protections when transfering VHS or DVD to a DVD Recorder.

The price tag for that item when I bought mine was under $100...if I recall correctly. My dad still uses it quite often since his old computer is not capable of copying DVD's.

They/he sold an NTSC version and a PAL version.
The version previous to the one shown had no S-Video connections.
The maker of that product used to post frequently on dvdplusrw.org when that place was still around....he even sent out price discounted units to people on the dvdplusrw message board so people with new(er) model DVD Recorders could test the unit on their recorders since he could not logically afford to buy every DVD Recorder that came out on the market.

It is a great unit but it is nothing new....

The maker of that item was also a member here on this message board but was banned for advertising(?):

https://forum.videohelp.com/viewtopic.php?p=1288266#1288266

Classfour wrote: "I'll spend the extra $50 to $100 on a consumer grade time base corrector like an AVTools AVT8710. Once you shell out $140 or more, you might as well get it over with, and buy the right hardware. Not speaking for how they work, but reason is taking over for me on this one. "

I'm in general agreement with you, however the two semi-affordable TBCs often mentioned here do not offer component connections, I believe.

Originally Posted by drtalk

. . . CGMS A encryption that basically would tell the DVD recorder to "Never Copy". That is one of the commands that is sent when using CGMS A. There are others such as "Copy Once", & "Always Copy". The "Never Copy" flag commonly found on your premium movie channels causes your DVD recorder to display a message saying it cannot record copy protected content. If you try to record one of these signals by manually pressing "Record", it'll record about 12 seconds before you get that message. If you set your timer on your DVD recorder to record a movie that you're pretty sure has the CGMS A "Never Copy" flag, something interesting happens (according to my experimenting). You check your disc after the DVD recorder has finished recording and has powered down...press play...and you get a black screen, BUT you get audio. A little odd I thought. There appears to be inconsistancy with this encryption. I've tried to record a movie at a particular time and have it fail only to try record the same movie in a different time slot and have it succeed!

I know the $145 price tag seem a little steep, but from what I've heard the CGMS A encryption is only going to spread worse than it already has.

Perhaps the cable services (like HBO) will in time remove any provider discretion from this matter, but for the present, the BF seems to be a provider by provider decision. DirecTV is not passing the flag on their satellite packages. My digital cable provider never has, either. (Very possibly, it is a different story for their Pay-Per-View or On Demand stuff. I wouldn't know, because I don't purchase any of those.) I have to think it would negatively impact their customer satisfaction and therefore their bottom line, if such providers routinely passed the BF for most of their content, or even just the premium channels. I know I would drop mine like a hot rock, if they did. I rarely have the opportunity to watch anything broadcast in real time, so the value of their service pretty much would go out the window for me. Not to mention the way it ruins much of your investment in whatever equipment you have purchased. There are plenty of good alternatives now, like Netflix. So, I'd say **** 'Em !

Originally Posted by drtalk

As far as a time base corrector goes, I wouldn't be too sure that that'll be the work-around. The CGMS A encryption, as explained to me by the tech I mentioned, is located in the upper fields of the video field, sharing the same space as the placement of Closed Captioning. I don't recall exactly which field, but 41 seems to come to mind. If you're familiar with the ordering of the fields you'll know better than I.

Well, I don't, but Fulci and maybe someone else expressed like a 98% confidence in another thread that the TBC would do the job. Still, I'd like to hear what edTV or gshelley had to say about that.

Incidentally, since this thread mentions (in part) a MV defeating gizmo, and we seem to be running scared on that subject these days, I fully expect this thread to be cast into the Gulag anytime now.

Originally Posted by drtalk

As far as a time base corrector goes, I wouldn't be too sure that that'll be the work-around. The CGMS A encryption, as explained to me by the tech I mentioned, is located in the upper fields of the video field, sharing the same space as the placement of Closed Captioning.

As a test, I turned on Closed Captioning on the tv, and (of course) Closed Captions displayed. Then I put my avt-8710 (tbc) in before the tv, and closed captions disappear. If cgms-a is in "the same space as the placement of Closed Captioning", it won't survive a tbc.

thanks drtalk. i currently use the clarifier w/ an apex recorder. i had no problems with any recordings. however i just purchased a toshiba dr4 recently and could not record HBO programs. i think i may have to try this one.