Problem with VHS to DVD Copying

Hi I recently bought a Panasonic DMR-ES35V VHS/DVD combo unit, I have an extensive video collection and wanted to back up my videos.

So far so good, I have managed to copy about 12 videos in a collection of pre recorded tapes, when suddenly I have hit a wall. One of the tapes will start to copy and within a few seconds the copying stops and I get an error message saying, "copying stopped. It is not allowed to copy this medium"

I tried to copy the next video in the series and it copied ok, so I thought it might be a glitch. Went back to the other video and got the same error message.

I have been reading through some of the forum and discovered some posts about Macrovision. It appears from some of the posts that this cannot be overcome using a combo unit. Which is very disappointing, because I really like the Panasonic. Especially as it took me two months to do 12 videos converting them with a computer, and this is so much easier.

So my question? Is there a way to bypass this macrovison protection?

No way to bypass macrovision on combo unit as far as I know. You could get another VCR and connect a video stabilizer between the 2 units to bypass macrovision, or get a LiteOn LVW-5005 and hack firmwate to accomplish same.

The ES35V can be used with external video processing by going out the DVD/VHS common output, then into the hardware ( I use an external color corrector ), back into the IN1 input.

Thanks thats what I thought, luckily I still have my old VHS to hook it all up and I have to buy the video stabaliser.
So does that mean I would have to copy the video twice, from the second vhs to the combo vhs and then from that to the DVD?

No. You should be able to hook your second VHS up to the combo (with the stabilizer in between) and record its output directly to DVD.

You do not need a second VCR. When the ES35V plays back VHS it comes out the DVD/VHS common output on the back. Connect that to the input of the stabilizer, TBC, etc.., then connect the stabilzer output to the IN1 input which goes to the dvd recorder side. Setup the dvd recorder as you normally would and select the IN1 input as the source, start recording, use "Drive Select" to select the VCR and start playback.