Disable Macrovision in stand-alone DVD players...

[alba]

Hi,

I'm looking to disable Macrovision in Alba DVD113 and Lenoxx Sound HT500 stand-alone DVD players - can anyone please help?

Both DVD players are already set to play all-region DVD's, but I would like to know how to disable the Macrovision facility in them?

[know-all-69]

Macrovision Disabling

Take a look at this, the site has been down for months but finaly they are there. I bought a StripeMaster, gives me fantastic recordings when I backup my DVD onto VHS.http://www.icos-tech.com

[alba]

Thanks for the pointer

Hi know-all - Ideally, I am not looking to have to pay £75 (a lot of money to me!) to solve my problem in disabling Macrovision from my DVD players.

Having said that, I do appreciate your advice re StripeMaster and have bookmarked the site to return to if I do not have any luck in my original objective of trying to remove/disable the Macrovision features on one, either or both my Alba DVD113 and Lenoxx Sound HT500 stand-alone DVD players.

Both my players are factory set with the Macrovision feature set to 'on' and I would be grateful if anyone could give PRECISE instructions on how to change these settings to 'off', thus disabling the darned feature.

If anyone can help in changing the factory settings, I would very much appreciate your input.

[know-all-69]

Hi alba, I wasn't suggesting the Stripe Master, they have cheeper Macro Killers, even one that fits inside the player.

[alba]

Thanks again to know-all-69

I appreciate your comments and can see the benefits of Stripe Master over the Macro killers - for one, not having to crack open my DVD players!

It certainly gives me more scope and I do appreciate your pointer!

[surge0n]

Tecnimagen DVDR 2000 Copy Protection

I have been reading these threads with interest and thought maybe someone could help. I have just bought a standalone Tecnimagen DVDR2000, made in Barcelona I think, but it is copy protected (Macrovision?) which means that whenever I try to copy DVD to DVD or VHS to DVD, the machine pauses recording and ruins my efforts. It is a great player/recorder but also only region 2 and copy protected - no one seems to have the hack for these. In fact there seems to be a complete lack of info. whatsoever about this machine!! I would like to get rid of the region protection and the copy protection without having to purchase the macrovision free scart cable or MacroMaster Box. Someone must have this crack or know what I have to do.

As a last resort, would the MacroMaster Box from ICOS work to get rid of this pasue in teh recording, as I do not want to order something all the way to Gibraltar without being sure it will do the job?!

Thanks

[know-all-69]

Macrovision disabling

Hi surge0n,
I doubt that you will find any way of disabling macrovision internally these days; the manufacturers are no longer allowed to leave back doors now for this. I personally would recommend the Macromaster box rather than any of these cables; you seem to get a better result from them. As for the region code I would guess that it is a badged player, so you need to find out who was the original manufacturer. As far as I know Tecnimagen only actually manufacture TV’s.

[surge0n]

Tecnimagen

Hi Know-all-69

Thanks for your fast reply. I think that Tecnimagen have just branched into the market of dvd player/recorders and do not hold a badge for anyone else as far as I know. Where do these hacks come from initially? do they get leaked from the factory, does someone get answers from the manufacturer or does someone just sit and work them out by trial and error? Maybe the crack will be posted in time.....
Regards the MacroMaster Box, I see that it works on the colour problems as discussed in the forum, but will it deal with this pause effect I get? I have a PAL/NTSC converter that handles the colour thing fine, but was concerned as I have not seen any issue that mention pause during recording due to copy protection. Sorryu to be a numpty about this but wanna get it right before I order.

Many Thanks again

[setarip]

"I doubt that you will find any way of disabling macrovision internally these days; the manufacturers are no longer allowed to leave back doors now for this."

That MAY be true for those who "play by the rules". Apparently, the mainland Chinese manufacturers of standalone players continue to have no problem ignoring this (If, in fact, such a "rule". The primary reason for the ability to turn off Macrovision is so service techs cn check out all possible causes for problems)

[know-all-69]

Macrovision

Hi surge0n,

I think setarip is on another planet, he is referring to copying with a PC, and of all the suggestions only on is affective, he uses DVD Decrypter. This can remove the Macrovision flag region codes and RCE. By the way in case you are not familiar with Macrovision on DVD’s, it is only a flag bit in the control part of the software on the DVD, this instructs the DVD player to apply Macrovision to the output signal, the Macrovision pulses are actually generated by you DVD player. Macrovision is a right con, but that’s another story. Regarding where the codes come from to hack players there are several ways, mostly the info is leaked out of the manufactures, either by management or engineers. The other source is by hackers like myself (I used to be the guy at Techtronics that designed all the region hacks and Macrovision hacks), in the old days when you where able to access the player software, we used to disassemble the code and sort out the part where it would compare the flag on the DVD to the Macrovision control in the player. Then came the remote control hacks these could be traced backwards from the Macrovision switch or in the case of the region code the region compare. Most of the disc hacks came direct from the manufactures, the early Panasonic test disc actually had region coding and Macrovision control by using the correct code on the remote control at the right time, and this was a factory disc.
I note that you refer to a converter to correct the colour for NTSC, this will not help with recording NTSC discs on a stand alone recorder, as it will produce NTSC443 which stand alone recorders will not recognize. If you are looking to copy NTSC DVD’s I would guess these will be from USA, if so they will have level 2 Macrovision on them (providing your player is compatible to this) and this will almost certainly be detected by the recorder. There are ways around this, if you have problems let me know and I will try to help.
When I say that the recorder from Tecnimagen was a badged player what I mean was that it is not manufactured by them, I think they buy it in and put there name on it.
If you have a number of NTSC DVD’s to copy I personally would buy a DVD player that has PAL 50 output from NTSC like the Pacific DVD900 sold in Asda for about £25 - £30, these can be region free very easily and are not compatible to level 2 or 3 Macrovision so a simple macro killer will allow you to copy anything you like.

[surge0n]

Macrovision

Hi Know-all-69

Thanks again for your fast reply.
I am glad to be in the hands of a proper tekkie! Thanks for taking the time to answer where the hacks come from it was much as i though it might be.
I must admit that I am not totally ignorant of many things regarding copying, as I have been burning DVDs since Pioneer introduced thier A02. I have never had problems ther but I really want to get to the bottom of this Tecnimagen machine as I see it as a bit of a challenge. I understand what you meant by a badged player and dont think this is the case unless what i read about them buying up the old Panasonic factory means that they took over some of the technology too......
The colour converter I use is only because i have a strange TV that although was bought in Spain, thinks it is NTSC and i have to convert the signal to allow colour, guess i shouldnt even have mentioned it in the first place, it just served to confuse. I live in Gibraltar so am not able to get hold of all the different models available in UK, but have a standalone Compaks player that handles everything I throw at it which I can use to copy when I get this Macrovision thing sorted.
This MacroMaster box is Uk based so maybe I can send it back if it dosent handle this pause-record thing I get. Do you think this will be Ok with video input too if it is internal on the recorder then?
Maybe someone can get to the technicians from Tecnimagen to get the region crack although this is not that important to me as I can run my Compaks player through the huge number of inputs on my recorder to access region 1 discs.
Cheers
Dave

[know-all-69]

MacroMaster

Hi Surge0n,

I think like all mail order companies ICOS offer a 14 day money back satisfaction guarantee, try emailing them and asking. If the Tecnimagen is based on a Panasonic then one of these One-4-All hacks may work. Have you taken the top off it yet to see if there is any clue?

[surge0n]

Top off!

Hi Know-all-69

Thats a damn simple idea that hadn't even occurred to me! I will do as you suggest, and would like thank you for your kind attention and time. Still goes to show that those who know come to this site.

Many thanks again.

Dave

[mandrew]

Similar but different question

I am also interested in disabling Macrovision in my RCA DRC225N DVD player, not necessarily for copying purposes but because of what I believe it is doing to my TV picture. I have the DVD player running into a vintage TV (1956 Admiral 21" TV in eye-popping black and white). By necessity of the types of output jacks the DVD player is linked to the TV thru a VCR, but the signal apparently bypasses the VCR circuitry and goes right into the TV. When I play non-encoded DVD's the picture and sound are flawless. When I play a Macrovision-encoded DVD however, the contrast goes weak for roughly 12 seconds and a buzz can be heard in the sound. This repeats every 20 seconds or so. It's nothing severe, but I notice it enough to find it distracting. So is there any way of shutting Macrovision off so I can watch DVD's on this great old TV set without this problem? Thanks

[Persephone]

Hello to all!!!

I have a Go Video VR3845 and I one of the "main" reasons I got it was so that I could burn BOTH DVD+/-R/RW as opposed to the other one I have a Go Video VR3930 which uses DVD-R *ONLY*..

Please tell me there is some way to get round this Macrovison crap!!!!

Thanks!!!
Persephone