Macrovision iliminated

[money]

After reading the Swede's message about defeating macrovision, I then tried it using Dazzle Digital Video Creator which can be purchased at Comp USA, Circuit City and Best Buy for as little as $99.00. I have had this device for several years using it to copy movies and tv programs to my hard drive for screen capture shots and storing movies and outputing movies to VCD format for playing on any DVD player that supports VCD format. This device has audio and video inputs and video output. Here is the simple trick to defeat Macrovision copyguard. I recently purchased a Panasonic DVD recorder to copy my VHS tapes and my DVD collection onto DVD. I also have the black box which can defeat macrovision from VHS to
DVD however it will not do it from DVD to DVD because of the level of copyguard on DVD movies. This black box called the RXII can be purchased for as little as $29.00. Here is how you can defeat macrovision copyguard from VHS to DVD or DVD to DVED.

1. Take the Audio Out from your DVD player to the DVD recorder.
2. Take the Video Out from the DVD player to the Dazzle Video In.
3. Take the Video Out from Dazzle to
the Video In of the DVD recorder
4. Bingo, you can copy anything you want. I now can copy DVD to DVD and the picture is purfect like a store bought copy. Thanks to the Swede, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

[setarip]

"I now can copy DVD to DVD"

I believe your statement is a bit misleading, in that you're only copying the movie in real time and not copying the DVD structure (Menu, .IFO files, .BUP files, chapter selection, special features, etc), are you?

[money]

I am copying the movie in real time because it is virtually impossible to copy a DVD movie because the DVD holds 9 gigabyte of data on them and the store bought blank DVD's can only hold 4.72 gigabyte of data or 2 hours of movie time
at SP mode or 4 hours at LP mode. I did a test this morning using Ben-Hur DVD movie playing in SP mode and recording to the DVD recorder in LP mode because the movie is over 3 hours long. I looked at the original and the copy and there was no degration of quality what so ever.
And I mean that entirely. You can do a disk copy from DVD to DVD using a special device on the internet that sells for $1800 but you would still have to buy the blank DVD's which probably sell for as much as $12.00 each. Therefore, accomplishing nothing. I have had this Panasonic DVD recorder for about a month now at a cost of $699. I have already copied 35 of my VHS movies onto DVD which has saved me $700 dollars from not buying them
on DVD at $19.95 a piece. Most of the movies where still in the shrink wrapped and if they were not, they where viewed only once, thus, still holding a very good quality movie. This DVD recorder has already paid for itself
and as the years go by, I think you get my drift. I hope this was of some help to you.

[g.a.gill]

Macrovision problems

Hi.
I read your comments about defeating Macrovision. I believe I need more info.
I recently bought the Panasonic DMR-E50 DVD Video Recorder. I, also, own Sima's Model SCC Pro-Series Color Corrector.
The Sima has worked great transfering DVD to S-VHS.
When I hooked up the Panasonic, forget about picture quality, the unit would not even start-up. Also, the video tapes I transferred from DVD made the unit act in the same way. It was as though the Sima did not entirely remove the copyguard. However, I had no problems with tape that was not copied from a Macrovision source or laserdiscs. I am going to start transferring the latter for back-up copies.
What source DVD player are you using? Maybe that could have something to do with it.
So, what is it you are doing? I didn't quite follow what you wrote.
Who makes the RXII?
Where did you get it?
Where in the "chain" does it go?
Are you using the RCA connections or the S-Video connections?
I really need something. I have movies on tape that have not been transferred to DVD and that are pretty old. They need to be transferred to a more durable medium.
One last thing, what TV are you using? Maybe it's me, but when I went to make a test copy of a laserdisc, I saw no appreciable difference between the SP and the LP record modes. There is a BIG difference in the EP mode (something I will never use). Have you seen this as well?
Thanks for your time.

[rsquirell]

A little history: I bought my first Dazzle Digital Video Creator in Oct.1996 for my new Win95. That version was a parallel port connection made by LAVision ( they also made Snazzi). They then created the DVC-II connected the same way which had higher resolution (720X480 vs 356X240). Somewhere around Y2K LAVision sold Dazzle to SCM who supported DVC-II and came out with a new line of DVC's mostly connecting thru the USB port (Hollywood Bridge connected thru the firewire.) With the advent of WinXP my original DVC (parallel port) was no longer supported and I was forced to upgrade. At that time Dazzle had the DVC-80 (356X240, USB1), the DVC-150 (720X480, USB2), the DCS-100 (356X240) and DCS-200 (720X480) (both DCS' were USB1.) The USB devices required MovieStar or the DVXCEL Test Utility software to capture ( which was available...but not required for the earlier parallel port models.) Pinnacle just bought Dazzle from SCM in August...and dropped support for everything except the DVC-80 and DVC-150 (both of which I own) and now users must use Pinnacle Studio8 for capture. I've converted at least 50 commercial VHS tapes (in addition to my 60 8hr VHS tape library) and have never run across a macrovision problem (which I believe is handled by the DVC Hardware). As for DVD's...SmartRipper, DVDDecrypter and DVDShrink (all freeware) all eliminate macrovision.

[money]

G.A. Gill, I am using the DMRe30 Panasonic Video Recorder and any DVD player will work. I use a Toshiba DVD player to play the movies to copy onto the Panasonic DVD recorder. I am also using Pinacle's Movie Box at a cost of $199 to break the copy guard. You can purchase it at Best Buy or Comp USA.
1. Connect the Video out from the DVD player to the Video in of the Movie Box.
2. Connect the Audio out from the DVD player to the Audio in of the DVD recorder.
3. Connect the Video out from the Movie Box to the Video in of the DVD recorder. This way you are breaking the copyguard.
4. Make sure the DVD recorder is set to L1
for video recording.
5. When recording a movie, check the length in minutes of the movie and set the
record mode to the appropriate mode.
6. SP mode for movies less than 120 minutes and LP mode for movies longer than 120 minutes. I have done both and the video quality is never degraded because you are going from digital to ditital quality. Forgot the RXII box, it's useless, it had it's day.
I am using RCA connectors iusing the Radio Shack 12ft length to go from the Video recorder to my pc which is abouit 12 feet away. Pinacle Movie Box is USB and it connects to the USB port on the computer. I use to use Dazzle Video Creator to break the copyguard and it worked great, however, I have since upgraded to a DELL 2.4 gig running Windows XP and Dazzle did not work, so therefore, I called Dazzle and they told me they were bought out by Pinnacle and to purchase the Pinnacle Movie Box for my needs and it works great. I have successfully copied about 90 movies and at a store bought price of an average $15.99, you do the math.
I hope this helps you, if it doesn't you can contact me at Schaferb1@yahoo.com for further assistance.

Bob...

[rsquirell]

I don't see the purpose when DVDShrink will give you an exact copy sized to a 4.7GB disc in about 30 minutes which can be burned in about 30 min. What's the advantage of a DVDR here? I've heard DVDR's copy a cable signal at a slightly higher resolution than a VCR...but commercial VHS tapes are made at 356X240 resolution...and the tapes I've copied with my DVC-150 are identical copies (the DVC-80 is much lower resolution...and no matter what you do the copies are blurry). If it's a LAVision DVC or DVC-II that you have...you are right...you can't capture through the Parallel port in XP....but the DVC-150 does work with your Dell.

[money]

RSsquirrell, the panasonic DMR recorder is great, the movies I copy using the Pinaccle Movie Box to break the copyguard is terriffic and easy to use. One more thing, you can copy tv programs also using the panasonic DVD recorder. If you are not gertting exact copies using your system, then you might want to go with a Panasonic DVD recorder for less than $500 and then purchase the Pinaccle movie box to break the copyguard. The Panassonic DVD recorder also usies RAM disks thgat you can write to a thousand times and they are erasable which is great when testing copying or copying TV programs.

Bob...

[rsquirell]

I'm sure it works great, Bob...but I do get exact copies using the equipment/software above. The only improvement I see in DVDR technology is the capability to record cable signals at a slightly higher resolution to a VCR. When they start recording cable at DVD resolution I might give it a second look.

[g.a.gill]

Thanks, guys.
You haven't said so, but I take it that Pinnacle is a computer add-on. External? Internal?
If so, this is bad. My computer is on a whole other floor. Re-locating the computer to the living room is not an option.
DVDshrink would not work either. It would mean having to buy a whole other computer. Right now, I cannot justify that kind of expense. I am using a three-year-old HP; Celeron 700, Windows ME.
Ultimately, I was hoping for something that was a stand-alone unit, similar to my Sima SCC.
One concern is the video quality. 'Money' said he uses RCA connections. Such connections will only transfer the DVD player's signal at 240-250 lines of resolution; VHS quality. I get better than that with my Sima/Panasonic AG-1980's S-video connections. True, I will not have the "instant" chapter/scene access that a DVD recorder would provide. But, I would expect the final picture quality to be superior then that with RCA hook-up.
If I am missing something, please let me know.
Thanks.

[rsquirell]

Pinnacle is a company noted for its Studio8 story board software editor...and now the DVC-80 & DVC-150 external video capturing hardware (S Video capable). If you get into video you should upgrade your computer. ME is like FAT32 and won't allow file transfer between drives for files larger than 4 gigs.

[g.a.gill]

One more thought on Macrovision

'money'
I checked out the Pinnacle Studio Movie Box DV.
Have you ever thought of trying it WITHOUT the computer hook-up. I know their idea is for editing purposes. But, if I decide to upgrade my recorder, I could do all the editing I want on the E80's hard drive. All I need to do is get the movie on the hard drive.
Pinnacle mentions transferring "non-protected DVDs". Are they, shall we say, covering their ass or am I looking at the wrong box?
Thanks for all the information.