vcr repairs and servicing and macrovision removal

Hello,

I've got a couple of VHS tapes that are not available on DVD so I got my old VCR out of the wardrobe and tried to connect it to my Pioneer freeview dvd recorder. But the dvd recorder displayed a message saying it was copy protected and refused to record it. I'm guessing it is macrovision?

I don't have a video card so I cannot copy to my pc at the moment. Please recommend one if you think that's the way to go.

I was wondering if there was a little black box I could connect between the vcr and recorder to remove the macrovision. If so what product do you recommend?

Do all dvd recorders have this "feature"? Is there a firmware upgrade or remote hack that makes Pioneers ignore macrovision?

One last question: I am having trouble inserting and ejecting tapes. I think the vcr needs servicing. Where can I buy replacement belts from and are service manuals available anywhere (it is a Thomson vcr).

Thanks, Stephen.

Reply to
Stephen
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I have successfully used something like this

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Though mine is the Version 5 rather than the Version 7 advertised here.

The Honestech software that comes with my one doesn't seem concerned about anti-piracy when used in Advanced mode, and I hope that Version 7 is the same or similar software.

There are cheaper equivalent boxes around but some seem to come with PowerDirector which does concern itself about anti-piracy, so not all similar boxes behave the same.

If you want a used one, this one is quite cheap.

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Again it is Version 7. I couldn't find a Version 5 on offer.

I have never looked inside a Thompson VCR, but the one I did take apart didn't have belts, it had gears, cams and position sensors. You might find a clean and lubricate will help.

Jim

Reply to
Indy Jess John

Stephen wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Yes

I assume most current cards must respect Macrovision as well. I wouldn't recommend digitising through a PC anyway. It works, but is more hassle than a straight DVD recorder.

There are such boxes, but since analogue video is becoming oldfashioned there aren't that many products any more. I own an "ELRO VL300" which is very good, it strips the signal of all sync pulses and recreates its own. But it isn't being made any more and was quite expensive when it was. It's a German product by a small company who are now out of business. Maybe you can pick one up used.

Yes

Probably not

Reply to
Wolfgang Schwanke

wouldn't it be a whole lot cheaper to download the film? - in better quality than your tape. i know you say it's not available but i bet it is somewhere.

Reply to
the dog from that film you saw

I get best results from an old Win XP PC which I acquired and which has a video-digitising card. But it won't do Macrovision so it's only any use for home movies and off-air recordings.

I bought a Hauppauge USB adaptor which is happy to digitise Macrovision pre-recorded tapes, but the results (for Macrovision and also for off-air recordings) are not as good: patches of crosshatch patterning on saturated colours (especially purple) and tearing on saturated colours.

Although I have a DVD recorder, I don't think it can record from SCART/phono inputs, only from analogue RF, otherwise I'd have tried that, at least for non-Macrovision recordings, since it's less faff than getting out the XP PC, and a monitor and a keyboard and the SCART lead, and persuading the PC to take its sound input from line-in rather than reverting to mic-in, and tweaking the sound level so it is correct for the input (VCR sound level is slightly different to PVR or Sky box).

The only problem with recording to DVD is that you need a DVD disc, and not all recorders can record to a rewritable one, so you make consume discs, even if the DVD is just a stepping stone to generating an MPG file that you can edit on the PC (top and tail, remove commercials etc). Conversion from DVD VOB to MPG is a pain: some software can do a whole DVD disc (multiple VOBs) where some like VideoReDo (which I use for editing out crap) can only do it one VOB at a time and then you need to join them together.

Reply to
NY

I've never used this company, I'm just giving you the first google hit for "vhs digitising service":

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Worth a thought?

Reply to
Steve

Yup, that's fairly likely.

There certainly used to be - typically marketed as video "stabilisers". Basically they just clamped the video to black during the vertical retrace, thus defeating the macrovision "white bars"[1]. Not sure if those are staill available on ebay. However you could look at a proper time base corrector, which will also do the job.

[1] Macrovision typically inserted bright white bars into the video during the vertical retrace. Normally these unseen video lines would be black. However the high intensity tends to cause the automatic gain control in the copying recorder to wind down the gain. Thus causing it to desensitise the recording of the frame and line synch pulses and also mess up the black level clamping. The result being fluctuating picture brightness, and also picture rolling and loss of sync.

Even if they don't detect it, you may find you still get problems due to the effects of the protection.

Searching the web with the model number may turn up a PDF of the manual. Places like CPC usually have a good range of spare belts. Other parts may be harder to get now though.

Reply to
John Rumm

Are you sure they're not available anywhere else, peer to peer sharing for one?

Reply to
Fredxxx

IIRC, when I've tried to copy Macrovisioned tapes from a VCR to a DVD recorder, video-to-video doesn't work. However, RF-to-RF DID work, albeit probably of a slightly poorer quality. If so, it will probably also work using an analogue PC tuner card or USB thingy.

Reply to
Ian Jackson

A reputable company won't convert commercial tapes which these must be since they are macrovision protected - it is too easy for them to be "done" for copyright infringement.

Alan

Reply to
Alan Dawes

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