What is Macrovision? MacroVision is a video copy protection method for video playback equipment. First used on VHS tapes, later adapted for DVD's. It is used for pre-recorded videomedia. There are three levels of Macrovision protection. Level I produces voltage spikes in VBI lines of video (the off-screen portion of video that holds closed caption information). Digital video recorders will detect these spikes and display a message that the source is copy protected, cannot copy, and VCRs attempting to record a movie with level I protection will try to compensate with their automatic gain circuitry and fail, producing a picture that wildly changes brightness. Level II protection used a process called "colorstriping" which inverted the analog signal's colorburst and causes off-color bands to appear in the picture. Level III protection added more colorstriping techniques. Macrovision was first introduced in 1984 on VHS tapes. It was later added to DVD players to discourage copying of DVDs to VHS tapes. The signal interferes with the working of the automatic gain control (AGC) of the recording machine resulting in inaccurate recording of the source content. The recorded video is garbled or you’ll see a black screen, then a bright screen when you play back the video. The whole idea is to interfere with your enjoyment of the recorded video content. You can hear the audio clearly though. Macrovision protection in VHS and DVD doesn’t interefere with your video content if you play the tape or disc directly to your TV. This is because most TVs don’t come with AGC. Disabling Macrovision Macrovision protection in VHS and DVD isn’t uncrackable. There are ways to disable it, mostly known to the tech-savvy. Some DVD players have a ‘secret’ remote control code that can disable Macrovision. There are also boxes that correct the ‘false signal’ that Macrovision sends to the recording device. Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983. The 1984 film The Cotton Club was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985. The technology was subsequently extended to DVD players and other consumer electronic recording and playback devices such as digital cable and satellite set-top boxes, digital video recorders, and portable media players. By the end of the 1980s, most major Hollywood studios were utilizing their services. You can detect MacroVision, by simply trying to dubb a protected tape, the video that goes through the recording VCR will get dark and then normal again periodically. The picture may also become unstable. Sometimes Macrovision signals resemble false synchronization, and some TV-sets mistake them for the real synchronization failures. Also colors may vanish from the top of the picture. It resembles very much a mistracked video-tape. Some TV-sets do not like Macrovision; the top of the picture might be unstable all the time and the colors may flicker. Specially projectors and large screen TV-sets show this effect. If you have a TV that has an adjustement for picture height or vertical hold, you can fiddle around with those. Macrovision signals can be seen as very bright and very dark regions (vertical bars) near the top of the picture. Most modern DVD and VCR's have MacroVision. How MacroVision works Here is a simple explanation of how the method works. MacroVision abuses the Automatic Gain Control (AGC) features of a video-recorder. Normally the AGC is supposed to amplify weak signals and dim the too strong signals. MacroVision inserts some non-standard signals in the non-visable area of the TV-picture. The additional video information may make the AGC think that a sound picture is way to bright or way to dark. The AGC then kicks in and adjusts the video output to what it thinks should be. For example the picture get's to dark or to bright. This trick is repeated over and over again in a random order. The AGC therefore generates a too dark, then again a too bright picture. Pretty annoying if you have to watch a movie that manifests this effect. So why isn't this happening when I hookup the playback device directly to my TV-set? That's easy: most TV-sets do not have AGC. Those that have AGC, behave differently than the one in your VCR. Some VCR's, like Sony 8mm video, are not affected by MacroVision since the AGC is not similar to the ones required for MacroVision to work. Older VCR's (much older) are not affected either since they do not always 100% match the specifications required for MacroVision. Can I disable MacroVision? YES, it is possible by using devices which filter the video signal. Also, modern video equipment like DVD-players can be "patched" to disable MacroVision. For example the Yamakawa DVD player has a "secret" remote control code to disable MacroVision. Other players either have a similar code too, or there are hardware patches out there that do so. An example is the Macro-Vision remover by Nezzle which you can build yourself. Simply rerouting video signal from TV to VCR or using aerial input/output does not do the trick, MacroVision is to well integrated in the video-signal. Basically there is no quick and dirty trick to disable MacroVision, however there a boxes available that filter the video signal so MacroVision will not work anymore. These video boxes can be bought on the Internet (E-bay for example). Schematics to build such a box can be found in a lot of electronic magazines (for example, Elektor) as well. Note: the MacroVision disablers or stabilizers for the US market (NTSC) are not suitable for the European market (PAL) and vice versa! Video stabilizer boxes There are many and each has unique capabilities. Some filter better than others. Even though the movie content providers do not want anyone copying their content, there is such a thing as FAIR USE COPY, meaning you can make a copy for your personal use. Some retailers of these video boxes are out of business since the 1990s, however the products are still available online from resellers. • Vidicraft Play-Right Digital Stabilizer (1987) one of the first video stabilizers. Will not work to record to DVD, only VCR. • RXII - copyguard eliminator. Will work to record to DVD. • Grex - Digital Video Stabilizer will let you copy, capture and view any protected video content xdimax.com support@xdimax.com DVD Red PRO lets you copy & capture any Protected VHS and DVD to DVD, VHS, PC Copy Protected VHS and DVD to DVD Copy Protected VHS and DVD to VHS Capture Protected VHS and DVD to PC with Video Capture Card E-bay may have these video stabilizer boxes for sale Backup (Copy) your VHS collection on DVD • YouTube video on the GoDVD SIMA CT-100 • SIMA GoDVD CT-100 model There is also a SIMA CT-200 model as well as the older CT-2 model. Note: DVD recorders will only work with the recordable DVD formats they are designed to use. (DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW etc.) Columbia ISA Audio Video Empowering consumers through information columbiaisa@yahoo.com