[K_Thompson]

It seems that many HT enthusiasts look for MacroVision free players, or at least a hack or mod to disable MacroVision on their existing set. My question is: to what extent (if at all) does MacroVision degrade the picture quality on DVD.


I'm asking now because I recently discovered a hack for my player to disable MacroVision (haven't tried it yet). I'm wondering if it would even be noticable on my Sony 36xbr400.


Thanks for your comments,

Ken


P.S. wasn't sure if this belonged in the hardware or software section since MacroVision is software that is implemented in hardware.

 

[CKNA]

It does not really degrade picture quality. First of all crapovision is not encoded on a disc itself. It is a small circuit inside each player which is turned on by a bit on a DVD. What crapovision does, it screws up some projectors. It usually appears as bending at the top of the picture. I know that many NEC projectors had that problem. I do not think that your XBR will be affected.

 

[Ray H]

For anyone who is suffering PQ anomalies from Macrovision (tm), and who cannot/will not venture inside their player, the Sima SCC (Sima color corrector?) color corrector does a complete job of scrubbing Macrovision (tm) effects and restoring sync and color burst. When I bought mine about a year ago, it was street priced at about $100.00. Pricey, but it was a problem solver. It's fully automatic, but also has a bypass switch and a full complement of center detented controls.

 

[zed3]

I would like to know if the Sima Color Correcter your talking about would work against the new Color Stripe anti-piracy protection? Does it just work with older macrovision encryped discs? I 'm ready to buy a DVD burner for home use of course!

 

[Rice Rocket]

Quote:

What crapovision does, it screws up some projectors.

I think that qualifies as "degrading" picture quality; or in the least, picture geometry. It also affects a lot of rear-screen TV's, which use CRT projectors. In many cases, consumers don't see this because their overscan hides it.


In any case, it's again something that's not needed, but we the consumer end up paying for the studios' paranoia. The studios are worried that people would make VHS copies of the DVD. It's such stupid thinking, because the features are such on the DVD that even if one did copy the video onto tape, it's still impossible to copy/replicate the DD 5.1 soundtrack on that medium. And if someone wanted to go through the trouble of copying all the extra features on the DVD, I would argue that they would have spent so much time and effort doing it, they would have spent the $20 to purchase the DVD in the first place.


So they come up with this region coding and crapovision, and the ones in the know end up paying for it several times! Once when we purcahase the player, another when we purchase the DVD, and another when you want to purchase a region-free, crapovision-free player.


Copy protection didn't really work in the computer software industry, and it doesn't work effectively in the home video arena. It's always a matter or time before a "solution" is found to bypass it.


Note that the Sima SCC doesn't have Component Video connections--just Composite and S-Video. And no, zed3, it doesn't work for a computer-based DVD-burner.

 

[Mr. Hookup]

Macrovision, which was first fully implemented with VHS was enabled when composite cables were connected to the VCR Video out jack. It caused sync problems, color shifts, flashing, darkness, etc. Macrovision never made it to the LD format. I have several older macrobusters which use a 9 volt battery. They seem to be effective at getting rid of macrovision as are the Sima SED-CM Enhancers. Of course, these don't have component connections. What we need to do is put one of these macrobusters between a DVD player and DVD Recorder, and see what the results are. Has anyone tried this yet?