[RandyL712]

Anyone remember these things? Not 5 years ago everyone sold them. They went inline with RCA (or even F-Type Coax) to (ahem) "Clean Up" the video signal. They ran $5-50 and were just a small black box. Oh yeah, they removed MacroVision too.


Anyway, are they for sale anywhere anymore?


UPDATE:


Found one! http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...item=502591400

These things could cure all of a SS-users woes


I guess once you know where to look these things are everywhere! They still range from around $10 - $150. I'm looking for a supercheap one that uses S-Vid. If you find one, please post it here. Otherwise I'm going to get one of the $10 RCA-Type one.


[This message has been edited by RandyL712 (edited 11-20-2000).]

 

[gbuskirk]

 http://www.simacorp.com/scc.html


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The Other Glenn

 

[RandyL712]

 http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/eek.gif That's $169! Supercheap is like under $40 http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

 

[gbuskirk]

 http://search.ebay.com/search/search...ty=MetaEndSort


I've got a link for everything


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The Other Glenn

 

[gbuskirk]

The Sima Copymaster (see the ebay link above) is worth a look. It has s-video jacks. I own one but honestly never have used it. I bought it after I bought my DVD player, and my TV only had a coax input, so the only way I had to connect was through my VCR. But the VCR had macrovision protection. Shortly after buying the Sima, I decided to buy a TV with component video inputs and directly connect the DVD player to the TV.


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The Other Glenn

 

[Serra]

I was reading something on www.2800.com about "cleaning" of video signals and it suggested that the cheaper version of the "cleaners" don't clean as well as they once did because of improvements in Macrovision technology. I can't give you the specific link, darn child proof web blocker on my work PC, but if you look around for macrovision on the 2800 site, it has details about the "cleaners".


I belive it suggest that if you pay less than $50.00 for one, it will not work on DVDs. If someone can access that site, can you please post the specific link. Thanks.

 

[riker]

I think the 'issue' you are thinking of is that there is a new higher level of MV protection called color-striping that is used on some DVDs. Those black boxes do NOT work at ALL on that level of protection, and I dont know that you can defeat it even with a $1000 box. And since it's public knowledge now that the traditional MV has been 'broken', one would assume that any new broadcasts with MV added would use the new method, and the boxes would be useless.


However, just to clean a non-MV signal enough to avoid the SS bug, it might suffice, has anyone tried it?


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-=- Glenn -=-

 

[RandyL712]

I tend to disagree and here's why: I checked a lot of the feedback on the folks selling the $10 box on EBAY, and people wrote "Thanks! It worked great on DVD"


Hence, it must work on DVD http://www.avsforum.com/ubb/smile.gif

 

[riker]

Wrong. You missed the key phrase in my post. Color-striping is used on SOME dvd's. SOME. Most use regular MV 6.0 protection. Many use none at all. The newer version of the protection is more expensive as the hardware to add it is more expensive, the process, and maybe the licensing cost too I'd assume. I would guess that only a handful of tightasses like Disney and maybe Paramount would use the extra level, and maybe only for 'key' movies.


Since I have Macrovision completely disabled on my dvd player I don't give a crap, but I also cannot test various discs to see what kind of protection they use, so can't give any examples of discs that use the enhanced ACP.


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-=- Glenn -=-

 

[Mike Wells]

I could be mistaken, but my understanding is that with DVD's the Macrovision isn't encoded in the video stream but just a code at the beginning to turn it on and is actually generated by your player. So the licensing cost is more expensive, but the production cost is the same with the newer types of MV.


I had one of the old "cleaners" that cleared the old version of MV. I had an ancient TV that auto-corrected the brightness and could not detect the MV so the picture would fade in and out. It worked well. I haven't used it since I got rid of that TV, but I've never tried to copy DVD's.



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Mike

 

[DougDingle]

Quote:

Originally posted by riker: Wrong. You missed the key phrase in my post. Color-striping is used on SOME dvd's. SOME. Most use regular MV 6.0 protection. Many use none at all. The newer version of the protection is more expensive as the hardware to add it is more expensive, the process, and maybe the licensing cost too I'd assume. I would guess that only a handful of tightasses like Disney and maybe Paramount would use the extra level, and maybe only for 'key' movies. Since I have Macrovision completely disabled on my dvd player I don't give a crap, but I also cannot test various discs to see what kind of protection they use, so can't give any examples of discs that use the enhanced ACP.

The Sima SCC claims to handle both the older MV and newer color striping MV signals. It also has a built-in color corrector, but I'm assuming it can be bypassed. About $125.


DD

 

[DeadEd]

I agree. The Sima SCC which cost me $140 seems to work on both. It copied Bug's Life just fine (don't want my 2 year old getting his sticky fingers on my DVDs). So far I have not run across anything I cannot copy. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't bootleg. We sometimes make copies so we can watch the movies on our VCR at the cabin. No, really, I'm serious.


Ed Leiken

 

[riker]

Wow, that's pretty nifty if it works on both, for that price... I'll have to look into it.


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-=- Glenn -=-

 

[JANVideo]

I don't see why you paid so much for the SIMA copy master. I went to the SIMA web site, looked under video editors, found the copy master near the bottom of the page, model SED-CM. Clicked on ORDER NOW to get the price and it was listed as $79.00, their "list price". It wasn't on sale or under special pricing. Did they lower the price since you purchased one? If so, this is a good deal as it has the S-Video jacks.

Joel N.

 

[gbuskirk]

Sima SCC <> Sima Copymaster;

Two different models. See the sima link in this thread.


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The Other Glenn