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Macrovision Eliminator/Killer

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stansnowball

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Hello everyone, and a happy new year.
I bought a DVD recorder for Christmas a Philips 610 with the intention of putting all my home Videos onto DVD, for safer keeping. I had tried with a couple of capture cards in my PC over the years, but always ended up with files too big and not very good quality, so I abandoned that idea. Anyway back to the DVD recorder. My boy asked me about a week ago if he could watch Star Wars, which we have on VHS, so I thought to myself oooh, I might as well make a backup of it with the DVD recorder, while he is watching it, completely forgetting that there may be some copy protection on the video. The reason I tried to make the backup is, that we have lots of video films and cartoons that we have bought over the years, and one or two of them are starting to deteriorate. After three or four tries It then dawned on me that their must be some protection on the video because it wouldn’t record it. After making some enquiries I discovered Macrovision was the culprit. After a bit more digging round I heard that there was such a thing as a macrovision killer/eliminator. I found several retailers on the internet but all except one were in the United States, and the one in the UK where I live claimed to have a set of scart leads that would do the job, but they just looked like any other set of scart leads to me, so I didn’t bother. I then found a couple of circuit diagrams but they must be fairly old because one of the main components on each circuit is discontinued. Now several years ago I took up electronics as a hobby, I went to college and did quite well, buying my own oscilloscope, frequency counter, logic probe, etc. I then bought a PC and that was the end of my electronics hobby. I still have all my gear, and think I could build one if I can get hold of a good circuit diagram. I would appreciate any help from anyone.
Thank you very much, Stan.
:D
 
**broken link removed**

All the required chips are still available.
But you will have to program a pic to do it, go to the parts list and there's a link to the guys email. You'll have to mail him to get the Hex file.
 
Legal action in the UK seems to have ended most of the macrovision removal tools - although it's not illegal to own and use them (because some TV's don't like a MacroVision signal, so removing it will greatly improve your picture), the threat of legal action has resulted in most retailers removing them from sale.

However, there are still a few about, you just have to look hard.

I seem to recall a popular one was called 'Bug Blaster'?.
 
Have a rummage around the freeware video tools to be found across the web. Longsoft's DVD Magic works wonders compressing 5 gig DVD down to a mere 650 Meg using the DivX codec for a 90 minute movie. For the more stubborn forms of protection Lightening UK's DVD Decrypter can handle most. If all else fails then try Bulents screen recorder , along with a patch cable for the audio. Then use Microsofts own movie maker to put the two back together. MGI's videowave 4 does a better job and has the ability to tweak the colour/contrast etc, handy if you are using a vcr via a capture card approach.
 
Velleman also has one, it's called 'video signal cleaner'. You can get it as a kit or already built. Find a place to buy it online and you're set.
 
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