charidea

First of all I believe this is legal, but let's not go there now. How would you hook up a DVD to a VCR to copy a DVD to tape? Let's just say hypothetically. Can it be done? My first go was not successful, but them I'm not much of a techie. PS. For people who think this is illegal check out "Go.Video" tape-to-tape machines.

Jar Jar Fett

Sorry. You just can't

ALL players have a special security feature built in, preventing you from ever recording to tape. It's kinda odd tho. I have my DVD video going through my VCR and it plays fine. But if I hit the "Record" button, it looks all crappy.

AUDIO FREAK

Copying DVD's onto VHS is very possible, but there are two major drawbacks: First, the dolby digital sound is gone and second, the picture quality is compromised. Unfortunately, there is no way to record dolby digital to VHS. However, you can get a comparable picture in one of two ways. First, you can try a video stabilizer, or copyright guard remover. These usually sell on eBay or at Radio Schack for under $20. It is just a filter that hooks up in between the video output of your DVD player and the video input of your VCR. This usually remedies the flutter and discoloration in most DVD's. Second solution (and probably the best) you can purchase a DVD player with macrovision remover. APEX makes a DVD player with this and through a secret menu it allows you to remove regional encoding on DVD's and also allows you to remove the macrovision (copyguard) on ALL DVD's. Circuit City use to sell them, until they were told by the MPAA to remove them from their shelves. You can still find these machines in other stores, and in auctions. I have mine hooked up to an S-VHS VCR and even though I do not have dolby digital sound, the picture is almost as clear as my DVD player!

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DJ B SINISTER

thejammy

Now when you say the sound is gone you mean the digital sound correct? Or all sound is gone?

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Most People Don'T Plan To Fail, They Just Fail to Plan

AUDIO FREAK

Just the 5.1 digital sound. If the DVD that you are copying has PCM Stereo or Dolby Pro Logic, it is possible to record and play this through a VCR. However, it will not be as clean and crisp.

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DJ B SINISTER

electronix_kid

To get rid of the macrovision on all new DVD players, you need to get a Digital Video Stabilizer that defeats macrovision. I have one that i am willing to sell... E-mail me if you are interested.

vernie

First of all, you should try it with all the VCRs in your house. If you are lucky, one of them will let you copy without any problem. There is a limited number of VCRs out there that are not affected by macrovision. My Toshiba M671 is one of them.

[This message has been edited by vernie (edited October 12, 2000).]

ZenerDiode

If you have a DVD-ROM drive, I suggest you rip the .vob file to your hard drive then convert it to MP4 and burn it on a CD-ROM or copy it over to a tape backup system. MP4 encoding is rated to have the same quality as SVHS...not as good as DVD obviously, but about 180% better than VHS. Plus all the information stays digital, so the only signal loss is from the compression.

Qui-Gon John

I just got a SIMA SCC, (to make copies of DVD's I own, to take on trips, use in the van, etc.) It copies great, takes away all effects of Macrovision Level 1 & Level 2. Here's the bad news. The SIMA will pass either composite or S-Video. Since I wanted to go S-Video, for the best picture while still recording, I bought a JVC S-VHS 3800. It has S-Video in and S-Video out and records SVHS on a regular VHS tape, (ET Mode). So now I had S-Video all the way, out of DVD, into and out of SIMA, into and out of VCR. Great copies. But when I played these copies back on my other VCR's (Go-Video - regular VHS), the picture is very unstable and you can hardly even make it out. This I believe is due to a problem with regular VCR's not being able to recognize and handle ET. So I am now going to look for a regular VHS model that has S-Video in and S-Video out. If I can't find one, then I will be forced to revert back to composite video. The good news though, even copies made from DVD to regular VHS via composite are still much better in quality than my VHS-VHS copies on my Go-Video. So we will see. If anyone knows of a regular VHS model that has S-Video In and S-Video Out, please let me know.

MichaelBlanton

Qui-Gon, are you sure you can do what you're trying to do?
I have an old Mitsubishi S-VHS vcr and several standard vcrs. S-VHS is incompatible with VHS. It records on a higher frequency, has more bandwidth, and that's why it (usually) requires a higher grade of tape (which S-VHS rated tape is). Kind of like 8mm and hi8. Two different formats.

The few S-VHS tapes I made won't play on regular vcrs, as all I see is a faint image behind a lot of snow. I don't think this is a tape speed problem, it's a format incompatibility.

I'd be curious if you can use the s-video feed and record regular vhs and see if that plays on standard vcrs. I've been thinking about getting the SCC myself.

Qui-Gon John

I think you may have the heart of the problem. Apparently recordings I make on the SVHS will not play on regular VCR's. So I am just hoping I can find a regular VCR with S-Video in/out. Otherwise I will drop back to regular VHS. I have 4 locations, my main HDTV 16:9 in the living room, a 27" console in kids TV room, a 13" in my bedroom and a 9" center console in our van. Each with VCR. I need copies I make to be able to play on any of these VCR's. But as I said, one DVD I copied with my regular Go-Video, plays in all these places and still looks much better than VHS-VHS copies.

movielib

I'm lucky. I've got an old Magnovox that I got in about 1990 that records VHS or DVD with no problems. I also have a Go Video VCR (bought about 2 years ago) that does the same thing. New Go VCRs are not supposed to have this capacity.

The above posts give you a lot of ways to get around the Macrovision.

[This message has been edited by movielib (edited October 24, 2000).]

JimRochester

Welcome to the forum. Check out this thread http://talk.dvdtalk.com/ubb/Forum3/HTML/017330.html for some answers and if you run a search you will see tons of threads on the topic.

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The Negroes stole our dates!!!
Seven years of college down the drain...
HOLY S**TTTTA!!!
Widescreen Presentation
Jim's DVD's

SirPablo

You can do it with a TiVo. I believe if you send the signal from the DVD player through the TiVo to a VCR the macrovision junk will magically be gone. Never tried it though, I don't own a VCR and why would I want my gorgeous DVDs on VHS anyways?

Qui-Gon John

movielib,
Have you tried playing tapes you've made from DVD on the Go-Video in a new VCR. I went through a test copy of a DVD movie, Keeping The Faith. The copy was great played back on the Go-Video (from 1996). But when I played it back on a new VCR, (my JVC HRS3800), it had the horizontal blue and red color striping, Macrovision Level 2. It seemed the Go-Video stripped Macr L1, (pulsing brightness), but carried the signal for L2, even though it did not respond to L2.

Qui-Gon John

OK, I figured out how to set my JVC SVHS 3800 to record in VHS mode. But, playback of DVD's recorded (via Sima SCC), in this mode, on this machine are "jumpy" from time to time.
I also recorded DVD to Go-Video (regular VHS through Sima). These playback fine on the Go-Video but are a tiny bit "jumpy" in the JVC.

I think I am going to return the JVC SVHS and get a regular VHS for playback of these DVD recording's in the kid's room.

Question: recommendations on the best regular VHS to buy? Brand and/or model would be very helpful.

movielib

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Qui-Gon John:
movielib,
Have you tried playing tapes you've made from DVD on the Go-Video in a new VCR. I went through a test copy of a DVD movie, Keeping The Faith. The copy was great played back on the Go-Video (from 1996). But when I played it back on a new VCR, (my JVC HRS3800), it had the horizontal blue and red color striping, Macrovision Level 2. It seemed the Go-Video stripped Macr L1, (pulsing brightness), but carried the signal for L2, even though it did not respond to L2.<HR>

I dub DVDs occasionally for two reasons. First, for friends, so they can see movies they haven't seen that I recommend to them (I never charge). With the exception of one time, no one has ever reported any problems. That one time, I don't remember what the complaint was, but it may have been due to what you said above. At the time I didn't think much of it. If it happens again, I'll know why.

The other reason is that I do a local cable access program about once a month and tape a few short clips (from LDs, DVDS and occasionally even from VHS) to show with the discussion. There has never been a problem playing them back on the station's equipment.

Thanks for your post, Qui-Gon John.

LupinIV

question for qui-gonn john: are you able to record in ET mode on your SVHS machine in both SP & EP speeds, or only SP? if EP is possible, how good or bad is the picture compared to regular VHS EP?

thanks.

Qui-Gon John

In either and the copies were quite good in EP. I just don't like the fact that I have 4 VCR's (3 regular & 1 SVHS) and cannot make these good quality copies and then play them in the other 3. It's too bad it doesn't just play but only at VHS resolution vs. SVHS resolution. Oh well.

LupinIV

thanks.

my sentiments exactly- that's what's holding me back from getting that $180 jvc svhs machine, but i still need a machine for archiving until dvd-recordable becomes feasible which probably wont be for a while. another minus with most machines today (incl. jvc) is that you cant record in LP mode.

succubiss

just want to add, that i have a Raite AVPhile 715 DVD player. I can disable macrovision and copy perfect to VHS. After awhile though, whats the use of owning a VHS copy? I can't stand VHS.

Qui-Gon John

Well for me, (and in keeping with this forum's official policy), the purpose of the VHS copies is so I can view them in other rooms, in my van on trips, or take them over a friends, to watch something as a group. (Fair Use Compliance)

But for some, I guess they feel, why buy a DVD for ~$16-$20, when they can rent and copy for, on average $5 per movie, including the blank tape.

jumbojp

Qui-Gon John,

Copying to play on a trip or to give to the kids to use in the VCR makes sense, but those "others" you talk about are idiots.

Why make a copy of a DVD onto VHS? That is like recording CD onto a Tape. You are stuck with a horrible transfer of the movie on VHS for $5 when you could have bought a DVD copy for a few dollars more or even bought the original tape, doesn't make sense to me!

King-Nine

Copying DVD's for my kid is my problem too. I owned the jungle book VHS which broke. I was given the jungle book DVD as a gift. Now my daughter can't watch it on our 9" tv/vcr on car trips or in any other room in our house. If I want to watch something on my nice TV while she is watching a Kids DVD I'm screwed!

yella fellla

burned on to a cd, right? playable? sorta like a vcd

quote:<HR>Originally posted by ZenerDiode:
If you have a DVD-ROM drive, I suggest you rip the .vob file to your hard drive then convert it to MP4 and burn it on a CD-ROM or copy it over to a tape backup system. MP4 encoding is rated to have the same quality as SVHS...not as good as DVD obviously, but about 180% better than VHS. Plus all the information stays digital, so the only signal loss is from the compression.<HR>

[This message has been edited by yella fellla (edited January 05, 2001).]