WHITEVANMAN(Mostly Harmless) posted this on Friday, 22nd February 2002, 10:54
if i can WATCH a film thru my VCR, but when i run record i get squiggly lines on the copy is that macro? when i wanna watch haninibal 2 thru the vcr i cant, the picture comes and goes. which is macro? and whats firmware? would using an old betamax vcr ignore the macrovision? i can get one for £19 and can still end up with a vhs copy.
RE: what exactly does macrovision do?
Mike G(Elite) posted this on Friday, 22nd February 2002, 12:16
"Comes and goes" sounds exactly like Macrovision.
"Squiggly lines" doesn`t sound like Macro at all. Are you trying to record a NTSC disc (R1) on a PAL VHS VCR from a DVD player which only does PAL 60Hz output, by any chance?
To make a decent copy from R1 discs, assuming Macro isn`t present, you either need:
1) A VCR with NTSC record capability (e.g. current Thomson models) and a DVD player with NTSC output *or* 2) A DVD player which can do PAL 50Hz converted output from NTSC discs (e.g. Samsung 709)
Betamax VCRs aren`t susceptible to Macrovision, but the same caveat about recording R1 discs applies.
What is firmware? The firmware is effectively your DVD player`s "operating system" - it`s the software inside your player (generally stored in EPROM or flash EEPROM chip) which controls most of the player functions.
Mike
RE: what exactly does macrovision do?
WHITEVANMAN(Mostly Harmless) posted this on Friday, 22nd February 2002, 20:08
the discs giving the squigly lines are from the USA, im thinking my problem is this NTSC/PAL question, so i maybe need a VCR that can accept NTSC? I thought this issue was just for the TV itself, more so because i can watch the films clearly thru the vcr. the discs themselves are region free and the dvd is set to mulit-region. so maybe dvd-betamax-vhs would work (if i can get the signal into the betamax! - probably no scart socket, DOH!)
