Page 1 of Pioneer 5100: Macrovision hack (long shot....)

Hi guys,

Just splashed the cash on a shiny new multiregion Pioneer 5100 (£488 next day from Digital Point + free scart lead!!) and I`m planning a big bonfire for all my old VHS tapes... :D

BUT I completely forgot about the whole Macrovision thing! To my question...

Is there a hack for the Pioneer to disable macrovision...or should I order a Sonel scart lead??

Cheers,


~Phil.

You don`t need Macro disabled on the Pioneer,it is the output player that needs it removed.If your vhs tapes are copy protected a Sonel lead will work fine,and it will also allow you to copy dvd`s from another player into the Pioneer.A lot of big titles do not even use Macro anymore on vhs or dvd,the companies don`t really see vhs copying as a threat any longer,but dvd`s will have CGMS designed to stop dvd-dvd copying.

Thanks Phelings, 1 Sonel scart lead on order...

I`d also like to thank you for the info you have given over the last month or so about the Pioneer 5100...it lead me to a purchase!!

I have noticed 1 niggle so far, although it maybe my Toshiba TV.

Niggle: If I watch a TV channel through the 5100 (in DVD mode, natch) the TV adjusts the picture from Widescreen to 4:3 :( So I have to manually set the picture size on the TV remote back to Widescreen. DVDs play fine, but when I play back a TV recording the screen defaults back to 4:3. I am connected by RGB scart.

Strange how auto-switching works sometimes....


~Phil.

As far as I am aware,the problem is that you don`t record the 16:9 switching on dvd-r,especially if you are connected via s-video.HDD may be the same.Assuming you are watching Sky,you could connect Sky `tv scart` to the RGB input of your set,and then watch the 5100 in s-video connected from the scart.This would give you auto switching on Sky when watching live,but manual adjustment would still be needed on watching recordings

hey Big Phil, I`m just about to buy the Pinoeer 5100 as well, probably from the same supplier. What were Digital Point like to do business with ?

Hey!

Good choice of DVD Recorder, my friend ;)

Currently knee-deep in copying VHS -> DVDs here...

Digital Point were very good, ordered at 11am, delivered 9am next day...HOWEVER there is no way to trace your parcel, etc. so you do have those will it arrive / won`t it arrive jitters...

Of course you could call them and I assume they could give you confirmation of dispatch.

~Phil.

hey Phil,

A week in with my 5100 and its a gr8 machine :) I`m also now up to my knees in VHS tapes to archive !!. Installation went v.smoothly but i still fell I`m only using a fraction of the machines capabilities. For example,
1) I dont use the tuner at all. I simply have my NTL cable scarts conected and the 5100 sees the it as a in input device on L3. Is this the best way or have I missed something ?
2) can I manipulate the acchived data on the hard drive to improve picture quality etc before copying to DVD-r disks. All I do at present is use chpt marks to splice out stuff I dont want
3) when copying from HDD to DVD-r I only use the high speed copy for Sp to Sp. Can I do more here
Thanks for the reccommendation

If your NTL box does not have s-vido out,then you are losing picure quality as there is no RGB in on the 5100,but other than getting a RGB-s-video converter you are using the best you can
Always put material on the HDD in the best quality you can.If you are unsure about the running time of your final edit,record on HDD in FINE and use OPTIMISED for HDD-DVD-R,but this is real time only.If you know the running time of your final edit,you can record the unedited material on the HDD using the correct MN setting,then after editing you can copy to dvd at high speed.SP is probably a waste as recordings would rarely be exactly 2 hours.If its 1hour 50,you can use an MN setting to get that little bit more quality.

Thats gr8 :D Many thanks

Hey, I to have a pioneer 5100 and NTL home cable. I have a questions for anyone out there who can help.

If I record from NTL to my Pioneer I have no problems, sports, movie channels, etc.
However ..... if I watch a film on `Front Row` and try to record it the Pioneer 5100 refuses to record. For anyone not familiar `Front Row` is NTL`s on demand movie service. My recorder is too clever for my own good! it comes up with a message saying `CANT REC`.

Does anyone have any ideas?