TV picture from DVD fades in and out??

[Jeff Wisnia]

The TV in out teen agers's playroom has only an RF input and the kids
have a commodity grade VCR and an entry level DVD hooked up to it.

The RF output from the VCR feeds the input of the TV, and the DVD's
video and audio outputs are connected to the corrosponding inputs on the
VCR.

All's well when playing video tapes on the VCR, but when playing a DVD
the TV image "fades" or changes contrast slowly with a cycle time of
about 20 seconds. Not badly enough to make you miss anything on the
screen, but it's noticably annoying.

I wrote it off as being some weird kind of incompatibility anomaly, and
since I don't have to watch DVDs in that room I didn't bother trying to
eliminate the problem.

Yesterday I was at a friend's home who had a similar setup, but with
different brands of equipment and his TV image faded in an out the same
as ours when he tried to show me a scene on a DVD.

That got me wondering if that fading effect is a "well known problem"
and if it is, what's the easiest way to get things working "normally".

Thanks guys,

Jeff
--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

 

[James Sweet]

The TV in out teen agers's playroom has only an RF input and the kids
have a commodity grade VCR and an entry level DVD hooked up to it.

The RF output from the VCR feeds the input of the TV, and the DVD's
video and audio outputs are connected to the corrosponding inputs on the
VCR.

All's well when playing video tapes on the VCR, but when playing a DVD
the TV image "fades" or changes contrast slowly with a cycle time of
about 20 seconds. Not badly enough to make you miss anything on the
screen, but it's noticably annoying.

I wrote it off as being some weird kind of incompatibility anomaly, and
since I don't have to watch DVDs in that room I didn't bother trying to
eliminate the problem.

Yesterday I was at a friend's home who had a similar setup, but with
different brands of equipment and his TV image faded in an out the same
as ours when he tried to show me a scene on a DVD.

That got me wondering if that fading effect is a "well known problem"
and if it is, what's the easiest way to get things working "normally".

Thanks guys,

Jeff

That's from the Macrovision copy protection. You can get a little box
that will remove it from the signal, or you can see if your DVD player
is hackable to remove it. On my Apex it was a matter of getting into a
hidden menu and turning the useless stuff off.

 

[Guest]

: That's from the Macrovision copy protection. You can get a little box
: that will remove it from the signal, or you can see if your DVD player
: is hackable to remove it. On my Apex it was a matter of getting into a
: hidden menu and turning the useless stuff off.

Agreed. You need to do a google search for "image stabilizer" and put
one of them in the video line between the DVD player and the VCR.
http://www.checkhere22.com/stabilizer.html is one such device.

b.

 

[JR North]

For some reason, DVDs seem to like the VCR feeding into them, and the
DVD into the TeeWee. Try swapping the feeds.
JR

 

[Jeff Wisnia]

: That's from the Macrovision copy protection. You can get a little box
: that will remove it from the signal, or you can see if your DVD player
: is hackable to remove it. On my Apex it was a matter of getting into a
: hidden menu and turning the useless stuff off.

Agreed. You need to do a google search for "image stabilizer" and put
one of them in the video line between the DVD player and the VCR.
http://www.checkhere22.com/stabilizer.html is one such device.

b.

Thanks much! I hadn't thought of that. I dug out the little battery
powered digital video stabilizer I bought about ten years ago to let me
copy VCR tapes, put it in the video line between the DVD output and the
VCR input and, "Bob's your uncle!" (Worked great.)

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)

"Truth exists; only falsehood has to be invented."

 

[Laurence Taylor]

For some reason, DVDs seem to like the VCR feeding into them, and the
DVD into the TeeWee. Try swapping the feeds.
JR

He can't, there's no RF out of a DVD player.

--

rgds
LAurence

....RAM DISC is not an installation procedure

 

[[email protected]]

No wonder you had the problem. You cannot simply use a VCR as a
modulator for a DVD player due to the macrovision.

 

[Andrew Rossmann]

[This followup was posted to sci.electronics.repair and a copy was sent
to the cited author.]

The TV in out teen agers's playroom has only an RF input and the kids
have a commodity grade VCR and an entry level DVD hooked up to it.

The RF output from the VCR feeds the input of the TV, and the DVD's
video and audio outputs are connected to the corrosponding inputs on the
VCR.

All's well when playing video tapes on the VCR, but when playing a DVD
the TV image "fades" or changes contrast slowly with a cycle time of
about 20 seconds. Not badly enough to make you miss anything on the
screen, but it's noticably annoying.

I wrote it off as being some weird kind of incompatibility anomaly, and
since I don't have to watch DVDs in that room I didn't bother trying to
eliminate the problem.

Yesterday I was at a friend's home who had a similar setup, but with
different brands of equipment and his TV image faded in an out the same
as ours when he tried to show me a scene on a DVD.

That got me wondering if that fading effect is a "well known problem"
and if it is, what's the easiest way to get things working "normally".

As others have mentioned, this is an artifact of the Macrovision copy
protection. Not all VCR's will do this when in 'pass-thru' mode. My JVC
will work fine, until you hit RECORD.

There are some RF modulators out there that also have an A/B switch.
You can feed the DVD through the modulator, with the VCR/antenna being
switched. Alternately, just get a modulator and an RF switch. Both are
real cheap. You just switch between the two inputs.

 

[Jim Nugent]

: That's from the Macrovision copy protection. You can get a little box
: that will remove it from the signal, or you can see if your DVD player
: is hackable to remove it. On my Apex it was a matter of getting into a
: hidden menu and turning the useless stuff off.

Agreed. You need to do a google search for "image stabilizer" and put
one of them in the video line between the DVD player and the VCR.
http://www.checkhere22.com/stabilizer.html is one such device.

Thank you very much for this link. I have 2 small TV/VCR combos whose AV
inputs go directly to the internal VCR which sends the signal to the TV via
passthrough mode which apparently includes that pesky AGC circuitry that
makes it vulnerable to Macrovision. No way around it (other than tearing
apart a densely packed clump of electronics in the hope of locating the
input to the TV circuitry with no schematic. :-(

I am (was) totally unfamiliar with Macrovision video copy protection because
I've never copied a commercial tape. I though this cyclical problem was some
kind of "beat frequency" interaction between oscillators in the VCR and DVD
player. The Radio Shack salesdroid was useless, claiming it had to do with
overheating. Why can't they just learn the 3 words "I don't know." There's
really no shame in admitting that.

My DVD player is as cheap as they come (or came --- at the time --- $40) and
most likely does not include firmware to disable Macrovision, even
undocumented. Their (Cyberhome) knowledge base has an entry for this very
problem, and sends you to the a Macrovision FAQ which essentially says,
don't even try to defeat it, you scofflaw! All I want to do is watch DVDs,
dammit.

I ordered one of these boxes from ClearPix link above.

BTW in my case the artifact was not too bad, and did not make a DVD
unwatchable (remember, I'm not recording). When I saw the brightening and
dimming, at first I thought it was random, and just meant the TV was getting
a little senile. Then my son explain that this happen every time the DVD
signal was sent through a VCR, internal or external. Aaaugh! Now it drives
me crazy.

I hope the stabilizer box works.

 

[Tom MacIntyre]

Why can't they just learn the 3 words "I don't know." There's
really no shame in admitting that.

Tell that to my kids...same stuff...better to make up a story than to
tell the truth/do the research...before anyone jumps in that it was
our fault...as far as I know, it wasn't. :-(

The big problem is that it will persist as a
trend...pattern...habit...IQ's of 140+ being wasted on
cable/satellite/video games...it's going to hit us hard in our later
years, when the people who are looking after us are battling Zarod in
the Delthorn Neverrealm, and we are losing our benefits.

The good thing is...it'll really hit them harder!

Tom

Tom

 

[Dave D]

My DVD player is as cheap as they come (or came --- at the time --- $40)
and
most likely does not include firmware to disable Macrovision, even
undocumented.

You'd be surprised. The cheap ones very often can be easily hacked via the
remote controls, though more commonly to make them multi region. It's the
more expensive brand-name ones which have a habit of needing to be
'chipped'.

Dave

 

[T o d d P a t t i s t]

You'd be surprised. The cheap ones very often can be easily hacked via the
remote controls, though more commonly to make them multi region. It's the
more expensive brand-name ones which have a habit of needing to be
'chipped'.

The cheaper they are, the more likely they are sold around
the world in various versions, and the more likely that the
firmware can be easily altered. This lets the seller put in
fixes and modify the initial video branding/logos so they
can be sold in different channels.

It also lets others remove/change macrovision or region
coding. The usual method is to put a binary image of new
firmware on a CD. When that CD is put into the DVD player,
the player recognizes the special filename as a new firmware
image and loads the new image. There are websites that
offer firmware images without region coding and macrovision
disabled. They have full instructions/images for many
machines.

I have a 1979 TV with RF only input that I've repaired so
many times it's a friend. I needed to add a DVD player and
I used the VCR as my RF modulator. All you need is the image
for your machine and a CD burner. If you want to get fancy,
these websites describe how to modify the logo that comes up
to personalize your player.