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Foxtel: FBO Using Macrovision?

L

Lord-Data

Jan 1, 1970
0
How long has foxtel been using Macrovision on the FBO channels? I'm sure,
recently, I've taped a couple of movies from FBO, with no problems. Now
(tonight) when I try and tape one, its getting macrovision encoding problems
... light/dark, and drop outs in picture, etc.

Jaycar sell a kit to remove "Older forms of Macovision" .. Anyone had any
luck with this and Foxtel's FBO? Or, alternatively, anyone have any other
suggestions for ways to tape a movie? (Legalities aside)

Thanks in advance!

--
 
P

pedro

Jan 1, 1970
0
Lord-Data said:
How long has foxtel been using Macrovision on the FBO channels? I'm sure,
recently, I've taped a couple of movies from FBO, with no problems. Now
(tonight) when I try and tape one, its getting macrovision encoding problems
... light/dark, and drop outs in picture, etc.

Jaycar sell a kit to remove "Older forms of Macovision" .. Anyone had any
luck with this and Foxtel's FBO? Or, alternatively, anyone have any other
suggestions for ways to tape a movie? (Legalities aside)

Thanks in advance!

They've been doing it for at least the last month or so. You need to use
an 'image stabiliser'. Do a net search.
 
J

John Tserkezis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Lord-Data said:
Jaycar sell a kit to remove "Older forms of Macovision" .. Anyone had any
luck with this and Foxtel's FBO? Or, alternatively, anyone have any other
suggestions for ways to tape a movie? (Legalities aside)

The new version of the kit works with later versions of macrovision, "Dr
Video Enhancer/Stabiliser MkII" cat # kc5390. Retails for AU$99.95. Note the
distinct absence of the word "macrovision" from their web site. The silicon
chip article (and the instrunctions) however spells out exactly what it does
and how it works.

From what I've heard, Hardly Normals also has a similar (pre-built of course)
black box that does the same thing. I do not know for sure if it handles the
later macrovision encodings though. Would be wise to check first.
 
M

Martin

Jan 1, 1970
0
Lord-Data said:
How long has foxtel been using Macrovision on the FBO channels? I'm sure,
recently, I've taped a couple of movies from FBO, with no problems. Now
(tonight) when I try and tape one, its getting macrovision encoding problems
.. light/dark, and drop outs in picture, etc.

Jaycar sell a kit to remove "Older forms of Macovision" .. Anyone had any
luck with this and Foxtel's FBO? Or, alternatively, anyone have any other
suggestions for ways to tape a movie? (Legalities aside)

It's funny that a couple of years ago we had Austar and were told that
because we pay for the service it is perfectly legal to tape any movie from
the movie channels, or any other channel. Has this changed or has Foxtel
just decided to be a pain in the neck?
 
C

Chris of 76

Jan 1, 1970
0
its funny, a couple of years ago because you paid for pay tv there was no
need for ads.
lol
same for software, music cd's etc.
we now pay for essentially nothing.
Chris
 
M

Mitch

Jan 1, 1970
0
Hello Michael,

Dick smith kit 5411 Will replace the vertical interval nicely.

Or do what I do.

Tape on a Beta machine. Ignores Macro.............

Regards,
Mitch.
 
J

John Smith

Jan 1, 1970
0
In aus.electronics Lord-Data said:
How long has foxtel been using Macrovision on the FBO channels? I'm sure,
recently, I've taped a couple of movies from FBO, with no problems. Now
(tonight) when I try and tape one, its getting macrovision encoding problems
.. light/dark, and drop outs in picture, etc.


macrovision sucks and will affect viewing on many types of devices,
not just recording to tape.


TV projectors, LCD panels, etc, may have great problems with macrovision
signal;s.


tell them (fox and macrovision vendors) to go to hell.

The ks an> Jaycar sell a kit to remove "Older forms of Macovision" .. Anyone had any
 
W

wim

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Smith said:
macrovision sucks and will affect viewing on many types of devices,
not just recording to tape.


TV projectors, LCD panels, etc, may have great problems with macrovision
signal;s.


tell them (fox and macrovision vendors) to go to hell.

That sounds like good policy.
 
K

klo

Jan 1, 1970
0
have a look at oatley electronics thay have on ready built for about $5 is
sold for "parts only" just solder the battery snap back on works perfect
(dont know it thay still av em got mine some time ago)
John Tserkezis said:
The new version of the kit works with later versions of macrovision, "Dr
Video Enhancer/Stabiliser MkII" cat # kc5390. Retails for AU$99.95. Note the
distinct absence of the word "macrovision" from their web site. The silicon
chip article (and the instrunctions) however spells out exactly what it does
and how it works.

From what I've heard, Hardly Normals also has a similar (pre-built of course)
black box that does the same thing. I do not know for sure if it handles the
later macrovision encodings though. Would be wise to check first.
<http://counter.li.org>
 
M

Mr TUBEAMPS

Jan 1, 1970
0
do you think i would help you
after what you sed about my mum.
 
J

John Tserkezis

Jan 1, 1970
0
That sounds like good policy.

Nice in theory, but you're left without cable TV as a result. While that may
very well be acceptable to most of us, it might not be acceptable to some.

I, as a matter of principal, remove macrovision regardless of if I'm having
problems or not. Never copied a tape, and never had any incliation to either.

I'm not having macrovision shoved down my throat. Likewise with UOP on my
DVD player. If I want to fast forward over the bloody copyright messages, then
I bloody well should be able to.
 
G

Graeme Dennes

Jan 1, 1970
0
John Tserkezis said:
wim wrote:

I, as a matter of principal, remove macrovision regardless of if I'm
having problems or not. Never copied a tape, and never had any incliation
to either.

I'm not having macrovision shoved down my throat. Likewise with UOP on
my DVD player. If I want to fast forward over the bloody copyright
messages, then I bloody well should be able to.

Would you share the techniques you use to remove macrovision and UOP?

Graeme
 
J

John Tserkezis

Jan 1, 1970
0
Graeme said:
Would you share the techniques you use to remove macrovision and UOP?

It is a function of the DVD player, it requires replacement firmware. Your
best bet is to google for this, and hopefully someone has already worked it out.
In my case, I wasn't so lucky. I extracted the firmware, and enlisted
assistance from the very friendly people at Area 450. I was also fortunate
enough to be in the situation to have a DVD processor that had already been
reverse engineered, so tools were already available. (albeit that needed a
little help themselves).

Unfortunately, most current players on the australian market use the mediatek
chipset, which last I heard (about a year ago) had not yet been sucessfully
reverse engineered.

<a couple of mintutes later>

Whoops, looks like it *has* been done. Looks like thanks should be in order,
a lot of work was being put into this.

A search on mipsx or mediatek on yahoogroups will reveal some good finds.

As far as UOP on the mediatek chipset goes though, you'll have to look
yourself. (as will I, when my player eventually dies of old age).
 
T

tcith

Jan 1, 1970
0
Martin said:
It's funny that a couple of years ago we had Austar and were told that
because we pay for the service it is perfectly legal to tape any movie from
the movie channels, or any other channel. Has this changed or has Foxtel
just decided to be a pain in the neck?

It's not Foxtel it's the studios who own the movies who insist on
macrovision being there - of it was a foxtel policy they would put it on
most material

Macrovision is a pretty poor copyright protection system, it relies on
the fact that the device recording the program can "see" the macrovision
signal in the video stream and put the interference on the tape.

Many models of VCR's and other recording devices can have the
macrovision disabled either by a firmware upgrade or a "hack" or they
never even have this subsystem installed - the other option is to
purchase a vision stabiliser that removes the macrovision information
from the signal.
 
E

eug k

Jan 1, 1970
0
In aus.electronics Mitch said:
Hello Michael,

Dick smith kit 5411 Will replace the vertical interval nicely.

quick question, will these kits fix rolling video when
switching between video sources with a basic video switch?

hoping it'll be cheaper than getting a proper switch that switches
at the right time.


thanks!
 
B

Bob M

Jan 1, 1970
0
eug k said:
quick question, will these kits fix rolling video when
switching between video sources with a basic video switch?

hoping it'll be cheaper than getting a proper switch that switches
at the right time.


thanks!

NOPE!

The reason that you get rolling video when switching from 1 video
source to another is that the video sources themselves are not "in
sync" with each other. The only way to "cure" this problem is to
either have one single sync feed that is distributed to all your video
sources (i.e. the ext. sync connection on your cameras) or a very
expensive video switch that digitally stores the incoming signals and
"syncronizes" them to the output sync source as required.

If you need more details, please feel free to send an email.

Cheers from Canada,

Bob M.
 
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