I am considering buying a Geforce2 MX400 64mb video card with tv out, to allow me to watch dvd's from my pc on my tv as well as half decent gaming.

Will macrovision be output from the card (ie is macrovision output by the software I use, the dvd rom drive itself or the video card) and if so, how do I go about defeating it?

Can anyone suggest the best card for this purpose. So far I'm considering the Asus 7100 Pro T or Abit Siluro w/tv out.

System: PIII 800, 512mb PC133 SDRAM, Riva TNT2 M64 32mb vga, Belinea 19" monitor, Yamaha 2100S writer, Mercury 16X dvd rom.

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!

The best card for running your DVD through a VCR (which is where Macrovision screws things up) is a DXR decoder card from Creative. You can also find macrovision fixes for nVidia at <A HREF="http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/nvidia/index.html" target="_new">http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/nvidia/index.html</A>, but the DXR works better, using software found at <A HREF="http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/articles/macrovision_hardware.html" target="_new">http://www.digital-digest.com/dvd/articles/macrovision_hardware.html</A> to disable Macrovision.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

MacroVision only posses a problem when you are trying to record the output to VHS.
You will have no problems watching it.


Intel / AMD - <A HREF="http://www.llnl.gov/asci/news/white_news.html" target="_new">IBM are still the best</A>

BULLSHIT! Macrovision detects that it's connected to a RECORDABLE DEVICE and throws the picture into a tizzy! Your talking to experience here.

Heck, I tried connecting a VCR to my friends TV w/built in VCR, and even that went into copy protection mode , with no way to fix since the VCR was built into the TV!

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

what kind of tv do you have, because i have a toshiba 32" and when i hook my computer up to the svideo port, i can only get 800x600. and i cant really see text.
lol
i need to save up and get a nice hd tv...so i can play games, and actually read text on tv, without killing my eyes!
ugh.
but yeah...never had experience with macrovision screwing anything...but crashman's knowledge is respected by me...
oh, and crashman, you said you tried hooking up the vcr to the tv with the built in vcr, but why would you do that?
if the tv has a vcr, why hook another to it, other than to copy a vhs tape.
and when does macrovision play into that?[CONFUSED]

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

crashman is definitely right... as soon as it detects a connection to the recordable device, it will either make the screen flicker black every so often, or from color to black and white, or just fade darker and then brighter again.. but he's definitely right.. even when i hook my dvd player up to my vcr (my tv is old as [-peep-] lol) its protection comes on

why did I hook a VCR to a tv with built in VCR? I thought I already said the built in VCR was broken! And since newer VCR's have similar copy protection to DVD players, I couldn't even watch a movie on the TV! Makes me wonder if you can even hook a DVD player to a TV with a built in VCR?

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Actually, if it is anything like a consumer dvd player, macrovision is output all the time when the dvd movie tells the player to turn it on, not just when it is connected to a "recordable device". Whoever heard of a projector that could record? It is a combination of the macrovision signal and the gain controls in a vcr which cause the sync problems, ie brightness variation, colour switching and screen rolling etc.

And for the benefit of anyone that doubts my intentions here, I want to connect my card to the vcr in my daughters' bedroom and output the picture from the rf arial socket as they only have a 14" portable with no av socketry

Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!

hmmm i didnt read the vcr was broken...but yeah, i think that is pretty dumb....
i mean, it limits you to either buying a new tv, finding some hardware mod to disable macrovision, that is BS in my opinion...
i mean, i thought that you were supposed to be able to make copies of your own originals so that your originals dont wear out? hmm..that is odd..
even dvds...you know, so your dvds dont get scratched up...
but i guess that doesnt matter anymore...
very dissapointing.
with the vcrs, i am assuming that it is only when you are playing a tape that was bought...like i would still be able to copy a tape i made...
or if i hooked a dvd player up to a vcr, and put in a dvd that i made...
i would HOPE that i would be able to copy it that way....


-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

I know that at least the case of computers, they can detect whether Macrovision is used or not on the DVD. As for consumer DVD players, I think they probably do the same.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

macrovision just sounds like a big pain in the rear.....good thing i havent dealt with it yet....heh.

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

I know of quite a few ways to get around it.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

welp, i know who to ask when i need to know...
it is good to know things like this!

-DAvid

-Live, Learn, then build your own computer!-

"BULLSHIT! Macrovision detects that it's connected to a RECORDABLE DEVICE and throws the picture into a tizzy!"

No that's bull, macrovision is not "detecting" anything. Macrovision messes up the video signal is a why that TVs don't mind (mostly anyway), but will screw up the AGC in VHS VCRs. The macrovision signal is always there.

Tom.

OK, but explain then how it is that some OLD VCR's are not affected as all new ones are? VCR's are required by law to include items that cause such video degradation. Now it is possible that the signal is "there all the time", but the affect is obviously being intentionally amplified by VCR's. BTW, I don't know what they use for VHS to VHS copy protection, do you know?

What's the frequency, Kenneth?

Macrovision is the standard copy protection method used on both vhs and dvd (analog) copying, CSS is the standard for dvd digital copying.

Some old vcr's, and indeed some current ones, are unaffected by macrovision because they have Auto Gain Control (AGC) set at a level so as to not be screwed up by the macrovision signal. Tv's do not have this circuitry, but projectors do. Even so, some tv's can be affected by the macrovision signal. Disney videos were notorious for having a high macrovision level, in Europe at least, and caused many tv's here in Europe to screw up. Macrovision is carried by both composite and S-Video connections, but not component output. That is why component output (RGB in the UK) is the video connection of choice for projector and HDTV users. But there are no consumer vcr's with either component or RGB inputs, therefore macrovision is a supposed safe format. There are macrovision disable boxes available that fit between either dvd or vcr to vcr, allowing successful taping. But doing it through software would be a far more economical exercise.

Incidentally, Laserdiscs were never macrovision encoded.

Macrovision IS present all the time when it is enabled, but it is just a signal and cannot detect what type of equipment is attached to what.



Just when I thought I was out, they pulled me back in!