Oddity Archive: Episode 56 - Macrovision (and one other nostalgic copy-protection hassle)

[@vwestlife]

That Rovi logo is so bile-inducingly unimaginative. These days it is seemingly mandatory for a corporation's logo to be in all-lowercase and to include an accent-colored swoosh or arc.

[@TheSuperDGaming]

I didn't think id see you here. You make great videos also :-)

[@Teucizapan1969]

"Rovi" sounds like a dog's name!

[@ab8jeh]

I love it

[@ABCEasyas--]

Amen to that. Most logos nowadays are boring lowercase wordmarks. Closing logos have gotten unimaginative as well.

[@robertcarldecker]

@@Teucizapan1969 it does! “Here, Rovi!” *whistle* Woof woof!

[@raleigh2600]

Back when Circuit City was in business they would sell "video stabilizers" next to the blank VHS tapes. Basically, it removed the Macrovision protection, and that's all. (It never advertised this feature, but every AV geek knew what it was really meant for.) These boxes are still made.

[@tamacat2001]

raleigh2600 I know what you're talking about - I bought one at a yard sale not too long back.

[@jimlocke9320]

Macrovision did create problems during playback on some TV sets. The TV picture is generated from left to right scanning lines, top to bottom. When the bottom is reached, the beam makes several passes across the screen as it returns bottom to top. The return to top is called the "retrace" interval. Many TV sets have circuitry to shut the beam off completely during retrace. However, some TV sets omitted that circuitry and depended on the beam being at the black level to prevent the scanning lines from appearing on the screen during retrace. (Turning up the brightness on these sets revealed the retrace lines.) (Vacuum tube TV sets were more likely to omit the blanking circuitry than "solid state" sets.) Macrovision inserts blotches of white during the retrace interval, that appear as annoying line segments sloped upward left to right, overlaid on the TV picture, on affected TV sets. The line segments vary in width during playback. The video stabilizer had a legitimate function removing those white line segments on those TV sets. Since it had the legitimate use, stores were justified in selling it to solve problems for customers. There was an effort to have the FCC allow Macrovision on broadcast signals to copy protect certain shows. However, this would be a modification to the broadcast standards which would affect some of the TV sets in use adversely. The FCC denied the request. Note that Macrovision took advantage of a feature added to newer VCRs at the time, to improve picture quality. Many older VCRs made perfectly good copies of Macrovision protected tapes.

[@PlayerFiveVids]

15:07 _NOTE: We have tracked your IP address. Just sayin'_ Good luck, I'm hiding behind 7 proxies.

[@ryanm2279]

LOL!

[@superstarstorm9477]

All those proxys are hacked and I have rendered your pc or such what useless.

[@TheSwordsmanInBlack]

super starstorm oh shat

[@superstarstorm9477]

OrphanOfTheMoon what?

[@TheSwordsmanInBlack]

super starstorm my pc! it's fuckin' dead! you monster! :(

[@mymangodfrey]

Oh, hey, here’s a commenter showing up seven years late. Anyway: this episode was interesting! My parents, sadly, bought a Betamax player in the early 80s, so when they finally waved the white flag and bought a VHS, we had two VCRs. I got 15 years of heavy use out of that war-horse Beta player. When a rental movie was good, I’d dub it to a blank Beta tape after I watched it. I always assumed Macrovision was a scam, because my copies from Macrovision tapes looked and sounded fine. Now I learn that there’s yet another way that the poor li’l Beta format was slightly better than VHS.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

Before Macrovision, there was a system called Stop-Copy and that was on both Beta and VHS. Many of those tapes are unwatchable on modern equipment, as the picture steadily rolls.

[@AndrewsMagicandMore]

eyeh8nbc However there are capture devices that bypass the vertical rolls though.

[@und4287]

Stop-Copy "protected" tapes were just encoded with a weak video signal.

[@Larry]

ver here you could buy SCART leads that would rip out the Macrovision if you wanted to make copies.

[@chronosmusics]

+Larry Bundy Jr Seriously? Nobody had a problem with that though?

[@Larry]

ChronoJustin Well they sold them as devices that "enhanced picture quality" the macrovision ripping was a secret secondary feature, even it it was the only reason people bought them.

[@KurisuYamato]

I wish SCART had been a thing here in the states. T_T

[@Tornado1994]

Its a damn shame that US NTSC only got Composite.

[@robeloox22]

whats his theme never got the name

[@GabrielleCenter2000]

My Chitty Chitty Bang Bang 1996 copy DVD had the Macrovision logo at the end. That was the first logo I wasn't afraid of as an early 2000s kid/baby.

[@wadmodderschalton5763]

(11:21) I wish to see a future episode on the topic of Copy-Protected music CDs on Oddity Archive. Mainly to also discuss more on XCP, MediaMax, and Cactus Data Shield.

[@lezbriddon]

the ferguson vhs recorder model vhs10b (released around early 1986) was totally immune, you could play a macrovision protected tape on any old vhs into it, hit record, and the film was copied great and played back on any other machine without any issues, the machine made such a damn good recdording that the pirated tapes //still// contained the macrovision signal! yes you got it, no one could pirate your pirates unles sthey also had a vhs10b! (dont ask how i know, or where all those crocodile dundee tapes in our village came from...)

[@ChakkyCharizard]

Oh man, a Trinitron! That takes me WAAAAY back! Used to have one of those growing up. Was quite a bit newer though, as I'm pretty young. We bought it when we moved into my childhood home, so that'd put it around 2004. Probably one of the last Trinitrons made lol. Was one of the first TVs to support 1080p (1080i?), my dad said...Anyway, when I was 8-- and this was about four years later-- I took this beautiful TV, and I scuffed it with my dog's electric nail file. On purpose. Because why not?

[@ilikebananassometimes3608]

On principal I made a point of never buying any CD with a Sony copy protect logo on it. So ultimately their paranoia cost them a few sales.

[@12voltvids]

I picked up a perfect condition S-VHS deck for 15.00

[@jmm1233]

hate that macrovision , they ruined the collection and prosperity of valuable movie material

[@YTP1137]

H378F5HW349ELWR Now give me my amnesty.

[@zmbdog]

I've gotten around the DVD protection with my DVD recorder, an RF mod and two VCR's connected to each other. There was a bit more to it, I don't recall the exact configuration between these and the TV as it was over 15 years ago and really just a fortunate accident. I was making a compilation tape using footage from both DVDs and VHS tapes, not actively trying to get around any protection since 95% of my collection had none anyway. But i found that trying to record the DVD playback of "From Hell" with the first VCR would trigger the copy protection but recording with the 2nd wasn't detected.

[@Psylliumhead]

OK, I'm an old guy, 59, and have had VHS since the late 70's. When machines were $1,000.00 and blank tapes $25.00. Tapes had copy guard on them in the 70's, what was that?

[@Teucizapan1969]

Copy-Guard worked by shortening the time duration of the Vertical Synch pulse on a video signals. VCRs relied on a precise timing so as to lock the picture. Obviously if the timing was off, the recorded video (and sometimes playback) would roll.

[@afloyd4976]

It's funny how a GoDVD by Sima can defeat Macrovision completely, and that Sony DRM crap on those CDs is easily defeated in 2 ways: Hold down the Shift key (Windows) as you load the CD or use a black sharpie and draw on the visible CDROM track, rendering it unreadable. Turning off media autoplay also helps.

[@cleverlyblonde]

Rip it in iTunes on a Mac ;) Actually on Macs, the software could not install itself because the user doesn't get admin rights without entering their password, so you had to manually run an "Enhancements" program on the CD to trigger the rootkit. IF you did not however, but just ripped it in iTunes (or whatever you preferred), you'd get the music. :)

[@afloyd4976]

The sofware was also easily defeatable by holding down the Shift key while inserting the CD. At least Windows users don't need crApple crapware to rip CDs.

[@TackyRackyComixNEO]

I always thought the Sharpie trick was just an urban legend?

[@TheGamerWithMore]

VWestlife did a thing on this.

[@foxhack5011]

... huh. So that's why my Sony S-VHS deck kept auto adjusting the picture on a few of my old tapes. The funny thing is that I seem to have a ... bootleg-ish tape with Macrovision on it.

[@BaccarWozat]

There was more copy protection before Macrovision that was prevalent. One kind of tape encoding forced the copy to switch video modes rapidly. Another would play the movie back in LP or EP/SLP even if it was originally recorded in SP. The DRM was in the VCR itself and was checking to see if the video out composite cables were being used, and would alter the signal accordingly. The solution was to buy a different VCR, but in an age before the internet, people had it tougher to learn which ones had this DRM. I had a workaround, of sorts-- play the tape in a VHS camcorder (which was stuck in SP mode no matter what)! It HAD to send the signal through the composite cable to the VCR because they had to keep the cost down and couldn't have another jack in the camera!

[@frankroper282]

You can view the vertical blanking interval on a CRT TV without a vertical hold control by reducing the vertical size (height) ...but inconvenient as it's usually a pot on the circuit board. For the serious explorer of stuff hidden in the edges of a TV image, you can get a used security system type black&white monitor with a 5 or 7 inch CRT for $10 or so -- must have UNDERSCAN switch to show the vertical and horizontal blanking bars.

[@generalcoon47]

The people at Sony should've been arrested for computer hacking after pulling a sleazy stunt like that.

[@GeoNeilUK]

Agree, people at Sony should have gone to jail and the company facing bankruptcy through the imposed fines. In the UK we have the 1990 Computer Misuse Act meaning the whole rootkit thing was a criminal offence here and I'm sure other countries had laws to the same effect.

[@TheMediaHoarder]

And for contributing to the decline of music sales!

[@Greeceindirestraits]

+generalcoon47 Isn't it weird that you can find 6 month old CDs, that you can get both the music and the physical object of CD and artwork for less money than if you buy just the music from an online digital store?

[@WAQWBrentwood]

Copy protection can eff up legitimate copying too: I had several personal videotapes ("home movies" shot with a VHS càmcorder.) that my then stand-alone DVD recorder couldn't dub due to "copy protection". I assume​ that some stray signal was recorded (it didn't effect every tape from that camera). I ended up pushing the video through the RF input of an older WinTV capture card and burning the DVDs on a PC - of course with the quality loss of using RF input rather than Composite. 😣

[@JL-sm6cg]

So, when I bought my first DVD player, and the only way I could plug it into my main TV was via my VCR, Macrovision is what was making my DVD pictures go dim-bright-dim-bright-dim-bright...? This was when I also had to scrape enough money up to go buy a brand new TV for it that had the necessary outlets to plug my DVD player directly into it.

[@jimkarlock9371]

Some (maybe all) Beta recorders had blankers on their outputs which removed Macrovision. Presumably their purpose was to remove the VIR signal which confused some color TVs. .

[@SarafinaSummers]

Poster up in a tech call center: "Copy softeware illegally, and you could get this hardware absolutely free!" Underneath, a picture of a pair of handcuffs...

[@djalland1]

Nice use of the 1975 FA Cup final between West Ham and Fulham at 2:22 That's my form of geekery done

[@provanitiwow]

What’s funny is that some of the Copy Controlled CDs violated the Red Book Standard, by having the Compact Disc logos on the discs. The Red Book Standard doesn’t have that much in Copy Protection.

[@KylesDigitalLab]

The Red Book was published back in 1980, when computers had just kilobytes of RAM. There was no point in copy protection because there were no CD-Rs and Sony's DAT format didn't come out until 1987. There were digital audio recorders before DAT but hardly nobody bought them so the music industry didn't care.

[@AndrewsMagicandMore]

The beginning clip may have used an early capture device that doesn't take Macrovision material too well, or one that actually came with a PC computer (not a laptop) drive. There are capture devices that bypass Macrovision (though some have over-brightness as a side effect)

[@ccateni28]

Rovi is now Tivo. :0 My how times change.

[@TimelordR]

An interesting look into copy protection for video & audio media.

[@faaaukkk309]

Love the Macrovision effect on the opening titles! :D

[@Astinsan]

I do enjoy ben’s roll out of information. Thanks Ben

[@sunlitspace542]

Rovi is now TiVo Corporation, which then merged with Xperi on May 29, 2020.

[@MW3ACRisbeast]

"Scrambled, Ben wants more money" and you deserve it too!

[@LeeONardo]

I'm not sure if it was the same thing but over here in the UK I borrowed a Duran Duran album from the library and it had a protection on it where if you copied it (in my case to cassette) the recording would be broken up all the way through, yet the original CD would play fine in anything you put it in.

[@iamnomad101]

About adjusting the vertical hold, you could try opening up the TV. There might be some tiny dials in there that you have to adjust with a screwdriver. However, IT IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL THAT YOU DO NOT TOUCH THE CRT!!! That thing can hold a lethal charge for an extended period of time unless it is discharged. My family had a Panasonic TV with PIP from 2000, I believe. I never tried to copy any tapes because my family rarely, if ever, bought any blank ones, so I never experienced Macrovision interfering with the picture on the TV. I wish we still had the TV, but unfortunately it died in my hands several years ago (oops!). And one more thing: Is that time code visible in the vertical blanking interval of that Beta tape?

[@AlexDeChristian6323]

A vhs or dvd protected with macrovision can not prevent the audio from them being recorded.

[@televisedpork7993]

Growing up in Russia in the 90s, all we had was pirated/bootleg tapes lol.

[@Glazier160]

Same, but with DVD'S

[@adamjhuber]

11:53 - yes, Sony created the concept of a Rootkit virus. Good job Sony.

[@TheLazurus]

finally a video about macrovision!

[@bobskie321]

You're right Beta don't react to macrovision as much a VHS (3:27). I can copy a VHS with macrovision to Betamax without problem. However the macrovision is also copied to the Beta tape which will react if copied back to VHS.

[@michaelethangross3395]

Some VHS machines don't react to it either i.e. RCA VCRs made through about 1996 well past when almost all others were adjusted to react to it around 1989-90 if they didn't already . . .

[@janchristianursuaaguilar7434]

i think i saw those copy-control cd's from japan between 2002 to 2004 i saw them at a thrift stores in the philippines i think.

[@BrandondorfRaguz]

I know it's quite possible to rip dvd even though it has Macrovision installed into the disc or vhs. But some people can find a way to record the vhs even though it's got that on there. Also, that flash effect for the Copy Protected triangle comes from the 1989 extended Jim Henson Productions logo like as done with the Kermit head.

[@BlakeTechnology99]

+Brandondorf Raguz Macrovision only stops you if you are using a DVD recorder, VCR, or "analog capture device" to copy the content. If you are ripping a DVD (like w/ Hand Brake), it won't be Macrovision that stops you, but CSS.

[@BrandondorfRaguz]

DVD Shrink that I'm sure of will bypass all of those.

[@randypanthegoatboy7114]

The Cat's Meow, great movie.

[@Piefav2]

H378F5HW349ELWR DO I GET AMNESTY NOW?!

[@slade307]

For me, the issue I had with some TVs and Macrovision was with dark scenes. I would get a dark bar across the top of the screen. This ONLY happened with Macrovision encoded tapes. ...and Macrovision was quite vocal in denying that their encoding caused any problems with normal playback of the tape. It seemed to be most noted on the release of Back to the Future - possibly because of the movie's popularity. Older VCRs did not have the AGC that Macrovision affected. My old Quasar VH5200 portable (luggable) VCR could copy Macrovision with no problem at all. The unit was manufactured in 1979. My Panasonic PV-5500 from 1982 could not copy Macrovision tapes.

[@TremiRodomi]

My Sharp VCR from 1987 is completely 100% immune to Macrovision. And I believe it was made after the government cracked down on VCRs without AGC circuits.

[@waterandafter]

This got me thinking... any chance on a V-chip episode?

[@mitch19636]

I have some Videos on Betamax that have macro on them. Many TVs had to be modified or the picture on the TV would just be a mess.... (1980s). Easy to get around by just using a time base corrector. Which I made for about $90.

[@Aeduo]

My grandma had a TV that had trouble with macrovision level 1, wasn't effected by level 2. Being that I lived there for a few years, any DVD I'd watch would have that brightening and dimming during the entire thing, and it sucked.

[@legionofdoom2009]

Stop! ... I'm not here!

[@ryanm2279]

*3 men awkwardly stand by the car*

[@otaking3582]

Really? That's a shame, because a cute tsundere voiced by Rie Kugimiya is the only thing that could make this video better...

[@Dewotto]

HA! I bootleg onto Beta tapes, your encryption can't stop me! HAHAHAHAHA!!!

[@maggot6660]

I don't get it why is he hiding behind a box?

[@und4287]

Privacy...

[@PhilMante]

I think Ben has Asperger's/Autism and values his privacy. Plus, it's a reference to Wilson from Home Improvement.

[@imrustyokay]

5:57 Is that Jon Lovitz?

[@Robdeltonie]

Since no one said this in the comments (as far as I can see), I'd figured I'd let you know why you were experiencing troubles with Macrovision and the SVHS deck. Most SVHS decks have a built-in TBC (Time-base corrector), which is used to clean up artifacts when playing back tapes. It is well-known that TBCs can also remove the artificial artifacts made by Macrovision, so if that was turned on, Macrovision was being removed on-the-fly. That's probably why SVHS decks aren't being produced anymore (besides it being obsolete technology). Because SVHS decks with TBCs can be used to circumvent Macrovision, it is illegal to manufacture and sell them under the DMCA. But I digress. Just thought I'd let you know!

[@Psy500]

TBC still exists and it wasn't just SVHS decks that ignored Macrovision, most professional AV gear did as well as they had far better noise reduction logic. Also back then manufactures legal defense was it was not their responsibility to ensure copy production of a 3rd party worked.

[@TheGamerWithMore]

I found a DVD that has Macrovision on it. Movie Name: Toys Release company: FOXMacrovision Level: 1 and 2

[@brandontechnerd]

Please enter "H378F5HW349ELWR" within the next 2 seconds for amnesty.

[@DvdXploitr]

I was told that if you use a 2-head VCR to dub macrovision tapes, the protection wouldn't kick in....I don't know if you need a 2-head VCR as the source machine or 2-head VCR as the recording machine or both the source and recording unit needed to be 2-head machines....is this true? or just a myth?

[@nathanielenochs1843]

You can also get an macrovision degraded picture when you hook your DVD player to the VCR even when your not recording anything.

[@PhilMante]

Hey ben, just to let you know, I cheered really, really loud at the 5:40 mark of the video. Thank god I'm not the only one who hates bad music.

[@LiEnby]

doesnt the rootkit make use of the autorun feature on windows XP? so it wouldnt even run on modern shit

[@TheCointreaux]

What about Black Boxes? They worked fairly well to thwart descrambling.

[@und4287]

Those were used for getting cable PPVs for free

[@DAVIDGREGORYKERR]

The album called "A New Day Has Come" by the French Songstress from Quebec you know who I mean nudge nudge wink wink say no more.

[@ThatWeirdoWhoMakesVideos]

I hate copy protection if your trying to transfer a video tape that has copy protection to dvd well dome people won't get very far but you can bypass it some how do I've heard

[@johntracy72]

I would turn Taylor Swift down too, but not for copyright reasons, but because I don't care for her.

[@ibrahimorhan2215]

0:51 And here we have a true nightmare fuel.

[@SubPablum]

I had a VHS in line anti-copy protection box that worked pretty well except in only ran on batteries that did NOT always last as long as a tape. I was going to wire up an external power cord but then they came out with the DVD-R, well, I just went with that. DVD copy protection is a joke. Not a very nostalgic post really. Sorry.

[@bobskie321]

Are today's computer with modern antivirus still vulnerable to that CD? (12:10)

[@ylwpyro9549]

Probably, but I still wouldn't play it.

[@izzystar5904]

Windows computers might still be vulnerable, but Linux users might be able to use it unless it tries to infect at the MBR or BIOS level

[@jonyoshi1twitchaccount385]

Tivo is Rovi/Macrovision for your knawledge

[@asd36f]

4:00 - Jim Lord looks a lot like Bob Hoskins wearing a bad wig :-)

[@LiEnby]

Best part of u can rip the rootkit CDs on a PS3 xD

[@artistwithouttalent]

So under what circumstances would Macrovision work?

[@Teucizapan1969]

It depended on a circuit inside a VCR called the Automatic Gain Control. Think of it as a volume control on your stereo. If the sound coming in is too loud, the control responds by turning the volume down and vice versa. Macrovision worked by confusing that circuit by making the video seem higher or lower than it actually was and the Automatic Gain Control (AGC) responded by adjusting the video levels (too dark, too light, too dark, too light, etc..) I hope this explanation helps.

[@artistwithouttalent]

Tony Mendoza That does, thanks.

[@afloyd4976]

The protection on the VHS of E.T. would flash the screen if you played it through a VCR then to a TV in addition to the tell tale brightening / darkening crap.

[@Teucizapan1969]

Yes, that is how Macrovision worked.

[@RetroCheater81]

Rosanne Cash rules

[@gdawg2389]

Why the boxes, man? Afraid someone might think you're Danny McBride?

[@shanuthejackal4817]

Is Episode 59 the follow-up to this?

[@frostychocolatemilkshakes2944]

Don't copy that floppy! :)

[@TheSwordsmanInBlack]

Rebecca Wolf "floppy"

[@Tornado1994]

"Come on Guys! I thought ya knew better".

[@daytonsMusicRoom]

Macrovision was bad!

[@nitrate92]

GRAFIX

[@HuskyGamersUNITE]

Your camcorder does the same as HDTV's,the signal will just cut off when it gets too weak. That's why everyone says CRT to use for VCR's. Get an older camecorder, or buy a Dazzle and rip it to your PC.

[@plerpplerp5599]

Just shows how pathetic some human beings are...

[@macnerd93]

Betamax was better in the eyes of the pirate as Macrovision didn’t work on Beta machines they were unaffected.

[@StefanSreto]

bro

[@XaneMyers]

5:42 Do you remember what Taylor Swift song was playing? I think her songs are stupid and love reversing them.

[@mattwo7]

I wonder if EA used or uses Macrovision for game DVDs.

[@riceboy1701e]

Ben: please create a video documentary about the silly KZbin video intros...like...er...yours. ;-) Some last over a minute. Self-aggrandization at its finest.

[@fjccommish]

Woody Allen movies were/are awful: 0 entertainment value. Waste of time to copy protect them - nobody wants to watch them.