Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler How many DVDs have copy-protection

This question is a little long winded when I explain it, so bare with me. My parents are looking at buying a DVD player for my sister for Xmas. The old TV she has only has an coax input in it, not even composites. She does have a VCR though, and could hook the DVD player through the VCR using RCAs and then to the TV using the coax connection. However, I recall trying this once 2 years ago (after buying my DVD player/TV, but waiting for the TV to arrive) and the DVD would not play due to the copy protection. So after that long explanation, the question becomes, how many DVDs will this be a problem with? And is there any way to defeat it?

thanks for the help everyone (nothing like leaving the shopping to the last minute either )

i dont see how anyone can sell dvd's that wont play like that. how is the dvd gonna know. Id think that the player is sending the signal out through the inputs. no matter what dvd is in there.

that may be Brandon. I just trusted what the salesman said when I phoned him the next day and that was it was the DVDs fault. But he worked at Future Shop (your Best Buy equivalent) so you can imagine how knowledgeable he was. But I hadn't really thought about it maybe being the player?!?

Could it be Macrovision on the VCR preventing the DVD from playing? Any Macrovision experts on here...I not sure about this issue?

well, i know that once i tried to record a dvd to send a copy to a friend and for about an hour i couldnt sifgure it out. i tried all sorts of combos... turned out that i needed to change a setting with a remote. which we didnt have. but luckly we had a remote from a toshiba tv with the button i needed so all worked out in the end. you can probbly buy some sort of device which will change composite to coax. either a switch box or something else. but really i dont think you would have any problems. Id think the only copy protection would be for computers.

Oh and BTW the last few cd's i bought have copy protection, and i have an MP3 player so i rip my cd's so i can play it on there... well thanks for the invention of copyprotection because now i cant rip my new cd's... even though ive been able to bypass some of the protection one of my newest has been givin me problems.

I think it should be made illegal to do that to a disc. Alot of good it does me if i cant play it.

All DVD's are copy protected. You cannot run the video into a VCR and then use the Coax out and expect it to work - that's specifically what Macrovision is designed to prevent. The solution? Go to your nearest Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, Best Buy, etc and get an RF converter. They're about $30 and will convert the video and L/R audio into a coax connection for an older TV. I've used several in helping various relatives who refuse to upgrade their TV's (sigh) but want a DVD player (only to gripe that it doesn't look much better than their VCR...).

Buy a good one too. $30 ones usually do work twice as well as $15 ones.

Good luck!

Yep.. peter's right

This is what your looking for:

RF Converter

Well the actual cause is due to Macrovision being enabled in the DVD player itself, not the VCR. Like the VCR the Macrovision prevents one from recording from the DVD player. Unfortunately it means you can’t connect the DVD player to an old TV via a VCR. There are a number of players out there that either already have Macrovision disabled, can be disabled via finding a “secret” factory page, accessed through a specific sequence, or lastly can be disabled by flashing a players EPROM with modified firmware that will work around the Macrovision, these will also often include region free modifications.

It’s been a while since I’ve looked for such a player so can’t tell you which would be a good one currently but I have both a Malata and a cheaper Norcent DP-300 ( the DP-300 was < $70.00 last Christmas, excellent value…). I don’t know if there are any current Norcent DP-300 that can be made region / Macrovision free. Apex is also another brand that has often been region/macro free.

Do a search for region free or code free players. Often there’s even sites that sell modified players, virtually any kind, ( that have been “chipped” ) as well. I’ve never tried these and only have experience with the two above that were “discovered” to have these abilities… You’ll actually find it’s the cheaper players that often can be made region / macro free.

Here’s some good sites……..

http://www.nerd-out.com/darrenk/

http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=17

http://www.nerd-out.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=35

http://www.regionfreedvd.net/


Good luck, Jag

Right on, thanks very much guys. That helps a lot.