Re: digital-copyright Digest 24 Apr 2003 15:00:00 -0000 Issue 183

["Larry J. Blunk" <ljb@xxxxxxxxx>]

> 
> Virgil,
> 
> There's another issue that has very little to do with copyright law--except
> that DMCA could creep in.
> 
> To wit, unless PBS behaves quite differently from other DVD producers, you
> won't be *able* to make a VHS copy of your DVD.
> 
> Almost all published DVDs include Macromedia encoding. All commercially
> available VCRs include Macromedia circuitry.
> 
> These VCRs will not make usable recordings of DVDs with Macromedia
> encoding. That's quite deliberate.
> 
> (It's also the reason that you can't loop DVD output through a VCR to get
> to a single video input: The output is, at best, heavily distorted--again,
> thanks to Macromedia.)
> 
> DMCA comes in because bypassing Macromedia protection could involve
> violation of the overreaching statute.
> 
> Not a legal opinion, but technologically, it's a lot easier to buy a
> $60-$70 DVD player...
> 
> -walt crawford-
> 
> --responding to:--
> 
> [query from Virgil Varvel re copying a PBS DVD to VHS for circulation]
> 


    The technology is called Macrovision (from a company of the same
name), not Macromedia.   This is an analog signal that was originally
designed for analog VHS tapes to prevent tape-to-tape copying.   VCR's
do not include Macrovision circuitry, but rather are required by the
DMCA to not attempt to remove or alter the signal so as to improve
the quality of a recording.   The irony is that since DVDs are digital,
there is no way to encode the analog Macrovision signal in the movies themselves.
The analog Macrovision signal generation circuitry is actually embedded in DVD
players and DVDs contain a single digital bit which tells the DVD player
whether or not to turn on the Macrovision generation circuitry.

    There is a way to make VCR recordings of DVD videos by using a PC
with a DVD player and a device known as a scan converter.  The
scan converter converts the VGA monitor output of a PC to a NTSC
signal which can be fed to a regular TV or a VCR.  These are completely
legal devices and go for around $85 and up.   They are normally used for
connecting PCs to TVs or video projection devices with a NTSC input.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?sku=A46-4004