FW: Copying DVD to VHS: may be impossible

["Don Labriola" <don@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

> Walt:
> 
> There are a # of errors and bad assumptions in your message.
> 
> 1) You got the name wrong. "Macromedia" was the name of a software 
> company that made media-editing applications. You're thinking of 
> "Macrovision".
> 
> 2) Macrovision is not considered to be under the jurisdiction of the 
> DMCA, which covers only digital content-protection mechanisms. 
> Macrovision occurs in the analog domain.
> 
> 3) It's not true that "almost all published DVDs" license the 
> Macrovision technology. Best estimates are 2/3-3/4 of current titles 
> and dropping.
> 
> 4) There's no such thing as "Macrovision" encoding. Adding the 
> technology requires merely setting a bit in the content. The player 
> performs the copy-protection chores.
> 
> 5) Macrovision is not seen by many as a serious hindrance to copying 
> and hardly makes it "impossible". Macrovision is easily defeated (too 
> easily, in fact) by inexpensive "clarifier" boxes that can be 
> purchased from hundreds of sources on the Internet. Older VCRs that do

> not support the technology can be inserted in the signal chain to 
> filter it out. There are also other connection topologies -- again, 
> documented in a variety of places on the Net -- that allow the 
> technology to be circumvented. It's old news at this point.
> 
> 6) I personally believe that Macrovision will not be an issue much 
> longer. Major studios have discovered that protecting DVDs in the 
> analog domain does not justify Macrovision's licensing fees. Last 
> year, several high-profile releases, including the first installments 
> of "Harry Potter" and "Lord of the Rings" produced enormous profits 
> without Macrovision protection. At this point, it's probably just a 
> matter of time.
> 
> By the way, Macrovision produces an entire line of content-protection 
> technologies. The one that you're referring to, however, has no 
> official name, and is referred to simply as "Macrovision".
> 
> Hope this helps.
> 
> DL
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 08:50:21 -0700
> To: digital-copyright@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> From: Walt_Crawford@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: Copying DVD to VHS: may be impossible
> Message-ID: <OFEA8A2378.2E5376B9-ON88256D11.0056D994@xxxxxxx>
> 
> 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]