Mini FAQ: Macrovision "cheat" for the Canopus ADVC100

Dip switch settings: no. 5 and 6 OFF no. 1 depends
what input is: OFF when NTSC ON when PAL

When the video picture changes from normal to very little contrast (grey blur) Macrovision is used on the source material.
on the ADVC100 the second LED goes off, the first one will go on, and the "status" LED goes on.

The trick.....
Press and hold the silver button.... the color bar test picture will appear.. keep the button pressed !
after approx. 16 seconds, the test picture will dis-
appear, (to be safe keep button for 1 second longer pressed) and release button now, the ADVC100 will be still in the DIGITAL mode, press once more to switch to ANALOG
mode, and the ADVC100 will stay in this "cheat" mode, as long as it is switched on.

_
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]Bedankt, Thanks,

Fugitive.[/small]

 

fugitive2,

Appreciate your starting a new thread on this interesting subject.

When I depressed the Input Select button two nights ago, the movie disappeared from the PC monitor, and all that was left was a blue screen. When this button is held down for the correct amount of time, will the movie reappear on the monitor? I'm assuming it must, because if the screen remains blue, that would imply that no signal is being sent to the PC, and capture cannot be done.

Regards,
Gardener

 

I guess on that moment, the input mode is still
"DIGITAL" and the first LED is still on, see (edited)
MiniFaq.

 

fugitive2,

Your quote: Dip switch settings: no. 5 and 6 OFF. On the ADVC100 the second LED goes off, the first one will go on, and the "status" LED goes on.

My response: Per my previous post, The first LED (the one on the left side of the unit, which is the DIGITAL in) is unlit, and the second LED (ANALOG IN) is lit. This is opposite of what you say happens.


Your quote: Press and hold the silver button.... the color bar test picture will appear..

My response: Are you saying that the "color bar test picture" is the blue screen? That's what I see on my PC monitor when I press and hold the silver button.

Your quote: keep the button pressed ! after approx. 16 seconds, the test picture will disappear

My response: When the test picture disappears, what takes its place? The movie, or something else?

Your quote: (to be safe keep button for 1 second longer pressed) and release button now, the ADVC100 will be still in the DIGITAL mode, press once more to switch to ANALOG mode, and the ADVC100 will stay in this "cheat" mode, as long as it is switched on.

My response: You say that "the ADVC100 will be still in the DIGITAL mode", but my experience is that the DIGITAL IN LED will only turn on now (since it wasn't on previously), indicating the digital mode is active.

I'll try this trick out later tonight (my wife and I are going to dinner and shopping first). I'll report back around 11 pm PST.

Thanks for your patience,
Gardener

 

fugitive2:

[bold]SUCCESS!!!!![/bold]

Here is the process as clearly as I can make it:

1. Put all dips OFF (unless you have a PAL system).
2. Hook up the firewire cable from the unit to the PC while ensuring that both units are off (this is what the instructions say to do).

3. Turn on the power to the DVD player, PC and ADVC-100.

4. Set capture on the PC to Manual.

5. Start the DVD.

6. The ANALOG IN LCD of the unit will light, and if the DVD is Macrovision protected, the red STATUS light will stay on for about 18 seconds, turn off for about three seconds, and then repeat the process.

7. Depress and HOLD the INPUT SELECT silver button. The DIGITAL IN LCD will light up temporarily then turn off. Keep this button depressed until the red STATUS light stays off completely (about 15 seconds).

8. Release the INPUT SELECT BUTTON and press it briefly one more time until the ANALOG IN button lights up.

9. Macrovision is now bypassed!

Thanks to eddieb for initially bringing this process to my attention, to Minion who started it all, and to fugitive2 for his patience!

Gardener

 

Does this Macrovision hack work for the ADVC300? I was thinking of buying one of those because of all the built in image stabilization. I have a bunch of VHS tapes, mostly cult classics and Japanese pro-wrestling, that I want to backup to DVD. The quality of my tapes would really benefit from the ADVC300's image stabilization features. Thanks for any info.

Fred

 

Well, it all depends, do you have a Super VHS recorder
at the moment ? i allready had the ADVC100, but no
Super VHS recorder, with a Super VHS recorder you also
get a S-VHS output connection, which is better than
a composite video-out, so my "view" was, better buy a better (Super) VHS recorder, most likely the last one
i'll ever buy, before all is digital.
I bought a JVC HR-S8960 SuperVHS recorder, that has
build-in TBC, which works great for older recordings !

btw. take a look on the DVD forum "capture" on the
www.dvdrhelp.com site

 

So is that a Yes? The ADVC300 does have the macrovision hack like the ADVC100? I don't want to have to buy a SVHS deck for this thing to work, I already have a nice VHS player. Someone please clarify. Thanks.

Fred

 

Was trying to capture video from a couple VHS tapes today to back-up to DVD and came across a problem. Didn't know what it was at first, but comparing other retail tapes and doing some web research I came to the conclusion that this fluctuation from dark contrast to normal was my first exposure to macrovision copy protection. I thought I was out of luck and would be unable to back-up without purchasing more hardware. I did a search on macrovision on videohelp.com and eventually came across a thread referring to a "silver button trick" with the ADVC100 that would "remove macrovision".
Since this was the capture device I was using, I did another search on google for "silver button trick" and the first result pointed to this thread. Using the information you guys posted here has made it possible to accomplish my goal and I just wanted to post expressing my appreciation. Thanks.

 

Yes, and also the forums on the Canopus site,
that's where i found the trick, i believe other models
of the Canopus range don't have this feature,
ADVC100 is the only one of Canopus.