Making a DVD out of a copy protected VHS

[faz]

I am sure someone here on BARF has a good solution/recommendation for this.

We have quite a few (20+) VHS movies (mostly Disney and kids stuff) that I now need to convert to DVD so my daughter can watch it in the car, and also to speed up the scene selection and skip sections that she doesn't like, etc.


I have a lite-on 9008 VHS/DVD-burner but that doesn't allow copying any of these Disney movies to DVD. I bought a Sony RDR-VX535 yesterday from costco, hoping that would do it, and that doesn't allow copying either.

I have always paid for my music and my movies... never liked copying material to save a few dollars... and it really pisses me off that I can not use the material that belongs to me (paid for it) in the manner I like.

I did a little search and it seems like a 'video stabilizer' might be all that I need.

http://www.checkhere22.com/stabilizer/


The one below at $89 gets a bit pricey... but it seems to allow recording digital cable/DVR stuff to be copied over to DVD as well. (this will also be beneficial to me, as I can record some of my daughter's favorite Barney episodes from on-demand so I can have them in the car.)

http://www.xdimax.com/grex/grex.html


Anyone has any feeback on this? any better solutions out there that are perhaps cheaper/free? Anyone local has any of these stabilizers that I can borrow to see if they work?

thanks for your feedback on this.

 

[insyder]

I'd go the torrent route for the old VHS media. Lots of the old VHS Disney stuff is out there.

Video capture card is what I use to move TV media to DVD.

 

[NetKila]

You would need to do one of the following;

• VHS deck that does not honor the Macrovision protection, have that as the input to your dvd burner.
• Use the second VHS deck that you have with a Macrovision remover box (Video Stabalizer) wired between it and your dvd burner.
• Just get a digital copy and burn it. It will look better, be cheaper, and be easier.

 

[radvas]

Nearly all VHS VCRs or any other commercially produced video enabled device with analog out is required by law to use Macrovision's ACP (analog copy protection), which is a predecessor to modern forms of DRM. I'm sure there are boxes that circumvent the ACP.

As for that same box being able to decrypt digital cable / DVR content, that's a little more iffy. Cable boxes do indeed also have ACP chips on them for teh analog outputs, but they also use cryptographic protection of content as well (DTCP/IP). So you won't be able to get anything off the box that's DTCP protected. You can (by legal mandate) get non-encrypted programs off the box via firewire. You'll also need some software that reads the incoming program stream and does a live video capture of the stream (much like a digital camcorder). This is totally legal and legit. Some stations encrypt almost everything, while others are a mix of encrypted and non-encrypted content.

I'd be shocked if there was a "box" you could buy that would circumvent DRCP/IP. It uses fairly robust crypto, as well as a cert revocation system like BD+ does. So if one box were to get hacked, they'd just revoke the certs for that box and life would go on.

 

[faz]

Thanks guys for the pointers....

Insyder, I have zero knowledge about the torrent stuff... I will have to look into it sooner or later, I guess. Thanks for the pointer though, never crossed my mind.

Netkila, the last advice might be my best bet... I have block buster membership and can easily get the DVD versions of these, I guess, and then try and copy them. That has its own complications, but at least the problems are software limited.

radvas, wow... thanks for the detailed info. It seems like capturing digital comcast stuff on a DVD might be too much work.

:thumbup to all of you for replying. Thanks.

 

[radvas]

Netkila, the last advice might be my best bet... I have block buster membership and can easily get the DVD versions of these...

Blockbuster...! That's the worst idea ever!!! You should dump blockbuster and join Netflix. :teeth

 

[insyder]

..Netkila, the last advice might be my best bet... I have block buster membership and can easily get the DVD versions of these, I guess, and then try and copy them. That has its own complications, but at least the problems are software limited...

The software/process for moving divx rips that most torrents have as payload to dvd is miles less complex and time consuming than trying to determine copy protection schemes on new DVDs and then ripping and shrinking the content for burning. SRSLY.. learn torrents, Faz.

... It seems like capturing digital comcast stuff on a DVD might be too much work.

TV capture card and SageTV Recorder software FTW. Creates a digital copy of the analog output so is a lossy conversion, but good enough for Barney and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and easy as pie.

 

[faz]

The software/process for moving divx rips that most torrents have as payload to dvd is miles less complex and time consuming than trying to determine copy protection schemes on new DVDs and then ripping and shrinking the content for burning. SRSLY.. learn torrents, Faz.

TV capture card and SageTV Recorder software FTW. Creates a digital copy of the analog output so is a lossy conversion, but good enough for Barney and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and easy as pie.

I am learning Torrents now... if you can share any info on how to quickly switch avi to dvd (VIDEO_TS directory), it will be appreciated. I did a search and got a few pay/purchase results, and my head started to ache from all of the various crap out there. :loco

 

[faz]

And yeah, screw Netflix and their throttling bullshit. I quit them a long time ago after I realized what they were doing and why I wasn't getting my DVDs as early as it used to be.

My using blockbuster is more of a screw-you to netflix than me liking blockbuster. :teeth

 

[insyder]

I am learning Torrents now... if you can share any info on how to quickly switch avi to dvd (VIDEO_TS directory), it will be appreciated...

Use uTorrent for client, use ConvertXtoDVD for DVD burning/image making. If you save DVD data to disk for later reburns, I prefer Nero for burning duties of all types.

 

[faz]

Use uTorrent for client, use ConvertXtoDVD for DVD burning/image making. If you save DVD data to disk for later reburns, I prefer Nero for burning duties of all types.

Thanks... I am using uTorrent, but I thought ConvertXtoDVD should be purchased. I don't mind spending $50 or what not... if that is what I need to do.

 

[radvas]

And yeah, screw Netflix and their throttling bullshit. I quit them a long time ago after I realized what they were doing and why I wasn't getting my DVDs as early as it used to be.

My using blockbuster is more of a screw-you to netflix than me liking blockbuster. :teeth

Since I work for Netflix and am fairly new, I'm not going to pretend to be a customer service person and wade into this subject. I'll only say that it's too bad we lost you as a customer.

 

[209manny]

Thanks... I am using uTorrent, but I thought ConvertXtoDVD should be purchased. I don't mind spending $50 or what not... if that is what I need to do.

not if you get the torrent for convertxtodvd, I leave that to your own discretion:cool