A 5 digit password encryption system did in fact exist for VHS. Specifically the rare mosly unknown 25 Mbps 4:2:2 chroma space "Pro HD" D-VHS variant. The videotape recordings were only visible and heard by using the correct VCR after typing in the correct password on the remote control by the critics. It was used by the MGM and Universal motion picture industries. As well as the WB TV broadcast network back in 2004 for "dailies" and film screeners. This was years before the eventual release of the bluray format. I own a complete three piece setup that was only sold via contract directly from JVC for a little less than $40,000. I have a few videos explaining how this wonderful concept works.
I used an old "piano key" early VCR to record with. This took no notice of macrovision. All my copies were fine. Guessed it just did not even try to adjust the recording color or brightness as it was too primitive LOL
When DVDs came out in 1996/1997, the Macrovision system carried over to DVDs, however, unlike VHS, where the pulsating blocks in the vertical blanking area are already embedded in the VHS video signal, DVDs generate those same pulsating blocks in the playback circuit. Commercial DVDs simply needed to have a digital flag (bit) set to either "on" or "off" to enable Macrovision upon playback. Macrovision also added a newer layer of protection on DVDs called Colorstripe, which is also enabled on playback, the artifact only shows on VHS recordings of protected DVDs but not during normal playback of DVDs on regular TV monitors because that feature took advantage of the VHS (or any consumer) video recorder's heterodyning of color signals.
@@vwestlife The most popular early-2000s DVD player that had a hidden menu that allowed disabling MacroVision & region coding was the Apex AD-1500. It was also one of the cheapest DVD players at the time, cheaper than established brands of the time. From what I remembered, a special firmware needed to be burned on a blank CD-R and loaded into the AD-1500 in order to allow users to access the special menu.
@@vwestlife The Omni 3300 DVD player was the only model in Aust that had MV already disabled straight out of the box, only avail from Strathfield TV and car audio sales back in '02
There was an early video copy protection system I found on a Betamax tape called "CopyLock" or something. It messed with the colorburst, enough that my old plasma TV wouldn't show any video from that tape. A TBC killed it..... mostly. A scene with mostly blue would show a small faint horizontal bar of red streaking down the picture.
I'd say that probably did keep a lot of people from trying to copy the tape, but I'm sure the sort of people who would buy a MS-DOS tutorial would be technically inclined enough to know that it was complete BS... or at least they'd want to try copying the tape just to see what would happen. MacroVision though, everyone who pirated tapes had equipment to get around it, so the only thing it ever did was give an unwatchable picture to people who only wanted to watch a DVD (or Laserdisc) by hooking it up to their VCR because their TV didn't have a video input. I have a newer Panasonic OmniVision VCR from 2003, and it's only very slightly affected by MacroVision; it's so faint that you wouldn't notice it at first.... then it only gets mildly annoying once you actually do notice it.
TheGamerWithMore Disney did the same that were on all Disney VHS releases, along with other home video distributors of its time used Macrovision encoding for copy protection where the picture goes dark, you can’t see it, but when it came back, it was fine for 5 seconds and goes dark again.
MTN Productions yup. I found a way around that. I had bought a home movie editor box from Radio Shack back in the day. It was basically a box you could connect 2 VCRs or 2 camcorders to add fade in and fade out between home movie scenes. One day I stumbled on something interesting. I found that if you played a copyright protected tape and adjusted the fade on slightly (making the picture slightly darker) you could copy almost any tape. Honestly the picture difference was barely noticeable as far as it being darker. I copied so many tapes like this back in the day. Later on I found the same concept work with my DVD player and my DVD writer (home component style). It seems like by darkening the picture, it must make any copyright signal weaker and the recording VCR can't detect the signal. That Radio Shack box was a Archer Special Effects Switcher (mod# 15-1274). I loved that little gadget.
olskool71 I tried that and I could never get it work. Maybe it has to do with the manufacturer and / or model of VCR your using. I even tried using a dummy VCR in between the player and recorder thinking the recording VCR would not see the copyright signal. That never worked either. I remember trying extra long RCA cords and cause I thought maybe signal loss with an extra long cord would work......nope. I tried so many ideas using stuff that I had and the Archer fader box was the only thing that ever worked for me. You lucked out with that one. 🍻
@@dgpsf If the studio's weren't so greedy at the time and gouging the rental companies for $80 per copy (also sold at retail for the same astronomical price, that's $158 today!) instead of a more reasonable $20 even in the 80's, maybe the guy would have bought more copies for himself instead of pirating every rental he could get his hand on. Granted he probably would have still copied many, but he might have bought some moves he really liked and wanted better quality from.
Hey, I have that same Panasonic VCR. I bought it brand new back in the day. It was the only model I could find that would let me record in the "LP" 4hr mode. And trust me, I looked in every electronics store in my area. I ended up buying two of them so I could dub tapes. Still have both of them and they both still work. Panasonic has never let me down.
Daniel Daniels I could never figure out why they did that. My father bought a top of the Sony VCR in the late 80's and I could not believe the LP mode was not available. Honesty the quality was not that bad compared to "SP". The picture was just not as sharp looking. I almost never used "SLP/EP" because it just looked to fuzzy for me. I used to buy a lot of the "T-160" tapes and use LP speed to get 5hr & 20 min per tape. It was the best compromise between time and quality (imo).
@@thiago7542 Oh my god, the audio at EP mode was horrible, unless you had a HiFi VCR. (EP with HiFi was indistinguishable) In the LP 4hr mode, at least the linear audio track was not as bad.
I have a PCI TV tuner card. I can digitize anything with it's AV input, because the card totally immune to any copy protection system (doesn't notices them).
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 Expert. ☺ (But it needs Windows XP computer, because no newer drivers available.) I don't know if any other brand immune to copy protections or not...
@@zsombor_99 I can personally confirm that the Hauppauge Win-TV HVR-1290 ignores copy protection. It works with Hauppauge's WinTV software, or with a DirectShow capture driver. I used to run it on my main Windows 10 PC, but it now resides in my server, which runs Windows Server 2019.
@@VectraQS Mine is a "WinFast TV 2000 Expert" card. I using it via the DScaler software and works perfectly (only teletext needs some buffering options enabled). The only thing is: it needs a four pin sound input on the motherboard, because the sound is analog only (can't do it via software). The last driver for my card was for Win XP, so it can't work on any newer system (as far as I know).
vhs macrovision didnt affect ferguson model vhs10b video recorders, they were totally immune, in fact so immune, they even recorded macrovision to the copy making the copy protected from copying on other non vhs10b recorders!!! - everyone in the village wanted to borrow my ferguson lol
Really old VCRs are impervious to Macrovsison. However, even after it came about, there were still quite a few VCRs that were immune to it. Even if you didn't have a Macrovision-immune VCR, you could get a device that would beat macrovision, and as such, allow copying of pre-recorded tapes with no issue. I happen to have a 1996 RCA VCR that is immune to macrovision.
In many cases, if you are comfortable opening up a VCR, you can make a simple adjustment to beat macrovision-you need to find the video agc adjustment, and turn it down, so it has less effect on the video level. Since the video signal from most VCR's are reasonably close to the 1 volt(Peak to Peak) level, which is the standard for RS-170A video signals, the AGC(automatic gain control)is not too important in most cases. Macrovision works by confusing the AGC circuit.
Most manufacturers adjusted the AGC circuits of their VCRs to react to Macrovision around 1989-90. There were some like RCA that continued to ignore the signal through 1996 like yours. I have 9 RCA and 1 Proscan VCR (s) made between 1990 - 1996 that are all immune to Macrovision. All are 4 head hi fi stereo. The models starting in the early part of 1997 and thereafter do react to it. Also, it did not matter what the OEM was for the RCA VCR - most were Panasonic, Samsung, or Toshiba at that time. Of course the later ones made by Daewoo were a different story. Those not only reacted very badly (i.e. complete blackout of picture, wavering of hifi audio track, scan lines visible, etc.) the build quality was substandard.
At one of my first serious job back in the early 2000's I was working for a small time ISP and we had boxes of ADSL modems that came with a install CD sealed in a flashy wrapper marked "copying and sharing of software and medias on this CD would result in a formal FBI investigation" or something of that effect. Thing is we were in Quebec, Canada. Yeah right, the Napster after effects...
This reminds of the little Macro-Beater boxes everybody had back in the day. They plugged between two VCRs, and made perfect copies of "protected" tapes. With inflation, such a Macrovision-thwartin' device would cost about $75 today! In those days, I used a time base corrector unit for that purpose because I already had it laying around. Antique fun.
I used to decode Macrovision back in the 80's /90's with a macro X decoder box when I borrowed my brothers tapes to copy to 8MM video tape. Laser Disc never had Macrovision so it was easy to copy.
Same for component video, that also didn't support Macrovision ACP, but then newer DVD recorders and pay TV boxes ended up shipping without component outputs, only composite and HDMI, so I was stuck with the encrypted video from the DVR feature on the pay TV box.
3:36 On a DVD recorder (at least my Philips DVDR 615), there'll instead just be an OSD message indicating something along the lines of "Source is copy protected", and it'd refuse to record.
Fredrick Laverdiere they were probably worried about school districts buying one copy and copying as many as they needed as opposed to buying as many as they needed.
Macrovision is still around today. DVDs being released in 2020 still use it. Streaming devices that can output natively over Composite or Coaxial also use it. Modern cable and satellite receivers also still use it occasionally (as in not for all functions).
I recently wanted to grab a scene from one of my blu-rays. As I hadnt set the PC up for any blu-ray ripping I thought I could just record the composite out from the blu-ray player into my dvd recorder. Nope.
And that's weirdly enough, due to licensing requirements as big studios refuse to release their media on a format that doesn't support it, as if anyone would ever bother to record on analog in 2020 instead of just ripping a stream directly.
I remember when I first got a DVD Recorder. I was excited to take our old videos and convert them to DVD for the kids. But my excitement disappeared when I tried to record them and it did not work. I found a device called a Sima CT-2 GoDVD at Best Buy. Plugged it up and everything copied over to DVD. I don't mess with it anymore because most of those old shows/tapes are available now at a high resolution. A DVD copy of a VHS show is still VHS quality. I don't think they make the Sima CT-2 anymore, I haven't thought about it in ages.
The CT-2 (and CT-200) were discontinued when Macrovision sued Sima over this product. A district court ruled in favor of Macrovision. Sima initially appealed the lower court ruling, but later settled with Macrovision, removing these products from the market.
Disney did the same encoding process used on all Disney VHS tapes from 1985 through 2006 using Macrovision copy protection process, but Disney did not used the Macrovision logo on all of its releases, some companies do that, but not Disney.
You did a trademark search for "Videolock", where the company in question used the "™" symbol instead of the one for the registered trademark ("®"). That database only lists results for registered trademarks. It's possible for a trademark to go unregistered; it just means that there's fewer rights behind it. "™" can be used for both registered trademarks and unregistered trademarks; it's only "®" in which one's explicitly required to register in order for one to be able to legally use it.
Hi All. If i remember correctly the very old ( piano key ) VHS and Beta tapes could be used with some success to make a spare copy of a original tape that was encoded with macrovision Later on a bought a CD-Audio player, my sister actually took it with her when she got married and i bought a replacement - Apex A-600AD It was actually recommended by a friend at work as a good cheap player that does every even copies DVD - i was not really interested in copying them anyway as i had original DVD's Turns out 3 to 6 months later that model stopped selling as there was a key press combination on the remote that opened up a menu that disabled region and macrovision - the company defended it as they make one model and use the "secret menu" to set the region and copyright for destination countiries Some one else i knew was having some hit and miss success with using those little RE transmitters ( video rabbit ??? ) that basically makes the video or tv a tiny transmitter and you can tune to a spare channel on another set in the house and watch what was playing on the main set Interesting stuff - Shows how large video piracy was a problem at the time Regards George
I have a 1986 Sylvania (Panasonic-manufactured) VCR that does not care one bit about copy protection. It'd be the perfect piracy VCR -- you can make copies, but your copies are copy-protected!
I never understood the Macrovision logo sequence. Why would you play a triumphant little jingle to advertise that the tape had “Quality Protection” (LOL) enabled on it? Who are you fooling?
Why would anyone want to copy a PC-DOS tutorial, why even mention copy protection much less threaten it. There is no demand for such a tape, "Hey, psst I've got a hot bootleg of a DOS tutorial on VHS, wana copy? Give it to ya for $5". It took me years to figure out why when watching movies on VHS on my friends TV the contrast was always breathing, dark to light, light to dark constantly. It was so irritating. So I'm wondering if it was the VCR doing this, or the TV itself reacting. The TV probably was an early 80's to mid 80's TV, (hooked up via coax RF ch.3/4) while the VCR would have been mid 90's at the time. There was no tearing of the video at the top of the screen, (as demonstrated here) just constantly breathing contrast, or brightness.
Man, VHS quality was so utter crap... but we were glad to have even that. We never copied movies though, didn't have two VCRs. Only recorded movies from the TV.
@@danieldaniels7571I believe LaserDiscs couldn't implement MacroVision because the vertical blanking area is used for chapter information, so it would be possible for LDs but would involve sacrificing the chapter feature.
This reminds me of something that's not completely on topic. Decades ago, I'd sometimes copy letterbox edition laserdiscs to VHS for friends, but I don't recall there being any issues with copy protection. Of course, I didn't check the output of every single tape I made, so I may have given out some totally unwatchable tapes. Never got any complaints though.
According to Wikipedia: "It was claimed that Macrovision's Copyguard protection could not be applied to LaserDisc, due to the format's design. The vertical blanking interval, where the Macrovision signal would be implemented, was also used for timecode and/or frame coding as well as player control codes on LaserDisc players, so test discs with Macrovision would not play at all. There was never a push to redesign the format despite the obvious potential for piracy due to its relatively small market share."
All throughout the 90s I never had any problem with Macrovision. I even knew someone who would rent tapes and copy them with no problems. I'm guessing their VCR must have been old enough to not support it. It wasn't until around 2000 or 2001 when I first discovered it was even a thing. I tried to play the DVD of Christine in my PS2 and the picture was all messed up even worse then you showed in your example. I didn't understand why but never really pursued a way to fix it since I had another DVD player. I was just wanting to play a DVD in my PS2 just for the heck of it. It wasn't until years later that I discovered the problem. At the time the television I was using only had an RF input. Instead of buying an RF adapter for each of my consoles I would hook the RCA cable into the input of the VCR and then hook the coaxial output of the VCR to the TV. Basically using the VCR as an RCA to RF adapter. And that is why I couldn't watch a DVD in my PS2 because it was hooked through a VCR. Even though I wasn't recording on the VCR the Macrovision protection still kicked in.
1:49 i have something called VIDEOLOK and it is a physical lock that goes in a VHS or Betamax machine.... it is the shape of a videotape and it slides halfway in and you turn a lock on a key and it pops this arm out and you cant pull the tape back out and if you do get it out a 96db alarm starts blaring which is powered by a 9v battery... it also comes from the UK like Videolock... i have both VHS and Beta versions...
Does the trademark database you look at only list registered trademarks? The ones with the ® rather than the ™. I can't tell from the low-res 1989 VideoLock logo; its trademark entries are the only things about it that still exist online.
I have a music CD from Japan that claims to be copy protected, but I can't find any evidence of actual protection. No data partition, just plain CD audio that copied fine. I thought it was a mistake, but now I wonder if it was just a lie?
Maybe, or your system just worked around the protection as part of normal operation. Hard to know for sure, you basically have to find something that fails on the protected disc, and works on others. Could totally be nothing.
It must me a Sony release disc. There was a problem with those and the process was canceled due to limitations of it operating it on a PC properly. It would still play normally on a regular CD player.
Funny thing about Macrovision, the VCR I used until it broke was a bit *too* susceptible to it - it had automatic gain control (what Macrovision exploits) engaged *at all times* instead of only when recording.
I think there were little devices meant to defeat the macrovision copy protection it was a little box that hooked up between the two VCRs. To prevent the video from becoming unstabilized of course these devices were not legal to use.
CBS FOX had good copy protection... it must have been macrovision. Tried to copy Aliens so many times and it just didn't work right with the flickering frames. Ended up buying it.. no regrets, great movie.
David McGarry I’ve lost count of how many times and on how many formats I’ve bought that movie. I’m sure I have at least 3 copies in my living room right now.
I have a DVD recorder VHS combo that copies movies that are encoded with Macrovision. It will work either way. it hides the vertical blanking which is why it works. It's a Maganvox ZV457MG9
I own a Magnavox ZV427MG9, and it will not dub Macrovision encoded VHS content to DVD. I don't know how much the 427 differs from the 457, but I was under the impression that no consumer DVD recorder sold in the US was capable of recording copy protected content. If your unit can do this, I would love to see a video of the 457 in action.
What about the kind of encoding that just made the recorded copy have a rainbow running across the screen? I remember this because I used to make videos when I was a kid. Titanic was the first vhs I couldn't copy because of this rainbow effect.
@1000 Subs with just Playlists HDCP you meant? Yeah I agree it's a freakin' joke. Just to milk more money out of customers... And even screwing paying customers out. As if you don't even own anything these days... It never ceases to amuse me that a simple splitter can bust it.
@1000 Subs with just Playlists They're still around likely because they saw the writing on the wall and diversified. After buying TiVo out, they took its name for themselves. For a while they were even in the computer software business, after buying out the makers of InstallShield.
The tape is always putting Macrovision out as long as it is being played. The Macrovision does nothing to your TV because it only affects the Auto-Gain-Control circuit that the VCR uses while recording.
There's probably no need to actually press record on the top VCR - the signal will most likely be going through the AGC all the time, even in E-E, so you'd see the picture get darker when the Macrovision pulses get "brighter". I've never seen a VCR that only enables the AGC during actual recording, but I dare say they may exist!
Du sköna nya värld I have a a Sony CD MD combo deck and the laser in the CD section is still good but the mechanism that pushes the whole assembly up to play the CD once the tray loads won’t work without me helping push it up.
I remember having a VHS videotape that claimed to be copy-protected with a program called "Mitsui" that, like KTC, claimed to be able to damage the VCR you were attempting to make a copy on. Know anything about "Mitsui" and was it a fake, too?
I like the irony a tape showing you how to copy a floppy disc has fake copy protection on it. Back in the day i copied all my VHS tapes to DVD, mostly home taped stuff but a few store bought tapes not that i was trying to infringe copyright i just got rid of my VHS collection. And some of the more special interest stuff hadn't come out on DVD yet. I discovered by accident that my analog video standards converter removed macro-vision. I was recording some Secam tapes to my Pal dvd recorder and it was left on auto to pal when i played a Pal vhs next accidentally without removing the convertor the quality seemed improved i guess because it improved the sync so i left it in after that. And discovered that the light and dark thing on store bought VHS disappeared as well. I guess these days it would be seen as "Fair use" all the VHS tapes regardless of being Drugstore cheapy blanks, TDK EHG blanks or commercial tapes went to Landfill i did take them to a Carboot sale ( Americans read yard sale) but they didnt sell at a quarter $0.25 a tape so were tipped on the way home.
tapes can be recycled, never put them in landfill, I put nothing in landfill, the red top garbage bin never gets used, styro foam and other non recyclables get put in the fire
It may be fake, or targeting some very spesific system vurnability you do not have there. Could be sync pulse length, horizontal retrace, color modulation, horizontal retrace of the vertical retrace, evrything or absolutely nothing. You kinda have to check it on a scope to eliminate them all. Did you try swapping the two VCR's?
For such a low-budget release, I'm pretty sure it's totally fake. It wouldn't be cost-effective for them to invent their own proprietary copy-protection system (and then not even trademark it!).
I did this to a tape that from a library . it was how to buy a used car . it did Do some encoding stuff but not as bad as back to future. It was a good tape I had it to archive on youtube lol. It was actually that good and I did this oh geez when I was 15 16.
The manufacturers back then cared just as much about wear and tear as they do now. And by that I mean they absolutely didn't give a shit. If anything it's a bonus.
The first DVD I bought was the first harry potter movie in 2001. It had no copyright protection on it at all. So I copied it to vhs and gave copies to several family and friends. That'ds ok isn't it?
Hello comment section, what is the best record player to upgrade to? Right now I have a Crosley! I want one that isn't gonna skip my records :) please and thank you 👉👈
If reel to reel plays fine at 7 1/2 or great at 15 Ips And cassettes deck play at 1 7/8 Ips Is there a way to modify a cassette deck to play as fast and sound as good as a reel to reel Would it play the tape faster while keeping audio the same or would the audio be sped up?
The older VCRs lack AGC that Macrovision exploits, but they also lack HQ circuitry and Hifi audio. AGC, when it isn't being screwed with by Macrovision, helps keep the video stabilized, so it's normally a good thing. I would suggest using a later generation 4-head (or 6-head) Hifi VCR, and pairing it with a filter like the RXII.
I just don't see the point in the whole copyprotection scheme. Why would anyone copy VHS to VHS for a profit, end result is crap with or without macrovision. Pirate duplicators used quality laserdisc or 2-inch tape sources, they wouldn't care a bit about macrovision. Perhaps it could discourage some schoolchildren from copying mom-and-pops adult tapes, but the real underground industry just moved on.
You have to remember that in the early to mid 1980s, pre-recorded VHS tapes were very expensive -- up to $89.95 back then (not accounting for inflation)! Thus there was a large profit in pirating copies of them, even if the quality was poor. This changed in the late '80s when the price for VHS movies was reduced a more reasonable $20 - $25.
The most efficient copy-protection measure nowadays is the DIsney logo.
HA!! Yeah i will never touch that for sure.
Or how the Oddity Archive calls it, D----y.
Nah...
It's dickney now. ;)
@Issan Cali Reject wait until they buy Google. Then they'll own and control all fiction and non-fiction media. City Of Tomorrow, here we come!
Nintendo is also a thing.
*Busted!* And McFly, too!
Ha, that scene where the deloreans gas tank got busted
UK viewers will get the joke.
What about McBusted?
Adjusting the vertical hold is a creative way to show the vertical blanking interval without a pro monitor.
I also used it to be able to play a 50Hz game on a 60Hz TV.
A 5 digit password encryption system did in fact exist for VHS. Specifically the rare mosly unknown 25 Mbps 4:2:2 chroma space "Pro HD" D-VHS variant. The videotape recordings were only visible and heard by using the correct VCR after typing in the correct password on the remote control by the critics.
It was used by the MGM and Universal motion picture industries. As well as the WB TV broadcast network back in 2004 for "dailies" and film screeners. This was years before the eventual release of the bluray format.
I own a complete three piece setup that was only sold via contract directly from JVC for a little less than $40,000. I have a few videos explaining how this wonderful concept works.
Interesting, and let me guess the password would've been written on a sticky note stuck to the tape?
I guess it was more of a deterrent, like a door with a fake alarm sticker.
Or Dummy Security Cameras
VideoLock™ the copy protection system that is basically just a visual deterrent
So it's like those "Video surveillance" signs. I have those. And I have a video surveillance also of course.
I used an old "piano key" early VCR to record with. This took no notice of macrovision. All my copies were fine. Guessed it just did not even try to adjust the recording color or brightness as it was too primitive LOL
When DVDs came out in 1996/1997, the Macrovision system carried over to DVDs, however, unlike VHS, where the pulsating blocks in the vertical blanking area are already embedded in the VHS video signal, DVDs generate those same pulsating blocks in the playback circuit. Commercial DVDs simply needed to have a digital flag (bit) set to either "on" or "off" to enable Macrovision upon playback. Macrovision also added a newer layer of protection on DVDs called Colorstripe, which is also enabled on playback, the artifact only shows on VHS recordings of protected DVDs but not during normal playback of DVDs on regular TV monitors because that feature took advantage of the VHS (or any consumer) video recorder's heterodyning of color signals.
And many early DVD players, especially those from cheaper brands, had hidden menu options to disable the MacroVision and region coding.
@@vwestlife The most popular early-2000s DVD player that had a hidden menu that allowed disabling MacroVision & region coding was the Apex AD-1500. It was also one of the cheapest DVD players at the time, cheaper than established brands of the time. From what I remembered, a special firmware needed to be burned on a blank CD-R and loaded into the AD-1500 in order to allow users to access the special menu.
Yes, that's the reason why I had an Apex DVD player -- also because it could play Video CD and Super Video CD discs.
@@vwestlife The Omni 3300 DVD player was the only model in Aust that had MV already disabled straight out of the box, only avail from Strathfield TV and car audio sales back in '02
The K.T.C. process may damage your VCR 😂🤣😂🤣😂 They copied the Mission Impossible tape player destroying system.
There was an early video copy protection system I found on a Betamax tape called "CopyLock" or something. It messed with the colorburst, enough that my old plasma TV wouldn't show any video from that tape. A TBC killed it..... mostly. A scene with mostly blue would show a small faint horizontal bar of red streaking down the picture.
I'd say that probably did keep a lot of people from trying to copy the tape, but I'm sure the sort of people who would buy a MS-DOS tutorial would be technically inclined enough to know that it was complete BS... or at least they'd want to try copying the tape just to see what would happen. MacroVision though, everyone who pirated tapes had equipment to get around it, so the only thing it ever did was give an unwatchable picture to people who only wanted to watch a DVD (or Laserdisc) by hooking it up to their VCR because their TV didn't have a video input. I have a newer Panasonic OmniVision VCR from 2003, and it's only very slightly affected by MacroVision; it's so faint that you wouldn't notice it at first.... then it only gets mildly annoying once you actually do notice it.
i would say most people who would buy a MS-DOS tutorial ....
would not have 2 VCRs
"When these fade back in, and that causes your picture to go dark again."
Also interfere with the autofocus on your camera.
TheGamerWithMore Disney did the same that were on all Disney VHS releases, along with other home video distributors of its time used Macrovision encoding for copy protection where the picture goes dark, you can’t see it, but when it came back, it was fine for 5 seconds and goes dark again.
MTN Productions yup. I found a way around that. I had bought a home movie editor box from Radio Shack back in the day. It was basically a box you could connect 2 VCRs or 2 camcorders to add fade in and fade out between home movie scenes. One day I stumbled on something interesting. I found that if you played a copyright protected tape and adjusted the fade on slightly (making the picture slightly darker) you could copy almost any tape. Honestly the picture difference was barely noticeable as far as it being darker. I copied so many tapes like this back in the day. Later on I found the same concept work with my DVD player and my DVD writer (home component style). It seems like by darkening the picture, it must make any copyright signal weaker and the recording VCR can't detect the signal. That Radio Shack box was a Archer Special Effects Switcher (mod# 15-1274). I loved that little gadget.
olskool71 I tried that and I could never get it work. Maybe it has to do with the manufacturer and / or model of VCR your using. I even tried using a dummy VCR in between the player and recorder thinking the recording VCR would not see the copyright signal. That never worked either. I remember trying extra long RCA cords and cause I thought maybe signal loss with an extra long cord would work......nope. I tried so many ideas using stuff that I had and the Archer fader box was the only thing that ever worked for me. You lucked out with that one. 🍻
@@dgpsf If the studio's weren't so greedy at the time and gouging the rental companies for $80 per copy (also sold at retail for the same astronomical price, that's $158 today!) instead of a more reasonable $20 even in the 80's, maybe the guy would have bought more copies for himself instead of pirating every rental he could get his hand on. Granted he probably would have still copied many, but he might have bought some moves he really liked and wanted better quality from.
4:17 Man, how meta does it get! You are making a copy of a VHS explaining how to copy a floppy disk. 😂😂😂
I thought this was the Lock Picking Lawyer for a second.
LPL should really jump in on the nostalgia hype and pick one of those *real* VideoLocks just for shits and giggles.
An Oddity Archive/VWestlife crossover? Sure, fuck it, hell yeah.
Hey, I have that same Panasonic VCR. I bought it brand new back in the day. It was the only model I could find that would let me record in the "LP" 4hr mode. And trust me, I looked in every electronics store in my area. I ended up buying two of them so I could dub tapes. Still have both of them and they both still work. Panasonic has never let me down.
Matsushita.Co.ltd legendary quality.
That was a feature most VCR manufacturers phased out early on. I don’t think I ever used it, even on VCRs that could.
@@danieldaniels7571 I used to record 6 hours of star wars movies in EP mode those days.
Daniel Daniels I could never figure out why they did that. My father bought a top of the Sony VCR in the late 80's and I could not believe the LP mode was not available. Honesty the quality was not that bad compared to "SP". The picture was just not as sharp looking. I almost never used "SLP/EP" because it just looked to fuzzy for me. I used to buy a lot of the "T-160" tapes and use LP speed to get 5hr & 20 min per tape. It was the best compromise between time and quality (imo).
@@thiago7542 Oh my god, the audio at EP mode was horrible, unless you had a HiFi VCR. (EP with HiFi was indistinguishable) In the LP 4hr mode, at least the linear audio track was not as bad.
This was a perfect video no loud introduction no music playing while you were talking very informative I love this old stuff
I have a PCI TV tuner card. I can digitize anything with it's AV input, because the card totally immune to any copy protection system (doesn't notices them).
Which one do you have? I still keep my trusty old Pinnacle PCTV Vision card that i used back in 2004.
@@KRAFTWERK2K6 Leadtek WinFast TV 2000 Expert. ☺ (But it needs Windows XP computer, because no newer drivers available.)
I don't know if any other brand immune to copy protections or not...
@@zsombor_99 I can personally confirm that the Hauppauge Win-TV HVR-1290 ignores copy protection. It works with Hauppauge's WinTV software, or with a DirectShow capture driver. I used to run it on my main Windows 10 PC, but it now resides in my server, which runs Windows Server 2019.
@@VectraQS Mine is a "WinFast TV 2000 Expert" card. I using it via the DScaler software and works perfectly (only teletext needs some buffering options enabled).
The only thing is: it needs a four pin sound input on the motherboard, because the sound is analog only (can't do it via software). The last driver for my card was for Win XP, so it can't work on any newer system (as far as I know).
Hahahaha the way you put Busted in at the end, they were my favourite band growing up! :)
0:29 KTC, a product by Aperture Science ®
we do what we must- because we can
The advertised their VideoLock, but it's more likely a scare-vertisment (violation of federal Law) than an advertisement.
A VHS tape telling you to not copy it that shows you how to copy a floppy, in the era of "Don't copy that floppy!", oh the irony......... :P
“How do you make a copy of a disk?”
Quite a serendipitous point when you’re trying to make a copy of the tape
vhs macrovision didnt affect ferguson model vhs10b video recorders, they were totally immune, in fact so immune, they even recorded macrovision to the copy making the copy protected from copying on other non vhs10b recorders!!! - everyone in the village wanted to borrow my ferguson lol
Just write "Disney Wars The Last of Rey" on the tape - now nobody will be tempted to copy it anymore.
Really old VCRs are impervious to Macrovsison. However, even after it came about, there were still quite a few VCRs that were immune to it. Even if you didn't have a Macrovision-immune VCR, you could get a device that would beat macrovision, and as such, allow copying of pre-recorded tapes with no issue. I happen to have a 1996 RCA VCR that is immune to macrovision.
In many cases, if you are comfortable opening up a VCR, you can make a simple adjustment to beat macrovision-you need to find the video agc adjustment, and turn it down, so it has less effect on the video level.
Since the video signal from most VCR's are reasonably close to the 1 volt(Peak to Peak) level, which is the standard for RS-170A video signals, the AGC(automatic gain control)is not too important in most cases.
Macrovision works by confusing the AGC circuit.
Most manufacturers adjusted the AGC circuits of their VCRs to react to Macrovision around 1989-90. There were some like RCA that continued to ignore the signal through 1996 like yours. I have 9 RCA and 1 Proscan VCR (s) made between 1990 - 1996 that are all immune to Macrovision. All are 4 head hi fi stereo. The models starting in the early part of 1997 and thereafter do react to it. Also, it did not matter what the OEM was for the RCA VCR - most were Panasonic, Samsung, or Toshiba at that time. Of course the later ones made by Daewoo were a different story. Those not only reacted very badly (i.e. complete blackout of picture, wavering of hifi audio track, scan lines visible, etc.) the build quality was substandard.
At one of my first serious job back in the early 2000's I was working for a small time ISP and we had boxes of ADSL modems that came with a install CD sealed in a flashy wrapper marked "copying and sharing of software and medias on this CD would result in a formal FBI investigation" or something of that effect. Thing is we were in Quebec, Canada. Yeah right, the Napster after effects...
This reminds of the little Macro-Beater boxes everybody had back in the day. They plugged between two VCRs, and made perfect copies of "protected" tapes. With inflation, such a Macrovision-thwartin' device would cost about $75 today! In those days, I used a time base corrector unit for that purpose because I already had it laying around. Antique fun.
Those Macrobeaters or "video signal cleaners" are essentially nothing else than a time base corrector.
I used to decode Macrovision back in the 80's /90's with a macro X decoder box when I borrowed my brothers tapes to copy to 8MM video tape. Laser Disc never had Macrovision so it was easy to copy.
Same for component video, that also didn't support Macrovision ACP, but then newer DVD recorders and pay TV boxes ended up shipping without component outputs, only composite and HDMI, so I was stuck with the encrypted video from the DVR feature on the pay TV box.
@@kbhasi A HDMI to S-video and comp video converter box will negate Macrovision
3:36 On a DVD recorder (at least my Philips DVDR 615), there'll instead just be an OSD message indicating something along the lines of "Source is copy protected", and it'd refuse to record.
My DVD recorder even refuses to copy any tapes that I recorded from a TV broadcast.
@@MysteryMii That's because some TV programmes (mostly commercial shows) were also encoded with Macrovision in the broadcast.
Why worry about anyone copying a boring DOS tutorial?
Fredrick Laverdiere they were probably worried about school districts buying one copy and copying as many as they needed as opposed to buying as many as they needed.
or a catsitter tape
Macrovision is still around today. DVDs being released in 2020 still use it. Streaming devices that can output natively over Composite or Coaxial also use it. Modern cable and satellite receivers also still use it occasionally (as in not for all functions).
I recently wanted to grab a scene from one of my blu-rays. As I hadnt set the PC up for any blu-ray ripping I thought I could just record the composite out from the blu-ray player into my dvd recorder. Nope.
And that's weirdly enough, due to licensing requirements as big studios refuse to release their media on a format that doesn't support it, as if anyone would ever bother to record on analog in 2020 instead of just ripping a stream directly.
I remember when I first got a DVD Recorder. I was excited to take our old videos and convert them to DVD for the kids. But my excitement disappeared when I tried to record them and it did not work. I found a device called a Sima CT-2 GoDVD at Best Buy. Plugged it up and everything copied over to DVD. I don't mess with it anymore because most of those old shows/tapes are available now at a high resolution. A DVD copy of a VHS show is still VHS quality. I don't think they make the Sima CT-2 anymore, I haven't thought about it in ages.
The CT-2 (and CT-200) were discontinued when Macrovision sued Sima over this product. A district court ruled in favor of Macrovision. Sima initially appealed the lower court ruling, but later settled with Macrovision, removing these products from the market.
aw yeah, oddityarchive is a very underrated channel, i started watching them in like 2013.
Disney did the same encoding process used on all Disney VHS tapes from 1985 through 2006 using Macrovision copy protection process, but Disney did not used the Macrovision logo on all of its releases, some companies do that, but not Disney.
Fox and Roadshow clearly stated copy protection on the back of their tapes and DVD's
You did a trademark search for "Videolock", where the company in question used the "™" symbol instead of the one for the registered trademark ("®").
That database only lists results for registered trademarks. It's possible for a trademark to go unregistered; it just means that there's fewer rights behind it. "™" can be used for both registered trademarks and unregistered trademarks; it's only "®" in which one's explicitly required to register in order for one to be able to legally use it.
Hi All.
If i remember correctly the very old ( piano key ) VHS and Beta tapes could be used with some success to make a spare copy of a original tape that was encoded with macrovision
Later on a bought a CD-Audio player, my sister actually took it with her when she got married and i bought a replacement - Apex A-600AD It was actually recommended by a friend at work as a good cheap player that does every even copies DVD - i was not really interested in copying them anyway as i had original DVD's
Turns out 3 to 6 months later that model stopped selling as there was a key press combination on the remote that opened up a menu that disabled region and macrovision - the company defended it as they make one model and use the "secret menu" to set the region and copyright for destination countiries
Some one else i knew was having some hit and miss success with using those little RE transmitters ( video rabbit ??? ) that basically makes the video or tv a tiny transmitter and you can tune to a spare channel on another set in the house and watch what was playing on the main set
Interesting stuff - Shows how large video piracy was a problem at the time
Regards
George
this is why one of those macrovision strippers could be handy back in the day
My dad had one, and it worked 100%.
They are getting harder to find, they are NTSC or PAL specific
@@manFromPeterborough I bet you could make your own. aaroncake (dot) net/circuits/macrovision.asp
i remember when ol benny boy did the macrovision videos. those where some quality archive episodes.
I have a 1986 Sylvania (Panasonic-manufactured) VCR that does not care one bit about copy protection. It'd be the perfect piracy VCR -- you can make copies, but your copies are copy-protected!
Probably it's too old to have AGC.
I never understood the Macrovision logo sequence. Why would you play a triumphant little jingle to advertise that the tape had “Quality Protection” (LOL) enabled on it? Who are you fooling?
"Quality Degradation"
Why would anyone want to copy a PC-DOS tutorial, why even mention copy protection much less threaten it. There is no demand for such a tape, "Hey, psst I've got a hot bootleg of a DOS tutorial on VHS, wana copy? Give it to ya for $5".
It took me years to figure out why when watching movies on VHS on my friends TV the contrast was always breathing, dark to light, light to dark constantly. It was so irritating. So I'm wondering if it was the VCR doing this, or the TV itself reacting. The TV probably was an early 80's to mid 80's TV, (hooked up via coax RF ch.3/4) while the VCR would have been mid 90's at the time. There was no tearing of the video at the top of the screen, (as demonstrated here) just constantly breathing contrast, or brightness.
Wow, Back to the Future 3 looks great in Black and White
A 'copy protected' video about disk copying, LOL.
I was thinking the same thing
Man, VHS quality was so utter crap... but we were glad to have even that. We never copied movies though, didn't have two VCRs. Only recorded movies from the TV.
MetalTrabant I only ever recorded VHS from LaserDisc. Apparently LaserDiscs never used Macrovision.
@@danieldaniels7571I believe LaserDiscs couldn't implement MacroVision because the vertical blanking area is used for chapter information, so it would be possible for LDs but would involve sacrificing the chapter feature.
0:15, my favorite logo ever. Also, if you are pirating VHS movies, showing it on You Tube is totally the best thing to do.
This reminds me of something that's not completely on topic. Decades ago, I'd sometimes copy letterbox edition laserdiscs to VHS for friends, but I don't recall there being any issues with copy protection. Of course, I didn't check the output of every single tape I made, so I may have given out some totally unwatchable tapes. Never got any complaints though.
According to Wikipedia: "It was claimed that Macrovision's Copyguard protection could not be applied to LaserDisc, due to the format's design. The vertical blanking interval, where the Macrovision signal would be implemented, was also used for timecode and/or frame coding as well as player control codes on LaserDisc players, so test discs with Macrovision would not play at all. There was never a push to redesign the format despite the obvious potential for piracy due to its relatively small market share."
Back some time ago..I had a huge double deck VCR recorder from china that could copy anything..
My Hauppauge capture box: what copy protection?
its strange never seeing Scart Leads which we have always used
They don't exist in North America.
All throughout the 90s I never had any problem with Macrovision. I even knew someone who would rent tapes and copy them with no problems. I'm guessing their VCR must have been old enough to not support it. It wasn't until around 2000 or 2001 when I first discovered it was even a thing. I tried to play the DVD of Christine in my PS2 and the picture was all messed up even worse then you showed in your example. I didn't understand why but never really pursued a way to fix it since I had another DVD player. I was just wanting to play a DVD in my PS2 just for the heck of it. It wasn't until years later that I discovered the problem. At the time the television I was using only had an RF input. Instead of buying an RF adapter for each of my consoles I would hook the RCA cable into the input of the VCR and then hook the coaxial output of the VCR to the TV. Basically using the VCR as an RCA to RF adapter. And that is why I couldn't watch a DVD in my PS2 because it was hooked through a VCR. Even though I wasn't recording on the VCR the Macrovision protection still kicked in.
1:49 i have something called VIDEOLOK and it is a physical lock that goes in a VHS or Betamax machine.... it is the shape of a videotape and it slides halfway in and you turn a lock on a key and it pops this arm out and you cant pull the tape back out and if you do get it out a 96db alarm starts blaring which is powered by a 9v battery... it also comes from the UK like Videolock... i have both VHS and Beta versions...
Does the trademark database you look at only list registered trademarks? The ones with the ® rather than the ™. I can't tell from the low-res 1989 VideoLock logo; its trademark entries are the only things about it that still exist online.
That first trademark was filed on the day I was born lol.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
@@imrustyokay =D Thanks lol
I have a music CD from Japan that claims to be copy protected, but I can't find any evidence of actual protection. No data partition, just plain CD audio that copied fine. I thought it was a mistake, but now I wonder if it was just a lie?
Maybe, or your system just worked around the protection as part of normal operation.
Hard to know for sure, you basically have to find something that fails on the protected disc, and works on others. Could totally be nothing.
It must me a Sony release disc. There was a problem with those and the process was canceled due to limitations of it operating it on a PC properly. It would still play normally on a regular CD player.
Rena Kunisaki vwestlife also made a video on CD copy protection ua-cam.com/video/FUUfBzxsKrg/v-deo.html
I used to have a Ferguson Videostar that bypassed Macrovision but sadly it finally died. Don't need it now but at the time it was brilliant.
"So this is my video piracy setup" lol.
Funny thing about Macrovision, the VCR I used until it broke was a bit *too* susceptible to it - it had automatic gain control (what Macrovision exploits) engaged *at all times* instead of only when recording.
I think there were little devices meant to defeat the macrovision copy protection it was a little box that hooked up between the two VCRs. To prevent the video from becoming unstabilized of course these devices were not legal to use.
Yes, these were real.
The irony of the pc course showing how to copy disks yet insisting on claiming their VHS is copy protected is not lost on me
For 19.99 you could get a video magic box that removed the macro vision. I had one worked like a charm.
I love your term "Video Piracy Setup" :D
CBS FOX had good copy protection... it must have been macrovision.
Tried to copy Aliens so many times and it just didn't work right with the flickering frames.
Ended up buying it.. no regrets, great movie.
David McGarry I’ve lost count of how many times and on how many formats I’ve bought that movie. I’m sure I have at least 3 copies in my living room right now.
ay man i haven't seen a video from you in a while! how you doin this lockdown:)
Another informative video about older tech! Thanks!
Unless they just mean the record protect whole cover has been removed, lol.
I have a DVD recorder VHS combo that copies movies that are encoded with Macrovision. It will work either way. it hides the vertical blanking which is why it works. It's a Maganvox ZV457MG9
I own a Magnavox ZV427MG9, and it will not dub Macrovision encoded VHS content to DVD. I don't know how much the 427 differs from the 457, but I was under the impression that no consumer DVD recorder sold in the US was capable of recording copy protected content. If your unit can do this, I would love to see a video of the 457 in action.
They figured if they can get the stupid to believe it, it makes them more sales, Kind of the minimum damage strategy.
What about the kind of encoding that just made the recorded copy have a rainbow running across the screen?
I remember this because I used to make videos when I was a kid. Titanic was the first vhs I couldn't copy because of this rainbow effect.
@1000 Subs with just Playlists HDCP you meant? Yeah I agree it's a freakin' joke. Just to milk more money out of customers... And even screwing paying customers out. As if you don't even own anything these days... It never ceases to amuse me that a simple splitter can bust it.
@1000 Subs with just Playlists They're still around likely because they saw the writing on the wall and diversified. After buying TiVo out, they took its name for themselves. For a while they were even in the computer software business, after buying out the makers of InstallShield.
@@Alexis_du_60 High Definition CraP
If you have a old enough VCR with a manual tracking doesn't the macrovision do nothing
It's the automatic gain control that Macrovision exploits.
@@MrSpengler1234 The Sony EVO 1100 8mm vcr has a gain off option, the tape will play fine but still contain MV garbage
What Black and White tv is that? It looks cool. Is it still that old sears tv?
Yes, the same one I did a video about back in 2008.
dear sir , can u tell us if power filter power strip improve sound quality? please try Weiduka AC8.8
Was that VHS tape the “cure for insomnia” vwestlife uploaded a while ago?
Yes.
How does the tape know it's been copy to another one
The tape is always putting Macrovision out as long as it is being played. The Macrovision does nothing to your TV because it only affects the Auto-Gain-Control circuit that the VCR uses while recording.
watch the video again he says why and its interesting
@@IAmNotAFunguy some TV's hate MV, the B&W checker bar zips up through the picture on flash transients
There's probably no need to actually press record on the top VCR - the signal will most likely be going through the AGC all the time, even in E-E, so you'd see the picture get darker when the Macrovision pulses get "brighter". I've never seen a VCR that only enables the AGC during actual recording, but I dare say they may exist!
Have that same Sony combo deck, DVD player also does not work.
The laser maybe the first thing to break down.
Du sköna nya värld I have a a Sony CD MD combo deck and the laser in the CD section is still good but the mechanism that pushes the whole assembly up to play the CD once the tray loads won’t work without me helping push it up.
The DVD player being broken means that the VCR will work better to compensate, right?
I remember having a VHS videotape that claimed to be copy-protected with a program called "Mitsui" that, like KTC, claimed to be able to damage the VCR you were attempting to make a copy on. Know anything about "Mitsui" and was it a fake, too?
Like the Dixon's own brand Mitsui?
@@andysimkin5200 That was Matsui
@@timf-tinkering ahhh! Thank you!! I was close but no cigar.. Lol
I like the irony a tape showing you how to copy a floppy disc has fake copy protection on it. Back in the day i copied all my VHS tapes to DVD, mostly home taped stuff but a few store bought tapes not that i was trying to infringe copyright i just got rid of my VHS collection. And some of the more special interest stuff hadn't come out on DVD yet. I discovered by accident that my analog video standards converter removed macro-vision. I was recording some Secam tapes to my Pal dvd recorder and it was left on auto to pal when i played a Pal vhs next accidentally without removing the convertor the quality seemed improved i guess because it improved the sync so i left it in after that. And discovered that the light and dark thing on store bought VHS disappeared as well. I guess these days it would be seen as "Fair use" all the VHS tapes regardless of being Drugstore cheapy blanks, TDK EHG blanks or commercial tapes went to Landfill i did take them to a Carboot sale ( Americans read yard sale) but they didnt sell at a quarter $0.25 a tape so were tipped on the way home.
tapes can be recycled, never put them in landfill, I put nothing in landfill, the red top garbage bin never gets used, styro foam and other non recyclables get put in the fire
Still better than the infamous Sony Rootkit. lol
IMO both are BS. Did more harm than what media companies thought.
It may be fake, or targeting some very spesific system vurnability you do not have there.
Could be sync pulse length, horizontal retrace, color modulation, horizontal retrace of the vertical retrace, evrything or absolutely nothing. You kinda have to check it on a scope to eliminate them all.
Did you try swapping the two VCR's?
For such a low-budget release, I'm pretty sure it's totally fake. It wouldn't be cost-effective for them to invent their own proprietary copy-protection system (and then not even trademark it!).
@@vwestlife You don’t know that they invented the trademark themselves. It wasn’t a _registered_ trademark, so wouldn’t show up in the registry.
I wonder if there are any other make-believe or faked copy protection systems for VHS tapes, Time Will Tell. (0:55, 3:38, 5:18, 6:51)
I did this to a tape that from a library . it was how to buy a used car . it did Do some encoding stuff but not as bad as back to future. It was a good tape I had it to archive on youtube lol. It was actually that good and I did this oh geez when I was 15 16.
This may be off topic but I think that copy protection is bad for consumers, I think it's fine for DVDs but VHS wear down after uses.
The manufacturers back then cared just as much about wear and tear as they do now. And by that I mean they absolutely didn't give a shit. If anything it's a bonus.
The first DVD I bought was the first harry potter movie in 2001. It had no copyright protection on it at all. So I copied it to vhs and gave copies to several family and friends. That'ds ok isn't it?
It's still a big NO
Hello comment section, what is the best record player to upgrade to? Right now I have a Crosley! I want one that isn't gonna skip my records :) please and thank you 👉👈
Here is a detailed Buyer's Guide which should help you: www.amstereo.org/turntableguide.htm
If reel to reel plays fine at 7 1/2 or great at 15 Ips
And cassettes deck play at 1 7/8 Ips
Is there a way to modify a cassette deck to play as fast and sound as good as a reel to reel
Would it play the tape faster while keeping audio the same or would the audio be sped up?
my mom had a DVD player and a VCR combo unit of course macrovision often works
We need thunderf00t to make this video! 😅
You should get a VCR made before the Macrovision stuff started.
The older VCRs lack AGC that Macrovision exploits, but they also lack HQ circuitry and Hifi audio. AGC, when it isn't being screwed with by Macrovision, helps keep the video stabilized, so it's normally a good thing. I would suggest using a later generation 4-head (or 6-head) Hifi VCR, and pairing it with a filter like the RXII.
:D - A 'Beware Of The Dog' sticker.
All that classic back in the day computer stuff.. 5.25 in Disk drive, Dot matrix printers, floppy disks,
Still have that stuff over here. Vintage computers rock.
0:30 WHY DOES HE TALK SO FAST? Also, that countdown is so low quality.
2:48 I have that very same VCR Mate👍
The term "popular" applied to Macrovision is perhaps not the best possible wording :)
Seeing the title I thought it's video made by EEVBlog
Or Thunderf00t -- he also does a lot of "BUSTED!" videos.
Mybe does something after so many minutes
VideoLock™
I just don't see the point in the whole copyprotection scheme. Why would anyone copy VHS to VHS for a profit, end result is crap with or without macrovision. Pirate duplicators used quality laserdisc or 2-inch tape sources, they wouldn't care a bit about macrovision. Perhaps it could discourage some schoolchildren from copying mom-and-pops adult tapes, but the real underground industry just moved on.
You have to remember that in the early to mid 1980s, pre-recorded VHS tapes were very expensive -- up to $89.95 back then (not accounting for inflation)! Thus there was a large profit in pirating copies of them, even if the quality was poor. This changed in the late '80s when the price for VHS movies was reduced a more reasonable $20 - $25.
Amusing that they did this