[Treebeard]

I'm in the market for a media converter (VHS to DV) and have gotten a few different opinions.

But I was wondering about copying clips from movies (personal "fair use") or even archiving movies (since some of my VHS tapes are getting old). Somebody at some point mentioned that the Sony DMC DA2, while really good generally, would not copy movies, and sometimes even things that it thought were movies (but weren't). Will the others (Formac, Dazzle, another one)? Or does Macrovision (which I know nothing about) block this whatever you use?

If it does, is there a program (or hardware widget) out there that will allow us to circumvent the copying encryption?

Again, this is for personal "fair use" stuff only. I don't want to pirate anything. I just want to have some fun, and avoid having to pay again for movies I already own. We have the legal right to do this (at least theoretically--the DMCA may change *some* aspects of that depending on how it holds up in court vs our current fair use precedents).

Moderators, if you're uncomfortable having this discussed on your boards, please accept my apologies. And feel free to close the topic if you need to. People can email me any info they like at davecq@mac.com .

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Hoom hom hmmmmmmmmmmm...

The boxes you mention are all AD's -- Analog to Digital (or vice-versa) converters. They turn an analog video signal into a DV stream for firewire input. Macrovision is a copyright protection method that screws up the vertical hold of an analog signal when it is being copied. The converter boxes need a stable video signal going in to do their conversions. If Macrovision is screwing up your signal (not necessarily the case in such a scenario), then another analog signal processor box called a time-base corrector will rectify this. I know it sounds like a hassle -- that's the gist of most copy protection schemes: to make outsmarting them more trouble than it is worth. Home movies have no Macrovision and hence cause no problems. Pre-recorded videotapes are not "legal" for fair use copying.

[PC2MAC]

I have the DVMC-DA2, and I've recorded clips from quite a few pre-recorded VHS tapes and laserdiscs without a glitch (keeping fingers crossed).