General purpose de-Macrovision kit?

Shinji

Oi oi,

Not too hopeful about this one, but perhaps someone here knows how to sort it.

I've got constant, ongoing problems with macrovision. My main display device in my living room is a front projection rig, which is generally hooked up by SVideo to any one of about a billion boxes in the room.

Now, anything that outputs Macrovisioned signals /really/ screws with projectors. The effect is that basically the light levels on the projector jump up and down every ten seconds or so - so the picture gradually gets brighter, then darker, then brighter again over a twenty second cycle. It's very visible and astonishingly annoying.

Not all my gear can be hacked to disable Macrovision.

So, question; is there a general purpose box that will rip the Macrovision off an S-Video signal without degrading the quality, or some other fix that I can apply to my setup to prevent this problem?

Any responses appreciated. Cheers guys.

Saruman

Should your projector not work just like a TV?? I did not think they would be affected by macrovision unless you have it going through your Video before it gets to the projector or something...

Kali

Very strange, doesn't happen with my projector anyway, regardless of input, video or dvd... usually macrovision is only enabled (resulting signal scrambled) on equipment capable of recording.

But to answer your question, yes there are boxes available that either remove the macrovision signal or clean up the resulting image.. a quick search should reveal a number of them.

Samson

Originally posted by Shinji
So, question; is there a general purpose box that will rip the Macrovision off an S-Video signal without degrading the quality, or some other fix that I can apply to my setup to prevent this problem?

Maplin should have some sort of box o' tricks to do the job.
This might do what you want, if not browse/search the website, you're bound to come up with something.
http://www.maplin.co.uk/products/module.asp?CartID=030106003700881&moduleno=29182&modulecode=

Shinji

Kali - macrovision is usually enabled on devices capable of playback actually - it's nothing to do with the recording device afaik. Most DVD players for example have macrovision circuits. It's stupid (who the hell really wants to copy DVD to VHS?), and bloody annoying frankly.

Macrovision is known to cause picture trouble on digital playback systems like projectors and plasma TVs because they're significantly more sensitive to the kind of signal strength messing around that it causes.

Anyway, on a suggestion from Vexorg, I've had a look at some of the neat gear that Keene Electronics provide (http://www.keene.co.uk/) and picked up a VP260 Video Stabiliser, which looks like the closest thing to what I'm hunting for (I need something that does SVideo, not RGB, annoyingly). I'll report back when it arrives and let you know if it worked, just in case anyone is interested.

Krusty_Clown

Here's a link to a simillar discussion, which suggested that an RF modular would fix the problem...

You could buy one from Peats for about €50, but it may not solve your problems... i.e. does the projector have an RF input?

Silly question, but some peripherals have a 'Projector mode' which disables macrovision. Does yours?

Vexorg

Just spotted in the Keene site - syncblaster built into a scart cable

The do scart to svga plug
scart to 5 bnc - RGB Hsync and Vsync
scart to 5 rca - RGB Hsync and Vsync

starting at stg£70 for 1.5m and rising to stg£90 for 10 meters

Not cheap.....

Kali

Originally posted by Krusty_Clown
Here's a link to a simillar discussion, which suggested that an RF modular would fix the problem...

You could buy one from Peats for about €50, but it may not solve your problems... i.e. does the projector have an RF input?

Projectors don't have RF inputs, as then they'd need tuning circuits for the resulting UHF/VHF signal

Krusty_Clown

Kali:Projectors don't have RF inputs, as then they'd need tuning circuits for the resulting UHF/VHF signal

But you could route the video signal through your VCR, and then to your projector.

Michael Collins

Have a look here, they seem to descibe what you talking about and have a solution.

http://www.smr-home-theatre.org/Reviews/Zorrilla/

Kali

Originally posted by Krusty_Clown
But you could route the video signal through your VCR, and then to your projector.

Oh dear.. what happens if you want to watch a video?

Shinji

starting at stg£70 for 1.5m and rising to stg£90 for 10 meters

Not cheap.....

True, but nor is a projector and if I'm going to make myself destitute with an AV setup, I may as well do it /properly/....

I'll add that to the list of things to try later on, even if the box I'm about to try out works - simply because at the end of the day I'd prefer to work with an RGB signal than an S-Video one anyway.

But you could route the video signal through your VCR, and then to your projector.

Eek. Let's not get RF involved in this please - I've FINALLY banished all RF devices from my house thanks to digital cable, and I don't ever want to see video over that standard ever again!

(Broadcast TV still looks bloody awful on a big screen even over digital; I suspect they're using particularly awful bitrates, no doubt because channels like Sky Sports are using piles of bandwidth so that people can watch instant replays, multiple angles and what have you of international curling championships...)

Have a look here, they seem to descibe what you talking about and have a solution.

Thanks for that - that's next on my list of things to try out, definitely! Think I'll drop the guy an email...

Krusty_Clown

Kali: Oh dear.. what happens if you want to watch a video?

Press Play?!