Page 1 of Copy protection problems with Philips DVDR3380

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Hi all,

Hope someone can help.

I got a Philips DVDR3380 because I wanted to record some of my old VCR tapes to DVD. After setting everything up correctly, I noticed the picture was always black and white. After perusing the manual, I read that there is a Macrovision Copy protect system in the machine and the manual said I would probably have problems taping from video because of this. Nice of them to tell me that before I bought it!!

Anyway, is there any way around this...i.e.: hacking? I read on some of the other threads about a special cable I need. I`m living in Berlin Germany. Any idea where I could get said cable?...or any hacking tips?

Thanks!!

Good old Philips!

I don`t know about hacking the machine, but you can buy the lead here or you can search for it on eBay.

Just search for "Macro SCART".

It will cure that problem. :)

:¦ :¦ :¦ :¦


I just realized that I was trying to copy PAL videos to an NTSC DVD player (I live in Berlin). I have hacked the DVD player,but will I still have problems trying to copy US vids, even if they are non-commercial tapes I reorded stuff on?

I`m confused.

You live in Berlin, which uses the PAL format.

So why on EARTH have you bought an NTSC DVD recorder?

Sorry, but you can`t record from a PAL source with that recorder (unless there is an option to switch between PAL and NTSC in the set up menu)

Oops..I got confused. My US vids are NTSC and the DVD plyayer is PAL but hacked to play everything.

I will try to change the output settings on my VCR. Hopefully that will work.

Hm, that makes more sense.

IF you can alter between PAL and NTSC in the set up menu (some brands do and some don`t), you switch to NTSC, THEN insert a disc to record onto. The machine will then prepare this disc in NTSC - it cannot then be used for some PAL recording - the whole disc will be restricted to NTSC. It will then play back as an NTSC disc, so must be played in a DVD player that converts NTSC to PAL or that is connected to an NTSC compatible TV.

Once this is done, you can get on with recording.

If the machine doesn`t have this option, some VCRs are switchable to NTSC output, but most aren`t, I`m afraid.

It`s not good enough that it plays NTSC tapes - it is the signal mismatch between the VCR and the DVD-R that causes the problem.

If you really wanted to be able to record these tapes, you can buy a signal switch that alters NTSC to PAL via the SCART lead. Don`t have any idea of cost though (doubt it would be cheap - try looking at Maplin`s website if you`re interested)