4 Sep
2002
4 Sep
'02
12:35 p.m.
Why XP instead of 2000? My Tivo -> SVCD projects
went 15-20% slower on XP
vs. 2K, so I dropped back. I *despised* that damnable kandy-koted GUI crap,
too...
If you are serious about these kinds of conversions, you might want to
look into the VCD burner from Terapin. Its a little pricey (about $600),
but it burns directly to VCD like a VCR, and works GREAT.
It also claims to bypass macrovision when duping VHS or DVD, but I admit,
I have not tried to copy a macrovised item yet (I only use mine for live
recording, or for saving iMovie created movies to VCD since it is MUCH
faster to do realtime output via a scan converter to the VCD burner, than
it is to wait for my iMac to render a VCD compatible MPEG)
-chris
<http://www.mythtech.net>
4 Sep
4 Sep
2:20 p.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "chris" <mythtech(a)mac.com>
To: "Classic Computer" <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 7:05 AM
Subject: Re: OT/Old Recordings/Shameless Plug
<SNIP>
It also claims to bypass macrovision when duping VHS
or DVD, but I admit,
I have not tried to copy a macrovised item yet
Pretty much any copy protection system for video can be defeated by putting
a
time base corrector in the analogue signal path between the source and
whatever you are recording it on.
When I worked in television and helical scan Umatic (3/4") stuff started to
appear, we had to
feed it through a TBC to make it presentable for on air. This also sorts out
any form of copy protection, since the
signal has to be playable on a common or garden tv set, not a lot you can do
to it without rendering it unwatchable without special hardware.
TBC's used to cost a packet, (the one we had was worth around $20kAU at late
70's prices and was the size of a big desktop pc.) now they are a single
chip and any half decent camcorder has a much better one. Some systems can
also be defeated by looping the signal through an old beta machine, then
feeding it to your vhs box. (The beta I have neatly regenerates the syncs,
getting around the commonly employed sync amplitude variation protection
system by replacing them with normal .3v sync pulses.) You can recognise
this method by the slow cyclic variation in picture brightness in a copied
tape. You can get external TBC's for a few hundred bucks these days. Note
that they work on the analogue video signal, direct digital to digital is an
entirely different can of worms.
<SNIP>
Geoff in Oz
2:53 p.m.
TBC's used to cost a packet, (the one we had was
worth around $20kAU at
late 70's prices and was the size of a big desktop pc.)
Oooh, that's a small, cheap TBC! :-) Ours took up the better part
of a 19-inch rack, and was priced commensurately. And that was in
1982, although the unit was probably 2-3 years old at the time. I'd
be surprised if there really was a TBC with a full frame buffer the
size of a big PC before 1980; the necessary memory alone would have been
bigger than a PC, not to mention the logic and the analog signal
processing.
5 Sep
5 Sep
7:09 a.m.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Smith" <eric(a)brouhaha.com>
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, September 05, 2002 9:23 AM
Subject: Re: OT/Old Recordings/Shameless Plug
$20k was fairly cheap, add a Sony 1830 or 2310 Umatic VCR and you could play
to air for less than $30k. The next cheapest thing started around $60k plus
all the extra\
stuff, (like 3 phase and and air compressor).
TBC's used
to cost a packet, (the one we had was worth around $20kAU at
late 70's prices and was the size of a big desktop pc.)
Oooh, that's a small, cheap TBC! :-) Ours took up the better part
of a 19-inch rack, and was priced commensurately. And that was in
1982, although the unit was probably 2-3 years old at the time. I'd
be surprised if there really was a TBC with a full frame buffer the
size of a big PC before 1980;
I would agree. IIRC, this unit had either a 3 or 5 line buffer. Not much,
but enough
to (mostly) sort out helical skew.
the necessary memory alone would have been
bigger than a PC, not to mention the logic and the analog signal
processing.
This was about IBM AT size but about 12" high. ISTR it had a rack mounting
kit, but we just stood it on the bench
next to the vcrs. It was absolutely chocka with ttl and cmos logic and got
bloody hot.
About a 4 hour job to give it a full alignment. Looking back, it was a
piece of shit, but it was very handy
at the time, as the only other play to air stuff we had was 2" quad. (RCA
TR60's, and later, a TCR100)
We used the helicals for commercials and the like, especially at our Broken
Hill station, which was way too
budget strapped to afford a 'real' vtr.
Cheers
Geoff in Oz
7941
days inactive
7942
days old
3 comments
3 participants
participants (3)
-
eric＠brouhaha.com -
geoffrob＠stmarks.pp.catholic.edu.au -
mythtech＠mac.com