"Pulsating" brightness while watching a DVD

luca · August 4, 2002 6:07PM

My brother just got a cable today to connect my dad's PowerBook G4 to our TV. Since we have an old TV, we have to go through the VCR and use a headphone to RCA cable to get audio through the TV. It's working almost perfectly, but for some reason the brightness pulses at fairly regular intervals (every three or four seconds). It goes between way too dim and a bit too bright. Any way to fix this?

jettaguy26 · August 4, 2002 6:34PM

There is no way to fix this. This is a copy protection scheme known as Macrovision. It has been around since the 80's or so. This prevents you from dup'ing VHS tapes and DVD to VHS. This also prevents you to use your machines in the fashion that you are.

Sorry.

whisper · August 5, 2002 1:51AM

[quote]Originally posted by jettaguy26:

There is no way to fix this. This is a copy protection scheme known as Macrovision. It has been around since the 80's or so. This prevents you from dup'ing VHS tapes and DVD to VHS. This also prevents you to use your machines in the fashion that you are.

Sorry.<hr></blockquote>

Actually, there's some software called "DVDBackup" or some such thing. One of its features is the removal of macrovision.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the software itself, even when used for completely legal purposes, is illegal under the DMCA, so you might have some trouble finding it.

[ 08-05-2002: Message edited by: Whisper ]

luca · August 5, 2002 3:05AM

If I were to use the PowerBook with a newer TV, one which has its own video and audio inputs, would it remove that problem?

neutrino23 · August 5, 2002 3:24AM

First, I can confirm that connecting a powerbook to a TV directly allows you to watch DVDs without any pulsating brightness.

I am not convinced the problem is Macrovision. I thought that Macrovision would only affect video that was being taped as the changes in the signal were too fast for the mechanical tape mechanism to react to but the TV electronics could easily react in time to display glitch free video. I freely admit that I haven't tried this so I can't say for sure.

Just for grins, turn off all other programs, turn off file sharing, turn off the use of the network time server in the Date and Time setup area.

Are you using OS 9 or OS X? OS X should provide a cleaner signal.

scifience · August 5, 2002 8:04AM

[quote]Originally posted by Whisper:



Actually, there's some software called "DVDBackup" or some such thing. One of its features is the removal of macrovision.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the software itself, even when used for completely legal purposes, is illegal under the DMCA, so you might have some trouble finding it.

[ 08-05-2002: Message edited by: Whisper ]<hr></blockquote>

You mean the thing that KaZaA advertises for all the time on my Wintel machine?

<a href="http://www.321studios.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.321studios.com/</a>;

splode · August 5, 2002 10:04AM

Hey.

That is Macrovision. I took my DVD player to a friend's house, hadda hook it up through the VCR, got the same thing. And you can do the DVD rip to your hard drive. It'll create a disc image of your DVD that cn be played back w/o the Macrovision. Of course ya need a shitload of room and it takes a while, but...

splode

webbie · August 5, 2002 10:14AM

I agree with neutrino23 that it may not be macrovision causing the problem. The pulsing is caused by the VCR. I had a regular dvd player connected through the VCR and it did the same thing. I noticed that the VCR also pulses with VHS movies.

The best way to get rid of it is to connect to the TV or home theater receiver.

ghost_user_name · August 5, 2002 11:24AM

I have a Sony DVD player in my living room, and when I first got it I ran it through my VCR, and most of the DVDs I played would pulse like you're describing, however, a handful wouldn't. Hooking it up directly to the TV solved the problem. The manual states not to loop it through a VCR. Whatever the issue, looping it through the VCR is the problem.

whisper · August 5, 2002 11:55AM

[quote]Originally posted by Scifience:



You mean the thing that KaZaA advertises for all the time on my Wintel machine?

<a href="http://www.321studios.com/"; target="_blank">http://www.321studios.com/</a><hr></blockquote>;

No, but it looks similar to that. The software I was talking about is a freeware OS X app. Sorry, I don't remember where I got it. And seeing how it's illegal, I'd probably get in trouble for posting a link anyway.

progmac · August 5, 2002 1:04PM

oh it is definitely macrovision doing that. you need to either get a tv with AV inputs or drop about $30 into an RF modulator (a little external box that does the converting instead of your VCR)

Certain models of APEX dvd players have been able to be hacked to allow for macrovision/regional coding to be disabled, but that is the topic for a whole other thread. check out <a href="http://www.nerd-out.com"; target="_blank">http://www.nerd-out.com</a>; for more info on that.

b.i.l · August 6, 2002 11:55PM

[quote]Originally posted by progmac:

oh it is definitely macrovision doing that. you need to either get a tv with AV inputs or drop about $30 into an RF modulator (a little external box that does the converting instead of your VCR)

<hr></blockquote>

He speaks the truth. God bless Macrovision.

[ 08-07-2002: Message edited by: B.I.L ]

luca · August 8, 2002 1:45AM

Well, one of my brother's friends brought his PS2 over tonight, and we watched the Matrix again and we also saw Rush Hour 2. For some reason, Rush Hour 2 had some sort of Infinifilm parental control lock thing on it, which we got around. But once we started playing it, it didn't pulse at all. I wonder why? The Matrix still pulsed.

"Pulsating" brightness while watching a DVD

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