DVD's become bright then dark on TV

[Shalmanese]

Hi, I just bought Final Fantasy on DVD and whenever I try to watch it via TV-out, the screen changes from bright to dark and then back again every 2 seconds or so. This does not happen when I watch it on my CRT and does not happen when I use other DVD's.

Specs:

Duron 1Ghz
Radeon VE
Gigabyte KT266 mobo
Abit AU-10 Soundcard
256MB DDR RAM
Pioneer DVD Drive

any suggestions?

 

[AZGamer]

It's being caused by Macrovision, the anti-copy software on DVDs. Why exactly it's happening, I am not sure.

 

[Blain]

Are you running the signal through a VCR before it gets to the TV?

 

[sMashPiranha]

I had this problem when running my TV-out through my VCR before it got to my TV. Putting it straight into the TV fixed it.
Macrovision sucks.

 

[Shalmanese]

Damn, I thought so, anyway to remove it? Or I could Buy a S-video cord I guess, Then I could pug it straight into the TV.

 

[mdXtreme3d]

buy the s-video cable...the PQ improvement will be worth it and it will fix your macrovision issues

 

[Illusio]

I've dealt with this before, you basically have 3 options depending on your tv.

1. Get an S-Video cord and use that (which you should be using anyway because the quality is better)
2. if your tv has an S-videa port, I'm assuming it has RCA jacks. Just hook the DVD player up to those
3. (mostly for people with old TVs) if your TV has neither of those above 2 jacks, go to Radio Shack and buy a RF Modulator. Will run you about 30 bux but allows you to hook your DVD player to your tv via a coax cable.

either way, hook a DVD player to tv through the VCR is a no no, because of the macrovision copyprotection scheme.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

<< buy the s-video cable...the PQ improvement will be worth it and it will fix your macrovision issues >>

So if connect the dvd player to a s-vhs vcr then to tv all thru s-video cables can bypass macrovision?

 

[AnitaPeterson]

<< So if connect the dvd player to a s-vhs vcr then to tv all thru s-video cables can bypass macrovision? >>



Wrong.

S-VHS has nothing to do with S-Video in this case.

Just get a $5 S-Video cable and link the computr directly to the TV.

The alternative is looking on the internet for programs that kill macrovision. There are quite a few avalable.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

s-vhs vcr has s-video in, so can it record the dvd movie using s-video connection as someone mentions using s-video can override the macrovision?

 

[mdXtreme3d]

the type of cable you use to connect has nothing to do with bypassing macrovision. you might be able to bypass it if your player has an upgradable firmware, but this is only true for cheaper players not from the major brands (sony/tosh/pioneer/panasonic). the whole point of macrovision is to prevent people from making VHS dubs of DVDs

 

[Parrotheader]

Yes, it would be wrong to dub DVDs from my Apex DVD player onto my SVHS VCR and get fantastic picture quality. Nope, I'd never do something like that. Actually, I've only done that twice and they were both of DVDs I owned just to test out the picture quality (mucho good btw.) I actually bought my SVHS VCR with that express idea in mind, but like a lot of things I never follow through on it. I figure if the movie is worth copying to watch over and over, it's also worth my buying it on DVD and getting all the special features and chapter skipping ability.

 

[5489]

how could ur tv have an s-video and not a composite input?

 

[Kingofcomputer]

mdXtreme3d,
you first said
"buy the s-video cable...the PQ improvement will be worth it and it will fix your macrovision issues",
then you said
"the type of cable you use to connect has nothing to do with bypassing macrovision.",
so can something (whatever something with s-video in) record the dvd movie using s-video cable instead of rca cable?

 

[Fardringle]

<< mdXtreme3d,
you first said
"buy the s-video cable...the PQ improvement will be worth it and it will fix your macrovision issues", >>



It will fix the Macrovision issue because he will then be able to connect to the S-Video input on the TV and get the higher quality picture as well as avoiding the Macrovision problems that come from connecting a TV-Out to a VCR.




<< then you said
"the type of cable you use to connect has nothing to do with bypassing macrovision.",
so can something (whatever something with s-video in) record the dvd movie using s-video cable instead of rca cable? >>



This might be better stated, "Regardless of what type of cable you use, you will still get Macrovision artifacts and effects when you connect to a VCR." Without a firmware upgrade that eliminates Macrovision, or one of the various 'hack' programs available, you generally cannot record a DVD to VHS.

 

[Kingofcomputer]

I thought mdXtreme3d first reply means using s-video can override macrovision for vcr.

 

[Zim Hosein]

5489, I believe that Shalmanese was trying to avoid purchasing an S-Video cable and make do w/ what he already had, or w/ the cables that came w/ the player. I too have never heard of a TV w/ S-Video and not composite.

 

[RobsTV]

Check out some of the dvd rom forums.
In the past, I have used ATI DVD software player with my non-ATI card
and it worked great. Also had a button to disable macrovision that works.
Makes changes to registry, so DVD games should also run without macrovision.
I think it is ATI software player 3.1, but it's been a while, and newer versions
might have the same features. No ATI card needed with right software.

 

[Shalmanese]

Basically, my Tv can plug in 2 RCA and 1 S-video as well as 1 funky european plug which I am never going use in my life as well as 1 for the antenna. The VCR is hooked up to the TV using RCA as well as the antenna plug (useful for recording and watching 2 different channels)

the playstation is hooked up to the other RCA so I could only hook up the DVD to the VCR via RCA without getting a new cable.

 

[mdXtreme3d]

<< Basically, my Tv can plug in 2 RCA and 1 S-video as well as 1 funky european plug which I am never going use in my life as well as 1 for the antenna. The VCR is hooked up to the TV using RCA as well as the antenna plug (useful for recording and watching 2 different channels)

the playstation is hooked up to the other RCA so I could only hook up the DVD to the VCR via RCA without getting a new cable. >>



of course, you could always run the playstation thru the VCR, and connect the DVD to the 2nd composite (RCA) input on your TV...

but you'll get much better picture quality with a S-video cable, so I'd get one of those. Either way, you should connect the DVD directly to your TV.