This month we are presenting a new version of our very popular Dr Video project which was originally featured in the April 2001 issue. The original version proved very effective at removing that bane of many DVD users – Macrovision copy protection signals. But, copy protection is a moving target and Macrovision has since become even more devious and it must be said, even more difficult for ordinary TV sets to work with.

So we have produced the Mk.II version of the Dr Video circuit. It works very well in removing Macrovision signals so that all DVDs can once again be watched on normal TV sets and video projectors. Perhaps you have a late-model TV set that does not have a problem when you’re watching DVDs. Then you are fortunate. But if you have a set more than a couple of years old or one of the large-screen TVs that display the picture at 100 fields per second (100Hz) to reduce flicker (or a video projector that performs line and pixel doubling to improve picture clarity), that can be a different matter entirely. Macrovision plays merry hell with them, to the extent that the picture can be unwatchable.

If you have one of these sets or projectors, the only way to get a steady picture is to somehow remove these extraneous pulses. The idea is to ‘clean up’ the video signal and let the TV set’s internal sync circuitry do its normal job without interference. That’s exactly what our Dr Video project is designed to do.

Note that we are not suggesting that you use Dr Video to enable you to make copies of DVDs. In fact, there are other ways around it. Nor do we think that very many DVDs are being copied – most people just couldn’t be bothered. What we are doing is presenting a way to make DVDs work with normal TVs.

But is this the correct remedy for what is effectively a faulty product? Absolutely not. Why should anyone need to build or buy a device to remove Macrovision signals so you can watch a movie that you have legitimately purchased? This proposition is ludicrous but that is what has happened.

What consumers should do is to return all such DVDs to the place where they purchased them and ask for their money back. After all, if a DVD cannot be watched it is not "merchantable quality" and not suitable for sale. If enough consumers did return these "faulty" DVDs, Macrovision would soon be a thing of the past.

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