alle@ihuxb.UUCP (08/19/83)
I recently recorded "Star Wars" on my Sharp VHS VCR when it was
shown on Showtime (cable). I didn't play it back. I loaned
it to a friend (no charge, so I did not commit any crimes???)
and he returned it to me saying that it would not play back
properly. I tried the tape on my machine and indeed, it would
not play back properly.
The symptoms were as follows:
1) Approx. 10 distinct flashing lines dividing up the picture
2) The recorder seemed to be having trouble synching to the proper
playback speed as the movie was not playing properly. But
the picture and sound were there, it just did not play *quite*
right. (BTW, my recorder's playback speed is determined auto-
matically by the recording speed. The VCR synchs up to the
recording somehow.)
Anyone have any idea what is going on here? I have recorded at
least a dozen other movies off of various cable channels (network->
HBO->showtime) without this problem.
Is it possible that the cable companies have a method for preventing
the recording of particular movies?
Allen England at Bell Labs, Naperville, IL
ihnp4!ihuxb!allejim@grkermit.UUCP (Jim Morton) (08/22/83)
Actually you did commit a crime, if you read the HBO and Showtime trailers they flash once a day, but the reason your recorder did not sync up to what you recorded was that Showtime broadcast Star Wars with a very tiny amount of sync in the vertical interval. Thus on a second generation tape on a vcr, the pulse was not enough for the tv to lock up to. This is also the way they make most tapes you buy in the stores, so you can't dupe them. The other way is by putting a video image serial number either on the very edge of the screen or in the sync interval.
jgpo@iwu1c.UUCP (08/23/83)
I recorded SW with absolutely no problems. I loaned my tape to a friend and he copied it again. This second-generation copy also plays flawlessly. Speaking of Copyguard(TM?), do these $80 "image enhancers," which supposedly re-insert the missing/diddled-with sync signals, really work?