I’m attempting to copy a non-commercial video for a friend. One of the VCRs being used is a DVD/VCR combo, the other a plain VCR.
I’ve hooked up the audio/video cord, matching the colors correctly on both ends.
I sorta know about the Line 1/Line 2 thing, but I don’t know whether both VCRs need to be on the same line or whether one VCR should be on one line and the other VCR on the second line. Plus, with the VCR that’s connected just to the other VCR and not the TV, there’s no display for me to be able to confirm that it’s on the line I think it’s on.
I’ve tried it a few times, but it’s just not copying! Any help would be greatly appreciated.
The VCR should have dedicated audio and video input ports. Connect the audio and video from the ports marked “out” on the first VCR to those marked “in” on the second VCR. You might be connecting from output to output, which wouldn’t work.
To confirm that the recording VCR is indeed getting a signal, hook that one up to a TV/monitor. If you see picture, the recording VCR is getting signal from the playing VCR.
However, one thing to note… you might not get a usable recording if the playback tape has copy protect. (Wavy lines, extreme tracking problems, staticy picture, and subtandard audio are telling signs of copy protect.)
If I were doing this, I would hook the output of the regular VCR to the input of the VCR/DVD combo.
The reason: DVD players add Macrovision copy protection to the signal they generate. The interesting thing about Macrovision is that it does not affect your TV, but it is unpalatable to the automatic gain circuit on the input of a VCR. The link above tells all about it.
Suffice it to say that I am fairly confident that the VCR/DVD combo produces a Macrovision-tainted signal, while the standalone VCR does not.
I’m not. Most (but not all) DVD players only incorprate Macrovision in the output if the DVD tells it to. The DVD itself doesn’t contain Macrovision, but rather it digitally tells the player to generate Macrovision using its built-in generator. The combo should only have Macrovision on VHS playback only if the tape is so protected. All of the ones I’ve seen behave like this.
The important step, that no one has mentioned, is to switch the record VCR to A/V input mode, otherwise it’s looking for a signal on the RF input. For most VCRs you’ll need the remote to do this. There will be a button on it labelled “INPUT”, “A/V”, “VIDEO” or something similar.
The funny thing about the VCR I’m recording on is that there are two sets of jacks on the back (labeled input/output) but only one set on the front (the set I’ve been using). Any difference here?
And as I said in the OP, it’s not a copyright-protected tpae, so I know that’s not the issue.
The front ones are almost always inputs, for eas of connecting a camcorder or video game. There’s no difference between them and the inputs on the back, except you might have to hit the “input” button on the remote more than once to switch to that one. Usually they are labelled and the onscreen display will tell you which one you are connected to. If your TV has baseband A/V inputs you can use those to monitor the the record signal using the outputs on the VCR.
Q.E.D., perhaps I should have chosen my words more carefully about the Macrovision. I have never used a combo, so I don’t know if it limits the MV to the DVD player output or not. My point was that I am certain that the DVD combo has the capacity to generate Macrovision all on its own (without prerecorded MV), so it might be prudent to put it second, to eliminate one variable from the equation.