[Mr Incredible]

Hi all.

Until Christmas I had a Tosh 330e DVD player hooked up via RGB Scart to my Sony RP TV LCD 50" unit. Things were all well until I decided to "upgrade".

OK, perhaps I should have checked rather than assume, but I bought a S/H Sony DVPS7700 off the fourm. The unit did not have Scart outputs (according to Sony all UK units had them!!) and therefore the only options open to me were S-Video connection or the component out with some converter to RGBs.

The S-Video output was very good, bit I was itching to hook up the component side.

So I bought a S/H Keene RGB2C (which also does C2RGB!) unit off the forum and a new 1.5m component lead.

As my TV has PAP I was looking forward to seeing a side by side comparison of RGB vs S-Video. I hooked up all the cables, slotted in the Monsters Inc DVD. The picture on the RGBs Scart on the TV was pulsating about every 25s between light and dark, then quickly pulsated light/dark and then started the same cycle again. The picture on the S-Video output was unaffected by this "feature". It was clear and stable.

Having spoken with Keene Electronics thinking it was a converter issue,(very helpful) they said the problem was proably due to Macrovision encoding on the Y signal of the Y Cb Cr.

I was under the impression that I should have seen the same on the S-Video output. Apparently not. So I am now in the possesion of a quality DVD, quality TV, good connections and unable to play Macrovision protected DVD's. ***? My old Tosh RGB output did not have the Macrovision problem. I am not copying DVDs. Is it too much to ask for a top of the range DVD to be able to hook up to my excellent TV without any hitches?

Does anyone know how to overcome the problem?

BTW, I tried another DVD, Pulp Fiction, same problem. I tried Matrix Reloaded. Perfect. The difference between RGBs and S-Video was marked: colours more vibrant, greater tonal depth and you could see details in the picture that were just washed out in S-Video.

TIA


Bob

[cypher007]

my final solution has been to use a HTPC setup, using sigma designs xcard and a program called remote selector to turn off the macrovision. in your case a possible solution might be available in the form of a macrovision hacked firmware for your player, or a more drastic hardware hack. its worth googling the model and maybe the firmware rev its running now, as this will narrow down sites with details about firmware.