Is there copy protection on RT2000

[Aspring]

My wife is a teacher and would like to annotate some broadcast programs for use in class (not unlike pop-up music videos). This is legal, in class, under the fair use convention of the copyright law.

We would like to get a g400tv (marvel) card for student use and a new computer with RT2000 for our home use. If we can't annotate broadcast programs, there's not much use. What do we do? Get something other than Matrox? Thanks.

[This_Idiot]

Broadcast TV (at least over here in Europe) doesn't tend to carry macrovision protection, so this shouldn't be a problem to you at all.

Macrovision is implemented on many (not all) pre-recorded video cassettes and on most DVDs.

[Aspring]

Thank you, idiot. But does anyone know about broadcast TV in the US. I was told, perhaps in error, that many programs were broadcast with macrovision.

[DaddyBay]

If programs were broadcast with Macrovision protection, then you would not be able to get a good quality recording with your VCR. I have never had this problem with any program I have ever tried to record from broadcast or cable television.

[Dayspring]

Heck, if broadcast programming had Macrovision, you wouldn't even be able to watch it with your VCR turned ON, much less actually taping it. Which is what I hate about Macrovision. The concept isn't necessarily a bad one (although on the Marvel, I really, really hate it, but anyway... ) How many things do you hook up to your TV through your VCR?? You can't always have EVERYTHING hooked directly to TV. So you pick a certain order, and often it's easiest to put the VCR as the closest component. Macrovision messes with this big-time, when you have components (like my Creative Dxr2 DVD) that can't be connected any other way.

Even worse, is trying to hook ANYTHING to a TV with a built-in VCR. Forget about it. You won't be able to hook up other VCRs or DVDs or anything that could possibly have Macrovision, as ALL inputs are filtered through that built-in VCR, and Macrovision completely makes it impossible to use anything.

Macrovision: it's understandable for copyrighting, but it still mucks things up for legitimate users all the time. Personally, I think anything that dilutes the product for the end-user is something that jeopardizes further purchases, and therefore, is bad...

JMHO...
Matt

[salacious]

If the program is copy protected it would have to be broadcast the the standard macrovision protection. This would mean that you have to pay a royalty for it. Since TV companys are a bit tight with their money they are unlucky to pay for it. With digital systems (DTV, DVD) the macrovision is added on when the signal is converted from digital to analogue.
In the UK with Sky Digital (mostly owned by Fox's Rubert Murdoch) the movie channels tend to be copy protected by not much else.

Salacious