The copy protection that Ashore's talking about is Macrovision.

It'll always result in a pixellated copy, even from VCR to VCR, regardless of the quality of the equipment unless you also have a Macrovision decoder in line... which is basically what the unit he's talking about is. My last decoder cost in the 4 figure range, now they're less than $100!? :eek:

When copying to DVD, most good DVD/Video SW has a "Remove Macrovision" setting, although not always so obviously labelled, to work around this.

eg. Adobe Premiere, TMPGEnc, or for DVD copiers: DVDShrink, Kingdia DVD Ripper.

Disclaimer: This info is only to assist those making archival copies for themselves, of course. Not that I'd accuse anyone in these forums of being a Pirate... except on the appropriate day, of course. Arrrr, me maties! (Just practising for next year! )