After learning that computer OEMs cannot obtain a license to play DVDs on a system with a "tv out" port unless the graphics card supports (and respects) Macrovision, I am in the market for some anti-Macrovision hardware.
A number of people are selling the "Sima SED-CM" for anywhere between $25 and $60, which will supposedly remove Level 1 Macrovision. Sima makes a more pricey device, the "Color Corrector" which claims it will remove both level 1 and Level 2. Does anyone have any experience with either of these? I've got diagrams for building my own device, but estimate parts at a minimum of $80, not accounting for soldering time. (I'm specifically looking for a device that will take RCA in, perform its job, and give me an RCA out.) Until very recently, when I acquired a new laptop with a DVD player, I was oblivious to the fact that content providers had so thoroughly spread their poison as to reach the legitimate attempts of user Alice to route her laptop's tv-out through Alice's vcr, so as to watch a DVD on a 21" tv instead of a 14" LCD. Plan B is, of course, to continue ripping DVDs to my HDD, remove the Macrovision, and contribute the compressed results to the body of DivX ;-) works out there.
