Is this macrovision on VCR tape?
 

So i have bought a dvd recorder recently (cheap 2nd hand) a panasonic dmr-E50
I have noticed some kind of color artefacts at the top of the frames see here:
http://screenshotcomparison.com/comparison/166647

The thing is this don't happen when i directly connect my vcr to my capture card.It's the same thing for all the commercial tapes i have tested. If you look closely you can see the tbc is doing it's job by reducing the horizontal jitter. At this point i don't know if i should get another dvd recorder (not sensible to macrovision) or buy a device to strip out macrovison before entering the dvd recorder. I have plenty of commercial tapes to back up.

Which VCR are you using?

it's a jvc SR-TS1U (ntsc)

Wish people wouldn't use these comparison sites. This time I only see 1 image, got tired of clicking all over the place.

Hope you solve the problem, whatever it is.

without tbc click here

with tbc (dvd recorder) click here

Doesn't look like Macrovision to me.

Which capture card? Does that card defeat Macrovision?

Don't DVD recorders create mod-16 frames? The images aren't even mod-4, so I assume they've been cropped.

Is it exactly the same blue stain in the same spot on all the tapes? Macrovision does different things with different tapes, and usually doesn't remain exactly the same for many frames, but flickers, jitters, comes and goes, etc.

I still see some ragged edges with notches in both images.

A frame tbc before the signal enters the recorder will render the recorder's line tbc useless.

The pictures were cropped. Like i said it always happen on the top of the frame. If it's not macrovision (colors bursts messed up) i don't know what it is really, I know there different levels of macrovision (more or less severe, maybe it's just level 1) i don't know..

another picture:
direct capture (vcr->capture card) here
with tbc here (you can see faint horizontal pink color stripes)

Macrovision works by messing with the AGC in "licensed" VHS recorders by adding pulses in the blanking/sync region of the analog signal, not in the on-screen image area seen in normal TV sets. This is why a TBC or sync regenerator can often defeat Macrovision. Capture cards, 8mm/Hi8 VCRs and digital recorders sense this signal and under law have to comply by not recording the signal. (e.g., the Sony EV-S7000 had a special Macrovision sensing circuit board in it>)

Depending on the design of the TBC (including any internal AGC), and aging of electronics, the TBC might not pass the same image out as it receives. Usually it is an improvement in image stability, but being analog at the input and output, nothing is assured. The initial images you posted showed (to my eyes) the TBC causing a gradual shift in hue from green at the top through blue to red toward the bottom of the image. The no-TBC image did not show this shift.

I would another TBC if you can.