Macrovision has been around since the 80s and many, although not all commercial VHS has it. The Star Wars tapes definitely have it and that's why I can't make a back-up copy to watch and save the originals.

You can't get rid of macrovision because it's built into the hardware. You would need equipment to stabilize the signal or an older VHS recorder that predated macrovision and didn't have it built in. That's why laserdisc is so great, it's macro free! Unfortunately I couldn't afford them then, and now they are hard to find and the Star Wars Ld's have skyrocketed in value. Dang Lucas... #@%&@!!!