Macrovision

Credits

Editions by
mr3urious and Muzzarino

Video captures courtesy of
DudeThatLogo and retro VHS trailers

Background

Macrovision is the titular copy-protection system from the company Macrovision Corporation, first used on the 1985 VHS/Betamax/LaserDisc of The Cotton Club. In 2009, the company changed its name to Rovi. On September 8, 2016, Rovi acquired TiVo and changed its name to the latter. Until 1997, Macrovision didn't use an animated logo, just warning screens.

(1997-2007)

• 
  The "CP" triangle
• 
  The finished product
• 

Nicknames: "Gold CP/Macrovision", "The Desert"

Logo: On a black background, we see a pink metallic triangle with "cp" on it (which stands for "copy protected" or "copy protection"), which zooms out and rotates from the bottom left to the center. Some clouds and sandy dunes are reflected onto the triangle, which shines, causing it to turn gold. Then a flash appears on the center to swallow the triangle up in-order to serve room for the logo, and "MACROVISION QUALITY PROTECTION" (in Eurostile LT Std Condensed font) zooms out, with a smaller triangle next to it. An upside-down triangle replaces the V in "MACROVISION", and after it zooms out, the triangle shines with a "ping" and the text "QUALITY PROTECTION" starts to glow. In the background of the triangle and "MACROVISION", there is what appears to be a background of a desert and a cloudy sky (and if you watch closely, a watery oasis near the bottom of the desert as the text zooms out).

Variants:

• A French version exists where it fades in on the finished logo with the triangle stuck on the light and the text and the quality protection text fades in and is replaced by Protection de la qualite, which can be seen on the VHS release of The Eighth Day.
• On some DVDs, the logo is out of sync with the music.

FX/SFX: The shining, the triangle changing colors, and the zoom out.

Music/Sounds: A mellow synth tune.

Music/Sounds Variant: From 2003-05, a silent version was used on VHS (the DVD counterparts all had the theme). This has been spotted on the 2003-05 VHS releases of Hulk, Love Actually, Along Came Polly, and Friday Night Lights.

Availability: Common.

• Seen at the end of Universal Studios Home Video DVD releases from 2000-2007 as well as a few VHS releases from 2000-2006, and at the beginning of PolyGram Video/USA Home Entertainment VHS and DVD releases from 1997-2002 (although Gosford Park, Maybe Baby and One Night at McCools have the logo at the end of those DVDs), and for Barney's Great Adventure, the logo was absent from the retail VHS, but appears at the beginning of demo VHS tapes and DVDs (including reprints).
• It was also shown at the beginning of HBO Home Video VHS releases from 2000-2002, such as 61*, Band of Brothers, Do You Believe In Miracles?, and several volumes of The Sopranos.
• It has also been spotted on Popular Mechanics for Kids and Mommy and Me DVDs, and even at the end of certain prints of Maisy Makes Music (which even has an MPAA "G" rating screen before it, despite being a TV show).
• A few BBC Video UK VHS releases from 1999-2000 also use this logo at the beginning, such as My Friend Angelmouse, Only Fools & Horses: Mother Nature's Son, Tweenies: Animal Friends and Song Time!, Teletubbies and the Snow, Adventures with Romuald the Reindeer, Comedy Legends: Ronnie Barker, Dad’s Army: The Face on the Poster, and Gary Larson's Tales from the Far Side.
• It was seen at the beginning of the 2004 U.S. DVD of Fangoria Blood Drive: Volume 1 from Koch Vision.
• It was also seen at the beginning of numerous Canadian Alliance Atlantis DVDs from 2000-2005 (with the exception of New Line Cinema and Miramax Films releases), such as Thomas and the Magic Railroad, Maybe Baby, Bowling for Columbine, Séraphin: Heart of Stone, Maelstrom, Cinema Paradiso, Love Bites, A Girl at the Window, Louise Solomon's Yoga & Pilates, Formula 51, How My Mother Gave Birth to Me During Menopause, Drowning Mona, The Pig's Law, Life with Judy Garland: Me and My Shadows, It's Your Turn, Laura Cadieux, Calendar, Men with Brooms, The Barbarian Invasions, the first season of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, the first two seasons of Trailer Park Boys, The Blue Butterfly, Intermission, The Five of Us, Looking for Alexander, The Outlander, and Aurore.
• Also appears at the beginning of UK DVDs from Carlton Video, such as Oliver Twist (1948), In Which We Serve, King of New York, The Red Shoes, The Ipcress File, A Town Like Alice, Porridge: The Movie, several Thunderbirds volumes and Capricorn One.
• Somehow appears at the end of the 2005 DVD of Dan Zanes & Friends: All Around the Kitchen from Festival Five Records.
• It unexpectedly appeared at the end of a December 2001 ABC Family (now Freeform) airing of Must Be Santa (1999).
• The print logo appears on the back of VCI UK DVDs from 2000 to 2005, and Channel 4 UK DVDs from 2006 to 2011 but the on-screen logo doesn't appear on them.
• It was seen at the beginning of the international PolyGram Video/Universal Pictures Home Entertainment VHS and DVD releases from 1997-2005 and the French Canal+ Video/StudioCanal Video VHS and DVD releases from 1997-2005 as well.

Editor's Note: The zooming and sudden appearance may get to some, but this is is a very soothing logo with some nice CGI that has held up considerably well over the years. It's unfortunate that this logo was attached to a controversial and widely hated copy protection scheme. This can also be mistaken for an authoring logo due to its appearance at the end of Universal DVDs.