On February 14, 2008, Thoma Cressey Bravo and then, Macrovision Corporation announced that an affiliate of TCB had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Macrovision's Software Business Unit in a cash transaction valued at approximately $ 200 million.

GLOBEtrotter was then acquired by Macrovision in 2000.

* In 2004, Macrovision acquired InstallShield, creators of installation authoring software ( later divested to private equity ).

Macrovision subsequently introduced products and services for facilitating access control and secure distribution of other forms of digital media, including music, video games, Web text and graphics, and computer software.

Historically, the original Macrovision technology was considered a nuisance to some specialist users because it could interfere with other electronic equipment.

The ease with which Macrovision and other copy protection measures can be defeated has prompted a steadily growing number of DVD releases that do not have copy protection of any kind, CSS or Macrovision.

On October 26, 2001, the sale, purchase, or manufacture of any device that has no commercial purpose other than disabling Macrovision copy protection was made illegal under section 1201 ( a ) of the same controversial act.

Macrovision, which purchased Gemstar-TV Guide mostly to boost the value of its lucrative VCR + and electronic program guide patents, later stated that they were possibly looking to sell both TV Guide Network and the TV Guide print edition's namesake to other parties.

As of version 6. 1. 4. 3, AnyDVD has a revised ripper that removes Sony ARccOS Protection, Macrovision RipGuard, and other structural preventions and repairs both intentional and unintentional mastering errors.

Rovi was known as Macrovision Solutions Corporation ( Macrovision ) until it changed its name in July 2009.

On July 16, 2009, Macrovision Solution Corporation announced the official change of its name to Rovi Corporation.

In February 2005, Macrovision introduced its RipGuard technology designed to prevent or reduce digital DVD copying by altering the format of the DVD content to disrupt the ripping software.

* In 2005, Macrovision acquired the intellectual property rights to DVD Decrypter from its developer.

* On November 6, 2007, Macrovision announced its intention to acquire All Media Guide.

DivX is a brand name of products created by DivX, Inc. ( formerly DivXNetworks, Inc., later purchased by Sonic Solutions and currently part of the Rovi Corporation formerly known as Macrovision ), including the DivX Codec which became popular due to its ability to compress lengthy video segments into small sizes while maintaining relatively high visual quality.

On November 27, 2005, Afterdawn. com, a Finnish website, announced that it complied with a letter received from Macrovision demanding that DVD Decrypter be taken down from its site.

Additionally the same year, Macrovision acquired all the music copy protection and digital rights management ( DRM ) assets of TTR Technologies ( formerly NASDAQ listed under the ticker TTRE ).

In addition to removing digital restrictions, AnyDVD will also defeat Macrovision analog copy prevention.

Stirling Technologies later renamed itself to InstallShield Corporation and continued to operate under the new name until Macrovision acquired the business in 2004.

On April 1, 2008, the Macrovision Software Business Unit ( including the InstallShield brand ) was sold to private equity firm Thoma Cressey Bravo, forming a new company: Acresso Software Corporation.

* In 2006, Macrovision acquired eMeta.

On 27 January 2009, Betfair announced the purchase of the TVG Network in the United States from Macrovision $ 50 million USD as part of Macrovision's dissolving of TV Guide's assets.

On December 18 of that year, Macrovision announced that it had found a willing party for TV Guide Network in One Equity Partners.

Galaxy Merger Sub, Inc., merged with and into Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc., with Gemstar-TV Guide as the surviving corporation, as a result Macrovision and Gemstar-TV Guide becoming the wholly owned subsidiaries of Macrovision Solutions Corporation.

* On December 7, 2007, Macrovision announced an agreement to acquire Gemstar-TV Guide and completed the purchase on August 5, 2008.

On May 2, 2008, Gemstar-TV Guide was acquired by Macrovision ( now Rovi Corporation ).

Macrovision ( Rovi ) announced on November 6, 2007 that it had agreed to purchase All Media Guide.

* Macrovision Closes Acquisition of Gemstar-TV Guide

Rovi was established under the name Macrovision Corporation in 1983.

The 1984 film The Cotton Club was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1985.

On December 12, 2007, Mars Merger Sub, Inc., merged with and into Macrovision Corporation with Macrovision as the surviving corporation.

Although the technology can be circumvented by several current DVD rippers such as AnyDVD or DVDFab, Macrovision claimed that 95 % of casual users lack the knowledge and / or determination to be able to copy a DVD with RipGuard technology.

Some newer TVs also mistake the Macrovision pulses for synchronization pulses.

While not invented by Macrovision, the company's products implement it.

Apart from this, many DVD recorders mistake the mechanical instability of worn videotapes for Macrovision signals, and so refuse to make what would be perfectly legal DVD dubs of people's old home movies and the like.

This widespread problem is another factor contributing to the demand for devices that defeat Macrovision.

In addition, Macrovision confuses many upconverters ( devices that convert a video signal to a higher resolution ), causing them to shut down and refuse to play Macrovision content.

Some DVD players give the user the option of disabling the Macrovision technology.

There are also devices called stabilizers, video stabilizers or enhancers available that filter out the Macrovision spikes and thereby defeat the system.

The best device for defeating Macrovision is a Time Base Corrector ( TBC ), although they are more expensive than the simpler video stabilizers.

Discs made with DVD copying programs such as DVD Shrink automatically disable any Macrovision copy protection.