Analog Protection System

The Macrovision Analog Protection System (APS), also known as Copyguard by some people, is a videocassette and videodisc copy protection system originally developed by Macrovision Corporation. The system was developed to prevent bootlegging of original videocassettes and DVDs.

System History

The Analog Protection System was originally introduced in 1985 with the home video release of the 1984 film The Cotton Club by Embassy Home Entertainment. It was intended to replace the StopCopy protection system first introduced in 1978. By 1990, most of the major film distributors were using the APS system for their releases, with the main holdout coming from RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video.

List of Customers

• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (VHS: 1986-1998, 2004-2006; DVD: 1998-2020)
• AIX Media Group
• Ambrose Video Publishing (tapes released through the MacArthur Library)
• Artisan Entertainment (mainly on DVD releases and on a few blockbuster VHS releases in the 1990s)
  • Family Home Entertainment (mainly on DVD releases from 1997-2005, as well as the 1990 VHS of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie)
• Bandai Entertainment
• Central Park Media
• Coronet/MTI Film and Video (tapes released through the MacArthur Library)
• Direct Cinema Limited
• DreamWorks Home Entertainment (1998-2003)
• FUNimation Entertainment
• Group Productions
• Guilford Publications, Inc.
• Home Vision Entertainment
  • Public Media Video
• Koch Lorber Films
• Kodak (1980s)
• Leucadia Family Films
  • Sandstar Family Entertainment
• London Films (tapes released through the MacArthur Library)
• The Lyons Group (1988-1989, 1992-1995)
  • Lyrick Studios (1999-2001)
  • HIT Entertainment (2001-2003)
• The MacArthur Library
• Media Home Entertainment (except for Anchor Bay Entertainment-era VHS releases)
• MGM Home Entertainment (1986-1993)
• New Yorker Video (????-2005)
• Palm Pictures (2000)
• Paramount Home Media Distribution (1990-1993, 1998-2013)
  • Simon & Schuster Video (tapes released through the MacArthur Library)
• PBS Video (tapes released through the MacArthur Library)
• Pioneer Entertainment (mainly on DVD releases)
• PolyGram Video (1997-1999)
• Price/Stern/Sloan Video (1992)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (on some rare occasions on VHS: 1996-1999; DVD: 1997-2003)
  • Sony Wonder (on some 2006 releases)
• Time-Life Video (1992-1993, including some rare occasions including: Barney & Friends: Volumes 1-20)
• United Learning
• Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (1986-2007)
• Viz Video (mainly on DVD releases)
• Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (1986-2014, except a few rare occasions including: all LP-mode releases, some copies of the 1995 VHS of While You Were Sleeping that have no previews, and some mid-'80s short-form releases)
  • Disney Educational Productions
• Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (1986-1993)
  • HBO Home Entertainment
  • New Line Home Entertainment (on early DVD releases, as well as on the VHS of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze and on some pre-Time Warner Turner-era VHS releases)
    • Nelson Entertainment (1985-1988) (experimental, only during the Embassy years)
• Wide-Eyed Learning (2003)
• World Wide Pictures Home Video (1990s-2000s)
• Zomba Video
  • Jive Records

List of Known Duplicators That Used Macrovision

• AIMedia Solutions (formerly Opryland Duplicating Services and Network Duplication Services)
• Allied Vaughn (formerly Allied Film & Video and Allied Digital Technologies)
  • Hauppauge Video Manufacturing, Ltd.
  • Vaughn Communications Inc.
• All Post, Inc.
• American Sound & Video
• AP International
• Ashland Video Corp.
• AstralTech Inc.
• Audio-Video-Color Corp.
• CDI Media (formerly Cassette Duplicators Incorporated)
• Central de Video (also known as Central Video)
• Cinram
• Clear Image Duplication
• CMI Media Management Solutions (formerly Cine Magnetics Video & Digital Laboratories)
• Color Film Corporation
• Deluxe Video Services (formerly BHCP Video and Rank Video Services America)
  • Video Technology Services
• Denver Dubbing
• Digital Communications Technology Corporation (formerly MagneTech Corporation)
• Digital Excellence
• DXB Video Tapes, Inc.
• Full Perspective Video Services, Inc.
  • F.P. Video
• H.A.V.E.
• Highspeed Video, Inc.
• International Cassette Corp.
• Matrix Video Duplication Corporation (also known as Matrix Video)
• Media Concepts
• MediaCopy (formerly West Coast Video Duplicating)
  • Media Home Entertainment
• MediaTech
• Motion Picture Lab
• Paragon Media, Inc.
• Precise Video
• Premiere Video
• Producers Color Service Inc. Video Cassette Division
• RSB Video
• Scenewise Inc. (formerly Custom Duplication Incorporated and Scope Seven)
• Sifford Media
• Technicolor Video Services
  • The CBS/Fox Company
• Television Associates
• Transfer West
• VCA-Teletronics
• VDC Group
• Video Copy Services
• The Video-Matic Group
  • The Duplication Group (formerly Cassette Productions)
• Videomatic International
• Video Services Group, Inc.
• Video Transfer
• Vidicopy Corporation
• Vision Wise
• VTR Video
• WRS Motion Picture & Video Laboratory