Macrovision

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 The Borrowers, Macrovision didn't use an animated logo, just warning screens.

(1998-2009)

Nickname: "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" 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).

Variant: 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.

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

Music/Sounds: A mellow synth tune.

Availability: Seen at the end of Universal VHS and DVD releases from 2003-2009, and at the beginning of PolyGram VHS and DVD releases from 1998-1999. 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 has also been spotted on Futurama, Popular Mechanics for Kids, Curious Buddies and Mommy and Me DVDs, and even at the end of VHS certain prints of Maisy Makes Music and Blue's Clues: Shapes & Colors (which even has an MPAA "G" rating screen before it, despite being a TV shows!). A few PBS VHS releases also use this. The French variant can be seen on the VHS release of The Eighth Day.

Editor's Note: This is a very soothing logo with some nice CGI that has held up considerably well over the years.