To get around Macrovision, you had to have a gadget called a genlock or time base corrector that repaired the video’s frame signal so that a VCR could record it properly.
Genlocks and TBCs were also very helpful when dubbing unprotected anime tapes.
They didn’t entirely solve the video signal degradation to the copy, but they did make the copies much clearer.
Generally pre-record original anime tapes from Japan weren’t copy protected. I seem to remember that one or two that were, but I can’t remember the titles.
At least his family knows where he is…