diff --git a/src/tivomirror/tivodecode/tivodecoder.c b/src/tivomirror/tivodecode/tivodecoder.c
index 6e51478..44ca3b4 100644
--- a/src/tivomirror/tivodecode/tivodecoder.c
+++ b/src/tivomirror/tivodecode/tivodecoder.c
@@ -377,7 +377,7 @@ int process_ps_frame(unsigned char code, turing_state * turing, OFF_T_TYPE packe
                                 }
                                 // choose 8 as a good test that if 8 slices
                                 // are seen, it's probably not random noise
-                                if (slice_count>8)
+                                if (slice_count>5)
                                 {
                                     // disable future verification
                                     o_no_verify = 1;
@@ -385,7 +385,7 @@ int process_ps_frame(unsigned char code, turing_state * turing, OFF_T_TYPE packe
                             }
                             if (!o_no_verify)
                             {
-                                fprintf(stderr, "Invalid MAK -- aborting\n");
+                                fprintf(stderr, "Only %d slices detected. Probably the MAK is incorrect.\n", slice_count);
                                 return -2;
                             }
                         }