February 24, 2006 - In perhaps the greatest disservice to the general consumer market yet perpetrated by players in the electronic entertainment industry, it has been revealed that next-generation DVD technologies (HD-DVD and Blu-ray) will only function with monitors and HDTVs with HDMI or DVI connections. What does that mean to you? If you purchased an HDTV more than a couple of years ago, chances are you are using Component Video (the red, green, and blue plugs) to connect HD sources to your TV. Component Video is an analog transmission, which means that it can't work with the absurdly stringent AACS copy-protection Hollywood has insisted be integrated into the new formats. Thus, no HDMI input on your TV, no hi-def DVD for you. If you don't have a compatible TV, you'll either receive a massively downgraded sub-720p resolution version of the content, or what the studios are suggesting, a warning screen followed by nothing. Who's to blame for screwing some 3,000,000+ HDTV owners in America that were good consumers and early adopters who purchased TVs without HDMI? A group put together by the major movie studios called Advanced Access Content System (AACS). AACS was responsible for the Reuters report last week that speculated that Sony would miss its spring launch date for the PS3, due to the fact that the AACS had still not finalized the technicalities of the protocol. After a good six months of deliberation since version AACS v.0.9 was put into testing, and only 2 or 3 months away from the supposed release of the first HD-DVD and Blu-ray players, AACS has finally made the baby step of offering provisional licensing to the likes of Sony, Toshiba, and the other early manufactures of hi-def DVD solutions. Full Article
I've read reports of components that *should* be able to talk digitally to each other, fail because of the copy protection garbage. Small implementation differences end up as no picture. Reminiscent of BlueTooth, but worse because of the industry's push to demand stringency in the handshaking.
Not to mention that I believe there's a "key disable" function in the new spec which will allow media creators to block their releases from entire product lines in the event the protection is compromised... Although they "claim" it will only be used to disable individual devices, if a hack is found for an entire product line, do you think they'll hesitate to block the entire set? If someone happens to develop a hack for the particular model of HD-DVD/Blu-Ray player you have, the media moguls can prevent any future releases from being played at full-res on that entire model line. Suddenly your $1400 investment is reduced to playing only at 1/4 HD res because someone, somewhere hacked it. How would you feel if someone developed a hack for a brand new $600 video card you bought, and the media companies decided to disable the entire product line. Kiss your $600 goodbye and buy a new card if you want full-res! I have no intention of supporting any HD format unless I can manipulate it in any way that I want. And manufacturers can rest-assured that if people's players or monitors start getting "disabled", lawsuits will start flying and consumers will demand refunds for useless hardware. Dave
I only see years of lawsuits, happy lawyers, and disgusted consumers ahead. Anyway, as the OP emphasizes, the problem is not blu-ray vs hd-dvd, it is this copy protection crap.
Sooner or later some bright kid from Norway is going to figure out how to hack the entire system and then they are hosed. Also if a senator's expensive system doesn't work, heads will fly. The more they try to control the system, the more likely it won't work, and the more likely people won't buy, and then it will drift away. Remember Divx? Lisa
it's good to know i won't have a problem i currently use the DVI connection for my pc... when they make the HD-DVD or Blue-Ray DVDs drive bays for PC.. then i'll get one.
Buying the drive is easy; getting the protected content to go thorugh your DVI port is going to be the trick. I'll be surprised if you are able.
Oh, I just remembered I think that bright kid from Norway is now working for Linspire down in San Diego. May be he should more back to Norway before he hacks this one? It should be noted that reverse engineering a program so that you can bypass the copyright protection has been ruled legal in Norway, as opposed to being made illegal in USA. So long as you are just using the hack to legally view your copy of a DVD there is nothing wrong in the eyes of the Norway courts. It is looking like the rest of Europe may go the same way. They have a lot more Linux machines over there. In the US, if you can't view your DVD because they won't support your system, TS. There are laws against you reverse engineering their anti theft stuff to run it on something you own. Though it should be noted that several congress people are now revisiting the repressive system and it may get changed. Seems more and more people are getting Linux machines and writing their congress critters when things that should work, don't. Course if you know how to get on the internet more things are possible and out of the control of US laws. Lisa
Unfortunately this will probably affect you too. From the article: Perhaps you're a progressive type and decided to make your media center PC centric. You're screwed too. Even if you purchased a high-end ATI or Nvidia graphics card advertised as HDCP compatible, that all it is: compatible, not compliant. HDCP chips must be bios flashed at the factory, and though these new "compatible" cards have space for a TI HDCP chip, none have them yet. In addition, every link in the chain must be HDCP ready, and only a very few PC monitors have adopted the standard. Get ready to buy both a new high-end graphics card and a new monitor if you want hi-def DVD for your PC.
