Who wins... Who cares, as the consumer has already lost. Early adopters have yet again been penalized. A really nice story detailing how you may have been screwed is here:

[Link: gear.ign.com]

And the large electronics giants wonder why sales aren't booming. Perhaps they've burned too many consumers. I guess they call it the Bleeding Edge of Technology for a Reason!

Have you been sleeping under a rock?
This is not news.

What puzzles me is why they're encrypting the content on the video output level, and not just the data level, seeing how DVD ripping involves decryption rather than copying and recompressing every single frame. I'm not aware of any forthcoming HD PVRs with component in after all.

This article from last year has an interesting perspective on the people being cut out of high def DVD because their sets lack HDCP compliance:

"On the one hand, you would think that Toshiba, Sony, Thomson, Panasonic and the other big players behind the two competing high-definition DVD formats would fight the HDMI requirement. After all, roughly 10 million immediate customers, most present owners of HDTVs, will be cut out of the market. That's bad news for sales of the new players.

But for most of them, there's good news that more than offsets this negative. More than 90 million American homes do not own an HDTV. Maybe this new product will drive many of them into the stores to buy one. And, perhaps, some present owners will decide to upgrade. So if any of the equipment makers are lamenting the disenfranchisement of their previous customers, I would look closely for crocodile tears. "

Once again they are hurting everyone, including themselves, with the net result that anyone who really wants to copy this stuff can do so for a few bucks and a little knowledge. Everyone else is inconvienced and ci gets a little tougher.

I went to a Pioneer plasma repair seminar a couple of years ago and we were cautioned against running the set with the back off. Seems you can get at the decrypted video where it exits the decryption IC so there is a switch to detect if the back is on. The operating system will disable the set if it is run with the back off. So, just solder the switch or tape it in the on position and you can play with the decypted HD signals.

The vertical interval copyguard was defeated by a simple stabilizer, Macrovision is defeated by running the video thru an old beta vcr, the unbreakable DVD encryption was broken rather quickly, the system to make CD's unplayable on a computer drive was defeated with a Sharpie and Sony's latest scheme to protect CD's has screwed up regular computer users and led to a class action lawsuit.

Why don't these guys wise up? Video tape and DVD's now add up to the lions share of the studios profits even with the piracy. Keep the software prices low enough so there is no incentive to buy pirated products and the profits go up.

Why are CD sales slipping and DVD sales climbing? I can buy a 2 hour movie that cost hundreds of millions to produce for 12 bucks and a 40 minute CD that cost thousands to produce costs 15?

That is not a very nice thing to ask. It would be more polite (PC) to ask if he were perhaps subgeologically somnolent.

Frankly i gave up after the first page of the artice because of the stupid advertising that kept breaking in.

Actually it is. Perhaps you're a bit sleep deprived and don't understand the issues as a result.

Until about a week ago, it was not disclosed that HDCP hardware would be needed to allow the HDMI signal to be distributed. I work in this area at the hardware level, and I and others where I work didn't realize this until very recently. (I'm one of the geeks that design the IC's that go in these devices.) The news is not the war between the two, but how they've made all products in the market worthless for watching a HD signal. (Or very likely so if the studios follow through on what they're proposing.)

The way I read this market, they can make the players dirt cheap and it wont matter, because the displays and AV receivers won't have the circuitry to allow the signal to be displayed at high resolution anyway. So the issue about a rush to the market between HD-DVD and Blu-ray is academic, neither will be displaying much because of HDCP, or rather the lack of HDCP hardware.

Let me start by saying that I am in no way an expert on this subject. I can hook up just about anything, but don't ask me how it works.

First, I was not exactly impressed with the level of reporting that your link had. I am not familiar with this site, but with the Internet there are millions of "bloggers" out there saying all kinds of goofy stuff. At no point in the article is anyone quoted as saying this is true. He simply spells out his "theroy." Also, I have read about this several times before on MSNBC.com and other news websites. It has not been a secret that the movie studios are trying everything they can to stop people from pirating movies.

From everything that I have read, Sony is putting a lot of time and money into making sure they do not release another "betamax" product. I seriously doubt that they will release the PS3 and it will only work on displays with HDMI or DVI. How could they compete with the XBox 360? And if Sony doesn't do it, I doubt that Toshiba will do it.

"Early adopters have yet again been penalized."

Unfortunately, this has been and will continue to be the case any time technology is involved. Its also unfortunate that people with older HD displays will not be able to get true high definition out of HD-DVD or Blu-Ray players.

But how many of them really care? Some 'experts' estimate that as many as 50% of HDTV owners don't have or aren't using any HD sources. How many of those people are going to drop $1800 on a Pioneer Blu-Ray deck the month it comes out? How many will be able to see the difference between 960x540 and 1080i?

Of course, the early adopters and enthusiasts will want every pixel. But won't most of them be buying newer displays or external scalers anyway? Now is a good time to follow up with those customers to review there options and plans.

Also, according to recent articles on CNET and other souurces, "Under the finalized version of AACS, studios can elect whether to engage a "flag" in the disc that tells the player to allow or disallow full-resolution analog signals." Hollywood may not go for it completely, but there may be a few movies in HD over analog after all.

My point is that it may be premature to panic. Yes it will be confusing to customers. Yes it sucks that that old gear won't work as well as new gear, that HDMI carries copy protection but not gravity protection, and that all the component runs that have been pulled are now almost uselss. But that's the nature of technology, and reasons why we (or at least I am) here, I think.

I get all my news from Console gamer sites! The level of professionalism is significantly better than say.. CE-Pro.......... ;)

I think anyone who has followed the DVD server issue at all or paid attention to the encryped DVD players the Acedemy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences recently sent out to members ( which water mark all output signals ) understood that the content providers were driving the bus. The content providers ( Hollywood Studios ) care only about revenue streams and want copy protection. They seem less bothered by the fact that most DVD contraband comes directly from China where they have their DVDs manufacturered then by incumbering consumers or making CI dealers lives difficult. If this is news to industry professionals come to CEDIA once per year. We all suspected this and our video manufacturers have been telling us about HDCP for some time. I have posted this information here at least 3 times in any number of threads about HDMI and HD DVD.

Alan

Kofi,

This is the funniest thing I've ever read. I wonder how many people even saw it as it was in the middle of a paragraph.
Too funny!

According to Jeff Talmadge (Denon training guy) yesterday, there are only two display devices available right now that will actually accept a 1080p input signal. One is a front projector from JVC and the other is from Vidikron (using a JVC engine). I recently read about a 2nd generation SXRD front projector from Sony that will accept and display a 1080p signal without conversion. Do you know of any others?

He also had some actual explanations why HDMI from SA, Motorola and DSS boxes have trouble passing thru receivers. A very eye-opening training session.

Dawn

Care to share?

Maybe if your uncomfortable posting that info here, you would be so kind as to post it in the verified section of IP.