Blue Ray Cleared Up (somewhat)

[TheMagicPirate]

Both HD-DVD and Blu-ray employ an AACS (Advanced Access Content System) copy protection scheme that, to keep things short and (somewhat) simple, will down-scale HD content to a non-HD resolution if it isn't displayed over an HDCP-compliant HDMI connection. In other words, hooking up either of these formats via component connections won't cut it for true HD playback, at least in the future. Luckily, studios behind both formats have said that they won't ship their first batches of movies (possibly for a few years) with the scheme enabled to give users time to shift over to HDMI-enabled televisions, but this still leaves many questions in the world of gaming, specifically with regards to the PlayStation 3.

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Seems that Blu-Ray wont cause all the problems that were first expected.
Good news for the PS3 I guess

 

[XPE]

Luckily, studios behind both formats have said that they won't ship their first batches of movies (possibly for a few years) with the scheme enabled to give users time to shift over to HDMI-enabled televisions, but this still leaves many questions in the world of gaming, specifically with regards to the PlayStation 3.

that's so nice of them


What is the point really ????

From what ive been told the vast amount of HDTV, dont have HDMI-TV, so this mean's in a few years you are going to have to buy a new HDTV.

yet correct me if i am wrong but isnt the poeple already with HDTV the people they are trying to sell the next gen DVD's to.

 

[Werewolf]

One important bit is

The technical reason for this is that Blu-ray's AACS system is both hardware and software based, and any protected software will need to contain an Image Constraint Token (ICT) to essentially turn on the protection scheme. In other words, this is optional and whoever authors the media has the option of utilizing the AACS scheme or not. It's very much like how some VHS tapes have Macrovision and some don't.

One article I read a few weeks ago on a site dedicated to DVD*, and gearing up to HD/BR pointed out that several of the content providers have already said they won't be using it for movies for the time being, and as the IGN article says it wouldn't make sense to use it for games.

With regards to movie playback, apparently if Sony and other makers of Blu-Ray players want to use the flag/automatic downscaling in some countries, they will likely end up in a fight with consumer protection groups and the government. Japan apparently has a very high installed user base for HDTV, most of which won't support the HDCP system so the consumer protection laws there will likely mean the flag cannot be used (which I suspect is part of the reason it is a flag, rather than a mandatory system). as it would mean people being forced to replace their current sets.

In the U.K. and much of Europe the requirement for HDCP shouldn't be such a huge problem, as most people in the U.K. and Europe are just starting to get HD sets, so the installed userbase with older non compliant sets is pretty small.

Of course the stupid thing is, that most new sets even now only have 1 HDCP connection, when really they should be having at least two or 3.

 

[Boogle]

So like region-free DVDs, all you need to do is modify the player to ignore the flag and you have full resolution HD again. To combat HDCP you just need something along the line that takes in the HDCP signal, decodes it, and sends it off clean again. Incidentally there are products that do the latter on the market right now.

Quite simply HDCP will only work in the short term, and the longer movies come out without HDCP protection, the less time HDCP will actually an impact. Consumer encryption is rarely that far ahead of computing power within PCs, with multicore CPUs coming in as aggressively as they are, brute-forcing the encryption (like when removing protection on DVDs) won't be that far off anyway.

I wouldn't worry about HDCP, low resolutions, etc. I'm not advocating piracy, but I don't like the idea of having to fork out for expensive HDCP compliant equipment to display HD content, at any point. Not when people who DO pirate this stuff get the real deal without paying any extra cash. Its the same with audio files, I purchased 1 track as an experiment. Essentially it was linked to my primary PC, and that was it. To play on another device I had to get a new license, invalidating the previous one and taking up the precious license renewal slots. Fill them up and you have the fun of explaining that you aren't pirating music, you're trying to play an audio track on your laptop / PDA (which I do a lot). Yet if you really do pirate this stuff, you can play it on any of your devices as much as you like - kind of like a CD.

Your base are belong to us - Music & Movie industry.

 

[NokkonWud]

Of course the stupid thing is, that most new sets even now only have 1 HDCP connection, when really they should be having at least two or 3.

Much like older TV sets and Scart sockets. I currently own a 42" Sony plasma which has 0 HDMI ports, and one Component port, which is why, when a new TV is purchased for the living room later this year it will have 2 HDMI ports (it will almost certainly be Pioneer).

 

[Abooie]

Much like older TV sets and Scart sockets. I currently own a 42" Sony plasma which has 0 HDMI ports, and one Component port, which is why, when a new TV is purchased for the living room later this year it will have 2 HDMI ports (it will almost certainly be Pioneer).

This was one of the main selling points of the Toshiba 32WLT66 I recently got. It has 2 HDMI ports.