DescentBB

MD-2389 wrote:Ditto for blue-ray, with no interference from the MPAA nazis.

Mickey1 wrote:I read that no video card out now has the hardware key that is needed to play prerecorded disks. HD TVs will also need the HDMI input for full resolution or only .25% of the resolution will be passed through the component input.

Confirming our earlier reports, some owners of HD television sets will not be able to see HD DVD and Blu-ray programming in its full glory, as the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) used by both next-gen formats has been modified to require picture degredation over analog connections.
As a result, the signal sent through analog connections will be constrained to 960x540, rather than the 1920x1080 that both Blu-ray and HD DVD are capable of.

According to the consortium backing AACS, the change is necessary because of—you guessed it—piracy.
The fear is that hordes of otherwise law-abiding citizens will take advange of analog video connections to record full-resolution copies of movies from HD DVD and Blu-ray discs and subsequently distribute them via peer-to-peer networks and other nefarious means.
To keep that from happening, any video signal that doesn't travel over a protected input (such as HDMI) will be degraded.

The AACS specification will now contain a new digital flag called the Image Constraint Token. At the discretion of the content producer, the ICT can be set to require next-gen optical players to degrade the video over analog connections. If ICT is turned off, then no downsampling will occur.

At 960x540, degraded video will still look better than standard DVDs, which generally are encoded at 720x480.
However, owners of analog 720p HD sets (and they are out there) will be getting short shrift, as their TVs are capable of 1280x720 display.
AACS is attempting to throw them a bone, as the degraded signal will then be "up converted" to 1280x720. The ultimate result will be a picture that fills the screen, but doesn't give the consumer what he or she paid for in terms of the quality.

Unlike Managed Copy, which is a mandatory part of AACS for both platforms, ICT usage will be left up to the choice of the individual studios.

So far, none of them have said they will be requiring its use for their discs. However, Disney, Warner Home Video, Paramount, and NBC Universal are considered likely candidates to require ICT.
Consumer electronics manufacturers have been unenthusiastic about supporting ITC, but will have to incorporate it into their players if they want them certified to play next-generation optical disc content.

As Ken wrote last summer, "the revolution will be televised, only it won't be in HD unless your pockets have paid for recent display technology designed with the future in mind." That future, in case you've forgotten, involves the motion picture and music industries being able to exercise maximum control over what you watch, how you watch, and when you watch it.
In the past couple of months we've seen legislation introduced to close the so-called "analog hole," resurrect the broadcast flag for television and HD radio, and ultimately limit the functionality of consumer electronics to "customary historic uses."
All this is in the guise of fighting piracy and keeping artists from starving. But the truth of the matter is that our "friends" at the RIAA and MPAA want to keep themselves at the helm of the USS Content at all costs, even if it means trampling their customers.