Microsoft and Hollywood conspire on hardware/software
New standards will require completely new equipment because of Digital Rights technology
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Got a nice computer, with nice monitor you bought recently thinking you'd be getting ready for the next generation of entertainment viewing -- High Definition DVDs and the like?
Think again, it seems that because of digital rights technologies and requirements, unless you upgrade your operating system and your hardware you will be lucky if you see a blurry screen.
Thank Hollywood and their insistence on digital rights technologies for this one folks. If you want High Definition DVDs and other coming high tech gadgetry, you'll be buying all new equipment that includes built-in support for copy protections and digital rights management. You'll be completely controlled in what equipment you can use, with what features, resolutions, and other specifications that are set entirely by the fine folks in Hollywood, and Microsoft will be along for the ride selling new operating systems that include the rights management technologies that will lock you into those features.
There may be some choices, and certainly the hacker communities will come out with homebrew versions of players for operating systems like Linux, but it may take some time, and the hardware very well may refuse to cooperate without confidential information and specifications that most likely won't be made public to the people that would create their own drivers for such hardware.
You have to love the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and the monster it has helped Hollywood to create. (NOT!)
Original article from PCWorld.com (or snippets from it) follow. Please check the original article and read it entirely for complete details.
Most Monitors Won't Play New HD Video
Vista's content protection will block or blur high-def movies on today's displays.
Scott Spanbauer
From the November 2005 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Tuesday, October 04, 2005
If you dropped a bundle on a high-end computer display or HDTV, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise when you slip your new high-definition DVD of Star Wars: Episode III into your Windows Vista PC. Vista, the next version of Windows that's slated to appear in about a year, will feature a new systemwide content protection scheme called PVP-OPM (see box below). If your monitor doesn't work with PVP-OPM, all you'll likely see is either a fuzzy rendition of your high-def flick or Hollywood's version of the Blue Screen of Death--a message warning you that the display has been 'revoked'.
High-Def Hard-Liners
Forthcoming Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs promise higher resolution than a standard DVD's 480-line maximum. But to protect its high-quality content from pirating, the film industry, along with disc and hardware makers, has created an umbrella content protection scheme known as AACS. If Windows is to play the new discs, Microsoft has little choice but to support AACS, which is where PVP-OPM comes in. According to Microsoft, PVP-OPM will prevent pirates from attaching recording devices directly to the PC graphics card's DVI or HDMI video outputs in order to capture a pristine digital copy of the disc's otherwise encrypted content. A related component, PVP-UAB, will prevent savvy computer owners from installing data capture cards in order to grab high-def movies straight off the PCI Express bus.
Unfortunately, PVP-OPM will also shut out plenty of law-abiding video watchers whose current displays aren't future-proof. To comply with the film industry's protection scheme, PVP-OPM employs HDCP technology to determine whether graphics boards and displays are allowed to output and display high-def video. If HDCP sees a blocked display (such as a video capture device) or one that does not support HDCP (including any HDTV with only analog connectors), it prevents output or reduces the video resolution until the offending display or protected content is removed from the system.
... more at linked article (please see original article for complete story)
Think again, it seems that because of digital rights technologies and requirements, unless you upgrade your operating system and your hardware you will be lucky if you see a blurry screen.
Thank Hollywood and their insistence on digital rights technologies for this one folks. If you want High Definition DVDs and other coming high tech gadgetry, you'll be buying all new equipment that includes built-in support for copy protections and digital rights management. You'll be completely controlled in what equipment you can use, with what features, resolutions, and other specifications that are set entirely by the fine folks in Hollywood, and Microsoft will be along for the ride selling new operating systems that include the rights management technologies that will lock you into those features.
There may be some choices, and certainly the hacker communities will come out with homebrew versions of players for operating systems like Linux, but it may take some time, and the hardware very well may refuse to cooperate without confidential information and specifications that most likely won't be made public to the people that would create their own drivers for such hardware.
You have to love the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and the monster it has helped Hollywood to create. (NOT!)
Original article from PCWorld.com (or snippets from it) follow. Please check the original article and read it entirely for complete details.
Most Monitors Won't Play New HD Video
Vista's content protection will block or blur high-def movies on today's displays.
Scott Spanbauer
From the November 2005 issue of PC World magazine
Posted Tuesday, October 04, 2005
If you dropped a bundle on a high-end computer display or HDTV, you could be in for an unpleasant surprise when you slip your new high-definition DVD of Star Wars: Episode III into your Windows Vista PC. Vista, the next version of Windows that's slated to appear in about a year, will feature a new systemwide content protection scheme called PVP-OPM (see box below). If your monitor doesn't work with PVP-OPM, all you'll likely see is either a fuzzy rendition of your high-def flick or Hollywood's version of the Blue Screen of Death--a message warning you that the display has been 'revoked'.
High-Def Hard-Liners
Forthcoming Blu-ray and HD-DVD discs promise higher resolution than a standard DVD's 480-line maximum. But to protect its high-quality content from pirating, the film industry, along with disc and hardware makers, has created an umbrella content protection scheme known as AACS. If Windows is to play the new discs, Microsoft has little choice but to support AACS, which is where PVP-OPM comes in. According to Microsoft, PVP-OPM will prevent pirates from attaching recording devices directly to the PC graphics card's DVI or HDMI video outputs in order to capture a pristine digital copy of the disc's otherwise encrypted content. A related component, PVP-UAB, will prevent savvy computer owners from installing data capture cards in order to grab high-def movies straight off the PCI Express bus.
Unfortunately, PVP-OPM will also shut out plenty of law-abiding video watchers whose current displays aren't future-proof. To comply with the film industry's protection scheme, PVP-OPM employs HDCP technology to determine whether graphics boards and displays are allowed to output and display high-def video. If HDCP sees a blocked display (such as a video capture device) or one that does not support HDCP (including any HDTV with only analog connectors), it prevents output or reduces the video resolution until the offending display or protected content is removed from the system.
... more at linked article (please see original article for complete story)