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HighDef Content to Require New Monitors
QT writes "Ars Technica has an interesting article on how HDCP figures into Microsoft and Apple's future OS plans.
Not only will future HD content not play in pure HD on most existing monitors (it will be degraded, or not shown at all), but high-end monitors today don't support HDCP yet. HDCP
has been coming for 3+ years, but geek fantasy items such as Apple's $3,000 30" Cinema Display don't even have support for it yet! The end result is that when Windows Vista ships
(and Apple's next OS), most people won't be able to watch protected HD content on their computers."
Well from simply reading the summary it sounds like all the protection is being held in the OS, therefore couldn't an Open Source OS circumvent this protection. Just load it up in Linux and none of us nerds have anything to worry about. In fact, we could put it in Linux rip off the DRM and burn it to whatever media we need, then we're home free for whatever format we need, DVD, CD, Blu-Ray, even playable back in Windows and Mac.
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
Are they going to use region-encoding as well, so you can't look at a US monitor in Australia?
That's OK, I was planning on boycotting and/or stealing and/or disabling the DRM on any such protected content anyway. If they don't want me to see it, I'll avoid buying it, thanks anyway. I'd download or create ripped DRM-less versions if forced too.
Spending a lot of time and effort downloading or ripping content will still be a lot cheaper than buying a multi-thousand-dollar monitor. Besides, most NTSC content is acceptable anyway...
What if they threw a Hi-Def party and nobody came?
Or to put it another way, just how many times are you going to let these people pick your pocket? We could just say that what we all have today is already good enough! .
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
Can't this problem be solved by the simple addition of a dongle that connects between the video port and the monitor? The dongle would then give the pre-HDCP monitor the capability of receiving HD video that requires HDCP.
Bill Clinton: Pimp we can believe in. - The Shirt!!!
They didn't have to put DRM in iPod.
But they did.
Steve Jobs will again be the great enabler for DRM.
Next time it's video.
Component video might not be protected. HDMI/DVI transmit digitally, which is what has content providers worried. Since component is analog, and because of the large install base you noted, it might not require HDCP. (pure speculation)
The world is made by those who show up for the job.
I wonder how long before we have a box which sits between your monitor and your video card which reports itself as HDCP compliant, but in reality outputs a digital signal for recording.
The box exists already, but it's illegal thanks to the DMCA.
Well, I guess that I might have to wait a few days until someone releases a crack for the new protection scheme so that I I can enjoy content that I've already paid for. Unless MS or Apple pay for my new hardware I won't have any other choice.
microsoft is incorporating a lot more than HDCP restriction requirements in their winhec standards. They are also building in encrypted "protected media path", allowing revocation of components in vista based PC's and requiring hardware and driver based DRM for "windows logo testing approval"
They are also requiring a new form of device ID which is designed to prevent any emulation without contacting the emulated device's originator
I tried to give slashdot the heads up on this over a month ago and, like a fellow poster, my story was rejected.
There's a reason Vista took so long to develop, and that reason has nothing to do with consumer-centric design
VLC FOR MAC IS DYING! IF YOU DEVELOP, PLEASE SAVE IT!!
This isn't exactly High Definition Television, which is a video standard (1080i, 720p or 480p). This is a delivery method for HD resolution video, which is HDCP. HD is available over analog delivery through component video wires. I don't think that this CP will really affect most users.
Anyways, your $600 figure exists for 27 inch Samsung HD set. Actually, according to Sears the tv is $449.
HDTV got a lot of bad press; Most people still dont' know what it is, how to get it, and what it means for them.
Reason, free market capitalism, and individualism
1. Don't buy it. It's all crap anyways.
/giggle comes in. Lets assume you absolutely have to have your movies/TV shows. Lets assume you absolutely have to have it in HD.
Yes, it is possible to go through life without TV. I do, everyday, and I'm not some kind of weird recluse or anything. I have friends, and a girlfriend *gasp* (yes, she thinks slashdot is super-nerdy), and I spend a lot of time playing video games. That's my replacement for crap TV.
Movies? I go and see them at the theater. Yes, I'd like to watch more at home. But I can't buy DVDs that I can do what I like with, so I don't buy them, period.
2. Pirate it. This is where the
You can either a) use a spatzbox (linked elsewhere in this conversation) to convert the HDCP content to HD component analog or digital DVI, or b) grab the HD-DVD that was burned unprotected using said spatzbox in some copyright-loving area like, say, Hong Kong.
The up market leather goods brands (Gucci and above) have been trying to stop pirate manufacturing of their products. In Iran, you can get any software you could possibly want for $1 a disk.
Do you *really* think that the MPAA will be able to stop this? What magic powers do they have the all the other companies don't have? It doesn't matter if the Blue-Ray or HD-DVD content protection can be broken. All you need is a HD-DVD/Blue-Ray player, and a spatzbox, in order to produce 1 digital master, HD, no content protection.
Its already avaliable!
Then it'll go through the usual distribution channels. Wholesale pirates->streets of hong kong->american tourists->usenet/limewire and CO.
And it's only going to get better and better as internet connections get faster. Think Windows Vista is going to DRM its way out of that? Nonsense-> You're forgetting that these will be unencrypted streams.
The only thing that this nonsense does is economically punish those who do the valid thing and actually purchase the disks.
For those like me, who will abstain, it does nothing.
For those like many others, who will pirate, it does nothing.
And I see *nothing* wrong with pirating. Copyright is an economic right (not a system of ethics) designed to promote the arts and sciences. Once someone abuses Copyright (like, say, by eliminating fair use/controlling playback through the DMCA), they are actively stopping the promotion of the arts and sciences. As I see it, the *only* reason to respect copyright is the promotion of the arts and sciences, and once they stop doing that, they forfeit their government-sponsored monopoly.
That's all it is, you know. Copyright was not handed down by God to Moses as a command. The Buddha did not tell us about Copyright, and evolution did not cause Copyright to evolve as inherented human behavior. Copyright is a government-sponsored monopoly, established for the *sole* purpose of promoting/protecting artistic and scientific economic activies.
And contrary to what you learned in grade school civics, what the government tells you is not always the definition of 'good and right'. Don't call me a deviant--> If I was a weird, social outcast, and the only one who thought like this, then 50 million Americans (sayeth the RIAA) would not be participating in illegal P2P activities. While those Americans may not directly communicate their beliefs they way I am able to explain my own, it is most likely because they simply haven't though about it at any length, and if they had, would agree with me.
But, I don't bother to pirate. Instead of paying attention to one-way content, I prefer to interact with two-way content, and I see enough value in that interaction that I purchase it. I vote with my dollar--> I buy things (read *games*) that I think are good. And between Guildwars, Half-Life 2, Eve Online, and World of Warcraft, I have my hands full for the indefinite future.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
Consider DVDs: is there really anywhere outside of the USA where people can't legally get and use a multi-region player? Where I live they all come multi-region by default.
More than 5 years ago Circuit City was selling a DVD format called DVIX, as I recall. I remember when I was looking for my first DVD player how hard the salesdrone tried to get me to buy a DVIX player. As I recall the "movies" were as little as $4 but could only be played on a DVIX player which had to be hooked up to a phone so the player could dial home and validate the disk. I looked at the restrictions and figured out that the system was an ugly grab for my wallet. It relied on a supposedly free system which would fail because it could not support itself. I didn't care for the idea that I could buy a movie and not be able to take it to my friends house to watch it together. DVD's were, I decided, a much better deal.
Long and short... DVIX and all it stood for died. Died hard. Died ugly. Died and left customers holding useless garbage that, AFAIK, they can no longer play. So much for trust. This is a very abbreviated description of DVIX I know; however, I believe I have the essential points more or less correct. To this day I have never bought anything in a Circuit City store. To me DVIX, it's completely dishonest representation of value and functionality, and Circuit City are irrevocably maligned together. And I didn't even get burned by them.
My son just learned that he cannot play Windows Media Player files on his new iPod. Some time ago I'd tried to him into ripping his CDs to MP3 using CDex. However, Microsoft made Windows Media Player so EASY to use. So my lazy, instant gratification, boy learned a hard lesson about DRM and industry standards. CDs, $85. Refurbished iPod, $200. Look on his face when he tried to rip the newest DRM protected Foo Fighters album he'd bought. Priceless!
So, what about the new methods of DRM? I believe everyone needs to take a deep breath. Step back. Relax. With DVIX, DRM was relatively new. It is not as new any more. The only hope for DRM in the entertainment industry is for Congress, et al in other countries, to enact laws requiring it. On the other hand I think the only hope for Congress is that they don't. The people are actually fairly slow to learn collectively and the world does seem to be changing pretty fast these days. However, collectively, given time, a majority of people will come to realize that they are being lied to and will assert their rights. And when they do? I believe all hell will break loose and both Congress and the entertainment industry will fall victim to an electoral enema.
Possibly, but perhaps in another form. Bandwidth is going UP while the cost of production is going DOWN. The highest-ranking shows lately are the ones with the lowest production values -- reality shows and cheap recycling of old ideas. Linkdump has hundreds of nifty five-minute videos every day, and people are getting (slightly) more sophisticated about computers.
For $2000 worth of cameras, lights, and duct tape an RTF major on summer break could shoot something good. His CS-major roommate can upload it to a media site, put it on newsgroups, and start a torrent over the weekend. The barrier to entry is low, and the only reason this hasn't taken off already is that we engineering types don't know enough pretty girls to attract an audience.
Prediction: In three years, if the choice is between buying a new $3k TV for Survivor 4 or watch TorrentStation's "Austin: Survivor Town Lake", they will have lost.
I have done just that. I cancelled cable, and pretty much stopped going to movies. Without the advertising on TV, I no longer have awareness of or desire for what I'm missing (some of which is surely very good).
The problem is, I don't enjoy funding the folks who are stealing my culture. Besides, there's more entertainment out there than I could see in a lifetime. The Net, books, and library videos are plenty, and the quality is generally much higher.
Yes, I'm aware of the Firewire option... and I've threatened my cable provider with an FCC complaint (looks like I'll have to make good on it), since they've been required to provide firewire when requested, since July 1st, 2004.
However, you can't copy anything via Firewire if it's copy protected - so there's really no point in wasting money on a D-VHS.
Over The Air channels I can already record on my PC using an HDTV Tuner, so that's not an issue. The issue is premium channels, PPV and Movies On Demand. If I pay for it, I expect to be able to keep a copy for personal use, just like I've been able to do with the Standard Definition material for the last 25 years.
This is a ginormous step backwards in terms of customer rights.
-- This sig for rent.