Some 'Next-Gen' DVDs May Not Work With Vista

schnikies79 wrote to mention an article on the Times Online site, where they report that a 'substantial number' of Vista PCs will be unable to play HD-DVDs or Blu-ray discs, as a result of DRM requirements made by the operating system. From the article: "Dave Marsh, the lead program manager for video at Microsoft, said that if the PC used a digital connection to link with the monitor or television, then it would require the highest level of content protection, known as HDCP, to play the discs. If it did not have such protection, Vista would shut down the signal, he said."

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Some 'Next-Gen' DVDs May Not Work With Vista

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Today is a good day for DRM to die...

Re:Paging DVD Jon

[Anonymous Coward]

No, please don't. Making stupid DRM'd technologies acceptable to the average end user by hacking them really does more harm than good.

I'm actually hoping the technology advances to the point where it can enforce the letter of the license *EXACTLY* so people wake up to how oppressive the various license agreements (both the Windows one and the ones for the music and movie media) are.

If people had any idea how bad it was (can't show a DVD on a college dorm shared TV because that's a public display that the DVD doesn't give you a license for ; can't install windows on VMs for testing without paying more ; etc) - they'd object much more strongly.

The current situation where it's easy to break Windows and DVD licenses just advantages unethical companies and people and hurts the ones that attempt to be law abiding.

OK, for us who arent *nix experts.

[Churla]

Could someone please elaborate for me a Lunix/Unix/OSX system which we can get currently which would play an HD-DVD disc with the HDCP flag up without requiring HDCP compliant DRM in place within the OS?

It seems MS is being bashed for following the requirements being set forth by the media producers. Whereas a number of MS practices may be less than honorable, in this case from what I see they are simply holding to the requirements of the format standard.

All in all I think the media companies like Sony have been given enough DRM rope and are within a year or two of effectively fashioning themselves a noose from it, but that's just MHO on the topic.

Re:Coming Soon to a PC Near You -- Not Just Yet.

[morgan_greywolf]

Yeah, but it's not just monitors. Like the parent said, every piece of equipment that the data passes through must be HDCP-enabled, right? And this situation isn't entirely Microsoft's fault, now is it? The OS claims support for HDCP, so it must fully support the standard.

What people are whining and complaining about is that Microsoft is actually following a standard. These same people are the ones that complain when Microsoft doesn't follow other standards like CSS2. It's just that the standard they are following happens to be one that implements DRM, and now they're going on about how "Oh, gee, they fully-implemented the standard!"

*sigh*

Here's the answer: don't buy HD-DVDs and BDs that require HDCP. Duh. Vote with your feet. If enough people really put their money where their mouth is (as opposed to what they normally do, which is just paying lip-service), and truly advocated that others do the same, it will make a difference. Sadly, most people are so weak in their convictions that when their favorite movie comes out requiring HDCP, they will just buy it no matter what.

Re:Its a scam

[goodtim]

This is slashdot, and still we aren't really sure how HDCP works. I fear the worst for Joe Blow consumer.

Re:MSFT Development Cycle

[Anonymous Coward]

Nice. On the same day Apple announces appletv and iTunes-style playback of HD-quality movies through a wireless tv/media hub.

I knew that someday Windows would collapse under it's own weight - I just didn't think it would be this soon.

You do know that Apple and OSX will have exact same DRM requirements as Vista to play HD-DVD/B-R content that have the HDCP flag enabled. That this is a requirement in this particular media standard that any player (including standalone non-computer based players) will need to follow to be able to play it (outside of a cracked version for Linux maybe). So following your logic, OSX is collapsing as well, or will not be able to play these discs at all.

Re:Coming Soon to a PC Near You -- Not Just Yet.

[k_187]

exactly. In 2 years, when these players are in a not-insignificant number of homes. A reasonably popular release will have that content bit "accidentally" turned on. Depending upon the uproar over that "accident", the studios will decide when to fully impliment it.