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HDMI-Enabled Graphics Cards Debut
TrackinYeti writes "HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface), is the first industry supported digital-only interface, that requires a single cable to connect an output source to an HD-ready device, such as a television or monitor and deliver HD video, plus multi-channel digital audio, like Dolby Digital and DTS. Recently, Asus Computer released versions of their GeForce 7600 and Radeon X1600 cards with HDMI outputs on them, driven by an on-board Sil1930 controller. These are some of the first graphics cards to hit the market that can output HDMI natively with an integrated HDCP cipher engine and support HD-audio as well. Just the thing for that HTPC?"
Wait, I still use a VGA monitor, with a higher dot pitch than most any HD TV ...
I guess this is good for folks who build home theatres out of their computers, but then why do they need a 3D accelerator to show TV or videos?
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Whenever I read 'high definition' these days I think: great, another product that's broken by design.
Someone wake me up when they've passed that part...
I'm the proud owner of a toddler, and try as i might occasionally the little bugger will without doubt get her hands on a shiny disc, perhaps accidentally left in the DVD player overnight and she chewed on the remote i accidentally left on the sofa and nibbled the eject button. anyway, you can be careful but hey, i'm only human right.
Otherwise she might be ill and not feeling up to her usual daily routine of running around the park/garden/trashing-the-house generally so we stick on a bunch of disney/animal films and play them whilst she's chilling out on the sofa and she slyly grabs one whilst i pop the the kitchen to fetch some kiddy medicine.
wouldnt it be nice if i could play backups of my original copies, and not have to worry if that happens.
of course one day i'd like the ubiqutous server-under-the-stairs but in the mean time i'd rather not have to fork out another £20 quid because the only PHYSICAL COPY of the movie who's CONTENTS i purchased the RIGHTS TO WATCH got used as a teething ring.
If you don't risk failure you don't risk success.
Yet another step towards "trusted" (treacherous) computing. A small part of the article:
Who should your computer take its orders from? Most people think their computers should obey them, not obey someone else. With a plan they call "trusted computing", large media corporations (including the movie companies and record companies), together with computer companies such as Microsoft and Intel, are planning to make your computer obey them instead of you. (...)
Proprietary software means, fundamentally, that you don't control what it does;(...) It's not surprising that clever businessmen find ways to use their control to put you at a disadvantage.(...) These malicious features are often secret, but even once you know about them it is hard to remove them, since you don't have the source code.
In the past, these were isolated incidents. "Trusted computing" would make it pervasive. "Treacherous computing" is a more appropriate name, because the plan is designed to make sure your computer will systematically disobey you. In fact, it is designed to stop your computer from functioning as a general-purpose computer. Every operation may require explicit permission.
The technical idea underlying treacherous computing is that the computer includes a digital encryption and signature device, and the keys are kept secret from you. Proprietary programs will use this device to control which other programs you can run, which documents or data you can access, and what programs you can pass them to. These programs will continually download new authorization rules through the Internet, and impose those rules automatically on your work. If you don't allow your computer to obtain the new rules periodically from the Internet, some capabilities will automatically cease to function.
Read the rest in the above linked article. It is an interesting reading, even for the ones familiar with it, as we march slowly and steady to the worst case scenario predicted there.
Man, Looks like all the posts so far are gripes! I for one am really excited about this. I've been waiting for a next-gen video card I can use in my HTPC. Not only will the 7600GT based card be able to handle decoding HD video (see articles regarding new Blu-Ray/HD-DVD backup ability) but it will also be able to transmit 8 channels of full quality digital sound. And all this with only one cable to go from my PC to my receiver. Finally, this opens up the possibility of using Vista's new digital room correction capabilities without having to do a digital-to-analog conversion on the PC just to get the processed sound to your receiver. All good things in my book.
I find laziness to be an excellent motivator.
Sigh... All the new features, untested. Do the audio passthrough work? Any audio lag? Do this whole HDCP bullshit actually works and let you play your HD-DVD through PC to your HDMI+HDCP TV? Can it scale anything to 1080P properly?
Instead they go through another boring loop of 3D benchmarks. I hate these two-bit hardware sites that only knows how to overclock and run benchmarks.
If you really care about stopping DRM, then DO NOT BUY THESE CARDS! HDCP is DRM at its worst and will not let you show certain content on non-HDCP enable devices. So, if you really do care about DRM and stopping it, and all, then DO NOT BUY THESE CARDS! Show them that we, the customer, do not want DRM.
Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away. - Elvis Presley (source: imdb.com)