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2010 — the Year AACS and HDMI Kill Off HD Component Video
For home theater buffs who want (or already have) a high-def system using component-video connections, time may be growing short. Audiofan writes with this story, which begins: "Digital HD (high definition), like that enabled through HDMI and Blu-ray, is awesome. It offers amazing picture and audio quality. It allows you to conveniently connect one single cable to provide both picture and sound. It is royally going to screw up a lot of homes next year. Wait, what was that last part? After December 31, 2010, manufacturers will not be 'allowed' [to] introduce new hardware with component video outputs supplying more than an SD resolution (480i or 576i). Should this go through as planned, it's going to disable or throw a wrench in a lot of existing custom installations as soon as the end of this year." The AACS in the headline stands for Advanced Access Content System, the industry scheme to block "the analog hole" by controlling content from storage media to eyeballs.
There will still be plenty of HDMI to composite converters coming out of China, etc.
1984 was not supposed to be an instruction manual.
Why attempt to force the market to change? Oh right, money. Someone stands to make a lot of money from a bunch of people being forced to upgrade.
I mean, they could just let the old tvs slowly die out and eventually noone will have a need for anything but HDMI, but where is the short term profit in that?
Somehow I still doubt it will work. People don't like being told they can't have their way and someone will find a way to give them what they want anyways.
What we have is a perfect recipe for greed!
I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
It says that they "...will not be 'allowed' [to] introduce ____new____ hardware..." and then says, "...throw a wrench in a lot of ____existing____ custom installations..."
How are these things related? Is the submission suggestion that your component video output will suddenly cease to work? Or are they trying to make the leap of logic that old displays will not have any new gizmos to connect to them? I've never seen a piece of display equipment that couldn't be connected to an HD source through some trickery with adapters or an upscaler etc. What's the worry here?
Where is this happening? Dare I assume the United States? Epic description fail.
I seem to remember the same argument with Region Codes and DIVX. People voted with the wallet last time, why would this time be any different?
Even if they do get their way, all they will do is create a cottage industry of security-defeating technologies. And like always, the real pirates who make tons of money selling counterfeits will find ways around it.
It's the actual consumer that can't watch that latest DVD because of DRM that doesn't quite work right that get screwed.
- Brett
An overpriced underperforming platform get bypassed in favor of digital media players with increasing sizes of flash storage or hd storage.
Its a story of a clever technology undermined by its own advocates. Why buy a blu-ray player that may not play new favorites 3 months
from now when you can get a digital download. The old tech people may stick with DVD while the new tech people may switch
over to direct digital download. If Im gonna hook my player up to a network to get firmware updates, I might as well just get a network
media player.
There is so much streaming stuff out there now, torrents of stuff ripped from streams and paid downloaded movies that optical storage is not really necessary or useful anymore. I have never had more problems with optical media than anything else, discs that go bad after a certain time, coasters and silly copy protection schemes.
Blu-ray is the latest mainstream optical storage has to offer and it's a nasty proprietary format pushed forward by the notorious DRM worshippers that are Sony. The discs are too expensive and fewer people are going out to buy movies. There isn't much point either since when you buy it it's not even yours.
Unless low-cost holographic storage becomes available without restrictions or DRM I'd say optical storage has had it's day. and anyone developing optical storage these days has to be in the least position to force DRM on the market. The SD card guys have had much more luck with peddling DRM to the masses and I expect that SD-DRM usage will become widespread any day now
I typically try to express some kind of intelligent or informed opinion on /. stories, but all I can come up with here is, "Screw you, AACS." I have not yet moved to Blu-Ray or an HD TV, and this makes me much less likely to want to. Bastards.
because one way or another, you'll get screwed?
You've failed to grasp that as far as these "content cartels" are concerned, there is NO such thing as a legitimate consumer. To them the world is consists of them, and pirates. There is nothing in between, and all are guilty.
I think your setup is perfectly reasonable. How much moralizing do you see companies go through when they employ slave laborers to make goods or outsource your job to some third-world worker for a pittance? They are taking things away from others just because they can, so why shouldn't you do the same?
Slashtards go on about how it's okay because "corporation are amoral" and they "have a responsibility to make as much money for their shareholders as possible." If that is the case, then it's perfectly sensible to do the same thing yourself. Pirating is cheaper than buying, and allows me to have more money for other uses, therefore it is the right thing to do.
As they have sown, so they shall reap. All hail the false idol of money and bow before the might of the corporate gods.
Component video cables are hardly ubiquitous. Lots of people have never even seen them and even less could tell you what they were if you asked. The majority of people with HDTVs bought a $150 HDMI cable along with them.
Whale
Any manufacturer who wants to make his TVs attractive to the millions of people who already use component video inputs from their existing DVD/Blu-ray players, cable boxes, Wii's etc. In other words, all of them.
The reason they can enforce this is because they can refuse to issue patents related to Blu-ray to any manufacturer that does not agree to their terms, which a blatant abuse patent system.
The purpose of patents are to promote the development of novel ideas, and the primary mechanism for doing so is to allow the original inventor to be compensated when these ideas are used. A government-granted monopoly is completely unnecessary to accomplish these goals, and is a horrible anachronism in a free market society.
Patents should be reformed to require all grantees to license their patents to anyone who is willing to pay a reasonable and non-discriminatory fee. This would at least solve the problem of patents being abused to force agendas and limit competition, while still achieving the goal of compensating inventors.
Content and components developed and made by legitimate providers should, in theory, be better then simply just DLing, connecting the HDMI to your laptop and calling it a day. That's of course a pipe dream - pirated components and content is always going to be slightly better, but is this really the time to make the legit side even worse? I've been hearing they're not exactly tolling in dough and this won't really hurt anyone willing to use non-licensed components, only those who bother to actually pay them (otherwise known as the last people you want to alienate further).
This is just the first time they've removed the old standard by legal caveat, rather than simple obsolescence.
Component can easily handle very high definition, but it won't be allowed because (snicker) of course it's only possible to (chortle) copy video if you (guffaw) have access to an analog data stream of it. (HA HA HA !!!!! snort)
I mean, it's just not going to be possible (tee hee) to make an unlocked copy (ha ha) of the video at its full resolution.
BWAAHAHAH!!!!! Sorry, sometimes I kill myself.
Don't you worry none, as soon as BluRay turns on this flag there'll be an MKV extractor and you won't have to fret about this silly flag nonsense.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Don't confuse a cable worth $10 you bought for $100, with the placebo effect. Ones and zeros look the same to a TV with glasses or without.
I can almost see the day when I will turn off the television for good and I used to buy a lot of movies but now that is rare. The entertainment industry is walling itself off from it's own audience. I don't see how that is going to help them. All the technology is focused on the people who do not buy, the people who do buy keep getting shafted so they will stop buying also. DRM won't save the industry once it no longer has an audience.
I'd keep the dvd drive around at least so you can make some backups or live disks
Now my country does levy a blank CD tax...Oh yeah, I never buy any blank discs because EVERYTHING is on Hard drives or flash cards.
I'm laughing man, because I am so not legit.
Ok, queue up the haters, I don't give a shit what any of you think.
You know what I think? You're not going to have to re-buy all your stuff when they come out with the next standard after blue-ray. You'll just have to download things again. Not too shabby.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
So once again we have more hoops for paying customers to jump through and perhaps have their legally purchased content automatically downgrade itself in order to "protect" the MPAA and member companies. Meanwhile everyone who has given up on the ridiculously outdated and self-defeating content distribution system suffers no inconvenience whatsoever.
The further along this train wreck progresses the more my outrage turns into bemused detachment. I haven't bought any non-indie media in quite a long time now (occasionally I catch a movie or concert). I do feel somewhat sorry for the people who haven't figured out how totally messed up the system is and are going to be badly affected by this, but I just can't bring myself to the point of actual outrage over it any more.
How many people are going to just give up trying to be "good consumers" and switch over to piracy based on this? I would expect it will be far more people than will be dissuaded from participating in casual "copyright infringement" by trying to make backup copies of their media or god forbid just trying to watch a movie they bought on the wrong type of TV.
I have no intention of ever buying into BluRay precisely because of the ability to play these sort of anti-consumer games. Wake me up when they start their attack on HD OTA broadcasts.
I am becoming gerund, destroyer of verbs.
Lot's of comments already so probably nobody will see this but it's been said before and it's the most basic truth that the MPAA and RIAA et. al. need to come to grips with eventually:
If it can be read it can be copied.
The only way to prevent people from copying their precious Hi-Def movies and super awesome digital music is to prevent them from PLAYING them. Which in a sick and twisted sort of way appears to be what they are slowly trying to accomplish.
Why analog? At some point that content is being decrypted inside the screen. It should be possible to open the thing up and dump it and get a 1:1 digital un-encrypted copy. Sure, it's technically daunting but it only has to be done once per video.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
I don't own a HDTV or a Blu-ray player, and have no immediate plans to purchase any of the above because I have better things to do with my money. I can live without these things. It would be nice to have, but if they're going to play bullshit DRM games with the hardware, then they can fucking keep it, I'll spend my money on other things, and they can go fuck themselves. I recommend everyone else do the same; vote with your dollars, that's the only way to make your voice heard in a capitalist system!
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
I'm fully with you as far as the likes of the ??AA go, but I find it worthwhile to make a distinction between the (generally large) companies which deceive, bully and engage in corruption at every turn, and smaller outfits which are still concerned only with creating (perhaps) good media.