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Goodbye, HD Component Video

Posted by Soulskill on from the pixels-are-a-privilege-not-a-right dept.

glogger writes "Jim Willcox, the video expert at Consumer Reports, bids farewell to our ability to get high-definition video via the analog component-video connections on Blu-ray players. Thanks to Hollywood pirate-paranoia, potentially millions of law-abiding viewers will have their choices restricted. Quoting: 'Hollywood studios now have the right to insert an ICT "flag" into a Blu-ray movie; if it detects that a player is using an analog connection that doesn't support HDCP, it downconverts the video's 1080p (1920 by 1080) native resolution to 960 by 540 (540p): better than DVD quality but only about one-quarter of full HD quality. This ensures that high-def video is available only through the copy-protected HDMI outputs.'"

53 of 469 comments (clear)

  1. i know what you need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    You need an HDFuryII http://www.hdfury.com/

    1. Re:i know what you need by Moryath · · Score: 2

      Better yet, why not just rip the blu-ray and put it on a network media center? Skip the middle man, and not have to bother wondering where your 3-year-old hid the disk or worry that he scratched it up since you can then put the disc away in a very safe, secure place.

    2. Re:i know what you need by davecotter · · Score: 2

      seems 4TB holds quite a few HD movies, at least according to my calculations. Take Avatar, a 3 hour movie. compressed to m4v, that's 30GB, still with stunning quality. that's about 136 3 hour movies. probably more since movies are usually less than 3 hours. i think.

    3. Re:i know what you need by Grishnakh · · Score: 3, Informative

      For any BDs that use MPEG2 encoding, you should be able to recompress them in MPEG4 and use only half the space without any difference in picture quality. (I think most newer BDs use MPEG4 now, so this probably only applies to older ones.)

      Also, you can leave out all the commentaries and all that crap, and save even more room. With 4TB, you should have enough space for 500-1000 movies that way, I imagine.

    4. Re:i know what you need by nabsltd · · Score: 2

      Because mine tops out at around 4 TB, that's not that many HD movies unless you compress the crap out of them and then you've basically done what the ICT flag would do, reduced the quality.

      Many Blu-Ray movies are encoded at essentially constant bitrate despite the fact that this is not required to maintain the full quality.

      You can re-encode a 1920x1080/24p movie at about 10Mbps average and be 99% identical to the original 30Mbps encode, as long as you use a 2-pass encode to make sure the bits end up where they are needed. Then, toss out audio and subtitles you don't use, and it's pretty easy to get a movie down to about 10GB with no real quality loss. For movies with wider aspect ratios (where there are black bars encoded into the Blu-Ray), you can get away with even lower bitrates.

      That would give you room for over 400 movies on your media server, which really should be enough for most people.

    5. Re:i know what you need by grub · · Score: 2


      Hehe, they're probably wondering "What did we do to piss off Anonymous?!"

      --
      Trolling is a art,
    6. Re:i know what you need by trollertron3000 · · Score: 2

      It beats what I saw at first HD Furry. Furries in HD *shudders*

      --
      Tiger Blooded Bi-Winning Machine
    7. Re:i know what you need by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Informative

      And you just hit the nail on the head as to why BD is ultimately doomed. I've had several customers come in asking about BD and when they found out the extra gear and hoop jumping they'd have to do to rip it compared to DVD they were all "How much is an upscaling DVD player again?". Most around here have either figured out how easy it is to rip DVDs or has a relative that does it for them, and between that and media tanks like this one (which is one of my hottest sellers ATM, people just love the thing) while BD will have the videophiles I just don't ever see it reaching DVD level support.

      But what really pisses me off about the *.A.As is the double standard bullshit they try to pull. They say "oh you didn't buy the (insert movie/game/CD) you bought a license to use it!" (and thus getting around first sale). Okay, I'll play. That means I get to replace it for free if anything happens to the media, right? After all I already have a license to use it? "Oh no" they say "You bought a copy thus you have to go buy a replacement!"

      BULLSHIT! Total unbelievable bullshit! Never in history have we allowed ANY company to use either/or when it comes to copies and licenses.Physical media and licenses have clearly written rules and obligations under the law, and what these bastards are trying to pull is getting the protections of both and the responsibilities of neither. We are already being held back by a bunch that if anyone would have listened to them back in the day both video recorders and recordable media would have never existed, and now that we are finally getting all the pieces to where one can simply have all their media in a box that you can access anywhere they are holding everything back once again.

      All they are doing with this kind of bullshit is yet again making piracy the more attractive option as there isn't any hoop jumping or bullshit to back up or copy that .MKV rip, no different than how the DRM and limited activation bullshit is making the pirate version of most games the more stable and nicer running version compared to the legit. If they would just listen to their damned customers for once, and give them good value in easy to use media, maybe we wouldn't have all this BS in the first place. Instead the *.A.As don't seem happy if they aren't finding a way to actively fuck over their customers, so is anyone surprised when the customer fucks them back?

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    8. Re:i know what you need by ShakaUVM · · Score: 2

      But what really pisses me off about the *.A.As is the double standard bullshit they try to pull. They say "oh you didn't buy the (insert movie/game/CD) you bought a license to use it!" (and thus getting around first sale). Okay, I'll play. That means I get to replace it for free if anything happens to the media, right? After all I already have a license to use it? "Oh no" they say "You bought a copy thus you have to go buy a replacement!"

      This is a tremendous problem these days, and will require a law to fix: "The doctrine of first sale is held inviolate." Alternatively or additionally: "If you license a digital product, you must provide reasonable means to replace it if a copy is lost."

      Itunes, I'm looking at you. Why the fuck can I not download an album I bought off iTunes on both my laptop and PC? Why the fuck do you make me throw it onto a USB drive and copy it manually? It's not like you don't restrict me to five computers anyway. Be more like Steam.

      But, unfortunately, both the Republicans and Democrats show not the slightest interest in fixing it.

    9. Re:i know what you need by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

      I wasn't aware it was against the law to have an old 720p component only HDTV. Or, for that matter, a 720p that only has one HDMI port that's already in use. Or, for that matter, an old player that no longer plays new disks because the DRM changed. Or, having a stereo that doesn't support HDMI audio decode/encode and still wanting to listen without the added distortion. Or, trying to use a DVI monitor that doesn't have the HDCP decoder in it. ...lets not even get into the 1-2 minute boot times and the 20 minutes of unskippable advertisements, the higher price, the unnecessary subscription services, or how hard it is for many people to actually see much of a difference between an upscaled DVD and BD, especially when it comes to cheap 60Hz panels.

      But, this isn't about reality is it? It's about propaganda...

      So...how's the creative marketing field these days Brad?

    10. Re:i know what you need by BitZtream · · Score: 2

      Why the fuck do you make me throw it onto a USB drive and copy it manually?

      You paid for a license and a download, you got both. You didn't pay for a license and unlimited downloads in case you lost it. They told you this when you agreed to the terms, and they aren't really unreasonable. They probably should offer some sort of re-download service at a significantly reduced rate though, but as we've seen, Apple has pushed rather hard to get to where it is now without requiring DRM on everything.

      However, as far as your statement, they did provide an entirely reasonable means of replacement, make a backup copy. Thats what you want to copy DVDs and CDs for ISN'T IT? not to pirate them but to back them up? You can do that and are encouraged to do so with iTunes ... now you want them to also fix the fact that you're irresponsible and lost the originals? I'm sorry, thats just not how the world works, thank god. Sometimes you actually have to take some personal responsibility for your possessions and stop expecting someone else to take care of you.

      It's not like you don't restrict me to five computers anyway. Be more like Steam.

      You mean you want them to make it more restrictive? Steam allows you to use it on one instance at a time if you are online, not 5. Try playing HL2 on 5 machines all connected to the net with steam ... then when 4 or all of them are unable to play, you'll be rather happy that you can at least still listen to your itunes library.

      Your being rather ridiculous.

      --
      Persistent Volume manager for Kubernetes - https://github.com/dwimsey/openshift-pvmanager
    11. Re:i know what you need by hairyfeet · · Score: 2

      Don't forget the kids! That is what switched my customers, it was the kids. You don't have to replace those kid videos more than a couple of times before you get sick of it.

      Another poster recommended the WD Live and I have a few that have picked it up, but they usually start with the Nbox because it is REALLY kid friendly, and ripping all the kid movies means a whole lot less crying because Suzy accidentally scratched the Dora the Explorer disc. The Nbox has a nice little menu with only 4 big icons (and the movie one looks like a TV so kids get it) and it is all alphabetical with a preview button so even the ones that can't read yet can look at the picture(although they quickly pick up how many clicks get them what they want to see) and it is cheap enough they can get it without committing any real money in case they don't like it. All it took was me converting ONE family and the next thing you know their friends and relatives are showing up (and telling THEIR friends and relatives) because nobody likes crying kids and busted discs.

      And as for "creative marketing Brad"? Dude the current setup IS FUCKING STUPID okay? I don't care how much "you're a pirate ZOMG!" marketing horseshit you spew it doesn't change the fact that the current sitch IS STILL FUCKING STUPID! I mean WTF is the point of having all this kick ass high tech cheap if we can't use it? I mean we could all go back to silent 8mm which I'm sure would make the *.A.As happy because it would be hell to copy BUT IT WOULD ALSO BE HELL TO USE so what is the point?

      The simple fact is folks want simple, folks want easy, folks want cheap and useful. You add that $30 Nbox to a $30 320Gb Hitachi portadrive and BOOM! No more crying Suzy, no more hunting for the discs, it is all easy peasy. With today's ripping software like Fair Use Wizard anybody can rip DVDs and drop them onto a media tank, and more importantly why the hell should we listen to a bunch of congress bribing bastards who want to charge for every format shift? Fuck them and the horse they rode in on.

      To quote an often used expression they are the buggy whip manufacturers of America and everyone else is driving cars. As you pointed out there are millions of sets that won't jump through their hoops and would have to be shitcanned otherwise (hell my monitor at 1600x900 has a great picture and DVI but no HDMI so I'd be SOL) and for a good 99.995% of the public upscaled DVD looks just fine to them. So I'd remind Brad of a little thing known as SACD/Audio DVD, where two standards competed on who could fuck the user more and got kicked by "inferior" MP3. If the choice is perfect picture and hoop jumping (not to mention higher costs and replacement media purchases) or decent picture and easy backups and copies to media tanks I don't think the average family will be hard pressed to choose, do you?

      Hell I even switched my 68 year old Luddite father who now just hands me any new DVDs he gets and says "Rip 'em so I can have them on the good box" because once you go media tank watching discs is about as fun as reel to reel. Instant search, never having to switch discs,entire box sets played in order without interruption, it is just nicer in every way. And more importantly what the hell is the point of all this progress if we can't enjoy the fruits of it? I know having my entire 13 box set Joss Whedon collection a single button press away is a hell of a lot nicer than having to crack open the box every fourth episode and my dad thinks being able to just pop the off button when he gets a call and have it start back up right where he left off and still have it play series in order is about the coolest thing since sliced bread.

      If you haven't tried one AC I HIGHLY recommend the Nbox. it is cheap, built like a tank, does 720p (or you can spend $15 more and get HDMI along with MKV and 1080p support) easy to operate and runs cool with little power usage and makes a nice gift for family. A hell of a good deal and sure beats dealing with discs! Give one to a family member with kids along with an offer to rip the kid videos for them and you are a God to them!

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  2. Confused by Anrego · · Score: 4, Insightful

    So... this prevents someone copying a BD disk with a VCR? Or a TV capture card?

    I’m actually confused here. Do people actually copy digital media this way any more? What does this prevent?

    This kind of sounds like something that has been in the works for a while and is now irrelevant (now that AACS has been dealt with), but the guy’s at the top are two stupid (or afraid of getting fired) to stop it.

    1. Re:Confused by Pentium100 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      It does not. They lower the resolution, but if you record to (S)VHS you will get an even lower resolution (especially with VHS) so there is no difference. SVHS records about the same resolution as DVD, so there is no problem with the downscaled video.

      This move is stupid - HDCP was completely broken, devices like HDFury are available. So, again, the only people who will have problems are the honest paying customers who have an older TV. Some of them will now learn about ripping, TPB and HDFury type devices.

    2. Re:Confused by Kjella · · Score: 3

      Yes. It was the idea that there's be a secure box connected over a secure cable to a secure playback device. It may be irrelevant but they still use CSS. They still prosecute companies that ship a DVD backup/converter program. It's still a DMCA/EUCD violation since there's "fair use" but no "fair circumvention". They can not stop you doing it, but they do everything to argue that it's wrong and that you're a criminal by doing it. When they introduce their next DRM format they will pretend nothing is taken away, because you were never supposed to be able to do it to begin with. Oh well...

      --
      Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
    3. Re:Confused by maxume · · Score: 2

      Consumers don't notice aspect ratio problems, or like them wrong. I doubt they will notice this.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    4. Re:Confused by Beelzebud · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm not sure how you draw a comparison to pirating media, to drug running. Drug runners are supported by the drugs they run, not pirated DVDs....

    5. Re:Confused by mrdoogee · · Score: 4, Insightful

      To further the pursuit of accuracy, I would say it is treating a gangrenous leg by hiring a polka band.

    6. Re:Confused by Grishnakh · · Score: 2

      Exactly. I got a shiny new Blu-Ray player recently, and most of our movie-watching is with Netflix online viewing, or watching stuff I downloaded on BitTorrent and put on a USB drive. The Blu-Ray player is very easy to use and inexpensive (much cheaper than building a MythTV box), but we almost never put physical discs in it, and instead use the online and USB functions.

      Just make sure to get a player that has built-in wi-fi, unless running a cat5e cable isn't a problem for you. Some sneakily advertise "Wi-Fi Ready" in bit letters, but it doesn't actually have wi-fi, you have to buy some stupid adapter that costs as much as the player itself.

    7. Re:Confused by FriendlyPrimate · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yes....when calling someone stupid, you have to be extra careful and be grammatically correct. Otherwise, you come off looking like a moran.

    8. Re:Confused by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 2

      They are both foolish unwinnable wars against intangible objects that cost a lot of money with little results?

      War on Drugs
      War on Copyright Infringement

      --
      "But this one goes to 11!"
    9. Re:Confused by afex · · Score: 2

      i 100% agree with you but I do want to point out that the scene rips you (and I!) download are not bluray quality in terms of bitrate.

      Is this noticeble? in my opinion (of having hundreds of x264's but only seeing a few BD's), no.

      But it is one of my biggest pet peeves when people just want to talk resolution without talking bitrate, which is a huge issue if we are talking things like netflix HD. (which is ~3.5Mbit, no where NEAR what a usual scene rip is) Pop open the codec info window ('o' if you're using xbmc) and take a look at your bitrates while watching a high-complexity scene, its probably 10-15MBit.

      grab the killsample (google it) and watch a 40MBit scene. (hope you've got an ION w/ VDPAU!)

    10. Re:Confused by element-o.p. · · Score: 2

      Doesn't matter. Once consumers get hit by this they will freak out and the studios will find out how much of a bad idea this is.

      No, they won't.

      Consumers (or at least, consumers in the U.S., in my experience) have shown again and again that they will take whatever crap and whatever restrictions are shoved at them as long as they can continue to get their entertainment fix. "Showing the studios...how much of a bad idea this is" requires patience and discipline -- two virtues that one would be hard pressed to find in this country anymore.

      (Sorry -- I'm in an uncharacteristically pessimistic mood today).

      --
      MCSE? No, sir...I don't do Windows. Yes, I am an idealist. What's your point?
    11. Re:Confused by causality · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Won't work. They've already got that base covered. You will only be able to exchange the item for another identical item. No returns.

      I signed no such agreement, therefore I do not feel morally bound by their one-sided policy. I'd rather not have to do it, but if it is necessary, if reasoning with them should fail, I am within my rights to be as much of an unprofitable hassle for them as legally possible.

      Therefore, if they want to play hardball, that's fine. Up the ante by increasing their hassle and therefore their expense. Be certain to make the purchase with a credit card. Call up your credit card company and dispute the charge, citing that you are dissatisfied with the merchandise and you were refused a refund. Force the matter to arbitration if necessary, taking up more of their time and money. Credit card chargebacks are a pain in the ass for retailers and they overwhelmingly favor the cardholder. The retailer knows this. At some point all of the personnel involved and time and hassle won't be worth the $15 dollars or so they charged for the movie, let alone the small portion of that which is a retailer's profit margin.

      As usual, we tend to receive just as much bullshit as we're willing to put up with. If you act like docile sheep it makes you easy to walk all over. Make such asinine return policies as unprofitable as possible the moment they are inflicted on you. Corporations that will listen to little else will certainly listen to wasted profits.

      Thankfully I have yet to have to actually do this, but I know that anyone who tries to screw me over is not going to do it easily. It will be more trouble than it is worth for them. Why anyone else would just lie down and take this shit is a mystery to me. It is no wonder corporations feel so free to shaft people because so many of them are willing to take it.

      --
      It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
    12. Re:Confused by nabsltd · · Score: 2

      No, the PS3 checks for the Cinavia watermark any time, and triggers if the source is not protected. In other words, only Blu-Ray discs with AACS or DVDs with CSS are free from triggering the Cinavia protection.

      Tests have been made where the audio is ripped to an MP3 and when that is streamed, the Cinavia protection kicks in.

  3. Hollywood studios are clueless by Chuckles08 · · Score: 2

    So I asked my iPhone "Mystic Mirror" if Hollywood studios are clueless about consumer choice... Answer: "Without a doubt" Classic.

    --
    Twenda Learning: Educational Apps that Engage.
  4. Hello HDFury by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously, if you've need to get HD component video, or VGA, from an HDMI or DVI source, the HDFury products are what you need. We got one at work because we needed to hook an AVCHD camera, which only had HDMI out, to a projector that only had VGA input. Worked perfectly. Fully supports HDCP. The one we got, the HDFury 2 is switchable between VGA and component mode.

    So not only is this a dick move, it is 100% ineffective. You just go and buy an HDFury and you are back in business. I'm sure there will be others as this ramps up.

    http://www.hdfury.com/

  5. Not what they say it is.... by mark-t · · Score: 4, Insightful

    They are doing this supposedly doing this to stop piracy.

    I'd be willing to bet, however, that it's to force people to buy newer televisions with an HDMI input.

    And of course it's only going to be effective at controlling unauthorized copying as long as AACS doesn't get cracked. Oh, wait....

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:Not what they say it is.... by c0d3g33k · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The next step is probably obligatory DRM, so your collection of ripped movies won't play on your home entertainment system any longer. Only licensed stuff allowed.

  6. I don't understand by slapout · · Score: 2

    If you did a bit-for-bit copy of a Blu-ray disc, wouldn't the copy protection go along with it?

    --
    Coder's Stone: The programming language quick ref for iPad
    1. Re:I don't understand by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Apparently not:

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blu_ray#Advanced_Access_Content_System

      "BD-ROM Mark is a small amount of cryptographic data that is stored separately from normal Blu-ray Disc data. Bit-by-bit copies that do not replicate the BD-ROM Mark have no known decoding method. A specially licensed piece of hardware is required to insert the ROM-mark into the media during replication."

    2. Re:I don't understand by TD-Linux · · Score: 2

      Yes and no. The copy protection of a blu-ray disk depends on a special region of a disk which can't be burned by commercial blu-ray burners (in fact it's prerecorded with a serial number). So if you had special hardware, yes, a bit-by-bit copy including that region would work, but most people don't have access to that hardware.

  7. Good luck with that by c0d3g33k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Until they fix the "give me a good reason to buy it" hole, their vision of a world of perfect DRM won't be quite as wonderfully lucrative as they imagine it to be. To date, I've neither purchased nor pirated any Blu-Ray media. This measure doesn't change that situation one bit. Won't pirate it, won't buy it. Hope that fortune you spent on DRM was worth it.

  8. How do they plan for this to work by AtomicDevice · · Score: 5, Insightful

    How is this going to make me *less* likely to pirate?

    My choices are:
    By a blu-ray - do I have the right player? Will it down-convert to less-than-advertized quality? will it cost way too much? who knows (except for costing too much, that I know is a yes)?

    Or:
    Pirate it for free at a good quality, I don't have to leave my house and new releases are ready to watch in an hour tops. Also I now have just a regular old video file that I can do anything with that I want.

    Why studios haven't caught onto this is a mystery to me. Seems like piracy would be dead in the water if ALL movies were offered as unprotected files for a low cost at high speed. If anyone could download any movie ever made at 1meg/s for 1 or 2 bucks with no DRM BS why even bother playing the bittorrent roulette? would some people still do it? probably. Would most law abiding citizens happliy pay rental-prices-or-less to just buy the movie they want? probably. Could they stop wasting their time and money on anti-customer schemes and start worrying about making movies? probably.

    --
    Ze Atomic Device! It iz Ztolen!
    1. Re:How do they plan for this to work by stonewallred · · Score: 3, Informative
      You have made sense in relation to what movie producers should do.

      Please report to the nearest self-termination booth and auto-terminate.

  9. High minded types will simply ascend... by jedidiah · · Score: 4, Insightful

    High minded types merely "ascend" and avoid the limitations of the physical body... er, media.

    Yeah. Talk about yet another reason to RIP or just plain pirate.

    This will be the biggest burden to the most clueless users out there, once again proving that DRM only punishes the paying customer.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  10. The only people they're stopping... by Assmasher · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...are legitimate users of video content, sometimes even when it isn't hi def...

    My setup is a total pain in the a** because of HDCP.

    I wanted to do something really simple this summer - show my cable box feed on the TV in our home gym (a glorified name for room with treadmill in it), so I looked at my options:

    (1)Get another Cable box for that TV - no, I'm not interested in paying another $15/month just so I can watch TV in a room for an hour every other day.
    (2)Run yet another HDMI cable to the TV - this was not really an option since it would be 35 feet from the cable box with various openings between the box and the destination TV - ergo, expensive, mess, and requiring HDMI amplifies and extremely long cable runs.
    (3)Go wireless and get an Air Synch HD (or something similar) - up front cost is not cheap, but no new cables, no new box, only turn it on when I want, et cetera.

    So, I get my new wireless HDMI system in, yay! Looks cool, setup seems simple - so I try it out. Cool, XBox 360 play over it just fine, BluRay player works over it just fine, cable box? Oh, whoops, green screen on cable. Never seen that before.

    So, long story short, it turns out there's this little feature of HDCP that is only just now starting to bite people in the a** called "downstream devices." Apparently, a source device using HDCP can restrict the number OF HDCP CAPABLE DEVICES that can be chained together to get to your TV or projector. Note that it is a restriction on LEGITIMATE HDCP licensed devices ffs. Most HDCP capable devices have a somewhat large number of possible downstream devices (there's no requirement in the standard - the bastards) but some of them just one or two. This means that if you connect your source device, such as my Motorola DVR, to a receiver (which counts as an HDCP device in this chain) and your projector connects to the receiver you've maxed out the number of devices.

    Along comes some poor schmuck (me in this scenario) and puts a wireless HDMI transmitter between my TV and my receiver - *bang* the cable box says "you're trying to pirate my HDCP encrypted signal, I will show you a green screen."

    Do they really think they're preventing movie piracy when someone can simply use some soldering tools and an programmable gate array and components available over the internet and strip HDCP? Hell, you can buy HDFury and setup a good recording system.

    The only people they're actually screwing are people like me who sit around for 15 seconds waiting for all their HDCP devices to decide to get along and show video and/or audio.

    (BTW, I simply connected the cable box to the receiver with component cables and optical audio - but I guess that solution will be on its way to the trash can as soon as Motorola can get around to it, eh?)

    </RANT>

    --
    Loading...
    1. Re:The only people they're stopping... by mike260 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      In your analogy, there's a mile-long queue of skilled thieves outside your door and they're busting open your locks every 5 seconds with zero effort and no repercussions. I think that in this situation, yes, people *would* tell you to stop forking out for new locks.

      They might also question your policy of strip-searching invited guests before letting them into your house.

    2. Re:The only people they're stopping... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      I like to use headphones when on the treadmill and to avoid disturbing others. My TV turns off the RCA audio outputs if an HDMI input is selected (like nobody can open the case and attach to the speakers, if they are bent on making a copy). A hearing impaired person needs to hit them with the ADA.

    3. Re:The only people they're stopping... by keytoe · · Score: 3, Informative

      This basically sums up the frustration of the modern law abiding A/V nerd. I can't count the number of times I've wanted to do something with equipment I own using media I paid for and been thwarted because 'I might be a pirate'.

      MythTV? Tried that. Loved it until I was forced into the digital world by the cable company. Everything needed to be re-engineered and there were complicated cards that may or may not work and may or may not be supported by the cable co. I could've wrestled through it, upgrading hardware and spending hours (again) getting things working - until the next time the cable company forced a change. Because I might be a pirate.

      New HD Television? I plan my purchases and already owned a receiver with two digital audio channels. Since all my video sources were HDMI, the obvious solution here is to run everything to the TV and run a single audio out from the TV to the receiver. Fewer remotes, fewer wires, better Wife Acceptance Factor. Nope. The TV down samples everything that comes out the digital audio out jack to 2 channel stereo*. Instead I have to run all my sources to my receiver that only has 2 digital inputs. Or upgrade the receiver. Because I might be a pirate

      BluRay Player? It came as a bundle when I purchased my TV and was effectively free. Cool, I'll check that out. This has been the absolute worst playback device I've ever seen. Boot times are extreme. Menus are sluggish. Firmware updates are a necessity if you want to play any recent releases. Because I might be a pirate.

      At every turn where you're blocked from doing something, the only solution is to upgrade your entire chain of hardware - and you still likely won't be able to do what you want. In the meantime, the pirates don't have to worry about any of this shit. It's pretty plain to me that the industry doesn't actually care about piracy, but instead is trying to drive purchases of new hardware and media.

      * Incidentally, what's the point of a digital audio out if the only thing that ever comes out of it is 2 channel stereo?

      --

      Culture is more than commerce

  11. Re:HD via compent looks terrible anyways... by jedidiah · · Score: 2

    No it doesn't. Component cables are fine.

    If we did a blind "taste test" you would probably flunk it.

    --
    A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
  12. Did anyone else read it as: by jbeaupre · · Score: 5, Funny

    "This ensure that high-def video is available only through the copy-protected HDMI outputs or from Bittorrent"?

    Damn dyslexia...

    --
    The world is made by those who show up for the job.
  13. Bait and switch by jbarr · · Score: 2

    Conceptually, I don't have a problem with their proposal...but only on new equipment. To impose this kind of restriction or format change on existing equipment amounts to nothing more than a bait and switch: Sell a product to a consumer (who does not have nor need to have the specific technical understanding of Blu-ray technology--it's just cool HD) and then later enable and impose new features that restrict what the consumer paid for.

    I guess this is really nothing new, just different equipment.

    --
    My mom always said, "Jim, you're 1 in a million." Given the current population, there are 7000 of me. God help us all!
  14. wow by Charliemopps · · Score: 3, Informative

    I'm sure glad I pirate all my movies and this wont affect me. I feel sorry for all you suckers that buy them legitimately.

    1. Re:wow by Hatta · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Higher quality picture? Seriously? What, then, is the pirated version ripped from? The original film print?

      If you're using component cables you will soon get a higher quality picture from a pirated BluRay than an actual BluRay. That's the entire point of this /. article.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    2. Re:wow by judeancodersfront · · Score: 2

      I really like how this comment was modded up. Slashdot supports copyright infringement unless it involves GPL software. In the latter case this place becomes an angry mom demanding lawsuits and law enforcement.

    3. Re:wow by Draek · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That's because there are some Slashdotters that support copyright infringement, which are mostly worried about the RIAA et al and so spend their time and modpoints in such discussions, not caring much for Linux, programming or such, and there are other Slashdotters that strongly favor Free Software, its ideals and objectives, which are generally against copyright infringement(*) but also against the way the RIAA et al go about fighting it and so prefer to just read rather than actively participate in RIAA-related discussions.

      (*) It's not just about protecting the GPL, btw: regardless of what you may believe about its "wonderful" interface, hardly anybody will pay $699 for Photoshop when The GIMP and Paint.NET are free.

      --
      No problem is insoluble in all conceivable circumstances.
    4. Re:wow by dwpro · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Acknowledging the irony of the situation does not equate to supporting copyright infringement. Why make that blanket assertion on all of Slashdot?

      --
      Millions long for immortality who do not know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. -- Susan Ertz
  15. This is barely news. by 517714 · · Score: 2

    They would not have put ICT into the Blu-Ray spec unless they intended to use it. HDCP was approved by the FCC in August 2004, (it was part of the DVI spec in 1999) anybody paying attention would not have bought a device without HDMI (or DVI) since then. ICT is not new, here is a discussion on the same issue five years ago http://www.myce.com/news/Most-major-studios-back-off-ICT-downscaling-on-next-gen-DVDs-11677/. At the time no Blu-Ray media had the flag turned on although some HD-DVD media did. The article speculates that the ICT flag would be turned on "several years later" ..."to get those with incompliant TVs to think of buying a new set ... " Several years has arrived, and it is no surprise to many of us.

    --
    The US government have made it clear that we have no inalienable rights; any we do not defend vigorously will be taken.
  16. DCP LLC by tepples · · Score: 2

    What happens when DCP LLC revokes HDFury's HDCP key and this revocation is encoded on each new Blu-ray Disc?

    1. Re:DCP LLC by grantek · · Score: 2

      The HDCP master key is now publicly-known, so you can generate a new one.

  17. Re:Copyresponsibility by BoberFett · · Score: 2

    Agree 100%. If a copyright holder chooses to make something intentionally unavailable, they should lose the copyright. Copyright, as it's ardent defenders love to remind us, is necessary to "promote the progress" of these works. If the work isn't being promoted, then why let the person maintain copyright?

  18. Re:2-pass vs. quantizer by nabsltd · · Score: 2

    Google for "PSNR" and "SSIM". The x264 encoder can run both of these computations while encoding with only a small performance penalty, and there are standalone programs that can be run to do the comparison as well.

    But, a good starting point is quality factor. For XVID or other standard MPEG-4, an unrestricted two-pass with Qf of 0.20 is going to result in output that is almost identical to the source. For H.264/AVC, you can drop down to 0.15 and achieve the same thing.