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Posted by Goro on 02/16/06 15:27
Modemac wrote:
> http://www.boingboing.net/2006/02/12/only_big_companies_p.html
>
> Apparently, the so-called "anti-piracy" mesasures being put into place
> will only allow the new high-definition DVDs to play onPCs manufactured
> by Sony, Dell, or other mega-corporations. If you have a custom-built
> PC, or if you dared to install your DVD-ROM drive yourself, you may be
> out of luck.
So i red the ars-technica site. Sounds more like "HDCP standards are
going to change" and that retail vid cards WILL suport HDCP. Sounds
like less of a conspiracy and more of a fustercluck.
HD/BR is shaping up to be the biggest NON-launch of a product in
history .... (well, maybe the biggest non-launch of a $1B marketting
campaign).
-goro-
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060214-6177.html
The truth behind HDCP and video card support
2/14/2006 2:53:46 PM, by Ken "Caesar" Fisher
The sad, pathetic tale of how the content industry is trying to make
the PC as unfriendly as possible to high definition content has another
chapter. In August I told you about the unfortunate decisions by the HD
DVD and Blu-ray groups that would ultimately spell disaster for owners
of existing LCD displays; without support for HDCP, you probably will
not be able to view HD content from the studios on your PC (or TV, for
that matter). The take-away was simple: don't buy a new display unless
it supports HDCP.
Users worried about "future-proof" purchasing options also started to
think about other components in their PC arsenal. Video cards, for
example, would also need to support HDCP, and so many conscientious
buyers thought that buying cards with support for HDCP would mean that
their cards could carry them into the future. Unfortunately, they were
wrong. For while many video cards-including offerings powered by ATI
and NIVIDIA GPUs-advertise themselves as having support for HDCP,
they don't necessarily support the next-generation of HD content from
the studios. How can this be?
FiringSquad caused quite a ruckus when earlier this week they reported
that current retail cards do not and future cards will not support
HDCP. The good news is that this report is only half true. With regards
to shipping cards, they are correct: no matter what a box's feature
list may say, no video card supports HDCP fully at this time. Why? They
have not been completely programmed. Until the specifications for the
access control system are completely finished, implementing prottected
HD support in the video card is impossible. For those of you who have
been following the technological follies of the content owners that
want to usher in this new era of HD content, then you know this is
nothing new: AACS, the next-gen access control scheme that will be used
by both HD DVD and Blu-ray, is still not finalized. That's right: with
players and products being hyped as "just around the corner," the
cornerstone of the roll-out still isn't finished. Still.
Video cards that support HDCP will have to be programmed with
encryption keys while they are still in manufacturing. ATI confirmed to
me that it will not be possible to patch or otherwise update cards
without keys through software. Thus, any card already in the
marketplace will never support HDCP, no matter what it says on the box.
The future will not be so bleak, however. ATI's PR manager, John
Swinimer, told me that that retail cards will eventually be available
once the technological specifications are finalized. Thus, reports that
HDCP per se will kill the DIY market are exaggerations: within a year
it should be possible to buy HDCP cards at the retailer of your choice.
Nevertheless, there is still plenty of ire reserved for the like of ATI
and NVIDIA, both of which have done little to inform consumers that
"HDCP support" means something other than, well, future-proof support
at this time. Talking to anonymous sources close to the scene, the
fiasco has resulted primarily from communications problems between the
licensing authority, the access control spec people, and everyone else.
In short, it sounds as though the next-gen security spec is a moving
target. I must say that I find my source credible, if only because
we've seen the exact same ambiguity from the Blu-ray camp when talking
about mandatory managed copy.
A future so bright, you'll have to wear HDCP-complaint shades
We're in the midst of a a top-down, all-points-covered attempt to lock
down every part of the HD viewing experience. In a nutshell, the
content industry wants to see video encrypted end-to-end and passed
only among approved devices that obey content access rules defined by
the industry. This is not limited to the PC. Our in-depth primer on
CableCARD revealed that the lock-down will also come to include the
video streams from cable providers, too. In both cases, we see a
disturbing trend: not only is the technology all about locking down the
content, but the implementation is becoming locked down as well. For
example, while CableCARD has been heralded as the great breakthrough
that will allow for Home Theatre PC nirvana, the fact that CableLabs
has to certify entire machine designs means that the do-it-yourself
market is likely out of luck.
I suspect that the content industry may be in for a big, nasty surprise
when all of this truly hits the public in the face. Never before has
the rollout of the "next big thing" been so encumbered with built-in
obsolescence, user-unfriendliness, and hypocrisy. Groans the world over
will be heard when early adopters learn that their TVs won't play
Blu-ray movies. Folks who bought computers recently will be
disappointed when they learn that their hard-earned money couldn't buy
them end-to-end support for HD content playback.
When you tell so many people that their electronics won't do what they
should do-what they paid for them to do-many of them are not going
to like it. The content industry is going to walk away from this with a
certain amount of egg on their face and a fat stamp of "greed" burned
into their foreheads. And a few will will realize the ultimate inanity
of it all: that while the studio's HD content won't play on their TV or
their computers, the HD content put out by the pirates will.
And that, my good friends, will be a fine example of irony.
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