Posted by Allan on 12/19/05 21:37

http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/12/19/aacs_10_negotiations_make_progress/

Progress in negotiations for final AACS copy protection specification
for HD discs
By Scott M. Fulton, III
Published Monday 19th December 2005 19:26 GMT


Tokyo (Japan) - A clearer picture of the copy protection scheme used
by the two contenders for the next high-definition disc format, may
finally be taking shape. This morning, the Japanese trade publication
IT Media is reporting
(http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fplusd.itmedia.co.jp%2Flifestyle%2Farticles%2F0512%2F19%2Fnews023.html&langpair=ja%7Cen&hl=en&safe=off&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools)

that representatives of the world's major electronics manufacturers
and movie studios have reached tentative agreement on some of key
operational provisions of the Advanced Access Content System (AACS),
which will be used in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats. The system's
governing body, AACS License Administrator, has yet to confirm this
news.

AACS incorporates a wide array of copy protection and restriction
technologies, one of which is called the Image Constraint Token (ICT).
Recently a bone of contention among the studios, ICT would enable
certain scenarios where a user would be entitled to see content, but
not in its original resolution. This way, analog displays and other
unauthorized devices can still receive and play content, just not as
rich. According to the IT Media report, the AACS LA members agreed to
implement ICT in such a way that countries that prohibit the use of
quality restrictions on digital media, can continue to do so without
inhibiting the production of AACS-compliant devices to those
countries.


This news comes on the heels of major developments last Friday in the
HD DVD/Blu-ray format battle. Keeping a promise made last October,
Hewlett-Packard announced it was joining the HD DVD Promotions Group,
and is now adopting an official stance of neutrality by supporting
both standards jointly. Also, Toshiba - HD DVD's principal proponent -
announced it may delay its promised shipment of HD DVD drives and
players to Japan, stating production was being hampered by a lack of
agreement on the part of AACS LA members with regard to two issues:
ICT and region codes.

Both content providers and component manufacturers have historically
been concerned about leaving open a kind of technological "back door"
through which consumers could use analog displays to capture and
record high-definition content. Even though no high-definition analog
monitor exists, or apparently ever will, an existing analog player
could still conceivably be utilized as a go-between to capture a
high-definition signal, and transfer it in its entirety to a high-def
recorder. With no digital equipment in the analog monitor or TV to
restrict the output, the recorded image could possibly attain full
quality, enabling the TV to bypass AACS.

Last July, Toshiba stated its high-def players would automatically
restrict the resolution of the signal it sends to any analog display.
High-def signals would only be sent, said Toshiba, through
High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) connectors, which only
plug into digital high-def receivers. Any signal received through any
other type of connector would be constrained by ICT.

But by how much? The issue is quite important for several reasons:
First, there are three analog TV transmission standards around the
world, which utilize different vertical resolutions. NTSC, the
standard used in North America, utilizes 525 lines, while the PAL
system used throughout Western Europe and East Asia; and the SECAM
system used in France, Eastern Europe, and throughout Africa; utilize
625 lines. Digital vertical resolutions tend to be multiples of 64,
not 25. As a result, a high-def picture which appears normal when
constrained for one region, may be blurry or substandard for another.
The licensing agreement for the production of intelligent digital
displays, updated last 25 October, clearly states that a constrained
image would be limited to 540 lines of vertical resolution for the
16:9 widescreen aspect ratio. This would render analog TVs pointless
when connected to high-def players, in most any country outside of
North America.

Another reason is a bit more practical than geographical: Toshiba and
Sony (the leading proponent of Blu-ray) are both members of the HDMI
governing body, as well as members of the AACS LA governing body. As
manufacturers, both have an interest in keeping their costs low. But
the method in HDMI used to employ its version of the ICT constraint is
yet another spoonful of alphabet soup: High-bandwidth Digital Content
Protection (HDCP). Intel developed HDCP, and remains the principal
supplier of its equipment for HDMI-compliant displays. Intel is also
now a principal member of the HD DVD Promotions Group, which means
it's already on Toshiba's side.

If both Blu-ray and HD DVD players end up marketed simultaneously
worldwide, then with the distinguishing factors between them being
trivial for most consumers, what could end up determining the victor
in the marketplace could be price. Toshiba, therefore, may have an
interest in maintaining Intel as a close ally.
Region codes live on, for now, while HP straddles two worlds

A third reason for ICT's importance as an issue in AACS is political.
Believe it or not, in Japan, the use of any image constraint device in
broadcasting and recording is actually illegal. But according to
reports, the law which prohibits the use of ICT expires in 2011, and
may not necessarily be extended. Furthermore, according to this
morning's IT Media report, the law apparently does not prohibit the
sale of ICT equipment, just its use. So conceivably, high-def disc
players could be sold in Japan which include ICT in their AACS
systems, though which also include calendars that would trigger ICT
once the law expires.

Most movie studios are on record as having opposed any use of ICT
whatsoever. Japanese media reports quote regional representatives of
20th Century-Fox - a staunch Blu-ray supporter - as opposing any
technology which would present an annoyance to the customer: for
example, a lousy picture on an older display. According to reports,
only Warner Bros. - which recently chose to support both camps, after
having exclusively supported HD DVD - has advocated the use of ICT.

This is where the issue of the region code once again rears its ugly
head. In order for players to be able to determine for themselves
which content cannot be restricted by ICT under the laws of their
respective countries, content must still include those pesky region
codes that have proven unpopular among current DVD customers.
According to the IT Media report, AACS LA members belonging to the
Blu-ray Disc Association have reached limited agreement regarding the
use of region codes in high-def media. "Region 1" will cover North and
South America, and East Asia excluding China. Europe and Africa will
constitute "Region 2," and China, Russia, and miscellaneous countries
fall in "Region 3." Note the lack of direct correspondence between
these regions and the three analog transmission standard coverage
areas: Both France and Great Britain, which utilize different
standards, fall under Region 2. (There are eight region codes
currently in use with DVD.) These codes may or may not end up being
used in HD DVD.

The report stated that Warner Bros. was the most vocal advocate of
abolishing region codes altogether, assuming a position previously
adopted by the DVD Forum's steering committee that they had proven not
only unpopular but ineffective. On paper, it would have appeared
opponents of region codes outnumbered supporters by a substantial
margin. Nonetheless, lack of consensus among AACS LA members about how
to address the issue of East Asian pirate videos flowing into European
and North American markets, apparently led to the reluctant decision
to leave region codes on the table for now, though amendments to the
IT Media report imply that they may yet be stricken from AACS.

Further complicating this issue (as if we needed another complication)
was the announcement last week of the formation of yet another
industry consortium - the High-Definition Audio/Video Network
Alliance, this time including Mitsubishi, JVC, and Samsung. Using
simplified, carefully chosen language, HANA's inaugural press release
stated the new consortium would tackle five issues facing consumers,
including the global standardization of high-definition set-top boxes,
remote controls, and content streaming between devices. Without
stating so directly, HANA associated itself with both the content
constraint and region code issues. Mitsubishi is a member of the
Blu-ray Disc Association, though its Verbatim disc division will be
producing HD DVD-R discs; meanwhile, JVC and Samsung are currently
producing both Blu-ray and HD DVD drives. Any agreement this new
consortium could reach on industry standardization may take years to
produce; in the meantime, discs, players, and recorders for both
high-def formats should already be produced.

As we stated earlier, HP announced last Friday its membership in the
HD DVD Promotions Group, after having exclusively supported Blu-ray up
to this point. In a press release issued Friday, HP's general manager
for personal storage, Maureen Weber, said the reasons for her
company's move were to place HP "in a better position to assess true
development costs and, ultimately, provide the best and most
affordable solution for consumers." Previously, HP officials publicly
warned the Blu-ray Disc Association
(http://www.tgdaily.com/2005/10/28/hp_to_blu-ray_on_hd_dvd/) that the
group's continued opposition of mandatory managed copy (MMC), along
with the iHD interactive layer championed by Microsoft and used in
Windows Vista, would make production of Blu-ray equipment cost
prohibitive. Since that time, the BDA appeared to reverse its stance
on MMC - partly by altering its interpretation of "managed" - but did
not waver in its support of the Blu-ray Java (BDJ) interactive layer
developed by Sun Microsystems.

In HP's statement, the company acknowledged the BDA's change of
position on MMC, while noting that the group refused an opportunity to
support what HP said would enable content providers "to offer greater
interactivity on next-generation DVDs and helps ensure a more
compelling user experience when recording HDTV programs or moving
digital content throughout the home."

Incidentally, Sun - the principal developer of BDJ - is a founding
member of the new HANA group. In its inaugural press release, HANA
stated that it would advocate the use of FireWire (IEEE 1394)
technologies to connect HD-supporting devices such as players and
displays. Such a move would fly in the face of Toshiba, Intel, and the
other supporters of HDMI. So it would appear a fresh new set of battle
lines is being drawn, just in time for the holidays.








"Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker's game
because they almost always turn out to be -- or to be indistinguishable from
-- self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time."
- Neil Stephenson, _Cryptonomicon_

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