-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: RIPEMD160 On Tue, Dec 26, 2006 at 01:56:42PM -0700, Christer Edwards wrote: > http://www.cs.auckland.ac.nz/~pgut001/pubs/vista_cost.txt
- From the article: - --- Vista's content protection mechanism only allows protected content to be sent over interfaces that also have content-protection facilities built in. Currently the most common high-end audio output interface is S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format). Most newer audio cards, for example, feature TOSlink digital optical output for high-quality sound reproduction, and even the latest crop of motherboards with integrated audio provide at least coax (and often optical) digital output. Since S/PDIF doesn't provide any content protection, Vista requires that it be disabled when playing protected content [Note D]. In other words if you've sunk a pile of money into a high-end audio setup fed from an S/PDIF digital output, you won't be able to use it with protected content. - --- This article was worth reading, of only to find this out. I just finished building a sound system that includes a standard multi-channel receiver with an S/PDIF input. If there was any sick notion in my head of actually buying and installing Vista, this nugget just killed it. I will only acquire media content that I can play from my MythTV box, period. I will not purchase additional special hardware just to play certain types of content. I will not go through the trouble of switching my TV and audio receiver inputs to other devices; I have everything working just the way I want it, all from a single (very functional) media station. DVD-quality video is generally good enough for me, and I get plenty of HD content from local ATSC broadcasts. For instance, in just the last month, I got HD copies of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Finding Nemo, The Polar Express, Spider-Man, and Spider-Man 2. I got everything for free via the antenna sitting on my shelf (all hail those wonderful Linux-only pcHDTV cards). I will never purchase a single HD-DVD or Blu-Ray product until I can play it from my MythTV box, just like I currently can with the DVD products that I purchase. I will either watch it on DVD or wait for it to be broadcast via ATSC; it is simply too inconvenient and costly to do otherwise. Mike .___________________________________________________________________. "Pedro offers you his protection." - Napolean Dynamite -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.1 (GNU/Linux) iQEVAwUBRZMF0ttAhTFtyodpAQNmGgf+L7CQGodlzAePg6fwDpC17J+RCkKlUGGO 9hVDMdBEvTIQheS2VoAxa/atIk4TkElF5UsOTDa8/d7YuN5DajG8J9bUzK216WBg mDR++wEHPMSKLCzY4DZ/gsIQpYToNMJPkbWZk+FJTbpu3p/Cc/od44ZGi47+N/9U IUalVtFNqxHtWfAcWhpFWFmRB6PvRx3MsetvYovewX99NH45e6dEqnxJUFFF3C2K vMet3ruEnVy/oyGi/sWKwgSdjd4U7GHvqiVlynnMQ1btgZOU+HJWruhMBgdgpHue HHuUMvsi26AQhcRWbQsii6sXhgek5QvLcfcbaERRYv6EGN+Kxaz63A== =N7vz -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
