Frankly, many people (including Mike Evangelist, Apple's "Mr Final
Cut Pro") are planning to avoid both HD-DVD and Blu-Ray not just
because it is Beta vs VHS all over, but because they both have the
particularly draconian AACS Digital Rights Management (DRM)
technologies built-in which are already causing problems in regular
day-to-day use.
http://writersblocklive.com/part-156/all-comments/
http://blog.hishamrana.com/2006/03/05/boycott-hd-dvd-and-blu-ray-over-
aacs-part-1/
For instance, if you have say a nice 23" LCD computer monitor or a
big LCD or plasma HDTV etc that doesn't have HDCP & HDMI built-in
(which is pretty much all current Apple screens and many older big
flat screen TVs) or a video card that doesn't do HDCP then the Blu-
ray or HD-DVD player will potentially degrade the quality of the
video down to plain old standard definition video or even just go
black because it can't be guaranteed a protected path for the display
of full quality HD media. Only Dell 20" and 24" LCD screens made
this year have HDCP so my lovely 24" Dell LCD purchased last year
won't cut the mustard. Grrr.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070121-8665.html
And don't think you'll necessarily be able to copy or stream the
movie from your legally purchased HD-DVD or Blu-ray disc over to your
video iPod or iPhone or cheap media player or home media centre Mac/
PC unless all devices and discs support HDCP and "managed copy".
Even if everything works, there's no guarantee you won't have to pay
extra for the "privilege".
The technology also has all sorts of "smarts" to detect hacking of
the hardware or software which will also trigger the degraded
playback format. Trouble is, even fluctuations in voltage or other
common glitches in hardware or firmware could potentially cause this
to happen as has already happened with the PS3 and some HDTVs.
Apparently the new Aluminium iMacs have HDCP hardware built-in (on
the video card I think), but all older Macs will have problems
playing Blu-ray or HD-DVD movies. Not to mention the fact that Apple
has not yet decided to join the HD DRM love-fest and has yet to
include either flavour of HD drive into any Mac or support AACS in
software. Of course, Microsoft has built AACS DRM to the N-th degree
into Vista.
There is also an "analog sunset" built-into the specification that
means come 2012 the devices will shut off the ability to output a
higher-res analog signal meaning your old monitor or HDTV will stop
being able to play 540p video and will only play 480i quality video
(lower than many current DVD players), so yet again, you'll be forced
to buy a new HDCP-equipped screen or computer.
Here's hoping Apple succeeds in bringing Hi-Def movies to the iTunes
store with reasonable Fairplay DRM allowing us to bypass the whole
sorry next-gen DVD mess altogether. (about the only thing I wouldn't
mind a Blu-ray drive for is the 50GB capacity of dual-layer BD discs
for data storage.)
AACS = Advanced Access Content System
HDMI = High Definition Media Interface
HDCP = High-Bandwidth Digital Copy Protection
-Mart
On 21/08/2007, at 4:18 PM, Evers wrote:
Unfortunately this was always looking like a Beta v VHS scenario
(and Luddite that I am I only mothballed my last Beta Hi Fi
machine less than 2 years ago) - and we consumers really just have
to accept whatever economics and industry politics decree, which as
we have seen is not always the superior technology (I don't know
enough to make that call with Blu-ray v HD DVD).
Cheers
Tony Evers
On 21/08/2007, at 1:28 PM, Neil Houghton wrote:
Let's hope this isn't the start of a trend :(
Japan's Toshiba and its partners gained a much-needed boost in the
next-generation DVD format war after Paramount Pictures and
DreamWorks
Animation said they would exclusively support HD DVD.
The decision to drop the rival Blu-ray format is a blow to Sony
Corp. and its
partners, who have scored some valuable points recently in the
tussle in
high-definition DVDs.
Movies distributed by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Animation
and Pictures,
Paramount Vantage, Nickelodeon Movies and MTV Films will be released
exclusively in HD DVD, the companies said in a statement late
Monday.
Source:<http://www.smh.com.au/news/breaking-news/paramount-
pictures-sides-wi
th-hd-dvd-in-format-war/2007/08/21/1187462235144.html>
Cheers
Neil
--
Neil R. Houghton
Albany, Western Australia
Tel: +61 8 9841 6063
Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
-Mart
------------------------------------
Martin Hill
email: mart "at" ozmac.com
homepages: http://mart.ozmac.com
Mb: 0401-103-194 (new) hm: (08)9314-5242
-Mart
----------------------------------
Martin Hill
iLecture Systems Manager
Information Services b.309
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
ph: (08) 9266 2677, 9266 3101, mb: 0401-103-194
http://ilectures.curtin.edu.au
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