2010 — the Year AACS and HDMI Kill Off HD Component Video 424
For home theater buffs who want (or already have) a high-def system using component-video connections, time may be growing short. Audiofan writes with this story, which begins: "Digital HD (high definition), like that enabled through HDMI and Blu-ray, is awesome. It offers amazing picture and audio quality. It allows you to conveniently connect one single cable to provide both picture and sound. It is royally going to screw up a lot of homes next year. Wait, what was that last part? After December 31, 2010, manufacturers will not be 'allowed' [to] introduce new hardware with component video outputs supplying more than an SD resolution (480i or 576i). Should this go through as planned, it's going to disable or throw a wrench in a lot of existing custom installations as soon as the end of this year." The AACS in the headline stands for Advanced Access Content System, the industry scheme to block "the analog hole" by controlling content from storage media to eyeballs.
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:4, Informative)
Or use a media PC as the center of your entertainment setup and rip content to remove protections that would require HDCP.
Re:Summary contradicts itself... (Score:5, Informative)
From the article:
Lest you think that this won't affect existing players, note that after January 1, 2011, the manufacturers of Blu-ray discs will be able (at their option) to insert an Image Constraint Token into any Blu-ray disc. This is a sort of "digital flag" that will turn off the high-definition component video output in the player (effectively turning it into a low-resoluton 480i/576i output). The goal is to make sure that all high-definition video will only be made possible through "secure" digital connections like HDMI.
Re:Nintendo Wii without Component? (Score:3, Informative)
The Wii can still put out whatever they want over RGB and there is no law stating your device (TV) can't accept RGB as an input and still be included..
It states anything playing licensed MPAA content over RGB will be forced to be artificially limited to 480i.
Now what if you have your own video over 480i on say a camcorder or on a BR and would like to use RGB? That I do know if the law or the technology will differential that from "protected" content.
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:5, Informative)
They already do, HDFury being the most popular one. Google for "HDCP stripper".
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:3, Informative)
Yes the point is today you can do 1080p with component and tomorrow (figuratively) you can not. I am not suggesting you should be outraged, only that you misunderstood the point.
Re:Bye bye Wii (Score:4, Informative)
None of this says HDTVs have to abandon analog inputs. There will continue to be models that feature them. It's more about Blu-Ray players and other devices that decode AACS protection on video not being able to output analog signals. The HDTV is the receiver, not the sender.
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:4, Informative)
I doubt that this will be met with much resistance due to the fact that component only give you 1080i, and HDMI delivers 1080p.
Component video can do 1080p too.
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:3, Informative)
720p is high definition compared to 480i/p NTSC, video, and DVD content.
Re:Nintendo Wii without Component? (Score:5, Informative)
Purely FYI: AC means this cable [monoprice.com]. Thanks for the tip on monoprice, had not heard of them before. Geek fail.
Re:Where? (Score:3, Informative)
I believe pretty much "everywhere" (at least on this planet).
The Advanced Access Content System (AACS) is a standard for content distribution and digital rights management, intended to restrict access to and copying of the next generation of optical discs and DVDs. The specification was publicly released in April 2005 and the standard has been adopted as the access restriction scheme for HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD). It is developed by AACS Licensing Administrator, LLC (AACS LA), a consortium that includes Disney, Intel, Microsoft, Panasonic, Warner Bros., IBM, Toshiba and Sony. AACS has been operating under an "interim agreement" since the final specification (including provisions for Managed Copy) has not yet been finalised.
Since appearing in devices in 2006, most AACS decryption keys have been extracted from weakly protected software players and published on the Internet.
So, if you Buy/rent DVDs and/or Blu-ray - you're screwed (at least in 2011, or until the stream can be modified to remove the security...)
Re:Where? (Score:5, Informative)
Not as bad as it sounds (Score:3, Informative)
The SD resolution you'll be restricted to is NOT 480i. It's 540p (960x540 in Widescreen). It's still better than DVD resolution (720x480 non-square pixels).
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:5, Informative)
Wrong. HDFury is legal and sanctioned.
It's downgrading the digital connection to an analog connection. It has legit HDCP keys.
It does NOT give you a digital output, and does not crack HDCP.
If the new rules get adopted, then the manufacturer of HDFury will be unable to manufacture any more of them.
Re:Not as bad as it sounds (Score:5, Informative)
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image_Constraint_Token#Operation [wikipedia.org]
HDFury2 (Score:1, Informative)
I think you mean the "HDFury2"
http://www.curtpalme.com/HDFury2.shtm [curtpalme.com]
I got one from Monoprice
http://www.monoprice.com/products/product.asp?c_id=101&cp_id=10114&cs_id=1011402&p_id=5035&seq=1&format=2 [monoprice.com]
See the product review titled "Almost perfect" for my opinion.
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:2, Informative)
There will still be plenty of HDMI to composite converters coming out of China, etc.
Wouldn't there be much more interest in HDMI to *component* conversion? Composite is the bottom rung of the options as far as quality goes.
Re:Just buy the unofficial ones (Score:5, Informative)
Indeed. [hdtvinfo.eu]
There's just no standard for it yet. I stand corrected.
Re:Bye bye Wii (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Market manipulation? (Score:3, Informative)
Creating artificial scarceness to raise prises?
That's what copyright is. It's not a normal market by any stretch of the imagination. If market forces were to take hold, competition would drive the price of copies of digital goods to zero, since the marginal cost is zero.
Re:Summary contradicts itself... (Score:5, Informative)
VHS to DVD was an obvious improvement in both quality and convenience. DVD to BR is meh at best.
You obviously don't watch many movies. In some rare cases, if the DVD is done just right, yes, it's hard to tell the difference between Blu-ray and upconverted DVD. However, if you're talking standard definition DVD and Blu-ray, the difference is incredibly noticeable. Even upconverted DVD and Blu-ray normally has a pretty noticeable difference in quality.
This will hurt many businesses... (Score:4, Informative)
Most businesses in which need to run a signal a long distance need to use a Cat5 to Component system. My family owns three businesses and they all use a system in which cat5 is ran to all three of our TVs and converted to component right before reaching the TV.
As much as HDMI is great it simply is not as good as component for running an HD signal over a long distance. Component is much better with cat5 because it is split into 3 cords. That way you Cat5 can easily handle the signal. However Cat5 is insufficient for carrying the entire signal if your using HDMI.
The AACS should not have the authority to break so many people's installations. We certainly can't afford to take out our nearly one thousand dollar system of splitters and converters and I'm sure many businesses can't either.
Re:no analogue holes (Score:1, Informative)
There is actually one (and only one, I believe) function for which Monster Cables are the best to purchase.
Instrument cabling.
Guitar cables from Monster are only about $10-15 more than the generic ones (for a 20-30' cable, I can pay 50 cents more per foot) and come with a LIFETIME GUARANTEE. Let me repeat that, lifetime guarantee. No questions asked. Just take it to any place that sells Monster guitar cables and say "it broke," and they give you another one.
If you play gigs and you're tired of having to keep 6 extra cords in your backpack (maybe THIS one doesn't have a short in it!) it can be a lifesaver. Of course, you still need an extra cord or two, but now you don't have to keep paying for them over and over.