HD DVD/BD players to not output HD signal via component

[WndrBr3d]

Link

If you're one of the first adopters who mortgaged the house to buy the earliest HDTV displays, don't expect to get full HD resolution when you take out a second mortgage for a high-def disc player when they come out later this year. Today the copy-protection rules for Blu-ray or HD DVD — the two formats competing to be the standard for HD discs — are being unveiled. Called Advanced Access Content System (AACS), the rules clearly show the major movie studios are determined to stymie potential piracy, but their efforts may short-change people with older HDTVs. AACS says the new players won't output a full-HD signal from their component-video connections, since those jacks are analog instead of digital and thus have no copy protection. The "down-rezzed" signals will be limited to a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels — exactly one-quarter the 1,920 x 1,080 pixels that you'll get through the copy-protected digital connectors on the players. The potentially huge problem with this strategy is that the only HD inputs on a lot of older HDTVs are component video. Estimates vary, but it's believed 3 to 6.6 million such displays are in U.S. households. And the sun will set on analog video for good after Dec. 31, 2013, when AACS-licensed players can't be made or sold with any analog video outputs, including the familiar yellow composite-video jack.

Damn it.

 

[j_garcia]

All the ads for the players I've seen make this very clear - 720p or 1080i via HDMI only.

 

[extreme]

Not to be too much of a stickler but this applys to both blu-ray and HD DVD disk formats.

 

[jmanlp]

sucks for a lot of people out there I guess, whats ironic is I bet a lot of those people bought their displays as a means of future proofing, ie they din't need HD at the time but got them so they would be sure to be ready for whatever the future would throw at them. so sad...

 

[Vancouver]

not only that but I have read the the current HDMI cable may be modified due to some problems with connectivity. There is no confirmation that the HDMI will be compatitle with old HDMI inputs...

 

[Leprkon]

sucks for a lot of people out there I guess, whats ironic is I bet a lot of those people bought their displays as a means of future proofing, ie they din't need HD at the time but got them so they would be sure to be ready for whatever the future would throw at them. so sad...

double irony here in that Mitsubishi made a component model in 2002 with swappable cards so you would be "future-proof". They have yet to release any new cards...

fortunately the Samsung HD-950 normal DVD player can be coaxed into a 1080i output over component, so it will probably be quite a while till the upgrade bug bites hard enough to hurt. no sense in upgrading to something that doesn't work as well !

 

[Audioholics]

not only that but I have read the the current HDMI cable may be modified due to some problems with connectivity. There is no confirmation that the HDMI will be compatitle with old HDMI inputs...

Where did you read this? There is a lot of misinformation floating about. My guess is that the only incompatibilities will be for those trying to use the new HD audio formats via HDMI. They will need HDMI 1.3 on all devices.

 

[Vancouver]

Where did you read this? There is a lot of misinformation floating about. My guess is that the only incompatibilities will be for those trying to use the new HD audio formats via HDMI. They will need HDMI 1.3 on all devices.

You are right there is. I read it on an HDMI website in a QA section from an interview. At that time ( about 4 months ago) there was mention that there was cnnectivity issues and there was no confirmation if the fix would be backward compatible. I will try and find a link.

 

[westcott]

HDCP also applies to satellite and cable HD material and will have the same limitations for connections.

 

[Rock&Roll Ninja]

So now I will need.....

1. TV with HDMI 1.3 input
2. AVR with switching for at least 4 HDMI 1.3 inputs (Cable/Dish, BRD, PS3, XBox360)


The TV will probably be on the market tomorrow, but the 4 HDMI switching AVR??? I'll probably be waiting till 2025. (AVRs never have enough of the correct input).