Text 10660, 77 rader
Skriven 2006-04-10 21:23:18 av Mike '/m' (1:379/45)
Ärende: HDTV's Digital Disconnect
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From: Mike '/m' <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_16/b3980033.htm

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Piracy safeguards make the switch to digital TV far too complex


Cleaning up the rat's nest of cables linking my high-definition TV to various
video devices seemed like a good idea. Instead of three analog video cables
that connected my cable box to the display, I could have just one digital cord.
Little did I know that going digital, which everyone will eventually have to
do, would block my ability to see HD programming.

The problem stems from restrictive antipiracy measures imposed by companies
that own the content. At best, the transition to HDTV was going to be confusing
for consumers. But the piracy safeguards embedded in the hardware make it much
more complicated.

Here's how it all played out in my living room. There's a cord called a Digital
Video Interface cable that I tried to use to hook up the Motorola set-top box
supplied by Comcast to my Sharp AQUOS TV. As soon as I plugged the cable in, a
message on the screen announced that my cable had "failed HDCP authentication"
and that the box was reducing the picture resolution to 480i. That's digital
TV-speak for standard TV. Like a prince turning into a frog, the picture
degraded and shrank into an unsightly rectangle in the center of my big screen.

I had some idea of what had happened. Content owners insist that any
transmission of digital programming between devices in the home must be over a
secure link, so that you can't intercept the content and make a copy.
Specifically, they require the use of an Intel (INTC )-developed encryption
method called High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, or HDCP.

THE CONNECTION I USED met the content protection requirements of both the
set-top box and the TV. Unfortunately, the Motorola box and the Sharp TV were
unable to talk to each other to establish a secure connection. So the set-top
box sensed that it was hooked up to an unprotected digital connection and
downgraded its output to standard definition. Having been through this kind of
thing before, I knew how to reconfigure the set-top box to go back properly to
the analog connection, saving me the pain of a Comcast tech-support call.

This situation is unconscionably complex even for the most tech-savvy consumer.
There are two types of digital cable that can be used for secure connections,
the DVI cable that I used and a new type of cord called High Definition
Multimedia Interface. HDMI connectors are nearly 100% certain to comply with
the copy protection standard, but they are still fairly rare; my display has
one, but nothing else I own does. DVI connectors are much more common but less
likely to be compliant. And some HD displays, especially older ones, lack any
compliant digital input. That's why most people hook up their digital systems
with analog cables.

But that solution may not work indefinitely. Hollywood wants to force the use
of digital cables so that studios can enforce copy-protection schemes. And they
may use the advent of high-definition DVDs to press their case. Later this year
two high-def DVD formats will arrive: Blu-ray and HD-DVD. Content owners can
include codes that will downgrade the image you see to something well short of
true high-def if you try to use analog cables.

There's one glimmer of hope for consumers. Silicon Image, a company that helped
develop the HDMI standard, has set up a subsidiary called Simplay to test
compatibility. Its system should be in place by the time high-def DVDs are
available. Then you'll know that a DVD player will work with an HDTV set as
long as both bear the Simplay logo.

Simplay should be a big step forward. But for HDTV to succeed in the mass
market, content owners, service providers, and equipment makers need to impose
a sanity check on content protection. If preventing piracy trumps all other
considerations and makes it too hard for people to use these expensive new
systems, the market will never reach its potential.
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   /m

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