Sony Pictures Blu-Ray titles won't down-res
By now everyone knows that if they don't have HDCP they might not enjoy High Definition DVD's in all their glory. What I don't think is as well known is the fact that it is still up to the studios. The studios will decide which movies to down-res over component and even then it will be better than DVD quality at 540p. They will also have to mark the DVD packaging so that you know before you buy.
That is the bad news, the good news is that Sony Pictures has announced that none of the movies that they own will exercise this right, which they refer to as a "Image Constraint Token". This of course doesn't mean that they won't ever use it, but instead will wait till analog piracy becomes a problem.
I hope that the other studios follow this lead and if they don't, I hope that consumers will choose not to purchase discs that limit their experience by down converting their HD signal over component.
