Studios won't downgrade HD video... for now

If you've been holding off on ordering (or pre-ordering) an HD DVD or Blu-ray player because you're worried about Hollywood studios potentially using the Image Constraint Token to downgrade video quality displayed via analog outputs, you can cross that concern off of your list -- at least for the next four years. Though there's no official word, the major studios have apparently cut a backroom deal to keep their HD discs ICT-free until at least 2010. The move would allow owners of analog HD sets -- not to mention gamers who pick up Microsoft's Xbox 360 HD DVD drive or Sony's non-HDMI junior Playstation 3 -- to watch their discs in full HD format, rather than being forced to endure downgrades to 540p. Of course, even if the unconfirmed agreement exists, after 2010 all bets are off. But, by then, you will presumably be ready to pick up a new HD set (or Xbox 720 or PS4). And, if we're lucky, the format war may be over by then as well, so you'll actually be able to buy an HD disc player that will be useful for more than a few months. (And, no, that screenshot isn't from the HD DVD version of "Blazing Saddles" -- though the fact that the movie is now out on HD DVD gives us at least one reason to consider picking up a player).

Read - HD Beat
Read - Ars Technica

[Bob @ May 22nd 2006 10:48AM]

"Mongo like Candy."

[Topmounter @ May 22nd 2006 11:19AM]

2010+ means it won't happen, which is good news.

HD-DVD and Blu-ray will be old news by then and we'll be arguing about something new.

[adam green @ May 22nd 2006 11:24AM]

Finally....an intelligent decision from the hd-dvd/blu-ray camp!

[jon @ May 22nd 2006 11:27AM]

Very cool! I've read that HDMI is better for flat panel HD-TV sets...but Component signals are better for CRT sets. This is due to the internal conversion that must occur in a CRT converting Digital from HDMI back to an analog Component signal for the TV to display. The opposite happens when you use component on a Flat Panel.

If the 360 HD-DVD add on is around $150-$200...I will definately be picking one up. It's still a bit of a gamble this early in the HD format war...but the risk has been greatly reduced for many who still own TV's with only component inputs.

[Tush @ May 22nd 2006 11:27AM]

Maybe by then I can Wii in High Definition!

[Bweetza @ May 22nd 2006 11:32AM]

LOL @ #1

[Kamalot @ May 22nd 2006 11:35AM]

I don't want to buy a component today that will be obsolete in less than 4 years. My GameCube and Xbox laster longer than that as did many people's PS2s.

[Saxon @ May 22nd 2006 11:41AM]

Maybe I'm missing smoething, but I still don't understand why studios would downgrade the quality of their HD content in the first place. Is there some kind of upside to pissing off your customers?

[JetJaguar @ May 22nd 2006 11:51AM]

Interesting... but I wonder whether this is a bit of a red herring. For me the real question is whether we going to be buying movies, tv shows and games on physical media at all in 2010.

Judging by the speed of the broadband arms race here in the UK (at least one company's offering 16 megs), and the rate at which the price of memory is falling, I doubt it.

My money's on a Phyrric victory for whichever side 'wins' this format war.

[Troy @ May 22nd 2006 12:07PM]

>>Judging by the speed of the broadband arms race here in the UK (at least one company's offering 16 megs), and the rate at which the price of memory is falling, I doubt it.

That's 16 megaBITS/s (~4 MegaBYTES/s), in Japan you can get 100mbs speeds over fiberoptic, however, they are no where close to getting HDTV over fiber, though IPTV is still being worked on.

For a Blu-ray/HD-DVD that's around 30-50 GBs you are still looking at a massive download time for a HD movie.

Thing is, if the DRM is not going to be implemented in 4+ years, then its likely never going to be successfully implemented in mass.

The customer service problem of angry customers or large number of returned disks at retail is going to be much worse for a compnay that suddenly implements ICT(customers with component will be like wtf this disk from x studio don't work, but all my other disks work fine).

ICT is pretty much dead, it will never be enforced in mass.

[Loban @ May 22nd 2006 12:18PM]

"(Xbox 720 or PS4)"

Don't forget the Wii 2 (or whatever the next Nintendo will be called). The next Nintendo console will surely be HD. The Wii isn't just because HD output is expensive and the majority of people don't have an HD set anyway. By the time the next Nintendo comes out, most people will have an HD set and it will be very affordable.

[tom @ May 22nd 2006 12:30PM]

"no official word", "major studios have _apparently_ cut a _backroom_ deal", "unconfirmed agreement".
Right, and the bad boys swore they wouldn't hit XM with lawsuits when that other law was passed. They'd only go after non-legitimate businesses. If they can make a cent with ICT before 2010, no agreement will matter. It's all to fight terrorism, anyway.

[Griffon @ May 22nd 2006 12:34PM]

Yeah, bullshit. What they are saying is that they won't do it "yet". They are going to wait for market saturation and then start trying to screw everyone with their pants on.
If they TRULLY didn't want to exploit consumers with this type of DRM abuse it would be pulled from the standards and never spoken of again, not left waiting itn wait to spring like a serpent when everyone has relaxed. Anyone who accepts some vauge ass prommis from these fuckers is a total fool.

[Nick @ May 22nd 2006 1:00PM]

This may be a bit offtopic, but wasn't Ken Kutagari quoted as saying that the PS3 would have up to a 10 year life span? So it is possible that the XBOX 720 could be up there, and the Wii 2, but not the PS4.

[John B. @ May 22nd 2006 1:07PM]

"We won't screw you, so buy our hardware... Ok, everybody got one? Now you're all fucked!"

[Jason @ May 22nd 2006 1:24PM]

Wii 2= Wii Wii?

[Philip W. @ May 22nd 2006 1:32PM]

#10

"Interesting... but I wonder whether this is a bit of a red herring. For me the real question is whether we going to be buying movies, tv shows and games on physical media at all in 2010."

And where are you going to be storing these thousands of gigs of data? Central servers? No thanks, I'd rather have my own media here with me, thanks. People are so eager to see physical media go away yet don't even think to consider the problem of storage space. I have thousands of discs of both movies, tv shows, games, music, etc.. Unless you can give me a viable solution then this whole physical media-less future needs to be reevaluated.

[Jon @ May 22nd 2006 1:36PM]

The Wii 2 will be the Us. lol

[Marc Mayor @ May 22nd 2006 3:00PM]

Hollywood must have meant to say "no" and then they screwed up. Those guys usually are so self-destructive...

[mathew @ May 22nd 2006 4:51PM]

Can I get this guarantee on paper?

No?

What, you expect me to just trust companies like Sony based on a rumor? The same Sony that put rootkits on CDs?

Screw that, I'll stick with DVD.

[losttoys @ May 22nd 2006 5:28PM]

Nick (#15)-

He is talking more about the life expectancy of the unit. The PSX lived well beyond its years (10 years), and still has limited garage development going on.

Sony is putting emphasis on the ability to do homebrew on the PS3, which means that even when developers move onto the next platform generation, people will still be coding games for the system well beyond its normal life expectancy.

[JD @ May 22nd 2006 7:43PM]

Ha, even most HD sets won't be able to show HD-DVDs in 1080p, not even those advertized as 1080p. Most "1080p" sets that have been sold to date cannot input 1080p.

[Jason @ May 23rd 2006 2:04AM]

"{2010+ means it won't happen, which is good news."

That's assuming alot, my friend. The MPAA realizes that they can't get away with downgrading content without a huge consumer backlash. However, 2010 will have a much higher HDTV saturation than exists today. Most of these sets, unlike today, will have HDCP keys. So, in 2010, the studios could easily screw over all the early adopters who will be in the overwhelming minority and not be able to make much of a fuss over it. This also would give them 4 years to kill off DVD so consumers would have no choice other than to accept DRM infestations.

[Andrew @ May 24th 2006 10:05PM]

#10

I was under the impression that there was 8 bits in a byte and thus 16Mbps was 2MBps...
and my cable in Vermont is 6Mbps...
so it seems very do-able to have HDTV over this soon, as speeds here are always going up, and if they get up high enough, there you go. and if I only get 10MBps download on a 40GB game, then so be it, I leave it on for a few days, thats why I have broadband, bah. Rant over.