Kizzle, I think you answered your own question.

You bought the game. Everything you're owned came on the disc you bought. If they come out with an add-on or other dlc, you didn't pay for it when you bought the game. That's something they decided to do after you bought the game.

If they decide to make it free, great. But you don't get to bitch when they don't, because paying for the game isn't the same as fronting the cash to create additional content.

Didn't notice that, though they would seem to be perfect fractions of the final output resolution, which still matches my theory of how they're actually pulling this off.

920 = 1/2
1280 = 2/3
1440 = 3/4
1600 = 5/6

We'll be able to tell for certain by examining a framegrab from a game using this new functionality.

According to the article, they don't support arbitrary horizontal scaling; they're only supporting output of a 960x1080 frame at 1920x1080 (note that 960 is half of 1920). I'd be willing to bet money they came up with some sort of hardware trick that halves the speed at which the output is generated from the framebuffer.

This isn't scaling so much as it is horizontal line doubling.

It would also explain why it only works horizontally and not vertically.

That has to be the most annoying game in the history of mankind ... you spend more time waiting for each minigame to load than you do to play it. (1 or 2 seconds to play, 5-7 second transition)

AbleJames, you are a moron. The "video channel" is the video stream being played off of the dvd.

The "protected" content output is degraded, not the entire computer's 'output'. This isn't rocket science.

But if you want to run around screaming like a retard about stuff you have no clue about, then by all means go ahead.

Tyler,

1) As several other people have noted (and as I originally noted), DVI-D can carry an HDCP signal. Just search wikipedia for HDCP. Hell, you can probably find the information using MSN search ...

2) Progressive denotes only how a frame is displayed, not the resolution.

3) All the theory in the world doesn't mean jack when the real world difference is nil. The differences you're talking about with analog cables are below the threshold of human hearing, and with digital cables a 1 is still a 1 and a 0 is still a 0...

Tyler,

1) DVI-D is HDMI minus audio. The video signal from both connections is identical (which is why you can find DVI to HDMI adapter plugs). HDCP signals can be sent over BOTH DVI and HDMI connections.

If you're interested in HDCP support, you're looking for a TV that supports HDCP, not a TV that has an HDMI connection -- an HDMI connection doesn't guarantee HDCP support.

2) LCDs are typically progressive scan displays. They have to do something with an interlaced signal before showing it on the screen. Now, they don't have to do anything SMART with the interlaced signal -- throwing away half of the data is an easy way to "cope" with the problem (and such a solution would, in fact, be easier than getting the display to show alternating fields -- which is why you don't see LCD panels that do that).

3) For digital cables all that matters is that all the 1s and 0s make it to the other side. Getting a bigger fatter wire between the source and your display isn't going to do jack.

How much do you want to bet that screenshot came from a devkit?

larsoncc, you've got a VHS player built into your computer? Your iPod plays VHS tapes?

Yeah, I didn't think so.

Lynn, the quality fo the scaling hardware varys from tv to tv. A 360 can certainly do a better job at scaling an image than some TVs.

Steve, 1080p support was "added" to match Sony's rhetoric and woo "feature comparison chart" shoppers who base purchase decisions on which device has the greatest number of checkmarks.

People like you, for instance.

Furthermore, for movie playback, the image constraint token won't be a factor until hidef pc capture cards become affordable (> 5 years) and 1080i is sufficient to transmit a film at native resolution (unless your TV can't reverse telecine a movie; though if your tv can't do that, deinterlacing will be the least of your image quality problems...).

Personally, as an owner of a native 1080p 50" tv, having seen the difference between 720p and 1080p content, there isn't a significant difference.

All of the "Zomg! 720p is teh suck, 1080p for evar!" people need to chill. Actually, all of the people going apeshit over the difference have obviously never seen an HDTV outside of BestBuy and should just stfu.