Last month you let us know in the comments how you felt about the MPAA's latest effort to close the analog hole -- by removing the FCC's ban on selectable output control (SOC), giving them the ability to remotely disable the analog output on your cable box -- now try telling someone who can actually do something about it. The FCC has opened the petition to public comment until June 25, and replies to comments by July 7. Currently, the MPAA is arguing that allowing SOC will actually hasten the digital transition, once it feels comfortable offering early release flicks on HD video-on-demand, people will have more incentive to upgrade their TV sets. Of course, owners of older HDTVs without HDMI connections or anyone else who'd rather use analog outs would be left in the dark, and Ars Technica notes the EFF and Home Recording Rights Coalition have already spoken out against the plan. Give the MPAA's proposal a read then let the FCC know which side of the line you fall on before it's too late.

[Via Ars Technica]

Read - MPAA proposal (warning: PDF link)
Read - FCC Electronic Comment File Submission (The docket number for field #1 ("proceeding") is 08-82.)

Ugh, is DRM coming to shackle USB too? You betcha. The USB Implementer's Forum is planning to rollout a variant of tethered USB in 2008 to carry compressed high-def video between TVs and mobile devices. It appears unrelated to USB 3.0 and targets both laptops and personal media players -- however you might choose to define that. A spokesman for the organization said that developers "could layer HDMI's HDCP encryption on top." So it's not definite. But with the studios fighting hard to "protect" their content, well, it's a given that some form of DRM will be there. The new USB linkage is meant to complement HDMI which primarily carries uncompressed video between living room A/V equipment... and an increasing number of media-centric laptops. Thing is, DisplayPort, expected to make a big showing at CES in January, already comes with a slathering of HDCP and is the purported VESA standard for moving HDTV from your laptop to a digital television. To confuse matters more, Kleer Corp is also working on a mid-2008 wireless and wired technology for carrying SD video based on its existing wireless audio technology. Proof that the best part about having standards is that there are so many to choose from.

Though you may be apt to link Greenhouse's name with incredibly small DAPs, the firm's TIG223SDB-L proves that it understands a thing or two about displays, too. Rockin' a 22-inch widescreen format, this sleek, all-black monitor touts a 1,680 x 1,050 resolution display, HDCP-compliant DVI port, VGA connector, an anti-glare coating, five-millisecond response time, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 300 cd/m2 brightness, integrated power supply, dual one-watt stereo speakers, and VESA mount support as well. All yours for ¥44,800, or just about $391.

[Via AkihabaraNews]

IOGEAR has just released the GHDMIAS4 4-port automatic HDMI switch, which takes four of your favorite HDMI inputs and pares them down to one output. It has automatic sensing to switch to an input when a new source is turned on, or you can use the remote with discrete buttons. The switch supports 1080p and HDMI 1.3, is HDCP-compliant, and ships now for $189.95, including a bonus 6-foot HDMI cable.

Just in case you still haven't located a "Vista-certified" LCD you're comfortable with, Envision is hoping one of its three latest will hit the spot. The 17-inch H1781 sports a 1,280 x 1,024 resolution, five-millisecond response time, wall-mount support, 300 nits of brightness, 700:1 contrast ratio, 170-degree viewing angles, and a VGA input to boot. The 19-inch rendition (dubbed the H1981) boosts a bit larger screen but manages to keep all of the same specs found in its smaller sibling, while the widescreen G918W1 (pictured after the jump) ups the resolution to 1,440 x 900, the contrast ratio to 800:1, and adds an HDCP-compliant DVI port. Of course, all three of the units feature a relatively unsexy frame, but considering the modest $199.99 (H1781), $219.99 (G918W1), and $229.99 (H1981) pricetags, we suppose there's not too much room to grouse.

[Via PCLaunches]
Read - H1781
Read - H1981
Read - G918W1

Get ready for hot, hot convergence kids 'cause the DisplayPort 1.1 specification was just approved. The new VESA-approved digital interface standard is meant to replace DVI and VGA ports while co-existing with HDMI for HDTV connectivity. As you can see in the picture above, it's about the size of a USB connector yet offers 2x the performance of DVI in a much smaller package. They also bake in a nasty dollop of HDCP 1.3 content protection to keep the Blu-ray and HD DVD kiddies happy. The wee size allows the interface to be included in smaller handheld electronics while enabling direct-drive LCD panels thereby eliminating the need for non-panel LVDS electronics in the monitor designs. Of course it also supports pass-through of DVI and HDMI signals via simple adapters similar to DVI-to-HDMI variety on the market today. So which of our esteemed manufactures will bite first? We're not sure, but VESA isn't shy about using Dell's high-end XPS systems in their marketing collateral. Of course, the question they don't answer is, why not just move everything to HDMI? For that, you just have to look at who backs royalty-free DisplayPort (the PC industry) and who backs HDMI (the consumer electronics industry). Yeah, we know.

Got more HDMI devices than available HDMI ports? Since getting up off the couch to change connections is not an option, you're going to keep everything plugged in all the time. IOGEAR just announced it has begun shipping the first "true" automatic HDMI switch, the GHDMIAS2, using its patented HDAS technology to instantly lock on to the correct HDMI source. The HDMI 2x1 Automatic Switch detects an active source, switches automatically and delivers perfect quality 1080p resolution and HDCP compatibility with no latency. We've seen automatic switches before but they usually take a few seconds to change between devices. The MSRP for adding one more automatically switched HDMI port to your setup is $169.95, so its probably still cheaper to count the jacks on your new HDTV before purchase.

Asus is no stranger to kicking out curious motherboards and other peripherals that we geeks just can't help but love, and following up on its undertaking of auxiliary displays and the AquaTank PCI card is a couple of swank new video cards that tout an HDCP-friendly HDMI port. The half-height ATI Radeon X1600 EAX1600PRO was apparently crafted with the common HTPC builder in mind, as its diminutive size lends itself to becoming a perfect fit for those tight spaces within AV-like media center PC cases. But before you gamers get too excited, you should probably know that in-game performance is likely to be less than stellar, but HotHardware did note that its model wasn't shy when overclocked. Interestingly, this HTPC-centric card comes bundled sans a true HDMI-to-HDMI cable, which leaves us all a bit miffed considering the niche it's trying to appease. The EN7600GT ups the ante by delivering the frame rate luxuries as only an NVIDIA GeForce 7600 can, but its full-height design will definitely cause problems in slimmer enclosures. Other extras found on this device are its SLI-capabilities, DVI / S-video outputs, and optical audio jack, but considering it packs just 256MB of GDDR3 RAM, the hardcore gamers in the crowd are still not likely to find themselves impressed. Still, with the EAX1600PRO ringing up at just around a cool hundred, and the more powerful EN7600GT asking just about twice that, these here cards look to be solid options if you're just getting around to creating your own HTPC.

[Via Slashdot]

A few months and a new operating system later, it looks like I-O Data is upping the ante on its 17- / 19-inch LCDs in a couple big ways. Both of the firm's newest displays, which come in at 19- and 22-inches, sport a black or silver color scheme, dual 1.5-watt stereo speakers, VGA inputs, HDCP-compliant DVI ports, audio inputs, and of course, the obligatory Vista certification. The smaller of the two boasts a 1,440 x 900 resolution, 300 cd/m2 brightness, 800:1 contrast ratio, five-millisecond response time, and a viewing angle of 170-degrees. The 22-inch variety, however, steps up to a WSXGA+ resolution, but aside from that detail, remains identical in terms of specifications to its smaller sibling. Both monitors are scheduled to hit the Japanese market in late March, and while the LCD-AD192XW/B will run you ¥39,800 ($330), the model your eyes truly desire (read: the larger LCD-AD221XW/B) will demand an extra ¥10,000 ($83).

[Via Impress]
Read - I-O Data's LCD-AD192XW/B
Read - I-O Data's LCD-AD221XW/B

Although ATI's R600 graphics chip may have hit a recent snag, it seems that the company's Radeon X1250 GPU is coming along just fine, as it claims the proud title of "world's first" integrated graphics unit to receive Vista certification. The chip, of course, is a critical piece of AMD's latest 690-series chipset, which integrates Aero-capable graphics, 1GHz HyperTransport interface speeds, and support for Sempron, Athlon 64/64 FX/64 FX X2 processors, PCI Express, Microsoft's DirectDraw, hardware acceleration for MPEG-2/4 and WMV9, TV output, HDCP-compatible DVI / HDMI outputs, and the general smorgasbord of connectors we're all used to seeing these days. Putting the resources of the ATI / AMD merger to full use, the 690 family claims to be the first chipset from the pair that supports ATI's Avivo technology, which purportedly makes your multimedia experiences within Vista a smooth ordeal. AMD's latest should be available right now for an undisclosed price, but we'd wait for a few hands-on opinions before rushing out and skipping over a dedicated GPU in your next rig.

[Via 64-Bit-Computers]

Talk about your incremental upgrades: PC hardware manufacturer IO-Data has just introduced an update to that 24-inch LCD-TV241XBR WUXGA display we saw last spring, but for the life of us, we can't figure out exactly what improvements the LCD-TV241XBR-2 offers. Just like its predecessor, this new full HD monitor sports a 1000:1 contrast ratio, maximum brightness of 500cd/m², built-in analog TV tuner, and a DVI input supporting HDCP encryption. Sure its not the most stylish 24-incher around -- if aesthetics are your main concern, BenQ, Dell, and heck, even Gateway offer snazzier looking models -- but with a suggested retail price of only €740 ($972), you'll be able to pick this one up for well under a grand. And hey, this must be the "upgrade" that IO Data's talking about: the XBR-2 is going for at least $250 less than the XBR did at its debut.

It sounds like we may have another name to add to the pantheon of anti-DRM digital freedom fighters: Alex Ionescu, who's claiming his driver signing bypass method allows end users to bypass Vista's Protected Media Path DRM (the junky stuff that prevents you from watching "premium" content and HD material on non-HDCP outputs, like component, VGA, older HDMI TVs, etc.) Using Alex's technique (which has yet to be released to the general public, for fear of going the way of our man Viodentia), no unsigned drivers are loaded in the process, thereby convincing the media applications that are scanning for anti-DRM "badware" that everything's peachy, go ahead and output that signal even though it may be through the analog hole. We'll all be waiting, Alex, for you to move to Sealand so you can release the hack, we've got a lot of HD DVD and Blu-ray movies to watch, and not a lot of patience for HDCP-carrying gear.

[Via Slashdot, thanks gamebittk]

Alienware's Area-51 7500 desktop has certainly been on the chopping block before, but the inquisitive folks over at Bit-Tech were able to land a refreshed unit that not only featured dual NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card and a 2.93GHz Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800 processor, but a built-in (unbranded Matshita) Blu-ray drive to boot. Instantly, reviewers expected the snazzy looking machine to spin right on through every benchmark laid in front of it, and for the coin you'd be paying, we can't say that's such an unrealistic request. During 2D / 3D testing, the SLI-equipped system simply dominated in terms of FPS, image quality, and smoothness, as reviewers actually stated that current games couldn't even take full advantage of all that horsepower just yet. Also of note was the Blu-ray playback, which ended up being practically flawless after the review crew had their (understandable) doubts about how well the unit itself and HDCP films would operate within a PC environment. After trying out both analog and digital monitor connections, the player streamed out films in crisp 1,920 x 1,080 resolution without a hitch after PowerDVD 6.5 was loaded up, officially allowing for a collective sigh of relief. With a system this pricey, however, criticisms come easier, and they were quick to note that the included Patriot RAM was likely hindering performance somewhat due to "faulty memory timings," and also stated that the lackluster audio card should have been spruced up given the lofty cost. Overall, Bit-Tech was quite pleased with Alienware's latest, but while the machine itself landed an 8 out of 10 rating, the £3,434 ($6,780) pricetag resulted in a paltry 5 out of 10 in the "Value" department, which is about par for the course for these guys.

Looks like CES 2007 is the place to be for wireless HDMI, as now we've seen offerings from AMIMON, Philips, and Tzero showcasing the ability to stream beautiful 1080p HD sans wires, and now Asus is joining the fold. Apparently basing its self-branded product line on technologies from Tzero and Analog Devices, the admittedly vague press release simply informs us that the company will be fighting tooth and nail in the wireless HDMI over UWB arena, and notes that we'll be seeing "accessory devices and embedded designs that dramatically simplify connections between home audio and video electronic components." Per usual, Asus' box will accept component, composite, S-Video, and HDMI (HDCP-compliant) signals, and the video is then compressed using Analog Devices' ADV202 JPEG2000 video codec, where it's then combined with audio, packetized and encrypted, and transmitted via the Tzero MAC and PHY chip. So until we can mosey on over to see some of this stuff in action, we'll just have to take Asus' word for it, as the company withheld information regarding model numbers, prices, and release dates for the time being.

Looks like we've got two more "Vista Premium certified" monitors on our hands, and these two are from none other than ViewSonic. The 24-inch VX2435wm and 28-inch VX2835wm both sport 1,920 x 1,200 native resolutions, 500 cd/m2 brightness, 1,000:1 contrast ratio, 5-millisecond response time, 176-degree viewing angle, "smart color engine," and a bevy of inputs including VGA, DVI, composite, S-Video, and even component. Additionally, both units can be wall-mounted and even tout HDMI ports that are HDCP-compliant, so you shouldn't have too much trouble with those DRM-laden files you try to play on it. The VX2435wm will start shipping next month for $699, while the larger sibling won't land until April for $879, but they could be worth the wait if you're planning on passing copy-protected films over HDMI.