What will happen to high definition TV?

Frank Hemsley - Mon 06 Mar, 2006

...As High Definition TV (HDTV) usage spreads, and as the next generation of optical drives (BluRay and HD-DVD) hit the streets, theres an unpredicted showdown about to occur. Its between the consumers and the businessmen, and this one could get ugly... So we see the MPA doing what it usually does namely impeding the advance of new technology and abusing the consumer at any cost...

It’s happening in several forums, too. For example, think this over: there are a few ways to connect your HDTV to a source, say a DVD or HD-DVD player. Only a few of those connections will be digital and allow a true HD signal. The main digital connections are HDMI, DVI, and component video.

Most people don’t use HDMI. It’s the most expensive and it’s relatively new. Most people use component video, which resembles a traditional connecter but has separate cables for red, green and blue. Most HDTVs produced before 2004 only have component video capabilities, not HDMI or DVI.

Well, those early HD adopters are about to get stuffed.
You see, most of them use component video to connect their televisions to the optical drive. The only problem is that the powers that be have crippled component video output on the next generation of optical drives.

A group of the biggest companies in the tech world – including Microsoft, Sony, Toshiba, IBM, Intel, Panasonic and Warner Brothers – came up with AACS guidelines recently. Among them is a rule proclaiming that, because component video has no copy protection, it can’t be allowed to output an HD signal. That means that a significant number of HDTV owners will be stuck on 960x540 resolution instead of 1920x1080.

So the loyal customer, the one who adopted early, back when HDTVs were still uber-expensive, is getting penalised.

Here’s another example. The industry is also scared about what it calls the “analog hole”. You see, these next generation players will have to have some sort of analog output for the millions of non-digital televisions out there.

Once again, the bigwigs fear that analog output will be easy to pirate. So what are they going to do about it?
Slap dozens of ridiculous copy-protection schemes all over it, that’s what! There will be so much restriction on what can be connected to what, as well as what you can record and what you can’t, that it’s going to make the average consumer’s head swim.

It’s already happening in America. At a recent meeting, Brad Hunt of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) tried to pitch this system to a room full of tech and movie industry cohorts at the recent Hollywood Post Alliance Technology Retreat. Even they were dubious. When they asked him who would be responsible for educating the consumer on all of the ins and outs, he passed the buck, claiming that retailers would do it.

Sure, Brad. The staff at the local Dixons store can barely pronounce many of the features of these products, can hardly operate them themselves – and they’re going to extensively educate the consumer?
Plus, a large portion of shoppers buy their electronics online. I guess they’re just out of luck.

When the audience expressed doubt – namely, that they’re insiders and even they aren’t won over, so how would consumers respond – Hunt just brushed it off, saying the market would sort it out.

So we see the MPA doing what it usually does – namely impeding the advance of new technology and abusing the consumer at any cost.

Piracy is an issue – but the majority of consumers are not pirates. The real content pirates find ways around DRM and continue unabated. There’s still no shortage of pirated mp3s on the Internet, even after the ridiculous and draconian measures of recent years.

So we’re going to get another crippled technology, packed with anti-consumer, anti-convergence software.
For all of the tech bosses who talk about convergence, there’s another MPA suit that bitches and moans until no two devices can ever link up to each other – because that could lead to piracy, of course.

I’ll leave you with an anecdote from the writer who originally put me on to this story. He was once at a meeting with a group of television, film and electronics industry cohorts. There was no internet access, so he went to turn on WiFi service for the room. When he got there, one Brad Hunt of the MPA snatched it from him and refused to turn on connection sharing so as to prevent a room full of his coworkers and associates from getting online.

That’s a perfect metaphor for the way the MAA works.
They don’t care if the technology sticks or not. They don’t care if the consumer likes it or whether sales go up. They just like maintaining a sense of power over everyone – the tech companies, the movie studios, the web sites and the distributors.

The Sony BMG fiasco proved one thing – that word gets out quickly when the consumer gets abused, and that people won’t stand for being railroaded. Hopefully, someone will put up a fight the next time around. To completely hamstring two fantastic new technologies, before they even get off the ground, in the name of a problem that doesn’t really exist is just too ludicrous to go unchallenged.


Regards,

Frank Hemsley
for The Daily Reckoning