Quote:
Originally posted by DTVisCool
The two DBS companies, the majority of MPAA members, Intel and Thomson among others have endorsed the competing HDCP DVI system. Deja vue all over again... |
Heavy sigh.
I've tried to make the point time and time and time again that these are
not competing standards. Only the press is making them out to be, and so far as I've seen, only one or two actual quotes from any industry representative support these claims--one from DIRECTV and one from JVC, who thought so much of the standard that they neglected to put a DVI/HDCP output on their new HD D-VHS VCR, so it can't transmit copy-protected video to either of their two displays with that connection (D'Ahlia and the recently announced
l'Art AV 36P902 , a 36" 4:3 HD flat-screen direct-view), unless, of course, they have some plan for a central 1394/DTCP-to-DVI/HDCP box that they haven't yet told us about.
DVI/HDCP has one
tiny bit of the functionality of 1394/DTCP--it is an essentially one-way connection to carry an uncompressed video raster from a source to a display. Though it has a couple of minor advantages over 1394/DTCP, it's disadvantages are legion. Deployment of it requires either that every source device implements an HD-capable MPEG decoder, adding unnecessarily to the expense of each of these, or that there be some central device that can accept compressed video (over 1394/DTCP or some other protected MPEG-2 transport) and send it to the display through a single DVI connection, which I haven't heard anybody suggest. As I stated before, there are two displays on the market so far, with a single DVI/HDCP connection each--if I have an DBS STB, a VCR and a HD DVD Player and/or Recorder all with DVI outputs, what do I do? With 1394/DTCP, a single wire running through the network to an MPEG decoder in the display (the only point in the network where any use of the decoded video can be made) is sufficient--far more elegant.
HDCP's authentication and encryption is much weaker than the weakest authentication and encryption in DTCP. (If hackers break the stronger AKE and encryption used for "Copy Never" in DTCP, we should all worry, because those same hackers should be able to use those techniques to break into the management agents of the national communications backbone and bring large segments of the phone system and internet down at a whim). For a very short period of time, it will be difficult to capture, compress and store a DVI stream in realtime, possibly making it attractive to the more paranoid members of the MPAA. However, equipment could be fashioned today to do it, once its weak-ass encryption is permanently broken; personally, I think it will last far less long than CSS did. Additionally, any STB for a service carrying retransmitted OTA HD broadcasts better have some sort of recordable HD output, or the people distributing those boxes will find themselves very quickly in court.
Echostar has made several public statements that they will include both DVI/HDCP and 1394/DTCP connections on their upcoming STBs (personally, I think this will force DIRECTV's OEM partners to follow suit), most recently in the mid-September
announcement for JVC's HM-DH30000U HD D-VHS VCR:
Quote:
According to a statement from JVC partner EchoStar/DISH Network, the satellite provider "is committed to offering the most satellite TV-delivered high definition channel choices in the United States and to that end, we plan to offer a wide set of compatible formats for viewing," said Mark Jackson, EchoStar senior VP. "We are developing a set-top box featuring DVI outputs as well as 1394/DTCP outputs. A 1394 connection can allow customers to record HD broadcasts in original form on a peripheral D-VHS device. We believe that D-VHS is an ideal and affordable recording and archiving solution for HD broadcasts and should accelerate the overall demand for digital broadcasts." |
Intel was one of the 5 "C" involved in the development of DTCP--here's a
link to a page on Intel's site containing the following blurb extolling its virtues:
Quote:
Keeping Honest People Honest
Digital content over 1394 can be robustly protected using Digital Transmission Copy Protection (DTCP). DTCP support device authentication, content encryption, and renewability, should a DTCP device ever be compromised. Encoding rules can be specified for content, e.g., "copy freely," "copy once," or "copy never." The motion picture industry recognizes DTCP as satisfactory to them in permitting the transmission of their content over 1394. Products, such as digital VCRs, with DTCP content protection are already available worldwide in retail. Sony and Matshusita have announced families of DTCP-enabled products for shipment in 2001. DTCP is licensed from the "5C," a group of five companies including Intel. |
Thomson is listed (on
this page--use the slider to get to the bottom) as a "partner or customer" of VideoLogic, a developer of 1394/DTCP/HAVi firmware packages, whose products were used in the development of Mitsubishi's 2002 Integrated sets and the "Promise Module"--you yourself pointed this out to me, DTVisCool. Sony (and their Columbia-TriStar Motion Pictures Group) and Warner Brothers have been very vocal in their support of 1394/DTCP (though both have also announced support for DVI/HDCP, as, indeed, has the licensing agency for
1394/DTCP --none of them think that the standards are mutually exclusive). Mitsubishi, owner of over 30% of the HDTV market and OEM partner of DIRECTV, has put down DVI/HDCP so harshly in their public comments that I doubt that it will be politically possible for them to incorporate a DVI/HDCP interface into any of their products (if I were Silicon Image, I would refuse to sell chipsets to them at this point).
Though I can't locate the reference right now, I read somewhere recently that Fox and Universal are thinking of releasing HD D-VHS movies by the end of the year, when there will only be 1394/DTCP equiped VCRs to play them on. Should they both decide to do this, along with the enthusiastic support of Sony and Warner, this would make for quite large library of films from which HD tapes could be published.
There are apparently 5 televisions (3 Sony, 2 Mitsubishi) and one cable STB (Sony) shipping now with 1394/DTCP connections. By the end of the spring, there should be 8 televisions (3 more Mitsubishi), a cable STB and two HD D-VHS VCRs (one JVC, one Mitsubishi). So far as has been announced, there will still only be two televisions with DVI/HDCP connectors (both JVC) and no video sources to hook into them. So much for all that broad industry acceptance.
-- Mike Scott