Throwing Your Money Away on HD
I can’t recommend investing in expensive high-definition (”HD”) video equipment, at least until Apple starts cleaning up the hassles for everybody else. NONE of the stuff currently available is guaranteed to be able to function properly due to the new, hardcore “content-protection” restrictions coming up.
You may not have noticed this before, but I haven’t written a single word about the new high-definition video disk formats (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD). One would think that somebody who surfs on the very tip of the wave of change would have expressed some strong opinions a long time ago.
Well, they stink, I don’t desire to own them, and I don’t support them. I don’t know ANY other “early adopter” who owns either one. It’s as simple as that.
The problem here is that every decision being made in the high-definition hardware arena is being made in favor of the Lords of All Media. NOT YOU. Your job is to buy their stuff, and to take what you get, and then to pay for all-new stuff when they decide that you should.
Basically, NOTHING in the HD world is being designed without the big corporate media-owners getting first crack at protecting their profits. They want to control all aspects of the signal; from the disk surface, to the pixels that land on your screen, and all hardware in between. That’s a problem, because the general public has not been graced with any guarantees that one component will allow the next one in line to function.
No wonder folks have already cracked the existing HD-DVD copy-protection scheme.
This sort of consumer-hostile thinking led to the failure of the “iPod-Killer” Zune media player. You would think that manufacturers would learn, but they just keep flailing way.
I was reading this fascinating article about the horrors of trying to make high-definition media work with Windows Vista, but it’s awfully techno-nerdly, so I’ll hand-edit the following quote so that non-nerds can get the gist:
“I’ve just had my first experience with High-Definition content being blocked. I purchased an HP Media Center PC with a built-in HD DVD player, together with a 24″ ‘high definition’ HP flat panel display. They even included an HD movie, ‘The Bourne Supremacy’. Sure enough, the movie won’t play because while the video card supports HDCP content protection, the monitor doesn’t. (It plays if I connect an old 14″ monitor)”
It’s all bad news, which is why I’m very curious about Apple’s future HD plans - They are gently shifting into the high-definition hardware and software market, and I believe that the other manufacturers are anxious to follow Apple’s lead. If ANYBODY can tame the messy, incompatible hardware, software and delivery channels without pissing everybody off, it will be Apple, and everybody else will gladly follow the leader.
The sheep need a Border Collie!
