So much for better tehnology. Dominic DiLeo Atlantic TV Freeport, Maine ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the opendtv list: The cable guys are restricted from doing this downconversion by FCC regs. Not sure how this is going to change HD VOD/OTA On 1/25/06, Monty Solomon <monty@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > HIGH-DEF FORCED TO DOWN-CONVERT > In deal reached by eight-company consortium > By Paul Sweeting 1/23/2006 > > Some buyers of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc players might not get > everything they bargained for. > > In a deal reached this week after tense negotiations, the > eight-company consortium behind the Advanced Access Content System, > created for use by both high-def formats to prevent unauthorized > copying, has agreed to require hardware makers to bar some high-def > signals from being sent from players to displays over analog > connections, sources said. > > Instead, the affected analog signal must be "down-converted" from the > full 1920x1080 lines of resolution the players are capable of > outputting to 960x540 lines--a resolution closer to standard DVDs > than to high-def. Standard DVDs are typically encoded at 720 > horizontal by 480 vertical lines of resolution. > > The 960x540 standard stipulated in the AACS agreement represents 50% > higher resolution than standard-def, but only one-quarter the > resolution of full high-def. Whether a particular movie is > down-converted will be up to the studio. > > The players will be required to recognize and respond to a digital > flag, called an Image Constraint Token, inserted into the movie data. > > If the flag is set to "on," the player must down-convert the analog > signal. If set to "off," the player can pass the full high-def signal > over the analog connections. > > The studios are divided over whether to require such down-conversion > and are likely to follow separate policies. > > Hardware makers had generally resisted the requirement, but under the > new deal, ICT recognition will be included in the AACS license that > all device makers and playback software vendors will have to sign. > > ... > > > http://www.dvdexclusive.com/article.asp?articleID=2657 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- This Email List is accessible to the general public through search engines. Remove: http://www.tech-assist.org/remove.htm Set Vacation mailto:ecartis@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=set%20techassist%20vacation Lost Password: http://www.tech-assist.org and select "Login Problems?". Email Archives: //www.freelists.org/archives/techassist/