Sony Pictures Blu-Ray titles won't down-res
By now everyone
knows that if they don't have HDCP they
might not enjoy High Definition DVD's in all their glory. What I don't think is as well known is the fact that it
is still up to the studios. The studios will decide which movies to down-res over component and even then it will be
better than DVD quality at 540p. They will also have to mark the DVD packaging so that you know before you buy.
That is the bad news, the good news is that Sony Pictures has announced that none of the movies that they own will exercise this right, which they refer to as a "Image Constraint Token". This of course doesn't mean that they won't ever use it, but instead will wait till analog piracy becomes a problem.
I hope that the other studios follow this lead and if they don't, I hope that consumers will choose not to purchase discs that limit their experience by down converting their HD signal over component.
Filed under: Programming, Industry, Sony
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Ben @ Mar 10th 2006 7:42AM
Are you saying that a component cable can only carry 540p or that, if they downgrade, it will be to 540p?
I ask because I thought component could carry full HD 720/1080 resolution, right?
Ben Drawbaugh @ Mar 10th 2006 7:53AM
Component can carry 1080p just fine, but AACS gives the studios the option to down-res over the component output to 540p. Lets hope that most don't choose too like Sony Pictures.
Adam Jones @ Mar 10th 2006 9:05AM
This is great news. Unfortunately, I doubt that most consumers will ever know that they are getting a bad deal by companies that choose to use the down rez option. Most people just listen to what the local salesperson tells them, and I doubt anyone will be advertising or making their customers aware of the difference between the DVDs.
EdwardA @ Mar 10th 2006 9:29AM
Unfortunately I agree with Adam. While I applaud Sony for not exercising DRM features that hurt customers who invested in early HD products, I doubt most people will notice.
I'm probably what you would call an early adopter, but the rest of my family is not in that group. It took me years to convince my parents to get on the DVD bandwagon and that only happened when I bought them their first player for Christmas in 98. Now they're ubiquitous in my parent's house, but it took until recently to get my dad to invest in s-video cables. Now with the HD push, the biggest attractor to my dad is that he can hang it on the wall. I doubt he would pay attention to cabling or packaging, despite significant quality differences.
The reason my dad loves DVD isn't the quality, its the convenience; he still can't get past the wonder of not rewinding or fast forwarding.
zombieflanders @ Mar 10th 2006 10:37AM
This is only confirmed informally via industry sources on the AVS Forum, but apparently Disney and Fox (both exclusive to Blu-ray) are also not downrezzing. According to a Video Business article (http://videobusiness.com/article/CA6300812.html) Warner, however, has been pushing for downrezzing. It should be noted that Disney has apparently changed their stance since the VB article.
The Mole @ Mar 10th 2006 6:17PM
In the words of Admiral Ackbar - IT'S A TRAP!!!
So, they won't downrez now, but they will later? How is this any better? With Sony rootkit happy music people and the the other DRM happy groups in Sony, I don't think that this promise will be kept for long. After all, they are saying that 1080p is "true HD" on one side of their mouth and "users won't notice the downrez anyhow" on the other.
Ironically, I wrote about how analog HDTV owners are getting shafted at my blog today.
Daniel @ Mar 10th 2006 7:17PM
In Australia, cigarette packets by law have to have a big warning that takes up a full side of the packet and includes a picture and text that tells of the dangers of smoking. I think studios who down rez should have to do the same on there cases.
c.Lake @ Mar 11th 2006 7:43PM
This is complete and total bullshit! Sony and the gang dream-up another FORMAT WAR, and we, the consumer, have to worry about "down-rezing" on an over priced, hyped-up format riddle with DRM crap in it. Are they kidding? Does this make any sense at all????
Nobody wanted or asked for Blu-ray in the first place. This is a Hollywood/Sony invention, and a stupid one at that. I would much rather have every movie & TV show every made, available for me to watch/rent for a "modest" fee -- on ON DEMAND or maybe a NETFLIX Download to TIVO/CABLE box. Which would make MORE SENSE!!
DVD's & CD's take up too much room in my apartment, more than clothes and books. Come on, it going to go in that direction anyway, stop fighting it. Blu-Ray, as cool as it is, is just two shades short of obsolete.
Hologram Disks are coming out in less then 5 years. 300 GB of space on something the size of a credit card! Please, compared to that, Blu-ray is a joke.