Will 32-bit Windows Vista play HD DVD and Blu-ray? Maybe
That exploding sound you heard earlier was your CPU being declared obsolete as news that Windows Vista not only would ship without native support for Blu-ray or HD DVD, but also not ever allow playback of commercial discs on 32-bit versions of the operating systems shot across the internet like a rocket . The reason cited by the Microsoft rep was the need for only "signed drivers" to ensure content protection. Two Microsoft insiders we're familiar with who have knowledge of HD DVD and Windows Vista, have now said that is incorrect. Chris Lanier and Amir M. have both posted this evening that this is untrue, and that the operating system will not stop your computer from playing back any high definition content. Amir stated on AVS Forum "no content owner had requested that we block HD content playback on Vista (32 bit or otherwise)", hopefully leaving the door open for the majority of PC owners. Despite their statements, no one from Microsoft has definitively stated that you will be able to play back protected discs (ICT or no ICT) on your PC, only that it is instead up to software vendors like Cyberlink and Intervideo. Restricting playback on PCs to such a small audience could be a severe blow to both of the HD formats, as early adopters are often people who also like to use the discs on their PCs for storage and playback, not to mention HTPCs. Sony has already said we won't get any playback without an HDCP-compatible graphics card, we'll soon see how much hardware the BD and HD DVD camps expect us to replace.Read - Clarifying Windows Vista Support of Protected HD Content in 32-bit Systems - Windows Vista Team Blog
Read - Vista Will Support HD DVD Playback on 32-Bit Machines - Chris Lanier
Read - Amir M on AVS Forum
Read - Vista to support HD DVD, Blu-ray after all? - CNET
Read - We were wrong about HD playback in Vista: Microsoft - APC
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Zach @ Aug 24th 2006 11:23PM
I still think that the majority of users who will make use of HD DVD and Blu ray will be the 64 Bit users. AMD has offered 64bit processors for roughly 4 years now. These are very popular amongst gamers and tech geeks in the PC world. And these are the people who make use of all the latest tech. 32bit Intel processors already have trouble playing back HD media (rediculous clock cycle usage) I doubt anyone will stick with those.
Steve J @ Aug 25th 2006 3:34AM
Zach...agreed.
Besides, by the time that HD-DVD or Blu-ray becomes the norm (read: "affordable to the masses"), I dont think it is unreasonable to think that 64bit processors will be much more widespread.
GhostDoggy @ Aug 25th 2006 7:59AM
Zach, I must be doing something wrong. My 18-month old 3GHz Intel PC has not given me a problem playing back HD in the form of h.264 or VC1/WMVHD in 720P or 1080i. Like Red Green said, " if its not broken you're not trying hard enough."
Zach @ Aug 25th 2006 9:20AM
I never said that Intels 32bit proccesors could not handle HD content. I said that they have very high clock usage. Tg Daily had an article on it a while back.
http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/07/28/nvidia_hdcp_graphics_card_presentation/
"In the first test run, a regular HD DVD movie bought in the US was played with the full load being put on the not quite up-to-date but still capable Intel dual-core processor."
...
"Intel's two cores had plenty to do already with the VC-1 versions and needed 100% of their processing power to decode the movie..."
100% doesn't leave a'lot of power for backgound tasks. However, if you have a capeable graphics card (3rd party) from nVidia or ATI (none of that integrated stuff) then you could enable hardware acceleration which would reduce the load off the processor by about 30% - 40%. Averaging 65% give or take 5% of the clock cycle usage.
So yes an 32bit Intel processor can be used to view HD media, I'm just saying, AMD who have long since held the lead in CPU benchmarks have better performance for these kinds of tasks.
Pit @ Aug 25th 2006 10:33AM
As I suspected, there is no merit to these stories. Vista will not in any way block playback of HD content (HD DVD or otherwise). We do have facilities in the operating system for applications to query whether there are unsigned drivers in the kernel, and as such, may be a potential risk to secure playback of high-def content. But it is up to the application to decide what to do with such data. They can, as they do today on XP, playback anything they like and ignore that information. And to be clear, no request has been made from content owners to block playback of HD content in Vista in 32-bit mode.
Jeff @ Aug 25th 2006 10:33AM
I'm sure that some/several products will offer a player with driver that will do ok in any version and bit architecture, the unsigned driver situation shouldnt kill it, all this furor is just more media noisemaking, and quite frankly diminishes the value of news of this type.
What i want to know is.. how many people out there have a computer hooked up to thier HDTV monitor. I have been doing that for a year now, my Westy 37" 1080p is monitor 3 of a 5380 pixel desktop, and so far i have had no problems playing anything, and dont expect to have issues later on either.
BTW the WMV-HD codecs are really good.I have made quite a few HD 1080p shorts with it and its perfect.
And Zach is quite right... i have AMD 64 X2 running it all - dual Nvidia 7600 with dual DVI and its all good.
IMHO STFU on this driver thing.