It looks like for some, the next-generation of video media (Blu-Ray and HD-DVD) won't be as high-definition as has been promoted. The eight company consortium which composes the Advanced Access Content System, used to prevent unauthorized copying for the future high-definition media, has agreed to " " the high-definition signal for some owners.
What will determine if you will have high-definition video is if your TV is equipped with digital or analog connections.
If it is the latter, the pristine picture being touted for the next-generation players (1920x1080) will be converted down to a resolution of 960x540, less than half the possible output of Blu-Ray and HD-DVD players. What is even more shocking is that the current format, DVD, outputs video at 720x480, fairly close to the resolution that owners of TVs with analog connections will experience.
To simplify the above statement, the next-generation players that can run in the thousands of dollars will output a signal almost comparable to that of a DVD player that you can find for under $100; if you have a TV with analog connections.
Why was this agreement made? In the eyes of the movie studios, it was made to prevent users from copying and redistributing the movies. But in the eyes of most everyone else, they're attempting to stop the growth of technology.
So if you are the owner of a TV with analog connections and want to experience the upcoming format of video (due to release this year), you'll need to buy not only a next-generation player but also a new TV.
Advocates of the ruling will argue that the downgraded signal will then be able to be upconverted again (and only by a small margin, nowhere near the 1920x1080 resolution possible) via a signal processor. The fact of the matter is, once you downgrade that signal, you've lost all the detail so when you go to upgrade the signal, you're simply enlarging a less-detailed image.
The only hope that users of TVs with analog connections have is that individual movie studios can determine whether they want to use the feature, referred to as Image Constraint. A flag will be inserted on the disc which will then be recognized by the player and the appropriate downgrading will occur if instructed. Between now and the wide release of the next-generation players, there will undoubtedly be countless consumers who upgrade their TVs to HDTV sets, only to find out that they should have purchased a TV with digital connections, thereby rendering their purchase practically useless.
It appears the only thing consumers can do now is to check and make sure the HDTV you're about to purchase has digital connections; not just analog.
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