Hot on the heels of the announcement that there will be no stopping the current HD format wars, even though a disc that can be played by hardware for both discs and a player that can play both format have recently been announced, is news that:
Microsoft has been forced to acknowledge that a substantial number of PCs running the new version of its Windows operating system will not be able to play high-quality DVDs.
The Vista system will be available to consumers at the end of the month. However, in an interview with The Times, one of its chief architects said that because of anti-piracy protection granted to the Hollywood studios, Vista would not play HD-DVD and Blu-ray Discs on certain PCs.
The article from The Times goes on to say that if the PC used a digital connection to link with the monitor or television, then it would require the highest level of content protection, known as HDCP [High Definition Content Protection], to play the discs. If it did not have such protection, Vista would shut down the signal
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So, basically, if your hardware isn’t approved as secure (i.e. DRM’d up to kazoo), your HD content won’t play. That’s right, because I shouldn’t actually be able to play my media wherever I want to. I’m giving it a week before someone breaks that sucker and I’m able to rip the files (which is a long time before I plan on buying HD DVDs or something capable of showing it).
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