Microsoft has its sights set on your living room with the release of Vista, the latest version of Windows. High definition programming is the wave of the future, and Vista's media center offers support for the next generation of DVDs, HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs, and cable high defintion channels through CableCard. In order to ensure that the latest high definition movies can be watched on a computer operating on Windows Vista, Microsoft has succumbed to the wishes of the major content companies, as well as the MPAA and the RIAA, by loading Vista with digital rights management (DRM). Microsoft is receiving a lot of negative press about the pervasiveness of DRM in Vista with many complaining that the giant from Redmond rolled over for the movie studios with little regard for their own customers and users of Windows.
Microsoft appears to be following the blueprint perfected by Apple with the iPod. Microsoft wanted to make sure that certain technologies like CableCard support were included in Vista and was willing to agree to limitations on consumers because it knew that all DRM efforts eventually would be cracked. Apple, through iTunes and the iPod, has set the precedent for using DRM to placate the RIAA, and then benefiting from “illegal” cracking of the Fairplay DRM. Apple makes most of its money selling iPods, not music. The fact that info on how to circumvent DRM is available online, does not greatly impact Apple’s profits, since it wants to sell iPods.
For Vista, High Definition Content Protection (HDCP) is integrated into the operating system. This integration allows for high definition cable channels and next generation DVDs to be viewed on a Vista media center computer. These new features come with a price, mainly a limitation on how and where movies can be viewed, and what hardware can show movies and recorded television programs. For instance, the average computer nerd (like me!) can no longer build their own computer to use as a media center if they want to record high definition cable television. Instead, they have to buy an approved CableLabs computer (Note: CableLabs is the . CableLabs has to approve all OEM vendors that use CableCards to view HD programming. In addition, users will not be able to move HD content from on one computer to another computer or a portable device.
If HDCP is cracked or can be circumvented, these limitations are no longer an issue and the uproar from the tech community over DRM will subside. I think this is what Microsoft is counting on. In fact, the content protection scheme for both HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs appear to already be cracked, even before the technology has become mainstream. Limitations will be circumvented and desired features will be put back into media centers.
January 29th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
“For instance, the average computer nerd (like me!) can no longer build their own computer to use as a media center if they want to record high definition cable television.”
I am building Vista HTPCs and see a bright future for the DIY market.
I see an alternate future reality for high definition. Forget cable! We do not need it. We can use Over-The-Air (OTA) ATSC recording for regular broadcasts, downloads from Amazon Unbox, iTunes or others services, and watch streaming video on-line, such as ABC.com’s posting of full episodes of their TV shows.
I experimented with both Amazon Unbox and iTunes movies this past week. It was not a cake walk but I got it to work using an XP box as a server and my RHFtech HTPC with Vista Ultimate RTM as the the client. This was networked wirelessly using 802.11g. I watched “Little Miss Sunshine” from Amazon rented for $1.99 and “The Guardian”, bought for $12.99 because iTunes does not rent.
I watched both movies full screen on my HDTV attached to the RHFtech HTPC. Video and audio were excellent. This feels much more like the future than hi-def cable.
Cable and CableCARD may be a deadend. They turn off the customer base with additional restrictions and equipment requirements. They are not helping the HTPC market but as I said above I do not think they really matter in the future. An HTPC can do much more than a cable box.