Sony Takes Its Eye Off Its Analog Hole

Although it had earlier been reported that Sony was planning to cripple its new Blu-Ray high-def video disc players, so that the players -- capable of displaying 1920x1080 (1080p) on HD TVs -- would only display a quarter of that resolution, or 960x540, if connected to older HD TVs that didn't have an HDMI connector, Sony now says they aren't going to do that.  In other, more jargony, words, Sony says it won't be implementing the Image Constraint Token part of the Advanced Access Content System (Ars Technica, via Tech Liberation Front).  Sony VP Don Eklund is quoted as saying "All of Sony's titles will come out of the analog output at full definition," and further noting that while Sony is obviously concerned about piracy, it sees analog signals as a relatively small concern.

Good for Sony (and for people who bought HD TVs before it was cool, and before they had HDMI connectors.)  Perhaps this is a small step toward Sony getting over their body-image problem -- don't worry, Sony, your analog hole isn't that big.  And Toshiba, baby (developers of the competing HD DVD standard), you don't look fat in those pants, either.

Comments

[Aaron Keogh]

Just wondering if you'd be interested in bloging / podcasting about Matrixstream's cutting edge video on demand and IPTV Technology ( TV over broadband ). This is a technology that allows the consumer to receive a potential for unlimited VOD / IPTV content up to 1080P in H.264 codec over any broadband connection on a PC Player or set top box for TV ( IMX1020 1080P High definition STB - the world's first 1080P H.264 STB ) If you'd like to see pictures and video's of the this new STB you can go to www.matrixstream.com/presskit . Let us know if your interested.

Yours Truly Aaron Keogh

Tel: 604-291-7727

E-mail: aaron@matrixstream.com

Website: www.matrixstream.com