Early HDTV Adopters rejoice! HDMI not required for 1080i blu-ray or hd-dvd

[akrako1]

Well... at least as long as you buy PS3 or X-Box 360 with HD-DVD addon..

According to some more information from Sony, it seems the PS3 will NOT require you have HDMI/HDCP for 1080i output!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4760553.stm

After all the hype about HDCP and downsampling from 1080i for output over component, it seems that neither the base-level PS3 or the XBox 360 HD-DVD add-on will even have HDMI connectivity at all - and they should both be putting out full resolution HD video.

I wonder if the later standalone BR and HD-DVD players will have the HDMI requirement that is supposedly built into the HD standards..

Thanks to 'reco' for the following link with pictures to the X-Box HD-DVD Addon..
www.xbox-scene.com

As an early adopter of HD technology (non-HDMI) this is great. HDCP was one of my main sticking points, which would have made me wait at least a few years until I could afford a HDCP capable TV. Now, with only my component jacks, I may have a reason to upgrade. Now... if I only had enough component jacks to plug in my DVD recorder, DVD player, HD Cable Box, and PS3 at the same time - I'd be set.

[kirky99]

Almost sounds like a plan to sell more consoles.

[ROF]

Good news if true. I am not worried as I purchased products which will continue to be supported regardless of what happens.

[BJ_M]

so much for the BR disks with the embedded chips in them that supposedly can not play without HDCP ..


so i guess sony is hacking their own specs ?

[edDV]

Sony has bet the company on BluRay.
What else separates them from Samsung or Taiwan, Inc. ?

[BJ_M]

very good point ... and very true

[Marty2003]

I'd take that with a grain of salt. For all we know they could be talking about the HD output for games, or they could mean both machines are "capable" of full HD output as long as the discs don't have the ICT Flag that limits the resolution. Remember most BD's being released on launch will not have ICT enabled so they should play full resolution on any player. It's only later if/when they decide to release movies with the flag enabled will we get screwed.

[edDV]

True, the flag needs to be there to make HDCP kick in.

They haven't yet spec'd user authoring or have they? In other words is this intended for user HD authoring? Will user authored BD discs play on all players in HD even those without HDMI TV attached?

Should a prosumer-biz user risk a release on BD and expect anyone to be able to play it without 10x service calls? Do we need to debug each user connection or TV?

Should we bet our business on BD?

I just don't trust these guys.

I would only use BD media format if the client demands it and assumes user support responsibility.