I am so confused by HDMI and HDTV

[EAO]

Please clarify:

Am I under the ?mistaken? belief:

1. That in the near future true HDTV from Cable or Sat will only be broadcast over HDMI?

2. Connecting to any other output - besides HDMI - from a Cable or Sat HDTV reciever results in something other than HD signal.

Then:

Are most Cable and Sat providers currently enabling encryption on their popular HD broadcasts preventing HD capture to a HDD on your PC?

[ebenton]

Nothing is "broadcast" over HDMI. HDMI is a digital format that many/most HDTVs will accept as an input through their HDMI connector. It could be that many cable/satellite boxes will have HDMI output. In this case, the cable/satellite box will take care of unencrypting the signal, and the boxes will still have analog progressive-scan component video outputs, which you can connect to your HDTV/monitor analog inputs. The signal from the HDMI connector will probably not be encrypted, either.
There are others on this forum who know more about this than I do, so I am prepared to be corrected.

[edDV]

Please clarify:

Am I under the ?mistaken? belief:

1. That in the near future true HDTV from Cable or Sat will only be broadcast over HDMI?

Only if the Broadcast flag passes in Congress (for local DTV stations). Then cable operators would be forced into requiring a HDCP encryption capable connection (HDMI and some DVI) in order to pass a flagged program. Other outputs (IEEE-1394, DVI and analog component) would be forced to 720x480.

It hasn't passed yet. Fight the broadcast flag here.
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/HDTV/
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/HDTV/?f=broadcastflag.html

Other cable HDTV content may or may not be forced into HDCP encryption based on the agreement between the program producers and the cable company. Cable companies know they will have angry customers if they do this.

Note that the HD DVD players will require an active HDCP connection in order to play in HD formats.

2. Connecting to any other output - besides HDMI - from a Cable or Sat HDTV reciever results in something other than HD signal.

Only for flagged content (see above).

Are most Cable and Sat providers currently enabling encryption on their popular HD broadcasts preventing HD capture to a HDD on your PC?

Yes and no. Seems to vary by local cable systems but the capability to do this is built into the equipment. Here, all cable digital content is blocked on the IEEE-1394 digital connection.

Last April, the FCC specifically prohibited cable companies from encrypting local DTV (SD or HD) broadcasts but the local DTV station can encrypt if they desire.

For this reason, the IEEE-1394 (D-VHS MPeg2 TS) output on cable boxes is usually left unencrypted for the local DTV channels.