Sony has announced that its upcoming Blu-Ray discs won't be hampered by the Image Constraint token.
We
reported a couple of months ago that the Blu-Ray disc specification includes the ability to forcibly downscale a disc's output where it is sent over analogue outputs, rather than copy protected digital.
Digital outputs require HDCP copy protection across all equipment being used for Blu-Ray playback.
The Image Constraint token, which was due to be implemented for analogue outputs, is bad news for those who adopted HDTV early and only have Component inputs on the back of their TV, rather than DVI or HDMI. It would mean that they couldn't watch HD discs on their HDTV in HD - the output would be downscaled to less than HD.
However, by stating that it won't be implementing the Image Constrant token on its initial release of Blu-Ray discs at the end of May, Sony has set a precedent which other film distributors may find difficult not to follow without severely irking consumers.
So, perhaps Sony isn't quite so evil after all. In other news, anybody waiting to go ice skating in Hell will be pleased to know that it has now frozen over.
Looking forward to Blu-Ray? Only got an analogue HDTV?
Drop us your thoughts over in the forums.
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