Windows Vista Doesn't Like Your Monitor?

[sswingle]

Anyone stop to think that HDCP applies to televisions and not computer monitors? Did a search for HDCP on viewsonics website and the only products I found are televisions.

 

[DragonMasterAlex]

There's an error in your facts, here. According to an article, I believe at www.bink.nu, this will only apply to HD content on media like BDROM and HD-DVD. Even at that, Vista will operate normally (it won't shut down your monitor), but depending on the content provider it may force the video quality to be downsampled to SD resolution.

In either case, I also expect a hack before the OS is even released, and then I'll make an unattended install CD with the hack integrated into the source

Jason

Originally posted by: fbrdphreak

Microsoft has recently announced that the next version of Windows, due out in late 2006, will be named Vista. For all of you who?ve been following the development of Longhorn, this is it (well, it will lack a few of the planned features such as WinFS at launch). You can read the original RealTechNews coverage of the announcement here.

Getting down to business, Microsoft has decided to make Vista even tougher on DRM (Digital Rights Management) in order to prevent piracy. The new DRM ?features? of Windows Vista require that your monitor be compatible with something called Digital Content Protection. When you are trying to play a digital video file of any kind, Vista will check to see whether or not your monitor is HDCP compliant. If it is then you?re fine and everything plays just like you would expect. However, if your monitor is not compliant with HDCP Vista will make the picture fuzzy. The problem with this is that there are currently very, very few monitors that support the standard. In fact, you can be fairly certain that any monitor you have (or are about to buy) does not have this feature. So, if you thought you were going to just upgrade your OS?or even your computer?s internals?you may be sorely disappointed when you find that your digital video files refuse to play without distortion. I?m sure the monitor industry and the MPAA are loving this, but I doubt the consumer will find it quite as appealing.

http://www.realtechnews.com/posts/1603

I'm sure they won't exclude so many users, but what is this crap?

 

[sonz70]

Originally posted by: EyeMWing
Solution:

Don't play DRMed video, and don't use WMP to play DVDs. And if it affects OTHER player software and non-DRM'd video, it seems to me that MS is opening themselves up to lawsuits from both content creators and software developers.

Was about to say this

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: TheToOTaLL
"Display" & "Monitor" are 2 totally different things.

Microsoft isn't going to obsolete your 5 month old video card and monitor when the Vista upgrade comes out. It just means you'll need to get compliant video card driver to output "protected" content.

If you seriously think you'll have to have a "DRM-support" monitor, you've fallen off the bandwagon.

AFAIK, youre the one thats missing the point. The whole reason for this has less to do with the software, than with the physical connection between the PC and the monitor. Basically, they want to encrypt the signal on the actual cable...only a monitor than can decode it is going to be technically able to do it.