July/August Editorial
Dear Gary:
Thank you for sharing your frustrations over the commoditization and “dumbing down” of high-end home theatre in your July/August editorial.
There is one point you did not cover that I think is crucial to understanding this disappointing turn of events: copy protection. As the CEO of a major computer software company, I am more than a little concerned with intellectual property rights. The livelihood of my employees depend upon it. As a result, we go to great lengths to prevent illegal copying of our software. But we try to do this without impacting the ability of our customers to use our products, and without inconveniencing them.
The movie industry, however, seems to have declared war on its customers in the name of copy protection. Just look at how hard it is for a paying customer to open a DVD case. Then look at the numerous annoying warnings (FBI! Interpol! Punk kids!) that one must sit through before enjoying a movie. Now, and more on point, we have mandatory HDCP compliance.
Imagine my chagrin when I tried to add Blu-ray Disc and/or HD DVD capability to my very well-equipped media room. Neither I, nor my reputable installer, nor Runco themselves could get my top-of-the line nine-inch CRT projector to screen an HDCP-protected disc in 1080p high-definition. This system is entirely capable of projecting 1080p, and I have done so with Windows Media Video-HD. But with HDCP, it is impossible and/or illegal. The only “solution” is to replace the projector and other support equipment, at great expense, I might add. I chose to defer.
If all I had to do was replace a consumer-priced DVD player and possibly a monitor, also commodity-priced, I might rush into HDCP-protected content. When faced with mid-five-figure hurdles, however, I am in no hurry to do so. I’ll wait and see before I make that kind of commitment to this new technology. It is possible that other high-end media room owners are responding similarly, bringing a severe slow down to the high-end media room market. It’s a good question to put to your readers, don’t you think?
Craig Jensen
Editor-In-Chief and Publisher Gary Reber Comments:
This is a serious problem for the high-end video aficionado who has previously invested in a high-end nine-inch CRT projector. As you may have realized, I still prefer the image produced from our Runco DTV-1200 and Sony VPH-G90 nine-inch CRT projectors. The imagery produced by these display devices is extremely film-like with superb dynamic range, particularly evident in the inky blacks and shadow delineation nuances they can exhibit. The images produced by these projectors are not yet possible by any other display technology. We are able to scale to 1080p, but as you say, we are not able to directly input a native 1080p signal, even though the projectors are fully capable of far greater resolution.
I agree with you that the studios are far too paranoid with respect to the analog signal, even though there are no recorders available to consumers to record such a signal.
You can E-mail Widescreen Review @ editorgary@widescreenreview.com