I never said I knew it all. In fact, I'll state right now that there's much I don't know. Usually I can, like everyone, find the answer online. This time I can't so I'm asking for your help.
Supposedly the government, with the prodding of the movie and TV industry, is going to decrease high definition resolution carried through component video (analog) to 480. I've heard this rumor twice in the past few weeks but in all my online searching I can't find any news substantiating it.
The reasoning is that video pirates can make high def copies of movies using component video, the analog hole as it's been referred to for many years. The capability to do this has been around the whole time so why cut the video quality now. And why degrade high definition in thousands if not millions of peoples homes? It's infuriating...that is if it's true.
A little background. HDMI (see the nice picture of one at the top of my blog?) as a way of sending video from source to screen was not championed for it's superior picture quality by leaving the information digital from beginning to end. It was quickly installed in televisions and video sources in order to prevent piracy. With HDMI, flags can be set up that would block HD content from traveling through the cable. This was spearheaded by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) back in the early '00's.
HDMI and it's growing versions, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 and soon 1.4 (for 3D)have caused all sorts of headaches for we integrators and you customers. The connection between the source and screen (handshake) is often problematic causing lock ups and loss of video signal. Why? The way HDMI is sent requires constant permissions of the data being sent. We're talking every few seconds. It's far from a smooth ride for those zeros and ones as they travel down that cable.
So now the MPA and government want to intentionally make good old reliable component video images look bad? This is lunacy. Again, if it's true.
So, help me. Do you have a story confirming this rumor so that I can link to it here and so we can contact our congressmen and put a stop to this?
If you have a question or if I may be of service call me at 216.431.7300 or 440.724.0558.
John Hannibal
