Introduction
Computers with their high resolution displays and digital processors are a perfect match for high definition consumer video. After all, companies such as Microsoft are touting the whole multimedia centric personal computer. In this article, I will take a look at some of the issues involved regarding high definition television, Blu-ray and how it relates to today's PC systems.
Copy Protection
Most of the problems surrounding the adoption of high definition video has to do with copyright holders and their fear of perfect digital copies. Because of these fears, a large number of technical developments are being hampered by legislation and standards forcing the inclusion of copy protection into the media and the hardware that will be used for playback.
Two such items are the broadcast flag for HDTV signals and AACS to be used with Blu-ray formats. Both of these are standards that were generated to enable the copyright holders to lock the content such that it can only be viewed on approved machines. But it is specifically these restrictions that are making it hard for computers to be used with the new media.
Will That Connector Work?
In order for these copy protections to work, the entire system requires a digital connection that can ensure that the copy protections will be enforced. This means that any analog connector will violate the basic premise of the copy protection. This excludes any system that relies on an older graphics connection such as the VGA or DSUB connector as well as video outputs such as component, S-Video or composite. Use of any of these will likely result in an error message that the content is blocked or if you are lucky, a degraded video signal no better than standard DVD resolution.
To properly view a high definition video with copy protection, you will need to use one of the various digital connectors such as DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort. Having just the video connector isn't enough though. They also need to carry a signal called HDCP. This is where some additional problems can come in ...
Video Card Compatibility
In order for the high resolution video to be played at the true 720p or 1080i resolutions, the computer video card needs to be compatible with the HDCP or High-bandwidth Digital-Content Protection standard as well. If the video card does not have the capability, then the video signal will once again be blanked out or down sampled as if it were running over an analog connector.
Most new computers will use some form of DVI that supports HDCP. Older video cards such as the previous GeForce 7000 and Radeon 2000 series and earlier cards may have DVI connectors but not have the HDCP support. Many older integrated graphics solutions also lack the HDCP feature. Then there is the problem of having sufficient performance from the graphics card and processor to provide sufficient performance for decoding the HD signal at a playable frame rate.
What About the Monitor?
OK, now that the video card is HDCP compatible to send out a high definition digital signal with copy protection either there is another problem. In order for the video signal from Blu-Ray or HDTV to be properly displayed, the monitor must also have an HDCP compatible connector. If the system detects that the monitor lacks this capability, then the video display will either be downsized back to a DVD quality negating the whole purpose of the high definition format or even worse, blank the screen with an copy protection error message.
All new monitors that have a DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort sold today have the HDCP support. The monitor issue is really a problem for older monitors that were sold prior to the development of the copy protection standards.
Cable Card Woes
So what about HDTV over digital cable? Well, its a lot more complicated than that. A number of companies are producing interfaces to use Cable Card 2.0 slots for digital cable. The problem is that in order for these products to work, they must be fully certified by Cable Labs. This means that the average consumer built machine will not be allowed to receive HDTV via a cable card. Consumers will be forced to purchase prebuilt systems from manufacturers that have received the Cable Labs certification. Once again, consumers lose out.
Software Issues
Even with all the hardware issues, there are problems as well with the software. Take for instance Blu-ray drives. Most drives come with OEM software of either PowerDVD or WinDVD that support Blu-ray playback. This is fine, but they also generally have limited features. Specifically, they tend to only decode stereo audio rather than decoding the full DTS-HD or Dolby TrueHD signals for 7.1 audio. If you want this, you have to upgrade these software packages.
HDTV also encountered a issue for those running Media Center players. At the time of the digital transition on June 13th 2009, the software channel guides in the Media Center applications were not properly updated to display the new digital channel listings. This resulted in many blank listings preventing people from using the software to look up programming let alone set the PC up to record programs.
And for those people who have an Apple computer, you are completely out of luck. Apple has still not included any software support for the Blu-ray format even though they are a member of the Blu-ray forum. You aren't completely out of luck though. The platform can burn to Blu-ray drives, just not play the videos.
Conclusions
HD video on PCs is extremely difficult to do at this time. Even with the Blu-ray now the accepted high definition disc standard and prices for the drives dropping, watching those videos can be quite difficult. Those who do want to have this ability will more than likely need to carefully inspect their hardwre to ensure that it meets all of the requirements for playback. Those hoping for HDTV over the air or digital cable will encounter even greater problems. So, even with all the digital transition completed now, trying to do HD video on a personal computer still has major challenges.
