To get Hi-Def DVD you must buy OEM

It seems that the new Blu-Ray and HD-DVD media protected by the HDCP technology will only play in full resolution on computers offered by big PC manufacturers. You must buy one of their stock systems, or forget about watching High-Def movies. Boxen built from scratch, or sold by small "mom and pop" hardware shops will be locked out.

HDCP compatibility is controlled by an inter-industry consortium of giant CE companies and Hollywood studios, and these companies have ruled that merely buying a HDCP-compatible graphics card is insufficient for gaining access to HDCP-locked video. Only systems designed from the ground up by OEMs (such as themselves) will be able to gain access to these videos.

This means that "Joe's Neighborhood PC Shack" is going out of business soon, and you might have wasted allot of money buying that HDCP compliant graphics card. Surprise - it wont work.

But that's ok... You can always grab a un-crippled hi-def torrent :)

This will spur unauthorized P2P systems into developing the capability of sharing high-definition video more reliably. After all, you may not be able to play Matrix Impossible 2000 at high rez on your PC if you buy the DVD, but you'll sure be able to do so if you download it instead.

Nuff said.

Tags: hdcp, dvd, blu ray, hd-dvd, drm, copyright, holywood, oem, hdcp sux