Submitted by The web exploded yesterday with the news that Microsoft would cripple 32bit versions of Vista so they would not play protected high-definition content. However, Microsoft was quick to respond, stating: “The community is buzzing with reactions to APC Magazine’s article regarding playback of protected High Definition content in 32-bit versions of Windows Vista. However, the information shared was incorrect and the reactions pervading the community are thus (understandably) ill-informed. The real deal is that no version of Windows Vista will make a determination as to whether any given piece of content should play back or not.”
“The real deal is that no version of Windows Vista will make a determination as to whether any given piece of content should play back or not.”
Sounds mysteriously like a non-answer to me.
Really? Sounds to me like a pretty categorical kick in the mouth for DRM, to me – if true.
Whether that will extend to Service Pack 1 is anyone’s guess, however.
What about WMP though?
Will WMP play HD at all? If yes, will THAT be 32bit and 64bit or 64bit only?
The old news sounded very suspect to me as I can’t see how the OS would prevent ISV’s from making players that work in 32bit.
WMP has had the capability to play HD ever since WMP 9
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/musicandvideo/hdvideo…
The problem will not be the player as there are mnay players that will play HD video. The problem will be if the version of DRM is supported or not.
It’s all just like Windows 2k/XP with DVD’s, the early 3rd Party software used to test your machine to see if it play DVD’s before it installed itself (winDVD, etc..)
Could you elaborate on this? I don’t remember hearing of such a test.
http://news.com.com/2061-10794_3-6109427.html
You have to buy PowerDVD or other in order to playback HDDVD, as we do already on WinXP. What’s the deal?
The deal is that the studios may strong-arm PowerDVD into only running on Vista x64.
I dont understand. Aren’t the videos dloaded from online stores HD? Why such a concern still in the industry about newer DVDs?
Edited 2006-08-25 12:43
“no version of Windows Vista will make a determination as to whether any given piece of content should play back or not.”
So its not going to determine that it won’t play some content because I don’t happen to have the “digital rights for it?” – Thats What consumers have wanted all along, but I somehow think this guy can’t mean what he says.
Edited 2006-08-25 13:52
No.
What MS is saying is that the OS will not prevent playback of protected hd video discs (HD-DVD and BluRay). But the software player must still deal with the DRM of those protected discs. There’s no way to decrypt the protected content without implementing the DRM.
But it doesn’t matter if you actually have the disc. Posession of the disc (a genuine disc, not some ISO thing) validates the DRM. Also, HD-DVD (and maybe BluRay) support managed copy, which allows you to copy the disc onto a harddrive and play it from there. But if you try to “share” that copy with somebody else’s computer, then the DRM will block that other computer from playing the content.
Edited 2006-08-25 16:07
Another case of – what you think you are hearing is not what they are saying.
Only if you have the rights will it play – I mean heck XP does crap like that now with downloaded music.
OR
What I actually think is that it won’t be intentionally crippled but the ability won’t be included either. I mean ogg wasn’t crippled either but support wasn’t included with wmp either.
I’m laughing at the thought of the web actually exploding. I can imagine hordes of WoW players exiting their festering hermit holes and squinting at the natural light. Shortly after, looting and general chaos would ensue.
When he says that Windows Vista will not make any determination he is probably quite correct. Windows Vista is the underlying operating system.
That’s almost like saying, Windows XP does not prevent you from playing back illegal movies and illegal music. However, a specific application running on the OS may prevent you from doing it.
Windows Vista will provide better hooks in the drivers so that applications can better determine if you are trying to play back media on unsecured hardware. It is quite possible that, on Vista, a media playback application might refuse to play back HD content if it detects that it is running on a 32 bit platform.
Since it is not Vista making the decision whether or not to play the content he is correct.
Doesn’t anybody remember reading about all the DRM crap about needing a new video card (which may or may not be fixable by driver update) and a new monitor (of which compatible monitors arent even being made yet
Yeah, a 64-bit processor is really a small price to pay after you’ve replaced every other part of your PC. Might as well get all the upgrades out of the way at one time.
Since I have no interest in getting involved in this silly format war, I could care less how Windows supports blu ray and HD DVD movies. I’ll be sticking with DVDs, and I hope the general consumer does too.