Could someone explain this DVI to me

[jgrab1]

I'm a newby to HDTVs and the whole thing. Would like to get a plasma 50" soon. I'm vaguely aware that this DVI thing might make current sets obsolete, but I really don't understand how or why. Please try not to use technical terms or abbreviations without explaining them...an answer full of jargon with lots of initials will do me no good.

Thanks.



John

[57U]

Digital Video Interface is simply a digital connection from your set-top-box, or whatever, to your TV. (All previous connections, including component video cables are analogue).

By keeping the connection digital, you may get a better picture, but most importantly, it would allow "copy protection" to be retained, if the original material has copy protection.

If you were to put a recording device in-between, the original signal and your TV, then a copy protected programme could not be recorded in its original high definition glory and that's what this is all about. The movie industry wants to protect its property and not allow exact recordings of its material.

Same holds for firewire, which is simply another digital connection.

Problem is, no one knows, if DVI or Firewire, or perhaps something else still will become the "standard" or whether copy protection will actually happen...years from now.

Whenever someone has tried to copy protect anything, there has always been a "hack" to disable it, and even without copy protection, the new technology has always spawned more profits than there were before.

ie (VCRs created demand for VCR tapes and the movie industry profited. DVD players created demand for DVD movies and DVDs have made tremendous profits., etc. etc.)

There, just a couple of acronyms, But I assumed you'd know about VCRs and DVDs.

[Tesla]

> How can this DVI thing make current
> sets obsolete? -- jgrab1

Now and then I hear that DVI will make sets without it obsolete, but never from someone who presents a plausible scenario.

I've tried to come up with one, and here's the best I can do:

1. You buy an off-the air tuner that delivers high-definition Component Video for your monitor, and you buy a monitor with high-definition Component Video input. Not DVI. Everything works.

2. Much later, you decide you want high-definition HBO from a direct-broadcast satellite (DBS) service. You buy a DBS set-top box without checking to see whether it delivers high-definition Component Video. You unpack it and start plugging in the cables. Ooops! No component video! DVI instead! Bummer. You pack it up and send it back.

Solution: You go to E-Bay and buy an older version of that DBS set-top box that doesn't use DVI. You buy one that delivers high-definition component video. Problem solved.

Years later, you might find it difficult to buy things (even used things) that deliver high-definition Component Video. So you hang onto what you got.

It seems to me that if you buy things that don't implement copy protection (also known as digital rights management) you don't have a problem. Until you buy something that does. Am I missing something here, folks?

--

DVI / HDCP stands for Digital Video Interface and High Definition Content Protection. Hollywood and the manufacturers of digital TVs have developed DVI / HDCP as a way of protecting copyrighted material that is broadcast to your home.

DVI / HDCP will not let you copy material that is copyrighted unless the copyright owner allows it. HDCP works with DVI to put Hollywood in charge of your video recorder.

From the beginning, HDTV tuners have provided high-definition Component Video to the display. Hollywood doesn't want you to get your paws on this very high quality signal because you can record it and make a faithful copy of their copyrighted material. They worry you'll take that copy and freely distribute their latest blockbuster hits. A valid concern!

Now many digital tuners, integrated televisions (TVs with tuners), and television monitors avoid the "analog hole" of high-definition component video by passing the video signal to the display as an uncompressed digital stream (DVI) at such a high data rate that consumers have no way to record it.

The DVI stream is obtained by uncompressing the MPEG-2 stream received from the digital television broadcast station. The DVI stream carries exactly the same picture information as the MPEG-2 stream that produced it. Not more and not less. Just more bandwidth.

The MPEG-2 stream runs at 19.4 Mb/s (megabits per second). If you record an MPEG-2 stream, you'll use 8.7 GB (gigabytes) of disk space per hour. The uncompression process expands the data rate by a factor of 250, to the extremely high rate 5 Gb/s, far beyond what any recording system can handle. But if you did find a way to record a 5-Gb/s stream, you'd quickly find there's another problem. Every hour of recording would consume 2,200 GB of disk space!

I'll go with high-definition Component Video, thank you.

-- Tesla