Over a year ago I wrote that proprietary content protection schemes like HDCP and AACS would drive production and ownership costs of high-definition content so high as to be uneconomical for the consumer mass market.
Blu-Ray copy protection was broken in the beginning of 2007, but the HDCP black-listing scheme defied the laws of physics and reason from the day it was published. If someone in China hacks your Sony DVD player, the device key is revoked, and you will never be able to play discs that came out after the date the device was compromised. If a hacker taps into the HDMI / HDCP signal, and copies a movie enroute to your TV Set, the HDCP device key can be revoked and your new Samsung HPR8072 80–inch plasma TV will never play high-definition content again. Ever.
How much pain do we have go through and still pay premium prices – when we can get good (and sometimes even HD) resolution from BitTorrent for free. This article on zdnet: Blu-ray is dead talks about how Blu-ray is in a death spiral.
With 4% share of US movie disc sales and HD download capability arriving, the Blu-ray disc Association (BDA) is still smoking dope. Even $150 Blu-ray players won’t save it.
Consumers drive the market and they don’t care about Blu-ray’s theoretical advantages. Especially during a world-wide recession.
