Forcing the analog sunset: the ugly side of the HD revolution
Ken "Caesar" Fisher at ars technica - there's a new encryption technology being sold to media player manufacturers. Advanced Access Content System (AACS) will be harder to crack than CSS, and part of its license is the closing of the "analog hole" by 2013. [wes]
While much attention has been paid to how next-gen digital formats won't play on many HD-capable displays, including TVs, we're only now getting a look at AACS's other foibles. The agreement, in its current form, requires that manufacturers cease selling any devices capable of analog video output which pass decrypted AACS content after December 31, 2013. Furthermore, a "sunset" period will begin in 2010, during which time manufacturers will need to scale back their analog support. Existing player models of any (compliant) sort may be sold up to December 31, 2011, with one catch: any device manufactured between December 31, 2010 and the ultimate cutoff date in 2013 must have its analog outputs limited to SD Interlace modes only (Composite, S-Video, 480 component, and possible 576i component [the latter will be addressed in the final version of the license]). Older models can also be sold if the manufacturer can programmatically enforce this SD Interlace mode limitation.