Got iTunes HD? And an Old Display? — NO HD FOR YOU!
Yesterday, Dieter told us Apple had finally pulled the trigger on HD downloads for iTunes. Today, the internets (led by iLounge, via Gizmodo) are up in arms because said downloads are infected with Big Media-enforced DRM to such a degree that they can’t even play on older, non-HDCP (high definition copy protection) compatible devices.
What does this mean? Even if you forked over $2K for a ginormous Apple 30″ Cinema Display, that “cinema” part of the branding will be just plain useless to you except for the very helpful popup you’ll get reading:
This movie cannot be played because a display that is not authorized to play protected movies is connected.
Lovely. We understand Hollywood wants to protect their movies from pirates. We also understand that this type of nonsense doesn’t stop pirates (who run at pretty much a commercial scale nowadays) one bit — it only makes life extremely difficult and financially draining for actual consumers. (Poetically, pirated content plays just fine on older displays, making us wonder if someone deep inside Big Media secretly owns license to the torrents and is actually trying to drive traffic that way…)
Seriously, in what other industries can you get away with this? Sorry, your home is not copy protected, please back your car out and try burning down any non compliant houses before parking again. Sorry, food 2007 is not compatible with fridge 2009, please upgrade your fridge and then try eating again.
Sheesh.
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Note to self don’t buy HD movies from iTunes. Are these HD movies equivalent to Blu-Ray?
What happens if you put this on Apple TV? Does it say your TV can’t play this movie?
Most modern TVs, like most modern displays (including Apple’s 24″ LED) are hdcp compliant. It’s when you have older displays you run into problems.
Not equivalent to most Blu-Ray. 720p only.
@Terry Depends on your TV, but yes. HDCP compliant players will not output video through implementing ports (mainly HDMI) — and will downsample audio — to any display that does not give a proper HDCP handshake on its end. Early HDTV buyers got burned badly by this, but now HDCP is built into just about all TV sets. It is not as common on computer monitors, so people will see the problem more there.
What you have said is only partially true! This restriction only effects components with the Apple’s new mini display port. If you are using a computer that doesn’t have this port, which should be anything older than the newest batch of computers just released, then you should be ok. It you DO have the new mini display port, then you just need to use one of Apple’s newest displays.
I can’t see a damn thing anymore anyway… and I refuse to wear little Ben Franklin frames that seem to be the only choice these days.
Um, I don’t think I’d want Food 2007 in any fridge.
As an Apple TV user I want to let all iTunes users who now have access to HD movie content of a website that keeps track of all HD content available from the iTunes Store. On a daily basis, AppleTVjunkie.com list the new HD movie rentals which become available, along with HD TV Shows and now HD purchase titles. So if you ever find yourself having a hard time figuring out what new movies have been released on iTunes, check out AppleTVjunkie.com
LOL Food 2007!! ROFLMAO! XD
I’m gonna say it’s time to officially EOL Food 2007.
I’ve got an Apple 30″ display, and I’ll be keeping it until it dies… hopefully that’s a long time. The thought that Apple will be using HDCP to cripple my display means that I’ll have to either give up on HD movies and TV shows, or simply pirate them. The choice is easy for me.
This is NOT a case of “old hardware”. You can walk into an Apple store today and buy a MacBook and a 30″ display, then take it home and be told you are not “authorized” to view the content you just purchased. This is not just a case of us poor suckers who bought an Apple 30″ display six months ago. Suckers like me. Now I wish I had bought Dell instead of Apple. I would have saved money on the monitor, AND it supports HDCP.
This is EXTREMELY customer hostile. It’s the kind of thing I pay the Apple Premium to not have to think about. What am I paying you for, Apple?
Intrusive copy protection that hurts paying customers is why I left Windows for the Mac in the first place. How long will it be before Apple pushes me over the edge and I finally invest the brainpower in learning Linux, like I’ve been meaning to do for years? At this rate, not very long.
What does EOL mean?
EOL = End Of Life
@Chris K I understand your frustration, but Apple didn’t invent HDCP and it isn’t like Apple can sell HD content without it.
It would be nice if we could disable the DISPLAY of HD content in iTunes. If I can’t play it, DON’T offer it to me as an option!
SERIOUSLY looking at Zune HD at this point. I was waiting with baited breath for the new round of iPods, and they only gave us cheezy FM radio and a video camera for the Nano.
First off, FM is SO yesterday! Many iPod wannabes have had this for YEARS! Zune set the standard with this new release. I’ve been holding off on getting an HD radio, but may go for the Zune just to get the radio.
Oh and Apple, if you’re looking to play “catch up” in the next round, if you DO add HD capability for the iPods, also have a converter that would allow the PLAYING of HD content for non-HD media devices. (ie: hooking my HD iPod up to my non-HD TV.) Copy protected or not…