Re: wiring for the future

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"marcus hall" <marcus@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

<stuff snipped>

> But, analog component video may not be around for HDTV in the future if
> the DRM folks get their way.  Or, equipment may be required to fuzz the
> analog component output in order to block the "analog hole".  I don't
> know what length restrictions there are on HDMI cables, but that seems
> to be the currently preferred interconnect mechanism, since it allows
> the content to be encrypted over the cable.

I was looking at the price of HDMI extenders, splitters, amps, etc. and
there are devices that will go 200' on CAT5, but they were many hundreds of
dollars.

> Of course, consumers may (hopefully) balk at the DRM vision of the
future...

It's already here and no one's really made a peep that's made a difference,
as far as I can tell.  People won't tolerate Sony putting rootkits on their
PCs but they seem to have swallowed all the other DRM BS.  Hollywood has
succeeded in changing the model of copyright law to say that *any* copying
is illegal, not just taking someone else's work and selling it as your own.
There's a world of difference between copying a movie or song for a friend
who would never have bought the packaged version and setting up a website to
hawk pirate DVDs by the busload.

I rarely buy CDs anymore.  Not because I DL music but because I'm unwilling
to listen to announcers on FM radio and the endless patter of commercials to
hear songs I might want to buy.  Perhaps 50 years from now the RIAA will
realize that Napster was as good for them in the long run as VCRs were.
Now, the only way new music finds its way to me is if I hear something in a
TV or movie soundtrack.  When I was searching through Napster, I'd sample
stuff (without all the commercials), listen, then buy a legit CD so I could
hear it without artifacts from bad MP3 compression.  In my case Napster
helped the music industry, not hurt it.  I know from others that my story is
not a unique case.

--
Bobby G.