Cruising around the ‘net waiting for the Nintendo keynote to start I came across this on Evil Avatar. Basically what is says is that the “cheap” PS3 will not support HDMI. HDMI is needed for HDCP copyright protection. Copyright protection is needed to play Blu-ray movies. You see where I’m going with this? Without HDMI, the low end PS3 may not be able to play Blu-ray movies at all. I can’t imagine Sony shooting themselves in their collective feet so blatantly, so let’s chalk this one up to speculation for now. If it’s true, all I can say is wow.
UPDATE—contibutor SuicideNinja (no relation) has a better explanation. Apparently, if the copyright protection is imposed, it would limit the resolution on non-HDMI connections. Check out the comments for the full story.
That’s not entirely correct. It could still play Bluray movies, but they won’t be in “true” High Definition if played through non-HDCP-supporting connections.
The movie companies can impose a restriction that limits the HD resolution to less than 720p (if HDCP isn’t used). I think it’s 540p. Supposedly, no movie studio is planning on using this restriction…yet. But most likely they will, seemingly how even on upscaling DVD players they won’t let you use component anymore (unless you find an older one that can be “hacked”).
Still upsetting, but I thought I should convey the message.