High risk: Why does anyone think
DVI and its user-unfriendly 'copy-never' HDCP scheme are in the interest of
the consumer or the manufacturer?
James Snider, Executive Director, 1394 Trade Association --
8/1/2002
CommVerge
While in Tokyo last month, a young engineer with a notebook
computer asked me what brought me to Japan. When I told him, he smiled and
said that 1394 is the best known IEEE standard in the world.
Best-known or not, 1394 (aka FireWire and i.LINK) is the
fastest, most reliable, and easiest to use. It also represents the future of
home networking.
1394 has grown beyond its consumer base into an exciting set
of automotive, industrial, and computer-peripheral applications. It's
constantly improving. Soon, we'll see products built with the 1394b version,
running at 800 Mbits/sec, sending audio and video distances of 100 meters
through the home.
1394 is also user-friendly, with a built-in, proven
copy-protection system, known as 5C (after the five industry leaders who
developed it). 5C does its job without prohibiting users from copying audio or
video for personal use, providing a "copy once," option, along with
a stricter "copy never" prohibition.
1394 with 5C is an ideal combination for the home network.
Anchored by the digital TV, or HDTV, a home network is a terrific application
for 1394's peer-to-peer networking capability.
So what is the DVI (digital visual interface) doing hanging
around the new generation of high-definition TVs? Why does anyone think DVI
and its user-unfriendly "copy-never" HDCP (high-bandwidth digital
content protection) scheme are in the interest of the consumer or the
manufacturer?
Video hardware makers delivering product to the US (in Japan,
HDTVs use 1394) keep fooling around with DVI to send uncompressed video
through set-top boxes into the TV. This requires decompressing the compressed
signals coming from a DVD player, satellite, cable receiver, or other source
before they move to the TV—an inefficient task demanding huge amounts of
processing power.
In addition, the DVI video scheme, along with its companion
copy-never HDCP system, is now a favorite among Hollywood studios and music
magnates, who are worried about protecting their content. They argue that
illegal piracy should take precedent over users' rights, much as their
industry ancestors argued that television would ruin the movie studios and
later that the VCR would do the same. Their support for DVI makes for a lousy
user experience, one that disregards the "digital right" to copy a
movie or song for personal use.
Consumers should, and will, want to record anything digitally
over the best possible system. There are early rumblings of class-action
lawsuits against studios who deny digital rights. All this can be avoided by
using 1394, with its high performance and sensible copying options.
My advice to manufacturers: Forget DVI. Efficient and
user-friendly, 1394 delivers the future of consumer electronics and the home
network. And to consumers: Insist on value, digital rights, and an exciting
future.
