[Ryan]

Originally Posted by HOM Ahhh, but there is the rub. One of the unpublicized features of Blu Ray (don't know about HD-DVD) is that a new disc can brick a player if that player's DRM has been cracked. Now, this isn't if you have cracked the player, just that a similar model has been cracked somewhere. The dics can also contain new blacklists to prevent playback on different sets. So, if you buy a nice HDCP set, but a bug allows it to output unencrypted HD over firewire (like if you wanted to connect it to a PVR), the new version of SpiderMan 8 could disallow your set from playing back content. Not only that, it can be retroactive, so older titles that you have been able to play would no longer play because your set is no longer a compatible one. All of this leads me to believe that eventually the balance of power will shift back to hardware providers and consumers. Right now the big push for HD set are coming, but the lack of content is holding back adoption. That's why set makers have taken it up the ass from content providers. However, once consumers realize what has happened, adoption is going to be held back by consumer demand. Hardware manufacturers are going to have the power to dictate to content providers. It's not going to happen over night, as soon as the one year and two year comparisons between DVD adoption and next gen DVD adoption start appearing, content providers are going to realize they are fucked.

I'd almost like to see Joe Sixpack's Blu-Ray collection suddenly stop working.

Never come between Americans and their television.