Blacklisting players is already possible. Manufacturers liscense CSS keys and these keys must be listed on all encrypted DVDs.
The problem with this is that in order to blacklist cracked keys, all consumers with products based upon those keys would be screwed. They would no longer be able to play newly pressed DVDs, only ones produced prior to the blacklisting. The granularity of key reuse becomes quite important with this type of encryption strategy.
In my opinion, they've bungled the next-gen formats and technology so badly that the physical-media-distribution industry might flat out disappear.
We will likely never see a market for better-than-cd physical media for music distribution. The constraints placed on DVD-A and SACD were so bad that consumers simply weren't interested. Audiophiles tried out the formats and gave up. It just wasn't worth it. Now it seems that low-fidelity audio delivered over the internet will eventually mature into the new standard.
I see the same thing happening with video. I've invested thousands in a home theater and I don't plan on replacing it every few years just so that hollywood can restrict my use more and more. Component, VGA, DVI, Firewire, HDMI?
As the months pass, I am more and more convinced that neither blu-ray or HD-DVD will succeed. At first it was just me playing devils advocate with a healthy dose of historical perspective. Now I describe this gloomy scenario with a completely straight face.
Unfortunately, I don't think the same applies to the HD video interconnect fiasco. Although I can always hope. Maybe my component-output devices and cabling will be good for the next couple decades... or hollywood could force me to buy new stuff every few years. Nah...
Instead, I've bought a hackable network media player that will upscale DVDs and non-DRM'd media files. 1080i over component for absolutely everything.
This was perfectly ethical in my opinion. It also would seem to be legal as I haven't circumvented encryption technology. All i've done is remove a capacitor and inductor from an analog electrical circuit that I own. Hopefully that is still legal in this "land of the free"
