New PS3 Force Users To Use HDMI for HD Blu-ray

[admin]

A leaked memo first published on Kotaku shows that the newest PS3 model will no longer allow you to play Blu-ray movies in HD over component.

The memo also states that HD gaming will be barred unless you use an HDMI cable, but Sony has confirmed that HD gaming, and non Blu-ray activities, will still be possible over component.

The reason lies with AACS, the company that licenses the copy protection system used in Blu-ray, and not Sony. The AACS licensing states that all Blu-ray players manufactured after 1st of January 2011 will have to prohibit analogue HD output, and Sony has had to follow the rules when producing their new PS3.

"The new CECH-3000 series PS3 requires HDMI only for BD movie output in HD, in compliance with AACS standards. PS3 continues to support component output for HD gaming and streaming content," a Sony statement said.

(Story Source)

[UncasMS]

Same will go for Xbox as well i think from 2013 onwards.

Agreements were made that HD content will not be possible using component but only hdmi - for every device. be it a console, set-top box and so on.

[admin]

Yes, that appears to be the case for all AACS licensed hardware, as mentioned in the linked news story.

The initial confusion comes from a leaked GameStop internal memo which stated "If you want to play a game or watch a movie in high definition you must use a HDMI cable" (my emphasis), which was simply not true, and the movie part is only true for Blu-ray (and DVD upscaling has never been possible over component).

[drfsupercenter]

DVD upscaling is totally possible with component if you have an Xbox 360...

[Budreaux]

DVD upscaling is totally possible with component if you have an Xbox 360...

[drfsupercenter]

What? I didn't use HDMI on my Xbox 360 until about 3 months after I got it and I used to upscale DVDs all the time to 1080i

[admin]

I'm pretty sure the Xbox 360 doesn't upscale DVDs over component, since the DVD CSS specifications does not allow for upscaling via component due to copy protection reasons. It's a stupid rule, but I'm sure Microsoft has to follow it too. The 360 does upscale over VGA.

[drfsupercenter]

The TV was still in 1080i mode, so obviously it wasn't playing them at 480i. Not sure what it was doing then if that's not called upscaling...

[admin]

The DVD, did it have CSS copy protection? Non copy protected discs *will* upscaled over component, and should do so on all standalone upscaling DVD players.

[drfsupercenter]

I'm pretty sure I played commercial DVDs on there. I suppose I can test it and see what happens - I've been using HDMI for my Xbox 360 since I got my Onkyo surround receiver (since it does weird things with component/optical), so it's been a while.

[admin]

Actually, scratch that. I just tested some home made discs, and not even they would upconvert over component.

Did you connect your Xbox 360 directly to your TV (via component), or via your Onkyo? The Onkyo might be upscaling as well, and technically, all HDTVs will upscale to its native resolution internally (so it's only the quality of the upscaling, that's up for debate, since you would expect a dedicated upscaling player to produce better quality than your average TV's internal upscaler, but this isn't always true).

[drfsupercenter]

It was connected directly to my TV. Though this may have been before some recent updates that disabled component upscaling, as I said it's been a while.