The next generation of DVDs, specifically HD-DVD and Blu-ray, have slowly trickled into the marketplace. I read NVIDIA’s press release a couple of days ago on the release of new Purevideo drivers that enabled HD-DVD and Blu-ray playback. The press release stated that to enjoy the ultimate HD-DVD or Blu-ray movie experience on a PC, consumers will need the following pieces:
- A PCI Express graphics card with NVIDIA GeForce 7 Series HDCP-capable GPU, secure HDCP CryptoROM, and 256MB graphics memory
- An optical disc drive that supports Blu-ray or HD DVD movie playback
- Blu-ray or HD DVD movie player software from CyberLink, InterVideo, or Nero
- An HDCP-compliant display
- A dual-core CPU with 1GB of RAM
What do all the hardware in the list have in common? They are all HDCP-compliant. For all of you stuck in a hole the last couple of years, High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of digital rights management developed by Intel Corporation to control digital audio and video content as it travels across Digital Visual Interface or High Definition Multimedia Interface connections. My current system has a dual core AMD X2 3800 with 1 GB of ram and a Geforce 7800 GT that does not support HDCP. My monitor also is a Dell 2405, which once again does not support HDCP.
I decided I would try and figure out how much upgrading my system, which is less than 1 year old, would cost if I wanted to watch a Blu-ray movie (HD-DVD drives for the PC are not available at this time). I wanted to know how much HDCP would really cost me. Here are my quick estimates:
- NVIDIA 7600 GT HDCP enabled video card – $150
- Sony BWU-100A Blu-ray drive – $700
- New Dell 2407WFP -$799
That totals to about $1,650, without software costs. Without a new monitor, the cost would be about $920. In order to truly upgrade my system, I would need to buy a new monitor. I should also note that the 7600 GT that I have priced out is not as powerful as my 7800 GT. The cost of upgrading my system to satisfy the the content overlords, and make my system HDCP-compliant, is about $950 (not including the Blu-ray drive). $950 for no extra features. Sounds like a bargain to me.
What boggles my mind is the lack of foresight Sony has since the cost of HDCP limits the size of the market for the Blu-ray. You are basically telling anyone who bought a computer in the last year to not buy our product. For that price, you might as well buy a Sony Playstation 3. Maybe that is their strategy after all.
Sat, Nov 4, 2006
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