I know that most of you installers and AV geeks use the HDMI output of your Blu-Ray players and not the analog outputs. However, it is important to note that the digital rights management and copy protection people are always working to limit the ability of individuals to copy protected material, which will ultimately affect the hardware we install and use on a day to day basis.  The next thing to happen in the copy protection battle is to kill the analog output. I don’t advocate copying any protected material nor do I advise on how one would go about copying protected material but as an integrator I know that having more outputs means having more options, the opposite being true for having less outputs.

Not having an analog HD output will limit our ability to distribute HD content to an analog only display, as well as limit our options when faced with design challenges. Much like the sunset of analog broadcasting, the sunset of analog output from the Blu Ray format will come to pass. Check out the article below I found on Gizmodo and the Youtube video from Crestron at the INFOCOMM show.

As long as there are innovative manufacturers like Crestron and thoughtful integrators like us, no technical hurdle will be too high. It is, however worthy of noting what the industry is doing while you might not be paying attention!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-crbjLbt_c

http://gizmodo.com/5288576/drm-group-to-kill-analog-blu+ray-output