Sony pictures decides against Blu-ray movie downsampling

March 17, 2006

For whatever reason, Sony pictures (and just their movies mind you) have decided to not alienate the thousands of potential customers with analog sets. At least for now, during the roll out, they are not going to call on the Image Constraint Token flag (ICT) and the movies will play at full resolution. Please bear in mind that this is only Sony pictures so far and that each studio can decide independently if they wish to follow suit or not. In addition, the studios, including Sony can later invoke this control when they feel the time is ripe. This can even be done on a per title basis of course.

The Image Constraint Token is part of the AACS (Advanced Access Content System) used in both next-generation optical formats. A couple of months ago, we reported that ICT would be used in both Blu-ray and HD DVD to downsample video from its 1920x1080 glory to a relatively crufty 960x540 if the player detected that it was hooked up to an analog HD display or any other display lacking an HDMI input. We also noted that use of ICT would be left up to the individual studios, rather than being made a mandatory part of the AACS spec.

Sony is the first studio to lay out its plans for how owners of older, analog-only HD sets would be able to watch Blu-ray content. According to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment Senior VP Don Eklund, none of Sony's Blu-ray releases for the "foreseeable future" will use ICT to force downsampling.

"We have no plan to implement the Image Constraint Token. All of Sony's titles will come out of the analog output at full definition"

Eklund noted that while Sony is obviously concerned about piracy, it sees analog signals as a relatively small concern. Instead, Sony is banking on the AACS to keep the digital signal from being "intercepted" and preventing HD copies of its movies from turning up on Torrent sites and Usenet.

Due to the turmoil with both blue laser formats concerning AACS copy protection and the resulting costly delays, it must be causing the bean counters some concern. This is a proof to the consumer, that the way to fight this restrictive posture of corporations is through the stockholder.

It is also however, making this format war even more confusing and frankly, it's going to be nearly impossible for the average consumer to make an informed buying decision. Actually, no one really can, because of the ability of AACS to be constantly tweaked down the road! What if you have 20 HD movies in your catalog and you are fortunate enough to have picked the "winning format" then when one dies, the other starts using various annoying flags? What if several studios on various titles use flags differently? What a mess!

It's bad enough now, to just find the format of a DVD movie in the fine print, before we buy-widescreen, full screen, 4:3, 1:85 to 1, 2:35 to 1, optimized for 16x9 displays etc. We have to wonder how prominently a title will display that it won't play in full resolution on an analog set. Let's hope that DVD Jon or someone out there can get around all this nonsense for the consumer!

Source: ArsTechnica