I think the HD DVD players may have to output component. There are an awful lot of displays out there without DVI or HDMI (like mine) that have HD inputs. The ability to "record" component is pretty tough. The HD recorders are recording the MPEG stream, not the component analog signals.

The courts just ruled the FCC overstepped their bounds too. DRM could fall apart yet. (I like to dream)

Here I was thinking it would be something like a software update for DTS-HD and DD Plus, similar to what was done for some receivers and DPLiix. The proposed formats must be a lot different than DTS and DD as opposed to the differences in DPLiix and DPLii. So using a tosilink connection to output the decoded output of DTS-HD or DD plus is out of the question? If so why, is it bandwidth or something else.

Thanks,

Bandwidth will apparently prevent using toslink for either format, but I suspect the ability to tuck the audio in on HDMI alongside the video - where the copy protection keeps everything locked down so we crazed and theiving consumers can't manipulate it is a bonus for the studios.

As usual gonk nailed most of the issues in his last two posts. I'll just add a couple of minor comments. The present processors may very well have the "power" to decode the new formats, but you have to have a way to get it the signal. Keep in mind that the new HD versions of DD and DTS are 7.1 channels of uncompressed audio, which is far beyond toslinks capability. It has also been rumored that the new formats may just send the audio out as PCM over the HDMI port, which basically means the decoding would be done in the player.

The other thing to keep in mind is the new formats are supposed to be downward compatible so even though you may not get the latest and greatest audio the players will probably still have a toslink downmix available. Whether we will get 7.1 Hi-res analog outputs is anyone’s guess. Same is true for the video side I doubt very seriously we will see analog outputs higher then 480P, but I imagine we will still see all the various video formats just down converted.