With lackluster sales of high-definition television (HDTV) devices and the dearth of HDTV programming, the HDTV industry faces a classic chicken-and-egg scenario. Satellite and cable providers won't provide more channels of HD content until the viewership increases. Consumers won't buy an expensive HDTV until compelling HD content becomes available. And HDTVs won't become more affordable until demand increases. The industry needs a killer application to turn the tide-and premium Hollywood content in HD format is the ticket.
Hollywood studios want to release their premium HD content for home viewing, but are concerned about revenue loss due to piracy and copyright infringement. The Digital Visual Interface (DVI) with high-bandwidth digital content protection (HDCP) offers a viable solution. The majority of Motion Picture Association studios, as well as satellite TV operator Echostar and consumer electronics manufacturer Thomson, publicly support DVI/HDCP. JVC and Scientific Atlanta are developing HDCP-enabled set-top boxes (STBs) and HDTVs as well.
DVI is the ideal digital interface for connecting a video source device-such as an STB, DVD player or D-VHS player-to an HD display. Only DVI has the bandwidth to accommodate uncompressed, HD digital video transmission in the encrypted format preferred by studios. That capability offers cost and performance advantages over IEEE 1394, which requires that MPEG decoding capability be added to the HDTV. Decoding video in this manner renders the HDTV vulnerable to obsolescence due to potential video format changes. It is preferable to have intelligence reside in the STB rather than the HDTV, since TVs have a longer life span and require a larger investment.
DVI also supports video menu overlays, which enable popular features like Web browsing, picture-in-picture graphics and robust menu graphic user interfaces.
DVI/HDCP protects content but does not preempt consumer rights to record or time-shift video content for personal use. DVI/HDCP does not impact the and functionality of upstream devices such as personal video recorders or digital VCRs, which are independent of the DVI connection to the HDTV. DVI/HDCP fulfills the promise of HDTV by providing access to premium content that would otherwise be unavailable.
We believe DVI will win as the mainstream solution for the digital interface to the HDTV because it accommodates uncompressed video-HD video's native format-is low-cost and easy to implement. DVI/HDCP is also future-proof, and with a DVI solution that integrates audio and video (A/V), cabling can be reduced to a single, universal DVI cable between the source device or A/V receiver and the display. Finally, DVI has the endorsement of the studios, critical for any future digital interface standard for the consumer electronics market.
Parviz Khodi is Vice President of Marketing for Silicon Image Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.).
