Atlona DVI/DisplayPort Converter at Macworld 2010

Atlona Technologies was at Macworld to show off their AT-DP200, and soon-to-be-released, AT-DP400, family of DVI to DisplayPort converters.

The 200, seen in the video is designed to allow any older Mac with a DVI port to use a newer DisplayPort-equipped Apple monitor. But can't I just use Apple's adapter? Well the Atlona converters ensure HDCP compliance (key to watching a lot of copy-protected content to an external monitor, and extra clocking/syncing features to ensure the best picture possible.)

Here's our visit to Atlona Technologies at Macworld 2010:

iTunes' Grey Screen of Death

On the assignment board here at TDL, it looked like a good way to spend an hour: I planned on watching Southland on iTunes, and write about it being available on iTunes ahead of its TV debut (tonight). But that's when it happened: The iTunes Grey Screen of Death: iGSOD. The computer I chose to watch the new release on is an original MacPro attached to a DVI monitor. And guess what? along with reports of issues playing content on dvi monitors on new Macs with DisplayPorts, It turns out a firmware upgrade from two years ago could be the culprit keeping MacPro users from watching HD movies/TV (interestingly, clips downloaded pre 8.1 play fine.)

Oh well, I guess I'll just watch it on TV. You know, that big screen in the living room that digital downloads could make obsolete if it wasn't for silly issues like this.

iTunes Content Viewers Hit By DRM on VGA Displays

A report at Ars Technica details the story of a man trying to watch purchased content on a projector connected to a new MacBook via a DisplayPort to VGA adapter. Rather than seeing the movie, he was greeted by an error message stating the content could not be played back because the display was not authorized to play protected content.

This is simply inexcusable. It doesn't matter if it's Apple's doing, or the studio's. Back when Apple announced the DisplayPort connector, you may recall, we pointed out on TDL Live that the DisplayPort standard included HDCP (copyright protection) support.

At the time, no one knew how/if this would be implemented with iTunes content. Now it looks like we know.

I squarely blame Apple for this. Why? Because Apple is the only company big enough to stand up to the studios. There are plenty of ways, legal and illegal, to watch/acquire this content online without this hassle. Putting these types of restrictions on legally obtained content is beyond stupid, and can only serve to send people further into the dark torrent corners to look for content. The iTunes store was built on the belief that if you made paid content adequately easy to obtain, it would be a more attractive option than stealing. The worst part is, DVDs still represent the quickest, easiest way for people to rip movies and share them with others. People are not sitting around, grabbing the feed from their computer on its way to the TV to make illegal copies.

It is an unfair burden on the consumer, and a disappointment that Apple has not only played along, but aided this burden by incoporating and activating the DisplayPort HDCP. Ridiculous.