Audio Video News

In news that is sure to strike fear in the hearts of videophiles everywhere, Macrovision announced last week the implementation of its copy protection technology for higher resolution DVD playback on players with 525p progressive scan outputs. The company says that 525p copy protection has now been licensed to Genesis Microchip, JVC, Matsushita, Oak Technology, and Pioneer.

For TVs, monitors or projection TVs with capability to display the higher scan rate, DVDs with 525p playback typically produces pictures with less flicker and better resolution than the standard interlaced signal. The 525p progressive scan output operates at twice the scan rate of conventional 525 NTSC interlaced outputs and transmits twice as much information in a given period of time.

In a company statement, Macrovision says that "copy protection for 525p was developed in response to the rights holders' need to protect movies and video content distributed on DVDs. It is a requirement under the licenses issued to player manufacturers by the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) which assumed the responsibility of licensing the Content Scrambling System (CSS) technology for the DVD Forum."