When HD-DVD and Blu-Ray playback support was released for the PC by Cyberlink (PowerDVD) and Intervideo (WinDVD) a few months ago they unfortunately implemented HDCP (High Definition Copyright Protection) for all digital connections (DVI and HDMI). Meaning that if you are attempting to playback HD-DVD or Blu-Ray Disks using a Digital Display (LCD, HDTV LCD, etc), the Video Card and Display must be HDCP compliant on Windows XP (VGA connections work fine). If one of the two or both are not HDCP compliant you cannot playback the Disks at all. The studios obviously twisted everyone’s arm (Cyberlink and Intervideo) and we are made to pay the price especially since there are not many HDCP compliant video cards on the market. NVIDIA 3rd party vendors have a hand full of cards available (including their 8800 series) and a few ATI cards exist such as the 1600 and 1650 series from 3rd party vendors. I have a X1900XT and it is not HDCP compliant which is a shame. For those in the know, ATI and NVIDIA failed to inform the world that all of their GPU’s supported HDCP but the video card itself may not support HDCP as the manufacture was not required to add the necessary silicon (Silicon Image HDCP chip). This resulted in NO HDCP compliant videos until the last 6 to 9 months or so.
“AnyDVD HD” has the ability to not only remove HDCP during the copy process (for playback from the hard drive) but also has the ability to circumvent HDCP on HD-DVD Disks inserted into drives connected to the PC allowing for playback of HD-DVD Disks on systems that are not HDCP compliant. I have to admit that I did not realized the software had this capability as I had not tried to play an HD-DVD Disk since installing the beta of “AnyDVD HD” a few weeks back.
To sum things up: If you need to playback HD-DVD Disks on the PC and your system is not HDCP compliant, “AnyDVD HD” is a great solution to this problem.
NOTE: Vista requires HDCP for all digital connections as well but Vista itself also implements HDCP in addition to the application (PowerDVD or WinDVD) meaning even after you copy an HD-DVD to the hard-drive in Vista, you will not be able to playback without being HDCP compliant. Using a VGA connection will work fine until ICT (Image Constraint Token) is invoked.