Thanks to an overzealous copy-protection scheme enforced by content holders (read: movie studios), forthcoming next-generation optical disc players, including Blu-ray and HD-DVD models, will give studios the option to hobble the resolution of the players' analog outputs. In a decision reached earlier this week, the eight-company consortium behind AACS (Advanced Access Content System), the mandatory copy-protection system used by both formats, has decided to let each studio choose whether to "downconvert" the output of the players' component-video outputs to 960x540 resolution--exactly one quarter of the potential 1,920x1,080 resolution of true high-def.

Linked from penny-arcade.