HDCP question

[Kel-O-Tron]

I am thinking about buying a 24 inch LCD monitor, and it's a real pain in the butt because there really isn't a monitor that "has it all."

I want to get a monitor that can run both as a good gaming monitor, and will look good while running it on the 360.

My main question though is regarding HDCP. Will my monitor have to be HDCP compliant if I want to run the 360's HD-DVD player at 1080p with the VGA cable?

My side question is I'm looking for a 24 inch that would look good on both the PC and on the 360 (And will let me play my 360's HD-DVD in 1080p).

I know how annoying it is to start new threads on questions already answered, but I was looking pretty hard for a definite answer, but really couldn't find one, but any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[Smooth WR]

The BenQ FP241W is what I'm going for. With the Firmware Fix (that allows 1:1 pixel mapping) it should have everything you need.

 

[Kel-O-Tron]

Yeah, I was either going to get the BenQ or the Gateway, since I heard the 244T is crap, and the 2407 isn't good for the 360.

 

[tiuk]

My main question though is regarding HDCP. Will my monitor have to be HDCP compliant if I want to run the 360's HD-DVD player at 1080p with the VGA cable?

AFAIK, the 360 doesn't do HDCP, and it won't (unless they have a hardware revision and screw over all the previous owners).

 

[artmonkey]

The 360 HDDVD should be fine doing 1080p over VGA or Component for now. Basically because HDCP isn't really implemented yet.

I personally haven't heard of VGA/Component connection that's HDCP compliant, so I don't even know if it's possible. If/when HDCP becomes widely used I'm sure that there will be a DVI/HDMI cable for the 360 so that wont be a problem.

Oh dear, that sounds very confusing, lets clear this up...

HDCP (High Bandwidth DIGITAL Copy Protection) is, as it sounds, only for digital signals. No analogue signal (VGA or Component) can or will ever support HDCP. Fortunately they're also not, nor will they ever be subject to its restrictions (there is no copy protection on content sent throungh these connections).

If you are using a digital cable (HDMI or DVI) with content that has HDCP (not all of it does) then you need a HDCP compliant monitor and graphics card right now. It is not waiting to be activated, it's on right now.

With analogue cables using HD content the only thing you'll have to worry about is ICT (Image Constraint Token). This, if the content requires it (none will for several years to come and the Xbox 360 never will for games), will downscale all content to SD (480p).

Ok that's that cleared up. I would still recommend the BenQ because of its better video abilities.

 

[SeetheSeer]

Minor nitpick on an otherwise perfect post about HDCP and ICT: The content is actually downsized to 960x540 (1/4 of 1080p), presumably to facillitate easier upscaling, I would guess. So, it's still better than SD ( 720 x 480 or 640 x 480 ).

 

[artmonkey]

Thanks for the correction =). I just looked up and it's not due to come in until 2012 which seems to get later and later every time I hear it.

 

[Geno]

I don't keep up with the 360, but with the HD-DVD drive that has come out, it will require HDCP compliant TV/monitors. So using the upgraded drive from microsoft you'll need HDCP compliant monitor.