Analog Sunset: CE Pros Weigh in
By Tom LeBlanc
How concerned should integrators and consumers be about restrictions on component video outputs affecting Blu-ray players?

The impending so-called “analog sunset” has been touted as the next big thing affecting the custom electronics industry.

Whether or not that’s hyperbole, it’s certain that there are things integrators need to know about restrictions being imposed by the Advanced Access Content System (AACS) licensing agreement — especially in regards to Blu-ray playback.



If savvy clients haven’t already begun asking questions about whether or not they should throw out their component cables, they soon will. Integrators need to know what to tell them and how to react.

Right now integrators can allow clients to view content off Blu-ray discs using an analog component video output on a Blu-ray player. But according to the AACS licensing agreement, after Dec. 31, 2010, no new designs may be introduced with hot HD component outputs; existing designs can be manufactured and sold through Dec. 31, 2011. No Blu-ray players with hot HD component outputs may be manufactured or sold after that date, but they can still output SD resolutions through 2013.

That doesn’t mean that you can’t use Blu-ray players made before Dec. 31, 2010, for viewing content off Blu-ray discs using an analog component video output. Meanwhile, in-stock models made before Dec. 31, 2010, with component inputs capable of HD output can continue to be sold through 2013.

“I recently heard a competitor state that they were going to purchase as many older [Blu-ray] players as they could afford to put off dealing with the changes for as long as possible,” says CEDIA chairman Ken Erdmann, owner of Springville, Utah-based Erdmann Electric. “That will not solve the problem and is rather shortsighted.”

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