Universal won't downsample HD DVD content

Universal won't downsample HD DVD content

Posted Mar 27th 2006 5:34PM by Marc Perton
Filed under: HDTV

Add Universal to the list of studios that won't downsample content for owners of non-HDMI HD sets. The company follows Sony and several others in announcing its decision not to use the Image Constraint Token to force owners of older HD sets to watch their films at 540p instead of the discs' native resolution. The decision mainly affects owners of older analog HD sets, and shows that, at least as far as the studios are concerned, it's important to show some willingness to meet consumers (especially early adopters) half way in order to convince them to upgrade their gear to HD. Of course, Universal and the others are under no obligation to maintain this position indefinitely, so we won't be surprised to see ICT implemented across-the-board in a few years, after the format wars are over and we're all hooked on our new players.