Introduction I think Ferris Bueller said it best when he said, “Life moves pretty fast.” I must admit, Ferris’ statement was a bit lost on my then young ears; however, more than a decade later, his words ring true. Especially when it comes to the world of consumer electronics. It seems like just the other day I was being sold on EDTV technology and insanely long runs of component cable. High definition was just a dream that was still years away. Then the days of yore turned into yesterday and high definition was no longer just a dream. It was a whole different animal, a beast really, and it was now walking among us. All of a sudden, my once state-of-the-art system was nothing more than a really expensive picture frame. Well, I upgraded and joined the HD revolution. I bought the plasma. I got the digital cable. And with my trusty component cables ...

Introduction Home theater enthusiasts are now most certainly in a digital world, both audio and very recently video. It is becoming increasingly important to be able to add new components and switch seamlessly between a wide variety of digital sources. These now include DVI (digital visual interface) and HDMI (high-definition media interface) as an interface, providing a one-cable digital solution for both picture and sound, as opposed to the multiplicity of analog cables required to watch HDTV, such as RGBHV or YPrPb. Unfortunately, because of a continuing desire by the motion picture and television industries to control the dissemination of their intellectual property (the movie, television show or video game itself), we now are all subject to varying degrees of digital connection irritation brought about by the inclusion of HDCP (high-definition copy protection). This copy management system inhibits the ability of any digital recorder (such as a Blu-Ray or HD-DVD disc recorder) to legally or illegally make ...