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Well I've just got word that Verizon's contract with ESPN states that Verizon fully support ESPN 1080p HD special events. I've also found out how this will work. First I don't know when ESPN will start 1080p offerings but this is what I'm hearing. Once ESPN starts offering 1080p they will have two seperate HDTV feeds that will be sent out to the various providers. First the cable company must support 1080p output from their set-top boxes as Verizon will be doing in the future. It will be done via a future firmware update so that a customer can select the box to output in 1080p instead of 1080i. The reason all the HD boxes must accept 1080p is because Verizon for example will get the 1080p feed which will be exactly the same content and all 720p content will be upconverted by ESPN into 1080p and Verizons set-top boxes must be able to accept that 1080p signal and scale it into 1080i and 720p for customers without a 1080p HDTV set. So in simple terms no customer would know they are getting anything different than what is being offered today. But for those of you with a new 1080p set with a new HDMI 1.3 connector (HDMI 1.3 will have 1080p output support) you can set the output of the Verizon HD box to output in 1080p and when a live sports broadcast in done in 1080p format it will display in full native 1080p format.

ESPN has plans in the future to offer ESPN Monday Night Football games in 1080p to start and it could start in the 2007 regular season from what I hear. But again the key is that Verizon signed a contract saying they will fully support ESPNs plans for broadcasting 1080p sporting events. This is very good news.

Also keep in mind that your new 1080p HD set must support 1080p over an HDMI port and that HDMI port must accept HDCP. Verizon and ESPN don't think this will be a problem as 1080p set sales have been pretty small and HDMI 1.3 should be entering into nearly all new 1080p HDTV sets. From what I hear the Verizon boxes will not output (at ESPNs request) their ESPN HD 1080p onto a 1080p set without the connection having HDCP at both ends. Now again this HDCP will only apply for outputting in 1080p. If you set your Verizon box to output in 1080i or below HDCP won't be an issue. Also you can record it in 1080p but the contract also stated that when Verizon adds 1080p support they must support a copy once flag over the HDMI with HDCP connector.

I've asked about this and I've been told that in the future new HD DVD recorders will use only HDMI inputs and outputs. I've found a lot of extra side related information from these talks by the way.

So from what I'm hearing once HD DVD recorders come out these HD DVD records will have both an HDMI with HDCP input and output. So you would take an HDMI cable and plug it into your Verizon HD DVRs HDMI output port into the new HD DVD players HDMI input port. You would take another HDMI cable that will come with the HD DVD player which would be plugged into the output HDMI port on the HD DVD player and plug it into the HDMI input on the HDTV set.

As I understand it HD DVD recorders can only record flagged content via HDMI with HDCP only and as such playing back that burned HD DVD disk can only be done at anything more than 480p using a TV with an HDMI with HDCP input like current HD DVD players.

So in simple terms I was told that a live 1080p ESPN broadcast will be flagged on Verizon so on the new HD DVD recorders that will be out in a few years to record it your set-top box and your HDTV must support HDMI with HDCP and everything must be connected via HDMI. So these new HD DVD recorders will only record protected flagged content via HDMI with HDCP only set-top boxes and the disk will also be created in such a way that HDTV output will only work on a TV set with an HDMI with HDCP connector.

I again know this doesn't sound too good but what did we find out in this.

Verizon will offer ESPN HD live events in 1080p. We found out what we needed to receive this. We also found out a lot about how future HD DVD recorders will work and how they will be restricted on recording flagged content. Now I also found out that HD DVD recorders can record and playback any content that isn't flagged via HDMI and output it in full 1080i res via component cables but I also found out that nearly all content companies are requiring that their content be flagged. This means that once HD DVD recorders hit the market all the movies for example that Starz has a contract with will require Starz to put in this flag or they cannot broadcast the said movie and as such they will comply to this as it will only affect external storage of the content. Watching it and even recording it via your DVR box won't be a problem. Even the Series 3 Tivo won't have a problem playing it but once you try to record it onto something else beyond the Tivo hard drive that is when you must have HDMI with HDCP support on your TV set and the Tivo itself must also support HDMI output with HDCP support or the HD DVD recorder won't accept the feed. I've been told that HD DVD recorders will only support HDMI as a recording input and any flagged content will also prompt the HD DVD recorder to make a playback only flagged HD DVD disk which again means that all current HD DVD players must comply with that flag and as such it again can only be played back over an HDMI with HDCP input on the HDTV set in anything over 480p format.

Sorry if this might have got confusing but I'm trying to be specific so that you all fully understand exactly how all of this will work.