Microsoft Vista means you need new


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Start saving your money now. Might as well buy a whole new high end PC.

Microsoft Vista means you need new monitors

Vista doesn't like most monitors

EVERYTIME Microsoft releases a new version of its operating system, someone points out that it will involve the wholesale scrapping of existing hardware.

Going through the specs of Vista it looks like you will not only probably need a new PC, but it will be time to splash out on a new monitor too.

According to a US tech consultant Stephen Speicher, Vista will make protected digital content all fuzzy unless it is viewed on high bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP) compatible monitor.

He said that the number of people whose display is equipped with HDCP are so rare that it would take a special distributed screen saver to find them.

The missing technology is Protected Video Path - Output Protection Management and while it is a de facto standard for display copy-protection in televisions, so far it has not made much of an impact in the computer display market.

Amongst those that will not have it are the people who spent shedloads impressing their friends with their new Dell UltraSharp super sexy 2405FPW widescreen display.

You can read all about current Volish thinking on the standard here, while Speicher?s interview with the Sydney Morning Herald can be found here.

Source: http://www.theinquirer.net/?article=25094

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This is completely mis-understood.

Windows Vista will not require a monitor with HDCP, however, some movie you download from a future movie download store or Blue-Ray,HD-DVD playback may require it

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Its funny...You mention we're gonna need top-end systems, even if Vista's reccomended specs aren't really high (at all). Sure, it means an upgrade for someone with a Pentium II PC with 128MB of RAM and an 8MB video card, but what difference does it make? Hardware that is too old for Vista is also too old for modern software, so upgrades are imminent. So people having to upgrade their PCs is sh!t, alright? As for the whole monitor issue, trust me, it'll be optional. We the tech crowd will refuse to upgrade just because Microsoft starts including petty protection policies, while the average Joe will just be content with his '96 15" CRT that came with a Dell and refuse to shell out the $ for a new one.

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Nonsense, all of it.

Windows Vista will not require people to upgrade their computer at all. The minimum hardware requires for Windows Vista is the same as Windows XP's. Albeit, the Aero Glass experience will require a DirectX9 video card (64mb of memory) and 512mb of RAM with any non-archaic processor. The recommended hardware requirements are more than sensible now.

As for the comments about how "Microsoft starts including petty protection policies," that is nonsense as well. Only HD-DVD or Blu-Ray media will require new monitors and that is because the movie industry has put these protections in. Microsoft's only choice is to support their decision and allow you to watch the movies, or not support the decision and make it impossible for anyone to watch the movies. If you were Microsoft, what option would you take? Microsoft has not doing anything bad here, you're pointing the fingers at the wrong people.

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TBH, this extra "protection" against copying won't really matter anyway. We all know any future DRM schemes are going to get cracked anyway, and even IF they're not. All the pirates will do is buy one of these compliant monitors, stick a digital video camera in front of it, and run off an almost perfect quality telesynch anyway!

It's just another way to empty Joe Public's pocket... All for stuff which is going to get defeated anyway. Why bother? Leave the copy protection alone, spend the money saved on DECENT QUALITY music, movies & TV shows, and maybe, just maybe, people might start buying it... I mean... All these "special edition" DVD's they charge a premium for... I've yet to find ANY where the "extra" content was actually worth watching...

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Nonsense, all of it.

Windows Vista will not require people to upgrade their computer at all. The minimum hardware requires for Windows Vista is the same as Windows XP's. Albeit, the Aero Glass experience will require a DirectX9 video card (64mb of memory) and 512mb of RAM with any non-archaic processor. The recommended hardware requirements are more than sensible now.

As for the comments about how "Microsoft starts including petty protection policies," that is nonsense as well. Only HD-DVD or Blu-Ray media will require new monitors and that is because the movie industry has put these protections in. Microsoft's only choice is to support their decision and allow you to watch the movies, or not support the decision and make it impossible for anyone to watch the movies. If you were Microsoft, what option would you take? Microsoft has not doing anything bad here, you're pointing the fingers at the wrong people.

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Agreed.

Your average 1.6-2ghz cpu with 512mb RAM and a 128mb DirectX9-compliant videocard will likely run Vista smoothly at the highest graphical tier. Any monitor manufactured within the last 4 years or so (and even older) will suffice.

For most of us, there is no need to buy a new PC, just swap out the videocard perhaps, and up the RAM a bit.

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If you do have to spend on new hardware, I wil basically say balls to M$ I either get a Mac or erase my windows partiton. I am quite sick and tired of windows as it is.

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