Although far from having been kept a secret up until now, in recent weeks the specification for the Image Constraint Token in the specs for Blu-ray's Advanced Access Content System (or AACS) has risen to prominence in news posts and A/V discussion forums. Unsurprisingly, much of the discourse has been riddled with fear, uncertainty, and doubt, not to mention some hysteria on the subject. In the next couple of instalments of Custom Corner we're going to seek out the realities of the ICT, and attempt to dispel some of the panic integrators and A/V consumers are feeling.

Another issue that is inter-related to ICT is the so-called Analog Sunset. After December 31, 2010, A/V manufacturers will not introduce new Blu-ray players with component video outputs supplying more than SD resolution (either 480p or 576i). Existing models with HD component video will be phased out by 2013.

How these two issues tie together is that the ICT is a digital flag that limits the analog video output of a Blu-ray player to SD. As a consequence, future model BD players will be incompatible with older model HDTVs that either have analog HD component video inputs, or early DVI and HDMI inputs that weren't HDCP compliant (remember how much fun it was to install those?)

Having laid the groundwork, let's quickly answer some questions that readers may have about the Image Constraint Token:

• Content owners (i.e. the movie studios) may ask Blu-ray disc production facilities to include the ICT on discs manufactured after January 1, 2011. Several A/V forums have reported on an incident of a BD disc released in Germany where the ICT was accidentally enabled during the mastering process. To date, that remains the sole exception.
• The ICT will only be enabled on a disc-by-disc basis; it is not a doomsday kill switch. According the AACS Adopter Agreement, it's an optional inclusion on content discs. It may not be enabled through firmware updates to disable the analog HD output. That means that an ICT-enabled BD disc will restrict the analog output to SD, but a non-ICT-enabled disc will allow HD analog output in the same player.
• The ICT only applies to Blu-ray players. Broadcast and download set-top boxes are not specifically named in the AACS Adopter Licence. There is a related copy protection measure dubbed the "broadcast flag" but at the present time, there are no plans for broadcasters to ever enable it to constrain HDTV broadcasts, optionally or otherwise.
• After January 1, 2011, the AACS Adopter Agreement states that BD discs that are ICT-enabled must have packaging that is clearly labelled to that effect. On the one hand, that means it's not intended to sneak up on consumers. But on the other, how many of us have bought 4:3 Pan and Scan DVDs instead of 16:9 because we didn't actually read the box cover?
• Both the ICT and the Analog Sunset are of concern to custom A/V integrators for a number of reasons. For a start, they threaten to inconvenience end-users whose integrators have installed component video-based HD distribution throughout the home; both through limiting the resolution of connected HDTVs when watching ICT-enabled Blu-ray discs, as well as vexing future replacement or upgrading of Blu-ray players that lack HD component video outputs.

Now that we've laid out the realities and the challenges that ICT and Analog Sunset present, next week we'll examine potential retrofit hardware fixes. The following week, we'll hear from the movie studios, and what their official plans are for adopting the Image Constraint Token.

Stay tuned!

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