HD video is headed for your auto, and just like your home, you need to be able to soak up those pixels from more than one seat. To keep manufacturers from having to pull HDMI cables through the door panels and running boards, Fujitsu has the MB88395 controller (catchy name, right?) for streaming your entertainment around the cabin over a DTCP-protected 1394 network. At the heart of Fujitsu's silicon is the SmartCODEC, which can take a decompressed 1280x720 pixel video stream at 885Mbps and compress it down to 249Mbps with only a couple of milliseconds of delay. Never mind that Blu-ray only spits out a maximum data rate of 54Mbps, the analog hole comes through again -- just like in the home. Don't you just love copy protection?

The reason Blu-ray recorders have migrated from Japan to the UK recently -- and why you'll likely never see them in the U.S. -- is all about the copyright holders. Danielle Nagler, head of BBC HD, hit the blogs to break down the wheres and hows of the DRM changes associated with bringing FreeSat disc HD DVRs like the Panasonic DMR-BS850 and Humax FOXSAT-HDR to market, basically meaning users are allowed one HD copy of a show, which can be played back on protected devices and connections only (transfer to portable players is planned to the future.) Follow the flow chart for the details, and figure out if it'd be worth it to make your own BD-R DVR backups so easily.

[Via Pocket-Lint]

IO Data took the wraps off of a new HDD unit made specifically to attach to those new Regza ZH500s, the DiXim HVL4-G2.0 is compliant with the latest DLNA / DTCP-IP standards to easily record TV shows via the network. It's got space for four drives up to a maximum capacity of 2 TB in a RAID 5 array, limiting recording space to a max of 1.5 TB. Because of copy protection, it only records from Toshiba's TVs right now, and can be controlled completely via remote. Doubt we'll be seeing this here anytime soon, but it'll be on store shelves in Japan later this month for 111,615 ($1,090 US).

[Via AV Watch]

In Japan, the hand can be used as a knife. You also can't swing a Yume Neko Smile cat without defacing a 1080p TV with built-in Ethernet and a hard disk drive recorder. Case in point, Toshiba's latest batch of REGZA LCDs, ten in all. The top of the line ZH500 series measures in at 52- (52ZH500) and 46-inches (46ZH500) with 120Hz VA panels, 4x HDMI (1080/60p, 24p) inputs, 3x Ethernet (with DLNA support), 2x USB, Bluetooth, Firewire, SD slot, and a DVR to record your shows to the built-in 300GB disk. These lack the eSATA jack found in the 42-, 37-, and 32-inch RH500 series, but you can add more disk over Ethernet via an I-O Data REGZA drive wrapped in DTCP-IP DRM to keep your HD recordings off the global torrents. Rounding things out are the 42- and 37-inch ZV500 series of 120HZ IPS panel LCDs and the relatively low-end, 42-, 37-, and 32-inch CV500 series of diskless TVs. Prices will range from ¥160,000 ($1,560) on up to about $5,850 when products start hitting shelves between April and June. Pics of the in/outs on the ZH500s after the break.

Read - ZH500 and ZV500 series
Read -- RH500 and CV500 series

CableLabs' latest DRM scheme, DTCP-IP (Digital Transmission Copy Protection), got approval from a number of movie studios last week. This new streaming protocol is an extension of the DTCP protection on FireWire links, and is supposed to allow secured sharing of digital content within a home network. How secure? According to the CableLabs CEO, the new protocol allows for the "same level of protection, functionality, and treatment of content" as with AACS. Ahem. If that's true, count on a crack before the standard ever sees the light of day. Still, we're hoping that this will open up possibilities for TiVO functionality that has gone missing, like To-Go and Multi-Room Viewing. We also wonder what the real definition of a "home network" means to CableLabs -- could this spell trouble for place-shifting devices like the Slingbox?