I was reading an article recently about a new audio/video cable format that a bunch of companies are supporting, called HDMI.  (Free registration may be required to see the link.)  It looks pretty cool and all, but the last paragraph of the article has this nasty little tidbit:

“Because the HDMI standard does not allow for program recording, other connectors will still be required to connect a video display to a VCR or a DVD recorder.” 

Sounds like the cable technology, or more likely the circuitry that supports it, has built-in rights-management.  What a pain; for a second there, I thought I’d have one set of cables to connect everything, but it looks like that it still a pipe-dream.  If anyone has any more information about this detail, I’d love to hear it.

Of course, my *real* dream is that someday all my A/V components will discover and talk to each other wirelessly – no cables required….