PvK:
None of the articles you've linked to in the past on this issue have been worth much; they were filled with misguided alarmism and flawed analysis. HDCP was created by Intel, and only added to Windows after the movie industry forced it into Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and thus any high definition movie content (along with demands of DRM for any digital distribution of their content). It wouldn't do well for MS to not support the latest movie standards in their media center software..
Boycotting the content is what needs to be done, not video cards. If the content mafias didn't demand the encryption support et all, it wouldn't exist. Video card manufacturers have little choice in the matter, since they need to support industry standards for content playback. And besides, if you don't buy any HDCP-protected content, you won't be affected by the chip in the cards anyways. Probably lose a few machine instruction cycles for some conditional statements when you first open your media, but that's it.
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Paying for hardware that supports this "feature" is paying extra for a sabotage feature, it seems to me...
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Luckily there is not a single piece of hardware that is just a 7xxx card + HDCP chip, labeled as a 8xxx card.
Unless you can't afford an extra $50 or so, you are best off with a 8800GT 512MB even with XP and DX9. It's much better hardware than anything in the 7xxx line. If you can't afford the extra cost of the 8800GT, the next best option appears to now be the 9600GT.