The issue of DRM as a component of PC's and operating systems is based on two assumptions. Firstly that large numbers of people will adopt high definition video. And secondly that they will want to use PC's as media centres.
Markets don't always adopt the highest quality level that is available at an economic price. Consider audio. CD quality has been available to the consumer for nearly a quarter of a century, yet the last few years has seen a move towards the lower quality MP3 format. The market has chosen low bandwidth in preference to quality. In my opinion anyone selling an audio format with higher quality than CD is catering for a very restricted audiophile market.
The same could happen with video. There is a great deal of evidence that young people are watching less television, instead watching DivX compressed video on the internet. It's eminently possible that internet distribution of video will gradually replace broadcast for all but real-time programming like news and sport. If this is the case low bandwidth solutions with sub-DVD quality will succeed. Whilst I'm sure there will always be an enthusiast market for high resolution, I'm not at all convinced that it will become mainstream. Especially if the high resolution options are hobbled with restrictions which limit their usefulness. Will the market really go for quality at the expense of both bandwidth and convenience?
As for the use of PC's for media centres, I completely fail to see the point. I have a dedicated Kiss Technology box which allows me to time shift TV, play DVD's and DivX's and much more. It's cheaper, smaller, quieter and uses less power than a PC. Such boxes will continue to drop in price and I'm sure will be a much more consumer friendly solution than media centre PC's. These are best seen as a temporary hobbyist solution to a problem which the big electronics manufacturers have been rather slow to address.
For my purposes I'm perfectly happy with the quality of CD audio and DVD video. I have no interest whatsoever in paying for something better, especially if it's hamstrung with restrictions which prevent me from using it in the ways I do at present.