Dear William,
you obviously did not even spend the 5 minutes to download the demo, load a preset and simply play these sounds, otherwise you would not write something about a "proprietary player". As the name suggests, Articulate Presets are simply presets/matrices for VI pro (which is indeed a perfect software, otherwise we would and could not have done this, so there at least seems to be something we can agree on π)
I clearly wrote (even in the title) what we mean with the term "HD": "high definition with 9 velocity layers", which explains that we are referring to the dynamic resolution. In the case of digital video that you quote high definition refers to a larger number of pixels. When it comes to a sampled instrument there are obviously no pixels. Instead the two basic parameters that you can control on your keyboard are the pitch and velocity. While VSLs sounds are already chromatically sampled, a larger number of velocity layers - and correspondingly a finer resolution / higher definition - can be beneficial, as the VSL demonstrated with their pianos (in particular their Vienna Imperial with even up to 128 velocity layers). Providing playable matrices with an increased velocity resolution e.g. for the spiccato from 2 or 3 to 9, we found it appropriate to use the short term "HD" for these sounds. To distinguish them from the standard portato, staccato and spiccato, we used the term "SD", but did not suggest that these are in any way inferior. Quite the opposite, we made sure by painstaking volume matching that our matrices behave otherwise similarly and can be combined with the great standard potato, staccato and spiccato patches for even more variation and realism.
I only posted here since Andreas from the VSL team encouraged me to do so. We are very open to any constructive criticism and suggestions. We have worked very hard to realize these over 100 new matrices with 9 velocity layers (as well as all the other features Articulate Presets offer). We did this because we love the Vienna Instruments libraries and the VI pro player. Our demo package includes several full-featured presets and matrices as well as all software integrations so that users can without restrictions check out every aspect before they make a purchase. We include all 5 independent in-depth manuals (one for the presets and one for each software integration) that explain every feature in detail. Our presets inherently do not implement any copy protection and everything is completely open, so our users can even easily adapt the presets and matrices to their needs. If you don't need any of this that's perfectly fine. But to suggest that this would be "proprietary" or we would be "trying to fool people in order to get sales" could not be further away from the truth.
Anyway, I wish you a nice day