HDCP and You (or why you have to buy a new HDTV)

HDCP, or High-Definition Content Protection, hit the headlines recently. Everyone was screaming for Microsoft's blood (again) because they had announced that they would be supporting HDCP under Vista, and that some HD plasma and LCD televisions and projectors may not work because they did not support this standard. I have been critical for some time of the poor quality and lack of true standards with so-called High Definition plasma and LCD televisions. Now that people stupid enough to buy these televisions before they were truely prime-time ready are finding that there is even more pain ahead, they are blaming M$. But is this fair ?

Let's start with a couple of background facts, and then a couple of questions to owners of these 'dead' televisions.

Fact 1 : HDCP is NOT a Microsoft initiative. It was developed by Intel, and is being adopted by the MPAA as the new stadard for encrypting HD content on BluRay and HD DVD disks.

Fact 2 : Microsoft must implement HDCP if it is to continue to produce a media centre OS, or if future opertaing systems (Vista onwards) are to support large display devices and HD content playback.

Fact 3 : Apple will have to incorporate HDCP support into OSX and beyond for the same reasons. Microsoft is so far the only vendor to step up and admit there will be implications to it's adoption.

Fact 4 : Standalone BluRay and HD DVD players will also require HDCP compliant playback devices.

And now the questions, to all the whinging gits in the newsgroups and forums.

Question 1 : How many of you actually use large screen display devices on your PC, and were going to rush out and install Vista at the earliest opportunity ?

Question 2 : How many of you were not going to install Vista, but do intend to add a BluRay or HD DVD player to your home theatre system ?

Question 3 : How many of you think ditching windows and going to Linux will a) solve the HDCP problem, and b) teach M$ a lesson ?

If you answered yes to Question 1, then HDCP will not stop you running Vista, and will not stop you watching HD content from within Vista in most circumstances. Depending on how the copyright owner has configured the DRM, you may not get to see it at all, but in most cases you get to see the content, but at standard DVD resolutions. You should also bear in mind that XP will have to be made HDCP compliant, either through service pack or drivers, in order to play back protected HD content.

If you answered yes to Question 2, then you are completely off track blaming M$, as you will quickly find that BluRay and HD DVD players will require HDCP compliant displays to play back HD content at full res. The MPAA have mandated this to be the case.

If you answered yes to Question 3 then you are simply insane. Linux will only be able to display protected HD content through the use of commercial software. And we all know how much there is of that for DVD playback. And don't expect DVD Jon to come to therescue. DVD's CSS encryption was cracked more through luck and poor programming that by anything really clever. If a commercial vendor hadn't left a partial key open in the code, CSS would probably still be secure. HDCP is even stronger, and uses a public key infrastructure. Crack a key and it is revoked. And the software cracking it becomes worthless overnight.

So what did M$ do again ? Oh, I remember, they publicly stated they would provide the ability to play back protected HD content from their new operating system, in line with the standards being adopted by the entertainment industry. Imagine if they had stated they you would never be able to do this. How loud would the outcry be then ?

So I think I'll wait a while longer before ditching my trusty CRT television. How about you ?