Gizmodo Australia » hdcp

Miniaturised HDMI Connector Is As Small As Micro USB, Still Drives Your HDTV

John Herrman — Fri, 08 May 2009 08:24:24 +0000

Molex has prototyped a new miniature HDMI connector called Type D, which boasts the whole range of regular HDMI specs—19 pins, 10.2 Gbit/s bandwidth, HDCP, etc.—in a package the size of a Micro USB cable.

A compact HDMI plug, called Type C, already exists, but this version is less than half the size of even that. It may seem like halving an already small plug standard isn’t hugely significant, but given HDMI’s apparent trajectory toward use in mobile phones and portable devices, hitting that comfortable Micro USB size might be just enough to convince hardware designers that adding an extra A/V port—dedicated, mind you—to their devices isn’t such a terrible prospect. [Tech-On]

iTunes HD Movies Won’t Play on Older Non-HDCP Monitors

Matt Buchanan — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:20:00 +0000

If you dropped $US20 on an HD movie from iTunes since they came out yesterday, but have a newer Mac and an older external display, you might not be able to watch it.

That’s because iTunes HD movies require that you have an HDCP-compliant external display. High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection is designed to prevent video from being copied as it moves across digital video interfaces. So, as iLounge points out, if you’re using a Cinema Display older than Apple’s 24-inch LED model (or any older DVI or VGA monitor, basically), you’re screwed if you have it hooked up to a newer, HDCP-loving Mac. You just get a black box where the video should be.

It’s not the first time HDCP has caused iTunes-related pain. When Apple first started rolling HDCP, they even applied the protections to standard definition content, so a whole bunch of people found out they couldn’t play new movies they bought, so Apple wound up pulling back on SD, and everyone forgot about it until yesterday, when you could finally buy HD movies.

One solution iLounge proffers is to transfer the file to one of your older iTunes authorised computers, since Apple doesn’t pull the HDCP mojo on them. The other is to play the movie in standard def mode—then it’ll play on your monitor, but in crappy standard def. Of course, the irony is, if they just supported HDMI like every other computer company in the world, there’d be more than one external monitor you could use, since HDMI supports HDCP natively. All together now: HDCP sucks. [iLounge]

Patch Coming for New Xbox Experience Dead Audio

Matt Buchanan — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 16:30:00 +0000

If you’ve been missing out on SFII Turbo HD Remix’s amazing soundtrack because you’re being hit by the New Xbox Experience’s audio-killing HDMI bug, don’t worry, Microsoft says a patch is coming.

Apparently, the problem comes from a new HDCP protocol (a DRM thing baked into HDMI) that some older integrated sound systems can’t deal with. Yay, another reason DRM sucks. In the meantime, you can either try that lame temporary fix by pulling out the hard drive and reinserting it when you’re already in the dashboard, or you can use analogue audio.

No word on when this patch is coming unfortunately. [Shack News via Ars]

HDCP Restrictions Rolled Back on New MacBooks

John Herrman — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 09:28:13 +0000

One part of the new MacBook experience that didn’t exactly seem like much of an upgrade was the addition of HDCP for the new DisplayPort video connector, which left users unable to watch iTunes DRMed video content—HD or SD—on non-HDCP compliant external displays. This morning Apple released an update to ease the pain: protected SD content will now play on older DVI and VGA-connected displays. It’s a step in the right direction, but the real mistake here probably wasn’t including SD content under the HDCP umbrella—it was cramming the DRM tech into the laptops in the first place. [MacRumors]

New MacBooks Have HDCP, Gives iTunes Purchases Less Freedom

Elaine Chow — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 03:30:00 +0000

High Definition Content Protection—the annoying DRM-y thing that’s supposed to stop people from copying hi-def stuff as it travels over a card-display connector— has apparently, and unfortunately, come to Apple’s MacBooks. HDCP is now included on new MacBooks to protect iTunes Store media, though it seems that only some of the content is actually HDCP-aware. A high school teacher was unable to play Hellboy 2 on his classroom’s projector with his new aluminium MacBook, but other purchased media (such as Stargate: Continuum and Heroes episodes) worked just fine. Perfect. Because copyright protection is all about inconveniencing those who actually bought their stuff legally? [Ars Technica]

Xbox 360 Netflix HD Won’t Work On Non-HDCP Digital Connections, But Component Works Fine

John Herrman — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:20:00 +0000

Microsoft and Netflix are requiring that users of their swell little HD streaming service are connected to HDCP-compatible display. This potentially limits access for people who connect to older LCD screens via DVI. UPDATE: It should be noted, however, that component cables work fine in our testing. From what we can tell, the problem is isolated to digital connections only. [Format War Central]