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The Great HDCP Fiasco
Toasty16 writes "According to an article on Firingsquad, our shiny new Radeon and Geforce cards won't be able to play HDCP-encrypted content, even though they have been advertising HDCP support as a feature for a few generations. Want to watch that new Blu-ray movie on your custom built PC at full resolution? Sorry, retail graphics cards won't be able to do that; only OEM-built computers from Dell, Sony, HP and the like will have that functionality built in."
Many people saw this coming, but I never expected it to arrive so soon. If people accept this and bow to the content providers, then the DRM world is upon us.
As a result, pirated content (with the protection removed and recoded in h.264) will run at a higher resolution on your PC than content you bought.
Anybody want to guess the effect of that on sales?
This gives me the impression that not one custom built computer on the market can even RUN windows vista. This is not only disorenting but confusing. Perhaps Microsoft and DRM Gods believe the majority of 'hackers' that break their encryption are on custom machines and this is a quick method to lock some of them out. Furthermore, its much easier to track someone who buys a prebuilt computer than someone who buys parts and assembles them.
Either way, I agree with previous quotes that a class action lawsuit might be in place.
How many other people are having trouble typing HDCP? ;)
My fingers automatically type DHCP instead
--I thought I was wrong once, but I was mistaken.
HanDiCaP
Women are like electronics: you don't know how damaged they are until you try to turn them on.
Also, Sony's AC3 format comes to mind. Say hello to HDDVD
Sigh.
AC3 is the technical name for Dolby Digital. You are probably thinking of ATRAC.
HD-DVD is using the exact same protection standard as Blu-Ray, being the AACS system. HD-DVD will also require the same display encryption system to operate as Blu-Ray, so if you don't have HDCP, you won't be able to use an unhacked system. Both formats pretty much support the same sets of audio and video CODECs too.
As much as I can gather, BluRay and HD-DVD are similar in so many ways that the the most significant difference between them are in the optics and the physical media. In fact, they both use the same laser wavelength. There are relatively minor things such as the control language, and HD-DVD is requiring managed copy when Blu-Ray isn't, but my main point is that they aren't anywhere nearly as different as people think.
Blu-Ray isn't under Sony's exclusive control either. All but two of Japan's electronics makers collaborated on the hardware format, it is a consortium that included names like Pioneer and Matsushita (JVC & Panasonic) as well. I don't understand why people fixate on BluRay as if it is Sony's format, they should be given credit for industry collaboration here, but I suppose this is one of those "bash anything touched by Sony" things. In this case, it is actually NEC and Toshiba that thought they should make their own alternative format, well after the BluRay consortium announced a functioning optical standard. Indications I've heard have it that NEC/Toshiba's format was accepted only because of shady politiking of the DVD consortium.
How long will it be, though, before being "Trusted" is required for other things? Like connecting to the Internet, for example ('cause we gotta stop those damn hackers)? How long will it be before Free Software is banned entirely, since it's fundamentally incompatible with DRM (regardless of what Linus thinks)?
How long until the entire concept of a general-purpose PC, which the owner can use entirely as he wishes, is dead and buried?
How long until this?!
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
They'll probably connect it using a $20 "digital" S-Video cable too.
That's why I bought the $189.95 digital enhanced S-Video broadband cable with gold connectors and OO-gauge double-shielded oxygen free wire for my 50" hi-def set. (According to the package, unlike normal cables, this one prevents the common waveguide harmonic interference that shears the digital encoding algorithm of the cable's colorspace.)
I got mine for a pretty big discount -- for this kind of performance you would probably end up paying more like $240, but for some reason the salesman was in a really good mood the day that I came in. He even threw in an extended warranty on the cable for half price -- a $69.95 value!
There's no point in dropping $6K on a tv if you don't have a good digital cable between it and the VCR.
<plagiarise victim="self">
The average eye with 20/20 vision is capable of resolving one minute of arc, a sixtieth of a degree. This equates to roughly 300 dpi, when viewed at a distance of one foot. Let's say the average distance from a couch to a TV is 7 to 10 feet. At 7 feet, you can resolve 300/7 = 43 dpi, at 10 feet it's 30 dpi.
So in order to fully resolve a 720p picture (1469 pixels diagonally) at 7 feet, the TV would have to be at least 34 inches diagonally to make out all the detail. At 10 feet you'd need a rather large 50 incher. For true 1080p, even at 7 feet, anything under 50 inches and you're missing out - and at 10 feet you'd have to get a whopping 74 inch TV! At 10 feet, you need a 30" screen even to make out plain old standard-definition DVDs properly.
</plagiarise>
So unless you've got a particularly large TV or a particularly small loungeroom - or a projector - you may find investing in a high-definition TV to be entirely pointless. You simply can't see the extra detail. Of course, watching high-def movies on a computer monitor is different; we sit much closer to them, say around 18 inches away. At that distance, you'd want a 200 dpi screen (at 24", that's an impressive 4183 x 2353). Or you could get one of these - except it doesn't support HDCP...
Why would anyone engrave "Elbereth"?
The current scheme is a little more complex, and the planned methods are a LOT more complex.
A pool of device keys were rolled up randomly to start with. I don't know how many. Probably a few thousand.
For each DVD, a random key is rolled up. (it's possible for them to roll up a new key for each production run) This master key is used to encrypt the content. The master key is then separately encrypted many times, once with each device key, and the result stored on the disk in a key dictionary. Note that each disk has a different master key.
Each device manufacturer that wants to make a DVD player has to sign a contract with the MPAA/RIAA or whoever it was that runs this madness. They agree that in exchange for one of the device keys, they agree to protect and keep the key secret.
Two of the manufacturers did not follow the terms of the contract, and stored their device keys in their players' firmware in easily retrievable format. Once these keys had been discovered, any disk that had been pressed up to that time contained the master key for that disk encrypted using that device key, so all disks up to that date had their security defeated.
Due to the nature of the encryption, once you know the master key, it is possible and practical to reverse engineer the remaining device keys. As a result of this, all device keys are now known to a number of people. If this had not happened, the MPAA/RIAA would have just deleted the compromised device keys from the dictionary for future releases. But since all device keys to date are now known, the only thing they could do is make a new device key dictionary, which would render all DVD players made to date unable to play new DVDs.
Among other improvements, the new system, it's designed in such a way that the compromise of one device key does not reveal all the other device keys. Also, I know little about the remaining technology, but one of them allows a "kill list" to be placed on a disk. They have added a way to obtain a "serial number" of sorts from the DVD player based on a ripped movie. They then would place that DVD player in the kill list for their new DVDs, and when placed in the targetted player, would deactivate it. Hard to say if this is rumor or true, it'd be a trick but certainly not out the realm of possibility. This way, if a sing;e player was compromised, they could deactivate it eventually. I doubt this would be very effective, but they are apparently going to try it anyway.
I work for the Department of Redundancy Department.
Call me a luddite, but I cant believe the amount of money people spend on all of this 'high end immersive home entertainment' crap.
... the rest is up to you.
... and kiss her for the first time as the tide laps against the beach.
.. feel good and learn more about the people you thought you knew.
really - thousands of dollars for what can only ever pass as a semblance of reality.
Want a real immersive FPS experience ? - drop $100 and spend a weekend out in the bush shooting paintball.
Want a real immersive flightsim ? drop $100 and spend a weekend learning to hang-glide, and get a feel for what flying is all about.
Want an immersive and memorable porn experience ? - drop $100, go out clubbing, meet dozens of attractive real people, have real conversions, get real phone numbers, and
Here are some recent $0 experiences which no amount of 7800GTX SLI cards can come close to :
- Hours wasted building sandcastles on the beach with a hot nursing student from china who doesnt speak the local language that well. Teach her a bit of english, learn a bit of mandarin, and engage your brain in the most complex real-time strategy game as you attempt to interpret her alien body language. Still on the beach as the hour approaches midnight, having built a full scale replica of a great white shark in the sand. Accidentally trip over the shark, catch her in your arms
- Hang out at a mate's house with a dozen or so others and play an 8-ball tournament, music, fridge full of drinks, play with the pet lizards
- Go to a birthday party, get smashed, end up at a bizarre karaoke bar, get up on stage with complete strangers and yell your lungs out. Pile into a taxi with your new found friends and end up at a 5-star hotel for breakfast as the sun rises. Obnoxiously pile up your plates with everything on offer, and charge it all to room 315 before slipping out the back door.
- Hand write an ultra-soppy card that you make yourself to an imaginary woman that you might have known for ages. Make sure you put your name and phone number on it. Go out, walk into a club or restaraunt and approach the most stunningly unbelievable waitress you can find. Hand her the card, and say 'Hi again - just wanted to say that im real sorry about the other night, I hope this card makes up for it'. Turn around and walk out, and dont look back.
Dont know - I just dont even have time to turn the TV on these days.
While I admire your sentiment I believe you are fundamentally wrong. The EU populace are no different from their American counterparts (this being said as an European). Witness the European Copyright Directive and similar legislation being pushed through. It has been said before: America takes a right away from the public and the EU will follow in order to 'harmonise'. Then EU will take a right and America follows suit.
The sheeple in the EU doesn't know nor care about DRM or TCP/Palladium/whatnot. As long as they can pay money to see 30 minutes of advertisement before the feature at the cinema, pay through the nose for their mobile phone contracts and surf the Internet on their Brand Name Desktop they will never know. PC can't play the latest DVD/BlueRay? PC == Borked, get a new. TV can't show the latest DVD/BlueRay? TV+DVD == borked, get a new. Why? Because `that's the way it is`. And so the sheeple live their lives oblivious to the schemings of the corporations. When people finally get their heads out of their collective behinds, take a moment out from the daily soap and reality programming, they _just_ might notice enough to care. Even then my guess is that 90% of the good men and women of the EU will sink back into the comfortable way of consumerism.
And I think it's unfair to blame America for the current state of affairs. Think about it: When was the last time you purchased a DVD? Was it, per chance, region coded? Did you care? Of course not. Like me you might have a region free DVD player or DeCSS on you computer. DVD encryption is harmless because it's been broken, right? WRONG! What the media conglomerates have done is to introduce the idea that DVDs should be region coded. Ask anyone why their DVDs are region coded and they will not be able to tell you why. "Because that's the way it is" will be their answer. They have embraced the idea that there is a need to make it impossible for 'normal' DVD players in the EU to play DVDs from the States. They can not understand the reasoning behind this, but they gladly accept it. Then the next 'version' of DVD comes along, with slightly more draconian DRM. It will be broken in the end but that is not the point. Once more the corporations have had their wicked way. People have invested in their DRM and are becoming increasingly more used to it. Within a few decades people will not think twice about sacrificing their newborn child on the altar of the latest DVD release.
My point with all this ranting? Think about it: DVD's CSS encryption was weak, got broken and now is irrelevant. Still they insist on crippling DVDs with it. We don't need to worry about the next DRM or even the one after that. What we need to worry about is the fact that some powerful individuals are looking to take away our freedoms as we know them. DRM is only the first step (or a gateway drug if you will). While the people with the knowledge about both sides of DRM fuss about the latest incarnation of CrippleWare we are missing the bigger picture. Go read the poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller and you will see what I mean.
I'll go back to my cave now.