Microsoft, Chip Makers Working On Hardware DRM For Windows 10 PCs

writertype writes: Last month, Microsoft began talking about PlayReady 3.0, which adds hardware DRM to secure 4K movies. Intel, AMD, Nvidia, and Qualcomm are all building it in, according to Microsoft. "Older generations of PCs used software-based DRM technology. The new hardware-based technology will know who you are, what rights your PC has, and won’t ever allow your PC to unlock the content so it can be ripped. ... Unfortunately, it looks like the advent of PlayReady 3.0 could leave older PCs in the lurch. Previous PlayReady technology secured content up to 1080p resolution using software DRM—and that could be the maximum resolution for older PCs without PlayReady 3.0." Years back, a number of people got upset when Hollywood talked about locking down "our content." It looks like we may be facing it again for 4K video.

Comments

This never works

[HBI]

Whatever they design, it'll be broken fairly easily and circumvented just like DVD and Blu-ray and every other DRM format. This is just keeping the plebs from making easy copies.

Re:This never works

[BitterOak]

Whatever they design, it'll be broken fairly easily and circumvented just like DVD and Blu-ray and every other DRM format. This is just keeping the plebs from making easy copies.

"Keeping the plebs from making easy copies" would be a huge victory for the movie industry. There will always be some piracy, but the piracy the Industry fears most is that which occurs solely in the home, without the use of file sharing sites, cause it is ultimately the hardest to police.

Re:This never works

[HBI]

Then also, one has to wonder why anyone cares about 4k content. Sure, it's prettier, but is it enough better looking than a 1080p Blu-ray to make it worthwhile to obtain?

My bet is "no".

Re: This never works

[Anonymous Coward]

Nope, you are in their sights as well. The end goal is to get compensation for every separate ingestion of content. No first sale doctrine, entertainment as a service.

Re:This never works

[g0bshiTe]

The latest gen consoles don't even have a single crack or mod in place, much less an actual break

http://wccftech.com/hackers-break-ps4-firmware-176-webkit-exploit/

http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/71455/20150129/xbox-one-jailbreak-jtag.htm

http://www.se7ensins.com/forums/forums/xbox-one-modding.463/

Re:This never works

[PRMan]

"Was this hack always an inevitability? Perhaps not. Fail0verflow claims it only started to work on the PS3 system when Sony made the decision to disable the machine's Other OS functionality."

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/gamesblog/2011/jan/07/playstation-3-hack-ps3

It takes a long time when nobody's trying. As soon as Sony removed OtherOS, it only took a few weeks.

Re:This never works

[Anonymous Coward]

https://d18oqavmcmo3u.cloudfront.net/resolution_chart.html is one example of how the high resolutions aren't worth it. There are many more as well. There is a reason, other than limited shelf space, as to why TV stores and makers all want you to see their stuff close up.

Re:This never works

[realilskater]

For many it is the file size not the resolution that determines which one they will download.

Re:This never works

[Anonymous Coward]

There is a difference between the DivX codec, and the player which was sold by Circuit City.

The player by Circuit City required a modem and would dial into a number to validate that a piece of media was allowed to be played. Yes, you could buy a "silver" piece of media which was supposed to play indefinitely, but most media only had a certain time that it was authorized to play. IIRC, the media was also bound to the player, so even the paid-for "silver" DIVX media could only work on one player.

The market gave that the middle finger over DVDs.

Here we go again.

[marcello_dl]

Reminds me of the blu ray DRM that made them unsuitable for linux.
Result, no blu ray here.
Not even when the player got cheap and linux supported it.