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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.
... stop buying from it. Even if I have to live in Archive.org.
I have yet to see a good Linux blu-ray player. The result is that I simply rip the blu-ray with makemkv and then run the result through handbrake to bring the size down a bit. This has the added advantage that my quad core xbmc box ($110 CAD) lets me browse though my movie collection on my NAS using my remote and that's far less effort than swapping discs. This also came in handy when I was in Spain and Amazon sent me the US region movie instead of the EU region movie and the blasted thing wouldn't play in my EU locked blu ray player.
Absolutely, I never bought a blu-ray player because there was always talk of DRM related playback issues - especially for the PC. Also they didn't drop in price like DVD and CD Drives, I suspect that's because of a shit-load of DRM patents.
Waterfox - a Firefox fork with legacy extension support, security updates and better privacy by default.
But it may give either Microsoft or OEM's an excuse to use the new 'flexibility' in locking down the boot process. If the movie studios require secure boot to be turned on - or even require it to be manditory in the BIOS - before they allow you to view 4K content, then maybe OEM's will start selling Windows 10 machines with a BIOS that doesn't allow you to disable secure boot. Hopefully there won't be a market for that, since once that's in place, all that needs to happen is for Microsoft to switch to a new key for secure booting and charging an arm and a leg to sign Linux bootloaders. Not quite game over, but game made one hell of a pain in the ass.
I guess it's a race between Microsoft seeing a new opportunity to re-monopolize PC hardware and their realizing that Windows is enough of a 'natural' monopoly as it ever needs to be to be worth sacrificing any goodwill over. The whole 'Windows 10 will be a free upgrade' thing makes me think that their number one priority with Win10 is to get Metro on every desktop in the hopes that developers will then feel the need to port to it. Otherwise they've lost mobile for good.
Posted from my Android phone. Oh, I can change this? There, that's better...
I vote on the latter - even now, with an 8' projection screen, I often select 720P instead of 1080 because the file sizes are much smaller and the visual difference is negligible. 4K media may be worth it on a 10m screen, but not at home.