Why HDCP Sucks…

The new BluRay/HD-DVD DRM standard is HDCP.  This new High Definition Copy Protection is meant to be unbreakable.  This new copy protection uses a kind of key code that must match the High Def player as well as the HDCP compliant display.  There is no practical way to record the video in HD whether you’re trying to record the output signal from the player or the display (cause you can’t).  If the key code signal is interrupted in any way throughout the chain, then the movie will be shown in low res.  One can record in analog, but there is another new DRM that might deal with that.  The thing that really sucks is that is the key is in any way compromised, then the key for new DVDs will be changed.  This means that all the DVD players that used the old keys will be rendered useless save for playing old high def DVDs.  I don’t think that people will enjoy getting screwed over every other month when a cracker dumps the new key.  In the present, makers of High Def players and HDCP compliant parts have taken another approach to DRM by making their products so expensive that only the stupidly wealthy can afford them.  Unfortunately, many h4×0rs, pirates, and crackers aren’t that rich, which is why they (we) steal/borrow most of our stuff.  As soon as High Def equipment becomes affordable, then decrypters will be popping up everywhere.  The only way that DVD rips would be feasibly possible without screwing the majority over is to capture the HD video directly from the screen.  No doubt the HD player software will detect this screen capture stuff running in the background and shut down right away.  Of course, as with many of today’s games which check for virtual drives and such, someone will be create a cloaking program.  Anyway, the point is to vote with your money and don’t buy HDCP stuff.  Cheers to all you digital pirates, h4×0rs, and crackers. Take what you can and leave nothing for nobody!

~ by metra.iv on 2006,12 September,2006.