The protection and security of digital content is a challenge in today's society. In this article you will know what is HDCP, the lock system that prevents piracy.
What is HDCP?
HDCP is the acronym for High-BandWidth Digital Content Protection, which stands for high-bandwidth digital content protection. This technology was generated by Intel, as a priority product and is licensed for use. In this way, for its operation, the permission of Digital Content Protection, a subsidiary of said company, is required.
Its main objective is to protect the digital audio and video content that is copyrighted, and that is shared through certain cables or devices to a television. These connections include HDMI and DVI cables, and DisplayPort and Digital Visual Interface. While the devices or sources are DVD players, Blu Ray Disc players and computers.
To learn more about these connections, you can read the article computer accessories.
On the other hand, HDCP owes its origin to the need for companies to prevent content from being copied without their permission, or from being recorded without losing the original quality.
In short, HDCP is a technological tool or blocking system that tries to prevent content piracy, through the establishment of certain codes, both public and private.
To understand a little more about what what is HDCPThen we will see some other related aspects.
How It Works
In the first place, for an audio or video to be reproduced, a source or reader is needed, for example, some type of digital content player or a computer, and a system where said content can be viewed, which is usually a television.
In particular, the source must be connected to the screen via an HDMI or DVI cable with HDCP, so that the corresponding code comparison can be carried out.
Then, if the source recognizes the HDCP connection on the other device, it allows the signal to be played through encryption of the sent data. Thus, only compatible devices can be connected.
Finally, if a cable or device is not HDCP compliant, the system will generate some kind of error, such as one of the following:
An HDMI input is not available on the audio system. There is no sound from the audio system. Despite the existence of a connection, the transmission of the signal is not possible. Neither the display system nor the audio system works, even when they are turned on.
Terms of use
As it is a licensed tool, in order to use it, certain considerations must be taken into account:
First, the user must pay an annual fee and accept the conditions of the license contract.
Among the requirements that are imposed on the user as part of the acceptance of the terms, those concerning the commitment that they must have to prevent the teams from copying the contents, as well as ensuring their protection, predominate.
Although the HDCP interface is optional, the equipment that will receive the content is required to support this technology.
Disadvantages
Despite the good intentions of HDCP, it has several drawbacks. Among them, the following stand out:
It presents frequent failures in the reproduction of contents, mainly due to the use of HDMI cables.
Sometimes there is incompatibility between computers and devices. for example, between a new TV and an old DVD player. This causes content playback to hang.
Sometimes, especially if the equipment is new, the communication between them is unsuccessful, which causes the screen to blacken. When this happens it is necessary to change the order of switching on the devices several times.
It is not possible to reproduce the same image on multiple displays at the same time, unless an HDMI switch is installed to avoid incompatibilities of the image input device with the output systems.
On the other hand, this technology is easy to decipher. That is, the lock code that you use as protection is vulnerable.
Due to this vulnerability, it is possible to clone any device just by knowing its public key. In addition, passwords can be cracked and identities exploited.