Monday, January 16, 2012

Illegal receiver down field

You might recall that I tried to hook up my DVD player to my videoconferencing system so I could watch Netflix.  It worked great playing the DVD on my laptop and piping it to the Video monitor.  Going from the DVD player to the video unit resulted in nothing but a blank screen.  The reason is copy protection.

You see, the DVD player uses an HDMI output, which uses HDCP copy protection.  The video unit uses DVI.  No copy protection.

(Image source)
The DVD player didn't get a copy protection handshake, so the screen was blank.  Dark.  No output.

Copy protection was implemented so that content providers and hardware manufactures could offer me a far better video experience than I could get over analog composite cable.  So far, I'm digging this user experience.

So I guess I'll run over to Good Will, which has a bunch of old tube TVs for $20.

The whole experience, quite frankly, has put me right off all the "content" that I can't see.  Maybe I won't bother replacing the TV.  Screw 'em.

11 comments:

  1. ZerCoolJanuary 16, 2012 at 8:12 PM

    Don't know if prices are national, but Target here has a 32" LCD for $219. Just sayin'.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AlanJanuary 16, 2012 at 8:40 PM

    HDCP is evil.

    Handbreak is your friend.

    ReplyDelete
  3. The Czar of MuscovyJanuary 16, 2012 at 8:45 PM

    HDCP was developed by the MPAA, which was integral in getting HD television out for just this reason.

    The MPAA is also behind SOPA. Remember: the MPAA are jackasses who assume you're a dirtbag without any evidence.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnarchAngelJanuary 16, 2012 at 10:25 PM

    Actually, almost every DVI device made in the last few years supports HDCP as well.

    The problem is, most DVI adapters, and many DVI switches don't.

    You have to buy a dual link DVI adapter, that explicitly tells you it supports HDCP; and you need to use a reputable manufacturer.

    Even then, some of them are just wonky.

    I was actually going to comment on this yesterday, but it seemed like you had solved your problem.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnarchAngelJanuary 16, 2012 at 10:26 PM

    Oh and of course, you may have one of the oddball DVI devices that doesn't support HDCP.

    It'll probably be in the product specs.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Old NFOJanuary 16, 2012 at 10:28 PM

    That sucks...

    ReplyDelete
  7. BorepatchJanuary 16, 2012 at 10:50 PM

    Chris, the problem is that I'm trying to connect it to a corporate video conferencing device (I have one here in FOB Borepatch). It just plain doesn't support HDCP.

    Seems like there's no demand from the Fortune 100 for HDCP ...

    ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnarchAngelJanuary 16, 2012 at 11:04 PM

    Actually, most of the newer ones DO support HDCP, because a lot of output devices won't output signals at over 1600x1200 without it.

    Unfortunately, most doesn't mean all.

    ReplyDelete
  9. BorepatchJanuary 16, 2012 at 11:06 PM

    The shoemaker's children, Chris. ;-)

    It's pretty nice to be able to video with the family in Atlanta, but it's on gear I scrounged.

    That said, I seem to be turning into a Luddite the more I'm exposed to "cool new technology".

    The RIAA can all die screaming in a fire.

    ReplyDelete
  10. RuthJanuary 17, 2012 at 8:33 AM

    quote:
    The RIAA can all die screaming in a fire.

    yah, totally.

    ReplyDelete
  11. NorthJanuary 17, 2012 at 10:43 AM

    If it were up to the RIAA and others of their ilk you would pay for a movie that you "bought" every time that you play it.



    WV: torilly. Nothing to mention about that word, other than it came up in the auto-fill-in. So I've used that WV before. I guess eventually these things do repeat.

    ReplyDelete

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