What is HDCP? |
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| High-Bandwidth Digital
Content Protection (HDCP) is a form of Digital Rights
Management (DRM) developed by Intel Corporation to control
digital audio and video content as it travels across
Digital Visual Interface (DVI) or High-Definition Multimedia
Interface (HDMI) connections. The HDCP specification
is proprietary and an implementation of HDCP requires
a license. |
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| HDCP is licensed by Digital Content Protection,
LLC, a subsidiary of Intel. In addition to paying fees,
licensees agree to limit the capabilities of their products.
For example, High-definition digital video content must
be restricted to DVD quality on non-HDCP compliant video
outputs when requested by the source. DVD-Audio content
is restricted to DAT quality on non-HDCP digital audio
outputs (analog audio outputs have no quality limits).
Licensees cannot allow their devices to make copies of
content, and must design their products to effectively
frustrate attempts to defeat the content protection requirements. |
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| What does this mean to me? |
| There are two main forms of input for display devices
like televisions, monitors and projectors: Digital and
Analog. When an analog input is used, quality is diminished.
When a true digital connection is established, there is
no diminishing of quality. With the rise of DVD and DVR
recording devices, media companies are concerned with
the recording of their products. |
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| Consumers have always been able to record their favorite
television shows with a VCR so what is the big deal now?
When you record an your favorite show with a VCR, you
are recording an analog copy of the show. This has degraded
sound and video quality. |
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| Recording of a true digital copy of your favorite show
would be an EXACT copy of the original media. Why would
you buy the season DVD set, if you could record your own
comparable version? Most people would not. |
