# DirecTV Department of Customer Prevention turns on HDCP DRM



## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

> Want to watch your HBO subscription on DirecTV over HDMI? Good luck with that. Without any proactive customer outreach, DirecTV rolled out a misguided anti-piracy update last week that now requires an encrypted connection between the set-top and television to view HBO. In theory only very old HDTVs lack this 'HDMI Copy Protection' (HDCP). However, DirecTV's implementation appears flaky as some newer, capable sets are also impacted and no longer able to display HBO over HDMI. DirecTV's response to customers: switch to component cables.
> http://boingboing.net/2012/04/19/directv-turns-on-drm-breaks-p.html#disqus_thread


Or cancel DirecTV and get the shows for free.


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

It's not just DirecTV. More and more content owners, like HBO Networks, are requiring that HDCP be enabled. Get used to it.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

it happened with directv 2pc years ago...


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## joed32 (Jul 9, 2005)

Why in the world would Directv care, it's HBO!


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

I had no idea there were TVs that supported HDMI but not HDCP!


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

There are a lot of older TVs that support HDMI but their HDCP implementation is buggy. This is the cause of a lot of compatibility issues.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

Even with NEW HDTVs, HDMI is a SNAFU. You'll occasionally or more often have cases where you have a blank screen. It's intended to drive you nuts, and for the less informed, to call for support and repair and waste money, when power cycling, yes, REBOOTING your TV will fix it. I wonder how many support techs and repair outfits laugh when "the problem went away all by itself," acting like the customer is nuts.

*HDCP is a built-in by design DEFECT* that the consumers pay for - over nad over - and it serves NO consumers.


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## rhuntington3 (May 1, 2001)

I have not noticed any problems with my setup.


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## curiousgeorge (Nov 28, 2002)

litzdog911 said:


> It's not just DirecTV. More and more content owners, like HBO Networks, are requiring that HDCP be enabled. Get used to it.


And the stupid part is HDCP can be defeated with widely available boxes that spoof handshaking that cost less than $50. This action, once again, only hurts legitimate customers, not pirates.


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

curiousgeorge said:


> And the stupid part is HDCP can be defeated with widely available boxes that spoof handshaking that cost less than $50. This action, once again, only hurts legitimate customers, not pirates.


Agreed. It's very stupid.


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

I'm sure this was implemented as part of a contractual agreement with the content providers...

Too bad they didn't consult anyone about that new ad they're running with a customer blowing up an attorney's home, either...it just ran on Comedy Central while I was typing this...


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

netringer said:


> It's intended to drive you nuts, and for the less informed, to call for support and repair and waste money


Please. Support calls cost the manufacturer.



> _*HDCP is a built-in by design DEFECT* that the consumers pay for - over nad over - and it serves NO consumers._


It's consumer-hostile by design, yes, built only to serve/placate Hollywood. But it _is_ actually meant to work.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

wmcbrine said:


> Please. Support calls cost the manufacturer.


I wonder how many Rupees / hour they pay the support personel?



wmcbrine said:


> It's consumer-hostile by design, yes, built only to serve/placate Hollywood. But it _is_ actually meant to work.


Well, that's reassuring.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

There is a benefit to HDCP - it encouraged content providers to make programming available through new methods, such as BluRay and HD downloads. Without it, you might not have all the HD content you enjoy today.


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## lrhorer (Aug 31, 2003)

stevel said:


> There is a benefit to HDCP - it encouraged content providers to make programming available through new methods, such as BluRay and HD downloads. Without it, you might not have all the HD content you enjoy today.


I don't buy BluRay discs and I don't download HD content. I have little intertest in the vast majority of the programming that has been made available via new methods. How is HDCP a benefit for me?


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

It may not be a benefit to you, it is to others.


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## MikeAndrews (Jan 17, 2002)

stevel said:


> There is a benefit to HDCP - it encouraged content providers to make programming available through new methods, such as BluRay and HD downloads. Without it, you might not have all the HD content you enjoy today.


BS. What encouraged more HD content was that it sells, and gave the industry yet another way to get paid for the same content again.

That argument is pure propaganda, as is that piracy is costing them a fortune. Joe Six Pack doesn't where how to get pirated content.

The MPAA loves harassing the very consumer who choose to pay them -*with unskippable warnings and previews on purchased DVDs, HDCP,and PSA telling the paying audience at the movie theater that they need to pay for movies.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

I disagree that it is "pure propaganda". You are welcome to believe otherwise. I make no statements about piracy.


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## litzdog911 (Oct 18, 2002)

It doesn't really matter what we think about HDCP. Hollywood obviously likes it and is insisting on service providers like DirecTV to begin using it. Only an act of Congress could change this, and that's not likely.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

Actually, the issue here is the "Image Constraint Token" (ICT), which if present, enforces the HDCP-only connection. Congress blocked content providers from requiring ICT be set for several years, but that expired.


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## hpb (Sep 29, 2000)

curiousgeorge said:


> And the stupid part is HDCP can be defeated with widely available boxes that spoof handshaking that cost less than $50. This action, once again, only hurts legitimate customers, not pirates.


I guess it's time to get the $50 dollar box just to prevent having any problems accessing the content I'M PAYING FOR!


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## hpb (Sep 29, 2000)

BTW

http://www.hdfury.com/


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## LoREvanescence (Jun 19, 2007)

stevel said:


> There are a lot of older TVs that support HDMI but their HDCP implementation is buggy. This is the cause of a lot of compatibility issues.


Exactly, I have a 5 year old sharp and it is buggy as hell.

My blu-ray player with cut to a black screen and lose audio, come back with no audio, then cut to a black screen and return with audio. Total loss of about 10 to 20 seconds of the movie you are watching and does it once or twice a film.

My TiVo does it a few times a day as well, only instead of a black screen I get that HDMI Connection Not Permitted message. Same symptoms with the audio though.

I contacted SHARP and their only recommendation is buy a new TV, There are no firmware updates for my model and my model does not have the capability of updating the firmware as it has no USB port.

To make things worse, the tivo not only does this on COX Cable, but with OTA as well. Not just my premiere, my series 3 did it on software version 11, no issues on version 9x


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## Chris Gerhard (Apr 27, 2002)

Adam1115 said:


> I had no idea there were TVs that supported HDMI but not HDCP!


I believe HDCP predates HDMI and there should be no HDTV with HDMI that doesn't support HDCP but a poor implemention of HDCP can create serious issues. It is rare and I have never seen it personally and I have a 2004 HDTV but I know it happens.


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## stevel (Aug 23, 2000)

I was astonished to read that it is possible to have an HDMI implementation without HDCP, but the HDMI licensing structure makes it unlikely that any consumer equipment vendors took that route.

My 2006 Sony SXRD set had a buggy HDCP implementation - it would accept a feed directly from my HR10-250 but not from my brand new Sony AV receiver. Sony replaced the TV and it has been fine ever since.


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## mdougie (Mar 9, 2009)

I have a 4 or 5 year old sharp. I have Direct TV, Xbox 360 and a blue ray all hooked up through separate HDMI cables, and have never seen any hint of the the problems mentioned here.


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## Adam1115 (Dec 15, 2003)

So why is it DirecTVs fault that your TV manufacturer did a crappy job implementing HDCP?


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## NorthAlabama (Apr 19, 2012)

mdougie said:


> I have...never seen any hint of the the problems mentioned here.


i have to second this...i have a samsung crt hdtv, a samsung led hd monitor, a mitsubishi projection dlp hdtv, an entry level samsung blu-ray, a sony 3d blu-ray, 2 directv hd-dvrs, a tivo premiere xl, and a sony home entertainment receiver, they have all been mixed and matched at one point or another, and have never experienced any hdmi or hdcp compatibility issues in over 5 years...


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