HDCP: The graphic card and monitor nightmare. (page 3: HDCP from the monitors point of view)

HDCP from the monitors point of view

To see HD content, your monitor will have to be eligible. It intends that all elements be HDCP certified. Rule number 1: the player and the graphic card have to be HDCP. Either there won´t be anything displayed at all, or the image will have a lower quality.

In fact, it seems that if the monitor isn´t HDCP certified, the media will have to choose what to do. This is explained in a document provided by Microsoft, who is of course associated to this protection. The document describes the role of each element and addresses recommendations to content providers on the rules to apply. The recommendations vary according to the interface:

DVI (numeric)

We could have believed that for DVI and DVI +HDCP, the big players would have been generous enough to let the movie play. It isn´t our fault if the manufacturer hasn´t included this certification…

It is in fact the opposite. Microsoft emphasizes that DVI without HDCP protection is the dream interface to copy. The signal is easier to decode and the copy would be perfect because it would be numerical. The recommended attitude is thus the most extreme, a black screen. And for those who refuse to completely shut off access, Microsoft recommends dividing the resolution by 2 (height and width) with a slightly fuzzy image on top AND a "polite message" as they say, which explains that security requirements aren´t respected. This degraded quality would only last a moment, to let the user read the message, and then turn to black. Ouch!

HDMI (numeric)

This video input is for now restricted to flat TVs (LCD, plasma) and high end projectors. This year, some graphic cards and motherboards for living room computers will begin to have some. Microsoft explains here that the problem is the same as the above, because this interface is simply based on the DVI. Sound, also numeric, is added to the signal. Recommendations are the same.

VGA (analog)

This is the most common input to connect a computer to a monitor. The signal transferred is a standard RGB. It is impossible to include a protection to this signal and because of the successive conversion it is less clean than DVI. For now, Microsoft says that the best, because of the massive implementation of this interface in computers and monitors, isn´t to block the signal but reduce the video resolution to 520 K at best, 960 x 540 pixels instead of 1920 x 1080. (We remind you that: DVD = 720 x 576p = 415 K EU, or 720 x 480p = 346 K US).It would be poorer than the true HD, but slightly better than current DVDs.
They have also pointed out that some editors will choose the blacked out monitor even if consumers will be certainly discontented.

The question now is when will monitors include HDCP compatibility? Here is the bad news. Most of our contacts in French subsidiaries in France have never heard of this norm and can´t give us any information. This even if they sell monitors designed for video editing…

Out of the X number of monitors tested last year two were HDCP, the ViewSonic VP231WB and Samsung SyncMaster 242MP. It isn´t much…. There are other monitors compatible of course but it is still a tiny minority.