HDCP protection is now activated. Consequences... (page 2: Blu-Ray, HD-DVD discs and digital inputs)

Blu-Ray, HD-DVD discs and digital inputs

Whether it is for computers or DVD players, to have a good digital image (HDMI, DVI) with HD media the entire line should be HDCP certified.

For the computer, this concerns the:

- graphic card: Officially, cards based on ATI and Nvidia chips have been capable of supporting HDCP protection for years…if the manufacturer adds the required component. This is something that they started doing very recently. If your card is more than 6 months old, it’s very much likely that it won’t be compatible. Today, this support is more and more widespread, but it’s now imperative you verify each time you buy a graphic card.

- the display : the monitor or LCD TV has to feature a DVI or HDMI input (CRT’s are all analog). We remind you that the presence of a DVI or HDMI input doesn’t automatically guarantee compatibility. Another thing to verify before purchase.

As soon as we made sure we had compatibility, tests quickly showed interesting results. Connection with digital input and a PS3, HD player and a non HDCP monitor whether in HDMI or DVI systematically resulted in a black screen. Only one LG 17” monitor indicated that the frequency wasn’t supported and it was completely lost.

With the computer, starting a movie with a non HDCP monitor in DVI or HDMI result in the following error window:

translation: impossible to activate HDCP. Please use an analog input (VGA, D-sub) and try again[…].
The other possible error is when the graphic card isn’t HDCP compatible. This time, the message is not as easy to understand. Cyberlink’s error analyzer says that the driver version isn’t the right one and we had installed the latest version available from Nvidia (Forceware 93.71). The confusion in our case came from the fact that the software detected the presence of the GeForce 6600, and only some of these cards are HDCP. Therefore, we had this inexplicit error message:

We faced two other interesting and slightly disappointing situations. The Panasonic player and PS3 console are also subject to HDCP protection when the signal is digital regardless of the media inserted. With games and movies (even DVDs) there is no understandable reason to protect these media with HDCP, but they also end up being affected. Protection starts from the beginning with the menus and no HDCP on the display, means no possible adjustment in HDMI/DVI.