HDCP: what is it? Easily explained
The abbreviation HDCP often occurs in connection with copy protection. In this article we explain what HDCP is, what the abbreviation stands for and how it works.
What is HDCP? - A definition of the term
HDCP is an abbreviation and stands for "High-bandwith Digital Content Protection". Translated this means "protection of high bandwidth digital content".
HDCP: Required for HD devices
- The film industry has enforced HDCP as a requirement for all HD devices. HDCP prevents copying and recording in high resolution quality via digital image connections.
- The system was developed by Intel in 2003.
How does HDCP work? Simplified explained
Take a Blu-ray Disc as an example: The digital contents of the disc are encrypted with AES128 with a 128-bit key. The key is considered secure, but has also been hacked.
- The key part on the disc is called "Media Key Block". So that the playback device can decrypt the data, the other part of the key, the "Device Key Block", is stored on the device.
- Broadcasters generally still broadcast unencrypted. However, that should change in the next few years. Then all content will be broadcast encrypted.
What is HDCP 2.2?
The newer copy protection HDCP 2.2 has been available since 2015.
- This encryption has been optimized for 4K content. And here is the problem: HDCP 2.2 is not backwards compatible with the older HDCP 1.x encryption.
- In order to play films in 4K format, all devices used must be able to process this encryption.
- For example, if you want to play 4K content, various components in the playback chain can play a role.
- This can be the Blu-Ray player, the satellite receiver or the TV stick that passes the content on to the TV. The monitor, graphics card and game console are also affected.
- If only one component in this chain does not support the HDCP 2.2 standard, you cannot play 4K content. The result is that the screen remains black.
- By the way, such an encryption brake can also be a soundbar that you connect and through which the signal is looped.
- If only the playback source supports HDCP 2.2, but your TV only supports the older HDCP 1.x, you can bypass the copy protection using a bidirectional HDCP converter, which you can interpose.
In the next practical tip we will explain what spoofing is.