DRM Prevents AppleTV From Working On Some Hardware
from the thank-you,-DRM dept
Kevin Stapp writes "The infinite wisdom of the entertainment industry has decided to place DRM on AppleTV downloads that can make the content incompatible with many hardware configurations. If your hardware doesn't support HDCP you can't watch content you legitimately rented via AppleTV. Now that's a great way to treat a PAYING customer." This seems to happen all too frequently these days. DRM isn't being used to prevent copying, but it sure does make life a lot more difficult for users. Whatever happened to Steve Jobs being against DRM? Oh, right, that was only for music, not video.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Actually, the article is totally accurate...
TFA is accurate...and, the author also points out that one can view the content via the analog hole by using component (analog) connectivity.
To the earlier post that HDMI=HDCP, not exactly. Retailers are selling upconverting DVD players by the truckload. These devices play out existing (standard definition) content via an HDMI port, but do NOT utilize HDCP. Upconverting DVD players have a scaler which takes the original SD DVD (480i on NTSC, 576i on PAL/SECAM) and converts the output to 720p/1080i/1080p for output to a display. The player and the display can be connected via HDMI or DVI, and do *not* require HDCP to function, since the source content is *not* in high definition. Plus, at ~$79 (here in the U.S.) for a decent upconverting DVD player, this was the path of least resistance for the vast majority of consumers prior to Blu-ray emerging victorious in the format war.
So, don't take Apple to task here; this has nothing to do with them. HDCP is a spec developed by Intel, managed by DCP, LLC, and is in place due to the requirements of the content creators (studios). If you have a beef, it's not with the folks making hardware...they're simply following the mandates of the studios.
Add Your Comment