HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection)
HDCP or High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection was developed by the Digital Content Protection company (a part of Intel) to prevent the unauthorised copying of digital multimedia content. It is one of various kinds of Digital Rights Management (DRM) in use today.
HDCP is a mandatory part of HDMI connections, and is also supported (though rarely implemented) by the DVI connector.
How it works
Digital content is encrypted just before (or inside) the DVI or HDMI transmitter chip in the source component (e.g. a Blu-ray or HD DVD player or digital set-top box) and decrypted just after (or inside) the DVI or HDMI receiver chip in the TV or projector. HDCP also verifies that the TV or projector is licensed to receive encrypted content. Re-authentication occurs approximately every two seconds to continuously confirm the security of the DVI or HDMI interface. If someone disconnects the source DVD player or set-top box and connects a recording device the source component ends transmission of the encrypted content.
If a device's encryption/decryption keys have been compromised, the HDCP licensing administrator places the compromised device on a revocation list carried by System Renewability Messages (SRMs). SRMs are passed on to devices via prerecorded or broadcasted content, or received from another compliant device. Thus, once a device has been compromised, it will eventually no longer be able to send or receive encrypted content.
Want to know more?
To learn more, visit the Digital Content Protection company.