Simon wrote:
On 2/20/07, James Richard Tyrer <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Simon wrote:
There's no way they'll give OGP a license. The only way to make
the system even somewhat hard to crack is to have closed source
drivers for the hardware, so that nobody can make an alternative
driver that outputs video in the clear.
This is an interesting theory. However, as I read the license
requirements, such a system would not pass the test for robustness.
My point is that as a prerequisite to meeting the requirements, the
drivers and hardware would presumably have to be closed. I didn't
mean that being closed would be enough, in itself, just that open
hardware would certainly not be able to meet their requirements as I
understand them.
My was that if software running on the computer can turn off HDCP for a
video card that the card would not meet the requirements. If software
can't turn it off, then the software does not need to be closed.
So, closed software is neither necessary nor sufficient to meet the
requirements. If that is the case, there is no reason that we could not
produce a board that could be licensed.
Apparently Wikipedia mentions the sale of devices that transparently
crack HDCP,
These don't crack it; they use legal HDMI chips.
and cites a paper from 2001 that concludes that it is fully
crackable. This would imply that those who really want to solve this
problem can work around it with external hardware, though it would be
weird, using external hardware to negotiate an encrypted link between
the graphics card and the monitor.
I don't know if these devices are legal but they appear to be made under
license. However those currently available strip HDCP off of a HDMI or
DVI signal so that it can be used with a monitor that doesn't support
it. There is no reason that the opposite couldn't be done and that
should be perfectly legal. However the devices are currently rather
expensive.
I really don't think display manufacturers would collectively choose
to not manufacture any displays capable of displaying high res
digital input without HDCP.
I agree that they would only do this if the license required it.
Like I said, if it does happen, it's too sneaky not to end up in
court, so it's not really OGP's problem, specifically.
There have been reports of TVs that won't accept a HD signal over HDMI
unless it is HDCP encoded. As I said previously, we need to find out if
this is true.
--
JRT
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