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View Full Version : Question on DRM/HDCP for a new monitor


Trail
February 9th, 2009, 01:55 PM
Greetings,

I am interested in buying a new 27' TV/Monitor (http://www.e-shop.gr/show_per.phtml?id=PER.169353), mostly for the monitor aspect (and watching movies through the PC (linux)).

What worries me a little is the HDCP aspect of the story. After a couple of hours of reading the web, my understanding is that the picture denial/degradation is always originating from the transmitter (namely my PC). So if the source is sending unencrypted signal, the monitor shouldn't reject the input and display it normally. Is that correct?

All i want to do is use the monitor normally as a standard desktop monitor, without all that HDCP crap. There's no chance in hell I'll ever buy a 'premium content' movie or whatever, since i'm against it, so playing such things does not interest me one bit.

Could anyone more knowledgeable than me confirm that a HDCP-compliant monitor does not *require* encrypted streams but merely accepts them? It should display a Xorg 1920x1080 desktop without problems, right?
SunnyRabbiera
February 9th, 2009, 02:04 PM
I personally dont think it will matter, it should work
jespdj
February 9th, 2009, 02:13 PM
A monitor that supports HDCP does not require an encrypted signal and works just like a normal monitor. You do not need to worry about HDCP.
Trail
February 9th, 2009, 03:48 PM
Thank you.
glotz
February 9th, 2009, 04:15 PM
All i want to do is use the monitor normally as a standard desktop monitor, without all that HDCP crap. There's no chance in hell I'll ever buy a 'premium content' movie or whatever, since i'm against it, so playing such things does not interest me one bit.By buying a HDCP monitor you support the DRM scheme. The resellers pay an annual license fee (http://www.digital-cp.com/files/static_page_files/D6724AFD-9B02-A253-D8D2FE5B1A10F7F7/HDCP_License_Agreement_082207.pdf). Dunno if you can get a non-HDCP hardware but since you say you're against this DRM (like me) I suggest you still review your options.
Trail
February 11th, 2009, 08:44 AM
I did look through a bunch of specs for similar monitors, but all of the ones I saw had HDCP so I gave up. As far as I read, licensing HDCP is quite cheap for a vendor (with this pricerange in mind), so I guess if I were a vendor I'd think it was a marketing suicide not to include it in a new technology monitor. And it is apparently a requirement for some consumers (which is of course, stupid, but oh well...).

In any case, the monitor is working well :)