Problems
HDCP can cause problems for users who want to connect multiple screens to a device; for example, a bar with several televisions connected to one satellite receiver or when a user has a closed laptop and uses an external display as their only monitor. HDCP devices can create multiple keys, allowing each screen to operate, but the number varies from device to device; e.g., a Dish or Sky satellite receiver can generate 16 keys. The technology sometimes causes handshaking problems where devices cannot establish a connection, especially with older high-definition displays.
Edward Felten wrote "the main practical effect of HDCP has been to create one more way in which your electronics could fail to work properly with your TV," and concluded in the aftermath of the master key fiasco that HDCP has been "less a security system than a tool for shaping the consumer electronics market."
Additional issues arise with interactive media (i.e. video games) from control latency due to the additional processing (encoding/decoding) required. Further, use cases such as live streaming or capture of game play, are also adversely affected.
Read more about this topic: High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection
Famous quotes containing the word problems:
“If combat means living in a ditch, females have biological problems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections.... Males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes.”
—Newt Gingrich (b. 1943)
“I respect guilt. It is a dangerous but sometimes useful beast. The guilt that made me want to solve all my children’s problems meant trouble. The guilt that made me question my role in our mother-daughter squabbles proved helpful. Yes, I care about my kids’ problems, and I long to make suggestions. But these days I wait for children to ask for help, and I give it sparingly. Some things can’t be fixed, and I tell them so.”
—Susan Ferraro (20th century)
“While the onset of puberty can vary by as much as six years, every adolescent wants to be right on the 50-yard line, right in the middle of the field. One is always too tall, too short, too thin, too fat, too hairy, too clear-skinned, too early, too late. Understandably, problems of self-image are rampant.”
—Joan Lipsitz (20th century)