As the AV industry has grown in stature and capabilities a key driver behind its momentum has been an ever increasing flexibility, greater integration possibilities and removing limitations and barriers.
The integration industry thrives off the willing of the manufacturing industry to open up, standardise and create possibilities; it is the manufacturers who make the trick, but the integrator who sells the magic and mystery.
One recent(ish) development that tried to impact AV was the HDCP 2.2 Pro standard, a standard designed to protect content integrity but simultaneously creating restriction, complexity and distraction.
We’re not saying that HDCP 2.2 Pro isn’t useful for point-to-point AV solutions, encoder/decoder pair solutions; it has use in that kind of deployment. But does it have any place with genuine IP video and media content distribution? To IPTV? How can it?
HDCP 2.2 Pro requires compliant cabling, installers and restricts number of end points; IP video streaming incorporates the desktop and mobile, has no AV cabling, requires no physical installation and lives and dies off the need to deliver to unlimited numbers of end points.
Our CTO, Dr. Peter Martin recently authored and released a white paper detailing some of the challenges of HDCP 2.2 Pro; please do download, it’s free and very informative.
What tells a stark tale is the fact that the really big players in the IP video streaming industry haven’t adopted HDCP 2.2 Pro; it puts up walls where our solutions are designed to tear them down.
When HDCP 2.2 Pro limits endpoint numbers to 1,000 how can an integrator deliver a 2,000 screen stadium, retail deployment or desktop video solution whilst also maintaining unified control from a single management interface?
You can’t with HDCP 2.2 Pro, but you can with conventional content protection, encryption and true DRM; it has worked to date and will continue to protect client and broadcaster content.
HDCP 2.2 Pro and AV are a pairing that might work on paper, but in the IPTV and video streaming field they couldn’t be more of a mismatch.
