The link mentions that to produce a HDCP-compatible device (eg one that has an HDMI port) it needs to be licensed, pay an annual fee, and make promises to frustrate DRM-mitigation efforts.
If I wanted to make my own monitor with a VGA input (or, more practically, pipe the signals coming from VGA into a program that does something with the feed) I would just have to find a suitable adapter and receive the serial data.
Does this mean that doing so with HDMI (either the real-world DIY monitor, or the in-software feed-ingestion program) would be:
A) Difficult/time-consuming to write due to a lack of open drivers B) Run afoul of IP laws pertaining to the HDMI standard and get me sued C) Prevented by the cryptographic handshake that happens between an approved display and the output drivers D) All of the above?
For HDMI, specifically:
A is true, as HDMI requires a pretty ugly IP core on an fpga or an asic to process or produce the phy.
B is also true, as to sell a device with an HDMI port you have to join the group and pay fees. If you're just hacking stuff together for personal use I think you're A-okay here.
C is true ONLY in the case of HDCP protected content, as that handshake does not occur for unprotected content or HDMI 1.0
Also, side note, VGA uses analog R/G/B channels so if you want to pipe signals into the program you'd need an ADC to get useful values from it, and a pretty fast one depending on your resolution.
And government is even more straight forward. Media companies/individuals donate lots of money to campaigns, and there's a typical unspoken quid quo pro. They donate getting politicians into office and hire some lobbyists who know how to get those politicians what they want. In turn, those politicians then pass the media company's legislation. Like much of what the government does, the motivation is not a holistic effort to create a better country but an individual effort to get elected or reelected.
Hahah, come to think of it - it emphasizes that governments and capitalism suffer from the exact same problem. Capitalism works great when people put out good products and look to get rewarded for doing so. And similarly governments work great when politicians do good stuff and look to get rewarded for it. Things only get really messed up when companies start with the goal of making money instead of making a good product. And similarly, politics gets messed up when politicians start with the goal of getting [re]elected instead of creating good legislation. Because in both cases what makes the most money is not necessarily the best product, and what gets you reelected is not necessarily the most beneficial legislation.
You better believe some "HDCP-certified 2.0" badge or whatever is on every hdtv and gpu you find at best buy. I wonder if the engineers on hdcp 1.0 knew how fast it would get cracked, but they knew that would just let them sell another round of hardware for the 2nd version.
Inputting any pulse-based high-frequency signal is more difficult, be it VGA or Ethernet or HDMI.
Also, old keys are frequently phased out, with new media requiring newer keys for playback.
Yes. It will require a soft/firmware update, which won't be available if the device has widely known vulnerabilities which cannot be software patched that would allow for key extraction. HDPC is not limited to physical sources.
Probably won't be available full stop. Very few devices ever get manufacturer updates - they're all focussed on just making a new version of the device.
If it's still in warranty, sometimes they'll take it back for a refund.
(I wonder if the same people who are up in arms about China's lax IP laws and massive product counterfeiting realise that it's the same country, the same culture, the same mentality which allows them to easily produce these devices that actually fight for your freedom to consume content.)