High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) for instructors
- Jacqueline Kort Mascort (Deactivated)
High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) is a form of copy protection that is written into some digital content, including DVDs, Blu-Ray discs, and media from streaming services (e.g., Netflix, Hulu). HDCP is designed to prevent protected materials from playing on unauthorized devices and to block the duplication of protected content.
Audiovisual (AV) equipment, including classroom computers, monitors, laptops, connectors (e.g., HDMI, DVI, DisplayPort), and Blu-Ray or DVD players, must be HDCP compliant to properly display protected digital content. For example, if you use a non-HDCP compliant adaptor/dongle to connect your laptop and television, you may receive an error message when trying to stream a movie. This issue may also occur if you use the same adaptor/dongle to connect your laptop to a classroom AV system.
The use of HDCP compliant equipment increases the likelihood that you can present protected content without incident. However, there are currently no HDCP compliant recording devices of any kind, including McGill’s Lecture Recording System (LRS).
At McGill, some users have been unsuccessful in presenting different types of materials; both copy-protected and unprotected.
In this article:
Issues related to HDCP
Copy-protected materials
All equipment within a classroom AV system must be HDCP compliant in order to play copy-protected materials. At McGill, this applies to most systems with HDMI connections. Conversely, older analog AV systems - where HDMI is converted from VGA - are generally not HDCP compliant. As a result, video signals may be “stripped”, resulting in several potential outcomes:
The entire video is blacked out
Portions of the video are blacked out
The video is intermittently blacked out every few seconds
If all equipment is HDCP compliant, then copy-protected materials will play within the classroom. However, HDCP does not allow the video to be captured by the Lecture Recording System.
Unprotected materials
Some manufacturers (notably Apple) have changed the way their devices react when connected to an HDCP compliant system, including those classroom AV systems with HDMI connections. For example, Apple devices that are connected to these systems will automatically encrypt video content, even when it's not copy protected. The video will play within the classroom, however, it will not be captured by the Lecture Recording System.
Adaptors or dongles
You may be required to use an adaptor (e.g., HDMI to USB-C) to connect your device to the classroom AV system. In this case, your adaptor must also be HDCP compliant in order to properly display video. Ensure that an adaptor is HDCP compliant before purchasing it from an online retailer (e.g., Amazon) or traditional retail store, or contact McGill's AV Loans for more information.
NCS-AVS is currently testing a variety of adapters to update the list of products recommended for use with McGill’s AV systems. At this time, we recommend Apple’s USB-C to HDMI adapter (even for PC laptops), as it avoids the issue described above.
Read more:
Apple accessories (Apple store)
Partial solutions to HDCP issues
HDCP compliance is an ongoing challenge for many within the higher education community, especially as there is no allowance for legitimate and licensed use of copy-protected materials.
In the interim, NCS-AVS (in collaboration with TLS) has elected to disable HDCP compliance for the laptop input (i.e., HDMI) in classrooms that are equipped with the Lecture Recording System. Consequently, the LRS can properly capture all unprotected content displayed by your device, including lecture slides and any media that is not copy protected (e.g., some YouTube videos). However, because the laptop input is no longer considered HDCP compliant, copy-protected materials are blocked from that input and cannot be played in the classroom, nor are they recorded by the LRS.
You can still present copy-protected materials via the Podium PC input, but they will not be captured by the Lecture Recording System.
HDCP and other services
Wireless presentation
The wireless connection application used in some classrooms (Crestron AirMedia) does not support the presentation of copy-protected content. Copy-protected materials will not play over the wireless connection, nor will they be captured by the Lecture Recording System.
Zoom
Zoom is HDCP compliant. Copy-protected materials are not visible to students who attend class via Zoom, even when you share your screen. Similarly, Zoom will not record copy-protected content.