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That blurb by the end about having to implement it in hardware seems silly to me - surely there are software blueray players, right?

There might even be a market for an open source one, like there are open source dvd players, and they would be able to decrypt these movies using this key.




they would be able to decrypt these movies using this key.

Actually, no.

Movies are encrypted using AACS or BD+ on the actual blu-ray disc. The player decrypts the disc and re-encrypts it for HDCP, which it will only do if it establishes a valid HDCP handshake with whatever device is plugged into its HDMI/DVI/DisplayPort port. For a software Blu-Ray player, the HDCP handshake is delegated to the graphics card, and the player software will refuse to run unless the operating system guarantees that the handshake has taken place.

For an open source Blu-Ray player, you need the AACS/BD+ keys (which do periodically turn up, and then get changed on the next batch of discs), not HDCP.


Actually, BD+ and AACS have been circumvented time and again by various people and tools. But regardless, breaking HDCP means we can access the digital uncompressed/unencrypted signal and manipulate it at will, as opposed to relying on the analog hole.


Thanks to your comment, I am now wiser and have seen my errors.

/me Bows




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