What is DVI-D “HDCP”?
“HDCP” was developed to protect the intellectual property of software/movie studios and distributors. It stands for “High Definition Content Protection”, and is a digital code buried within the bitstream which is output from the digital source. This prevents unauthorised copying of protected materials, much like Macrovision did for analogue recordings. Only since the introduction of this standard have hardware manufacturers been allowed to offer DVI-D or HDMI outputs on their DVD players, High Definition TV tuners etc. Any device which bears the label “HDCP” simply means that it is complaint with the requirements. It does not change the output signal in terms of quality, it only refers to the additional code which it contains. DVI-D was originally used exclusively in the IT realm, but the introduction of HDCP saw it evolve into the AV industry. HDMI was then introduced after the HDCP standard was released, hence all HDMI products are now HDCP compliant (and don’t necessarily say so).
