Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

HDCP compatibility with 5,1 Mac Pro

P

pertusis1

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 25, 2010
455
161
Texas
I have just encountered the issue with HDCP on my Mac Pro. I have a 5,1 with a MVC modified 7970 video card. I use a 30" ACD, connected by dual-link DVI, which I love.

Last night, however, I downloaded an iTunes movie (Star Wars, A New Hope). Today, I sat down to watch it, and my computer tells me that my monitor is not HDCP compliant. I tried looking in the macrumors forums, and did not find a solution, and online searches didn't yield anything helpful either. A search of the iTunes Store TERMS AND CONDITIONS yielded only:

"(viii) An HDCP connection is required to view movies transmitted over HDMI."

http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/volume/jpen/terms.html

I tried to download the SD version of the movie, but it doesn't allow me to because iTunes says that it is 'downloading'. (owing to my very slow internet speeds out here in the sticks, a 5GB file takes as long as 30 hours.

Does anyone have a good solution to this? It may seem odd, but I don't have a TV, and I was hoping to not buy one. Also, I'd like to not give up my ACD.

Thanks for any advice.
 
I don't mean to bump this after only a few hours, but I would be interested to know if anyone else even has this problem.
 
I believe that the Apple 30" Cinema Display is NOT HDCP compliant, as you suspect. A quick Google search revealed many discussions regarding this, and ask SIRI also returned several links. All components in the video delivery chain must be HDCP compliant in order to play protected content. It appears most 7970 video cards I found were compliant (you didn't mention which brand you had), but the 30" ACD seems to probably be the problem. You might try to borrow a known HDCP compliant monitor and try it again just to verify. I didn't follow down any of the discussion threads to determine if anyone had a hardware/software "fix" for this issue, but I would be surprised if there was a simple way around HDCP handshake in the monitor.

Good luck ...
 
How about try to play it headless just to verify if it's not GPU problem?

I never try it so I don't knot if it works or not?
 
Thank you all for the suggestions. Because I don't have a TV, the 'headless' option doesn't really help me. As you pointed out, my 30" ACD is simply not compatible with this copyright protection. I was able to download the non-HD version, and I'll just watch that.

Add this thread to the growing list of folks more sad than angry at the direction Apple has taken the company. I'll definitely be buying this sort of media in physical form from now on.
 
I blame the content owners and movie studios for the HDCP nonsense, not Apple. I think this played a role in why Apple never included Blu-ray drives in any Macs.
 
I agree with you, pastry chef, but I just wish this issue was more transparent.

hfg said:
I found this interesting (from back in 2008):

http://www.cultofmac.com/4836/macbook-owners-enraged-as-apple-blocks-some-displays/
Click to expand...

Fascinating article. I can't believe this issue is 7 years old. The fact that nobody really cares about it is telling...

Maybe I should go pick up one of those Macbook Wheel laptops to be caught up with modern times. (reference to one of my favorite Onion News Network pieces)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back