HDCP is an anti-piracy feature built into HDMI that can disrupt your viewing experience and make legally purchased content unwatchable. However, we can help you fix HDCP errors when they arise and get you back to watching your favorite shows as quickly as possible.
What Is HDCP?
HDCP stands for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection, a digital copy protection system developed by Intel and approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FTC). If a single component of your home theater setup (like an AV receiver) isn't HDCP-compliant, chances are you'll see cryptic error codes instead of your favorite movie. HDCP protections might even get in the way when attempting to record or stream your gaming sessions.
You'll encounter HDCP not just on mobile and desktop but also on set-top boxes, smart TVs, gaming consoles, computers, monitors, and even browsers such as Chrome and Safari.
To ensure copyrighted works cannot be recorded during streaming or playback, HDCP is built into today's popular digital video interfaces such as HDMI, DVI, and DisplayPort. As an anti-piracy standard, HDCP enjoys broad support from the biggest players in the industry, including Disney, Warner Brothers, Sony, Panasonic, Samsung, LG, Vizio, and many others.
No matter how you look at it, you need a 100% HDCP-compliant setup to watch HDCP-protected movies and TV shows.
How Does HDCP Work?
Like Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems that lock digital purchases to specific devices, HDCP uses encryption to scramble video before it's sent to a TV. To prevent unauthorized copying, HDCP continually checks throughout the watch session if all devices are HDCP-compliant.
The transmitter (your laptop, Apple TV, Chromecast, etc.) and the receiver (a TV set, projector, etc.) use HDMI handshaking to confirm that protected content can be rendered. The video signal is scrambled before passing through the cable and decrypted on the receiving end.
How Can HDCP Impact Movie Playback?
If the HDMI handshake is unsuccessful, you'll be greeted with an error message like "HDCP ERROR," "ERROR: NON-HDCP OUTPUT," or "HDCP UNAUTHORIZED CONTENT DISABLED," which is prevalent on gaming consoles and set-top boxes, particularly the Roku.
You shouldn't see any errors if all the devices in your home theater setup have HDCP, including the HDMI cable and the TV set.
Troubleshooting Tips to Fix HDCP Errors
HDCP errors are irritating, but there are several ways to fix HDCP errors when they arise. As the first order of business, check all the wirings by disconnecting and reconnecting both sides of the HDMI cable. Reversing the cable ends may help, too.
Your cable may be broken. When cable shopping, don't invest in gold-plated HDMI cables unless you're in a highly corrosive environment. Regular wires will work just fine, but make an effort to read the packaging and make an informed decision.
Restarting all devices in your home theater setup will re-establish the path for HDCP video to travel through, which may fix HDCP errors.
Trying the different HDMI ports on your smart TV is another sound advice, as is checking that the HDCP settings on your TV match the content being streamed. If you can watch an HDCP movie on another TV with the same cable, the HDMI port on your current TV is malfunctioning.
When powering the whole setup, always turn on the TV first and the video source, like a Blu-ray player, last. Disconnect intermediary devices like AV receivers, sound bars, and HDMI extenders (which can be particularly problematic). Does plugging the source directly into the TV's HDMI port work? If so, one of your intermediary devices is the culprit.
Can an HDMI Splitter Resolve HDCP Errors?
If your TV is an outdated model without HDCP compatibility, it's time to invest in a new one or buy an HDMI splitter. Connecting a device like this between the video source, like a Roku Streaming Stick, and your TV can solve HDCP errors by splitting an HDMI signal.
However, the Catch 22 with HDMI splitters is image quality—these things leverage HDCP's Fallback Mode to basically downgrade protected content to a lower resolution so it can be viewed on a non-HDCP device. Instead of a 4K movie, an HDMI splitter will send a 720p or 1080p version to your old tube. For those interested, we've rounded up some of the best HDMI splitters money can buy.
Which HDCP Version Should I Use?
Knowing the exact HDCP versions of all the devices in your setup is a significant factor in avoiding incompatibilities. The latest HDCP version in widespread use is 2.3, released in 2018.
HDCP 2.3 patches vulnerabilities discovered in HDCP 2.2 and 2.1, meaning that HDCP 2.3 is not backward compatible with prior versions. To ensure an uninterrupted playback experience, all components of your entertainment setup—from the streaming box to the HDMI cable to the TV set—must be compatible with HDCP 2.3.
HDCP is Both a Blessing and a Curse
As HDCP gets compromised, new versions of the protocol are developed with necessary mitigations. This dynamic between HDCP makers and hackers is also why HDCP is an unreliable piece of technology that can negatively impact the movie playback experience.
While HDCP errors can be avoided entirely using component cables instead of HDMI, this will significantly reduce image quality and resolution. Summing up, whether you're in the market for a new home theater or wish to future-proof your entertainment experience, HDCP is surely yet another essential acronym to keep in mind.
