What if you could plug your klunky, rented Comcast DVR box into your home network and stream its recorded and on-demand content to the computer in the other room? Well you’ll soon be able to do that thanks to a new standard called DTCP-IP. It’s hardly a revolutionary idea, but better late than never.
The “DTCP” part of the new standard stands for Digital Transmission Copy Protection and is basically an extension of current DRM rules. Cable networks that flag their shows as “copy never” won’t be able to be streamed around your house, for instance.
Nothing will be able to be streamed to the outside world. DTCP-IP relies on an authentication scheme that allows only for transmission within your home network. So don’t look for it to replace Slingbox or Orb just yet.
New DRM scheme will let consumers stream cable TV over home networks [Ars Technica]
DTCP-IP is not a new standard. Please stop reporting it as such (or taking snippets from someone else’s erronious reporting). Furthermore, the utility of DTCP-IP as a standard for the converged home via the STB has been in the OCAP Home Networking extensions for quite some time – Cable Labs just did not call it DTCP-IP. Companies have been doing reference implementations around DTCP-IP and working with Cable Labs for over few years now.
And last but not the least – it does not do away with the Cable Card – that is a false statement – please for the benefit of your readers (and your credibility) – change that title.
Intel has been a big promoter of DTCP-IP since the beginning – and just a couple of months ago signed on to Cable Labs OCAP specifications. So this is simply a step forward for home-networking, with both sides working toward a better experience for the consumer.
http://www.dtcp.com/
http://www.cablelabs.com/
http://www.multichannel.com/article/CA6455075.html
Would be nice to be a few years in the future (okay, maybe not) – when there won’t be cable anymore, just IPTV.
G – thanks for the clarification. I’m not trying to suggest that this will replace or do away with CableCARD. I’m merely saying that CableCARDs aren’t going to be required to take advantage of the forthcoming protocol. Correct me if I’m wrong, though. Also, the DTCP-IP technology is not new, that is correct. The cable industry’s use of the technology in a protocol for streaming content around your home network that’ll soon be available to consumers is what’s new.