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Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.'
    #6408170 -

Vista crippled by content protection

By Chris Mellor, Techworld

PC users around the globe may find driver software is stopped from working by Vista if it detects unauthorised content access. Peter Guttman, a security engineering researcher at New Zealand's university of Auckland, has written A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection. He reckons Vista is trying to achieve the impossible by protecting access to premium content. Users will find their PCs' compromised by the persistent and continuous content access checks carried out by Vista.

Gutman thinks these checks and the associated increased in multimedia card hardware costs make Vista's content protection specification 'the longest suicide note in history.'

The core elements in Vista have been designed to protect access to premium content. The design requires changes in multimedia cards before Microsoft will support them for Vista use.

Content that is protected by digital rights management (DRM) must be sent across protected interfaces. This means cards using non-protected interfaces can't be used by Vista PCs.

Disabling and degrading

Vista is disadvantaging high-end audio and video systems by openly disabling devices. The most common high-end audio output interface is S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface Format) which doesn't have any content protection. It must be disabled in a Vista system when DRM-protected content is being played. Equally a high-end component video interface (YPbPr) also has no content protection and must be disabled when protected video is being played.

- Vista covertly degrades playback quality. PC voice communications rely on automatic echo cancellation (AEC) in order to provide acceptable voice quality. This requires feeding back a sample of the audio mix into the echo cancellation subsystem, which isn't permitted by Vista's content protection scheme. This lowers PC voice communication quality because echo affects will still be present.

- This overt and covert degrading of quality is dynamic, not consistent. Whenever any audio derived from premium content is played on a Vista PC, the disabling of output devices and downgrading of signal quality takes place. If the premium content then fades away the outputs are re-enabled and signal quality climbs back up. Such system behaviour today indicates a driver error. With Vista it will be normal behaviour.

- Vista has another playback quality reduction measure. It requires that 'any interface that provides high-quality output degrade the signal quality that passes through it if premium content is present. This is done through a "constrictor" that downgrades the signal to a much lower-quality one, then up-scales it again back to the original spec, but with a significant loss in quality.' If this happens with a medical imaging application then artifacts introduced by the constrictor can 'cause mis-diagnoses and in extreme cases even become life-threatening.'

CPU cycle guzzling

The O/S will use much more of a PC's CPU resource because 'Vista's content protection requires that devices (hardware and software drivers) set so-called "tilt bits" if they detect anything unusual ... Vista polls video devices on each video frame displayed in order to check that all of the grenade pins (tilt bits) are still as they should be.'

Also 'In order to prevent tampering with in-system communications, all communication flows have to be encrypted and/or authenticated. For example content sent to video devices has to be encrypted with AES-128.' Encryption/decryption is known to be CPU-intensive

Device drivers in Vista are required to poll their underlying hardware every 30ms - thirty times a second - to ensure that everything appears correct.

It is apparent that Vista is going to use very much more of a PC's resources than previous versions of Windows and degrade multi-media playback quality unless the user has purchased premium content from a Microsoft-approved resource.

Such over-reaching by Microsoft could prove to be the catalyst needed to spur increased takeup of Linux desktop operating software, or of Apple's Mac OS.

http://www.techworld.com/opsys/news/index.cfm?newsid=7675&pagtype=all


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Republican Values:

1) You can't get married to your spouse who is the same sex as you.
2) You can't have an abortion no matter how much you don't want a child.
3) You can't have a certain plant in your possession or you'll get locked up with a rapist and a murderer.

4) We need a smaller, less-intrusive government.

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Diploid]
    #6409727 -

Vista sounds like an asshole if you ask me.


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I keep it real because I think it is important that a highly esteemed individual such as myself keep it real lest they experience the dreaded spontaneous non-existance of no longer keeping it real. - Hagbard Celine

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: HagbardCeline]
    #6414890 -

What a waste... reminds me of the SACD mess... great audio format, but they are worried about copy protection, so they use 80-bit encryption, blah blah blah. Boils down to no digital signals are allowed to leave the SACD player. The work around... attach logic probes to the serial lines that drive the DACs inside the SACD player. Drop in a microcontroller (atmel, pic, etc) and a DIT (DIX4192, etc) and you have unencrypted digital output (DSD rather than PCM).


An interesting side effect of this is going to be one of two things... either hardware vendors are going to stop releasing their specs (which means no more linux drivers for new hardware unless supported directly by the hardware vendor) or the PC folks will write non-complient drivers for windows that ignore the restrictions. Wanna make a guess which way Microsoft is pushing?


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Seuss]
    #6421323 -

Wanna guess how much longer Microsoft stays in business if this Vista shit continues down this path?


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Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
    #6421977 -

Yeah talk about it,

I mean, these last 5 or 10 years Apple has really been on the rise. Microsoft must be feeling the heat for sure...

and then to do something like this?

All I know is that my next computer related buy will be an iMac (this was my decision even before I read anything like this)

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
    #6422317 -

I honestly can't tell, but how long do you guys think someone might be able to stay with XP before it turns utterly obvious a change in OS is needed?
Because I'm not falling for Vista, and I'm definetely NOT going into Macs :shrug:

And linux still doesn't have enough professional music soft yet so are people like myself screwed or what?


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:whatwhat:

There's no better way to rock out than with your cock out!!

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Colonel Kurtz Ph.D]
    #6423894 -

I personally don't see myself using anything other than XP for awhile. I mainly browse the net, listen to music and do stuff in Dreamweaver and Photoshop.

And both those programs and winamp are perfectly fine with what I need to do. As soon as it's easier to get dual monitors and Photoshop in Linux, I'll probably give it a shot.


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Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
    #6424718 -

> As soon as it's easier to get dual monitors ... in Linux

I don't know about linux, but X under unix has supported dual head configurations (multiple monitors) for a long, long time. I was using dual heads back in the early 90's with X11R4.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
    #6424746 -

I agree, XP does everything I need it to. I far prefer the *nix console to the XP excuse for one, even when using the upgraded "powertoy" edition, but I rely on too much windows-only software to make the switch.

Anyways, I have heard *nothing* Vista can do that XP can't that I would get any value from, and lots that it can't do that XP can (e.g. outputting HD content without subscribing to crippling proprietary nonsense).

Can anyone tell me genuinely useful features Vista has that would benefit the home user and aren't available as FOSS programs for XP?

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Seuss]
    #6425170 -

Seuss said:
> As soon as it's easier to get dual monitors ... in Linux

I don't know about linux, but X under unix has supported dual head configurations (multiple monitors) for a long, long time. I was using dual heads back in the early 90's with X11R4.


I guess I should have explained a little better. My current setup right is two different video cards with two monitors. One video card is Nvidia, the other is ATI and it works surprisingly well. :-)

I read that it was pretty much impossible to get that specific configuration to work in linux. Someone correct me...


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Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
    #6427010 -

> Someone correct me...

I have no idea on accuracy... from google... "How to set up Linux with multiple
monitors on multiple video cards" http://www.interparse.com/debianmultihead/

Quote:
This document is specific to three monitors on two video cards, but you can just as easily have two monitors on one dual head card or plug in a video card in every PCI slot you have and fill your computer desk with live desktops - just add to or subtract sections as needed.


Doing a bit more digging, make certain that your two video cards are supported and have drivers... it doesn't look easy, but certainly doable, assuming the hardware is compatable with xfree86.


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Just another spore in the wind.

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Seuss]
    #6427971 -

Thanks man. Site bookmarked.


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Every mistake, intentional or otherwise, in the above post, is the fault of the reader.

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Penguarky Tunguin]
    #6441076 -

Ill stick with xp... untill the place i get my software upgrades.

it's nice to get a company bought OS made for multiple computers.


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Spawning to COIR
:thumbup:  My Chocolate Recipe
WBS QUART SPAWN JAR PREPERATION
----------------------------

4-PO-DMT; 4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethltryptamine

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Re: Vista's Content Protection Specification: 'The longest suicide note in history.' [Re: Oatman2000]
    #6441274 -

High-quality DVDs will not operate on some Vista PCs

Jonathan Richards
Microsoft has been forced to acknowledge that a substantial number of PCs running the new version of its Windows operating system will not be able to play high-quality DVDs.

The Vista system will be available to consumers at the end of the month. However, in an interview with The Times, one of its chief architects said that because of anti-piracy protection granted to the Hollywood studios, Vista would not play HD-DVD and Blu-ray Discs on certain PCs.

Dave Marsh, the lead program manager for video at Microsoft, said that if the PC used a digital connection to link with the monitor or television, then it would require the highest level of content protection, known as HDCP, to play the discs. If it did not have such protection, Vista would shut down the signal, he said.

The admission will be a blow to Microsoft, which is hoping that more users will turn to their PCs for watching films and other content.

According to DSG International, which owns PC World, about 15 per cent of PCs sold at present in Britain use digital connections, but that number is expected to grow.

Virtually none of the PCs that use a digital connection have HDCP. “It’s up to the content providers to set the level of protection that Vista applies, but they’re likely to be pretty firm on the need to use high-definition content protection [HDCP] when using a digital connection,” Mr Marsh said. “At the moment HD DVD and Blu-ray Discs certainly require such protection.”

Mr Marsh added that computers with built-in HDCP protection — which could play such discs — were being phased in, but that, in the meantime, Microsoft was obliged to ensure that the studios’ content was being used securely.

Computers using an analog connection will not be affected and the requirement does not apply to regular DVDs.

Peter Gutman, a researcher in computer security at the University of Auckland, who produced a report on the compatability of Vista with various hardware, said: “When this aired at a couple of Windows conferences last year, I thought: ‘This is so bad it’s going to die.’ But it didn’t.

“To downgrade the signal so that the HD-DVD will play, you need a constrictor, but that doesn’t seem to be present in many of the computers that are shipping. Given that it downgrades signal quality, most manufacturers aren’t rushing to include it.

“Any computer which has an LCD monitor is potentially at risk of not being able to play this content.”

A DSG International official said that the number of PCs with digital connections would grow as the computer came to be used more as an entertainment device.

“The PC is moving out of the study and into the living room as users begin to connect up their computers with their TV,” the official said. “The majority of HD-TVs sold now have a digital input on the back.”

Protection still full of holes
#

A recent study by the Motion Picture Association estimated that illegal copying cost the industry $6.1 billion in 2005
#

Microsoft has built a component into the studios’ new operating system, Vista, that recognises high-quality DVDs, called HD-DVD and Blu-ray discs, and checks whether the system on which the film is being played provides a sufficient level of protection
#

This protection, known as high definition content protection (HDCP), must be present throughout the entire system — usually the computer, or a television. If it is not, Vista will disable the connection
#

The requirement only affects digital connections
#

About 15 per cent of all computers sold in the UK now have digital connections
#

Almost no computers using digital connections have HDCP, according to computer experts, although those that do are being phased in

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