- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
- cross-posted to:
- hackernews@lemmy.bestiver.se
The HDMI Forum, responsible for the HDMI specification, continues to stonewall open source. Valve’s Steam Machine theoretically supports HDMI 2.1, but the mini-PC is software-limited to HDMI 2.0. As a result, more than 60 frames per second at 4K resolution are only possible with limitations.
But why does the HDMI fourm not want a open source 2.1-compliant implementation? Is it DRM related? I feel like it’s DRM related.
Its fully DRM related.
My guess is if it’s open source it’s more easily cracked.
Likely moreso that they’re facing pressure from other competitors in the industry that see Steam and open source in general as a threat to their business model. The HDMI forum is made up of industry leaders, and naturally Microsoft and Sony are there.
https://hdmiforum.org/members/
They’ve been refusing open HDMI 2.1 since 2017. I don’t think that being afraid of Linux becoming the dominant gaming platform plays a role here; it’s more likely that they’re afraid people might find new ways to get at protected content.
Ive never had using HDMI prevent me from enjoying pirated media, so Ive always been confused about what sort of drm a TV is looking for.
It’s more of a barrier for people who are pirating media, not the ones consuming that pirated media.
Don’t they mostly download it directly from streaming platforms these days, skipping the display and its connector altogether…?
Isn’t getting at protected content pretty trivial anyway? At least that’s my impression from how easy it is to find basically anything.
To my knowledge they’ve never officially said but you can be sure that it has to do with Content Protection and that means DRM. An Open Source HDMI 2.1+ driver would make pirating much simpler, probably trivial and they don’t want that.
It’s possible anyway of course but there are a couple of hardware hoops to jump through and that’s enough to keep most people from doing it.
Because that would open source certain implementations they want to hold captive.
It also enforces closed source drivers which can be shipped with spyware/crapware, further extending profits for companies… companies that happen to make up the HDMI Forum.
They charge a fee for access to the spec and maintain who can claim their products are HDMI compliant and require compliance testing on those products.
An open source implementation would make that spec public and strip a lot of control they hold.
Part of being open source is subsequent licensing. This would allow any others to piggyback and avoid the fee.