According to multiple sources, hackers have released the HDCP 'master key' this week, cracking the copy protection permanently.
High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection's main focus is to stop the unencrypted transmission of high definition video content from a source like a Blu-ray player and a display monitor / TV set. HDCP is used with the Digital Video Interface (DVI), DisplayPort ... [ read the full article ]
Please read the original article before posting your comments.
Realistically, this means that now your computer can be a DVR...and the files it records can be played back anywhere. It also means that instead of paying $350 for a crummy ATI cablecard tunder, you can use a $100 tuner with a descrambler box to do the same job, better.
It also means that if you have some old POS TV; or maybe a HDMI receiver that does not have HDCP support; you can actually use it...at full quality rather than the SD quality that it reverts to without HDCP.
If you want to record full-HD quality gameplay from your PS3, it is now possible...or at least it will be once there are 50,000 people selling the black boxes on ebay.
I am sure there are a lot of other applications as well...these are just a few of them.