Can I use an Arduino to generate or bypass an HDCP signal?

Projects General Guidance
1

I'm trying to connect an HD video source (via HDMI) to an older projector (which has VGA) but it's not working, and I think it's because the projector isn't HDCP compatible. As far as I know, HDCP is some sort of copy-protection scheme that needs to be authenticated by both ends of an HD signal to allow your video to display.

I'm wondering if it's possible to use an Arduino to solve this problem... I guess it would involve being able to take in a video signal via HDMI at one end, do some fancy stuff in the middle, and then output an unprotected video signal via VGA at the other end. Is this something an Arduino could do?

(I apologise if this is breaking some sort of copy-protection laws; I just want to be able to display my HD video signal on my projector! :))

2

My guess is that the exact protocol is a bit copyrighted and not open to the public, which you would need intimate details of for this to work, and I don't think the arduino can do much calculation and translating in realtime

3

Ah I see, I was afraid of this... well thanks for the input!

4

There are devices that will get you around HDCP, but they cost around $100,000 and require a lot more power than the Arduino has. Think about it, HDMI has a theoretical transfer speed of around 5GBps, thats way too much data for an Arduino to process. I'm curious as to how you are converting from the digital HDMI signal to the analog VGA signal? There is no HDCP on analog signals, so most people with this type of setup just use the analog outputs on their source device. You're not going to see a loss of quality with component over HDMI unless the environment is really noisy or the run is very long.

You're better off trying a device like this: Products no longer Available

That device supports HDCP, according to the manual.

5

Not that it will really help you, but Bunnie Huang did some amazing work MITM-ing HDCP for his NeTV, should give you an idea of how difficult it is to do anything with HDCP Implementation of MITM Attack on HDCP-Secured Links « bunnie's blog .

6

This would be a lot more doable if your HD source supported component video.

7

i maybe don't undertand but ... my laptop delivers hdmi, and this source can be sent through hdmi or vga, to my videoprojector, no problem , just a simple cable adapter ...

8

Take a look at the HDFury products. I had to use this for my projector, as it only took VGA input, but all my video sources had HDMI outputs. So... stupid me, I got an HDMI matrix, with no VGA ability. http://www.hdfury.com/