Sunnyvale, Calif. – Multi-industry standard group WirelessHD has reached an agreement on a supplement to the Digital Transmission Content Protection (DTCP) specification for use over the WirelessHD system.
The WirelessHD group includes companies in consumer electronics and personal computing looking to provide a wireless standard for high-speed video, audio and data transmission.
The agreement, which was said to have been approved and published by Digital Transmission Licensing Administrator (DTLA), presents “the first approved, standard content protection method for the distribution of high definition content, signaling the overarching industry’s readiness to accept wireless technology in mass market consumer applications,” according to a statement from the group.
Members of WirelessHD include: LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), NEC, Samsung, SiBEAM, Sony and Toshiba.
According to the group: WirelessHD or WiHD, is a wireless high definition digital interface standard operating in the unlicensed and globally available 60 GHz frequency band and features a 4 Gbps high-speed wireless digital interface and secure content protection.
The WirelessHD standard approval also suggests new flexibility for manufacturers and consumers in so far as DTCP permits both streaming and copying of high-definition content from device to device.
The extension on the use of DTCP was based on satisfying the concerns of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the major studios about unauthorized and illegal copying of protected content, the WirelessHD group stated.
“This approval removes any barriers to implementation of WirelessHD in consumer electronics and personal computing products,” according to WirelessHD.
Earlier this year, WirelessHD announced DTCP as the content protection method of choice for WirelessHD transmissions. DTCP enables both direct display connections over HDMI and now WirelessHD, and the distribution of high definition (HD) content. Such content from Blu-ray discs, satellite, cable, or Internet broadcast now may be securely sent over WirelessHD signals.
The use of DTCP enables both the wireless display of this content in the newest generation of LCD’s and plasma TVs and the managed copying of the content to digital video recorders (DVR) and portable media players (PMP).
WirelessHD said the supplement to the DTCP specification provides the technical details for the use of DTCP with WirelessHD-enabled consumer electronics and personal computing products.
DTCP, which is administered by the DTLA, is a cryptographic protocol that protects audio and video content from tampering and enables managed copying of licensed content over high-performance digital networks such as WirelessHD.
