HDCI requirements on Amazon Prime Video

I'm using a Dell Inspiron 5547, with Ubuntu installed on a USB flash disk (I don't have a hard disk on my laptop). When I recently tried watching HD movies on Amazon Prime Video, I got the following message:

Your video will play in standard definition because your computer hardware, HDMI cables, and display must all meet content protection (HDCP) requirements for HD video.

What exactly does this mean? I can't remember the last time I saw this message. Is this a new development in streaming services? Finally, how do I fix this? Should I change my hardware?

hdcp

WorldGov

Posted 2018-02-08T14:07:25.000

Reputation: 1 069

Are you watching this on an external display or the built-in one? If external then what is the external display? The error message is quite clear about one or more hardware devices being incapable of supporting HDCP. – Mokubai – 2018-02-08T14:37:46.033

I'm watching this on the laptop's inbuilt display. I've never seen this error until my hard disk went crashing. I was using Windows 10 earlier. Do you think it might have something to do with Ubuntu? – WorldGov – 2018-02-08T14:47:30.560

1If you are using inbuilt Ubuntu drivers rather than the proprietary drivers that will properly support your graphics card, then I believe that yes it will not work properly in that case. the software will need to be capable of using the hardware decoder and indicate that it wishes to use HDCP, which is almost certainly not possible with "generic" Linux drivers. Sometimes you can enable proprietary drivers on a USB stick, but it may be lost on reboot. – Mokubai – 2018-02-08T14:59:10.950

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=2017-Google-Intel-HDCP-DRM – None – 2018-02-08T17:13:37.920

Just tested in mine - Ubuntu 17.10 - and it's working correctly in HD. Make sure your Ubuntu is up-to-date. – None – 2018-02-08T22:40:00.760

I tried to install Intel's proprietary drivers on Ubuntu; it just kept failing. I've now installed Win 10 on an external hard disk, which had the intel drivers installed, and the HD video played correctly. So it's probably the drivers. Thanks – WorldGov – 2018-02-09T10:12:21.200

Answers

It may be that as a result of booting from a USB stick your system is working with generic graphics drivers that do not fully support your graphics device.

As a result the video player software cannot use hardware video overlays and hardware video decoding and also cannot indicate to the graphics device that it needs to enable HDCP.

Most flavours of Ubuntu will allow you to enable proprietary drivers via the Software Centre and you may even be able to do this on a Live USB stick, but I am not certain.

It sounds like this worked in the past, so chances are that this is purely a problem with generic drivers.

Mokubai

Posted 2018-02-08T14:07:25.000

Reputation: 64 434

Dell Inspiron 5547 has Intel HD Graphics 4400. Intel Graphics drivers for Linux are open-source, already included and in use, be it a live session or an installed system. Ubuntu keeps those drivers fairly current so even the often discouraged update from Intel's repositories is likely to do nothing for this issue. The problem is, unfortunately, the service provider assuming Ubuntu doesn't comply with the HDCP. I'm afraid there's no workaround. – None – 2018-02-08T17:12:01.477

When I installed Ubuntu on my 16 GB 3.0 USB stick, it didn't come with the Intel Graphics drivers. I looked up on the internet to install the drivers but it kept failing. When I installed Win 10 on an external hard disk, it worked. Win 10 had the intel graphics drivers. – WorldGov – 2018-02-09T10:14:27.783

@MichaelBay, do you mean to say that Ubuntu doesn't comply with HDCP? I think it's a problem with generic drivers, as Mokubai mentioned, but I'm not entirely sure. – WorldGov – 2018-02-09T10:16:26.517

It is a problem with the drivers but they are not "generic". Ubuntu ships the same drivers provided by Intel and are NOT proprietary. The Intel tool merely updates the drivers of a given Ubuntu release, generally not recommended because there's little to nothing to gain. I notice the problem with Primevideo months ago (movies, TV shows always played in HD) but yesterday tested again and it's working (with the Intel drivers version shipped with Ubuntu 17.10). – None – 2018-02-09T15:08:30.543

According to this website do you have out of date hardware.

There are zero methods endorsed or supported by the agency in charge of HDCP that help consumers in any way if they have older equipment or a legitimate non-piracy need to interact with an HDCP-compliant device.

Altough there is a way to avoid this problem. Unfortunately there is only one offical way to solve this by buying an HDCP compliant device.
To use the splitter, simply put it between the output and display device.

Thimo Demey

Posted 2018-02-08T14:07:25.000

Reputation: 154

No, I don't have out of date hardware. I've watched HD videos on Amazon prime plenty of times earlier. I'm only seeing this now, and coincidentally it's the first time I'm watching something on Prime Video after my hard disk went crashing (I then installed Ubuntu on a USB stick). Do you think it might have something to do with Ubuntu? – WorldGov – 2018-02-08T14:48:59.097

I personally have zero experience with Ubuntu so I can't answer on that. Probably someone else will be able to tell you that. – Thimo Demey – 2018-02-08T14:54:14.630