HDMI signals

HDCP

High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection

Most black screens that look like a cable fault are really HDCP faults. The Diva carries fifteen HDCP engines so that the two ends of your chain never have to agree with each other.

HDCP stands for High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection. It is an encryption layer carried on top of an HDMI link: the source encrypts the video before it leaves, the sink decrypts it on arrival, and what travels along the cable in between is of no use to anything else. HDCP 1.x appeared alongside DVI and early HDMI, and HDCP 2.2 was written for 4K, which is why UHD Blu-ray players and streaming boxes insist on it before they will release protected content.

Nothing is sent until the two ends have completed a handshake. The source checks that the sink holds valid keys, then both sides keep the encryption in step for as long as the link is up. Anything in the middle counts as a repeater and has to authenticate on both sides at once, which is why adding a matrix or an AVR to a working chain can break it. A failure shows up as a black screen, a snowstorm of noise, or a message about content protection, and it looks exactly like a cable fault.

The revisions do not degrade gracefully. An HDCP 2.2 source facing a display that only speaks 1.4 does not fall back, it refuses. Converting between the two is the only way to keep older equipment in a modern chain.

The HDCP Doctor on the HDfury Diva

The HDCP Doctor is the name given to the fifteen HDCP 1.4 and 2.2 engines inside the Diva. Each receiver block decrypts its input first, then each output port encrypts individually: to 1.4, to 2.2, or not at all if the source was never encrypted in the first place. Conversion runs in both directions and on all channels at the same time.

HDCP VERSION in the CONFIG section selects, or forces, the revision used on the TX1 output port. The same setting appears in the OLED menu as HDCP, offering AUTO or 1.4, and over RS232 or IP as set hdcp auto, where the value is either auto or 14. Leave it on AUTO unless a particular sink has to be handed HDCP 1.4.

What to check when the screen stays black

The output the old device is on

HDMI and HDCP 1.x equipment belongs on TX1, which downscales to 1080p SDR and encrypts to the level that sink expects.

ISSUE HOTPLUG

In the CONFIG section. It sends a hotplug event and performs a soft reset of your setup, restarting the handshake without a power cycle.

The test pattern in TOOLS

It can be sent with HDCP set to none, 1.4 or 2.2, which proves what a display or AVR will actually accept before you blame the source.

HTPC MODE

In the CONFIG section. With the default firmware it is not compatible with an HDCP signal, so switch it off if a protected source has stopped working.

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