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Hardware ATI Makes False Claims on HDCP Support
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - February 17, 2006 3:00 AM
Print E-mail del.icio.us 92 comment(s) - last by p00pa.. on Mar 9 at 9:14 PM

ATI quietly modifies specifications

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Mac Edition on Apple's store

VistionTek ATI board on CompUSA

ATI's own 9800 Pro Mac Edition spec page

Sony's VAIO VGX-XL1 system contains full HDMI output

Silicon Image says HDCP is the "only" protection to be used. FCC has also adopted HDMI says Silicon Image.
ATI, most of its partners, retailers claiming shipping consumer cards are HDCP-ready. These claims are untrue

Last week, several journals reported about the current state of HDCP support in graphics cards. The article touched on several topics, such as what is HDCP, what cards currently shipping supported HDCP, and why were cards being advertised as being HDCP ready, were in actually not ready at all. This was the case for every manufacturer, regardless of ATI and NVIDIA GPUs.

According to the Microsoft specification, high-definition video content that is transported using a DVI signal must be encrypted with HDCP. If HDCP is not present, regardless of whether an attempt at copying is made or not, the video is scaled down to low resolution to deter copying. For a manufacturer that wishes to use HDCP technology on its products, a signup with Digital CP is required. Upon a signed agreement, the manufacturer must pay the committee an annual fee of $15,000 and a royalty fee of $0.005 per product sold.  This allows a manufacturer to provide DVI/HDCP support, sufficient for high-resolution output.  If a manufacturer wants to implement HDMI, a DVI-compatible connector, an additional $15,000 annual fee to HDMI is needed along with $0.04 per product. To actually implement HDCP protection, unique keys are required on a per product basis which is provided by the committee and requires implementation at the manufacturing level. According to NVIDIA, an extra chip is required that stores unique decoding keys.

Most of ATI's recent retail products are currently shipping with advertisements claiming that the products are HDCP-ready. On ATI's website, the term HDCP-ready was also used, for example on the X1900 series specifications page. Curiously, ATI's professional products such as FireGL list "HDCP-compliant". We spoke to ATI and asked it why the terminology difference and what the difference was in its view, between compliance and ready. Unfortunately, we did not receive a sound response to that question. In an interesting turn of events, today ATI has begun to silently remove references to HDCP-ready on its consumer products.

The image to the right is a screenshot that shows a Google cache of ATI's X1900 specifications page compared to what the specifications page is today. Google's cache clearly highlights the missing HDCP-ready claim that was present since launch. While FiringSquad's article presents a significant problem with ATI's claims of HDCP support, the problems go much deeper than expected.

A quick search on etailers such as NewEgg, CompUSA, Best Buy, and a host of other stores also list ATI's specifications, and most of ATI's recent products are listed as supporting HDCP. In fact, many of ATI's add-in board partners like Diamond, HIS (the Excalibur line), PowerColor, and VisionTek all list HDCP-ready. The ATI store, Apple store, and OEMs such as BOXX Tech all list ATI products as support HDCP.  We've included screenshots of some of the websites boasting identical information to ATI's spec-sheets.

We spoke to a number of ATI's partners and asked if the boards were ready to output a HDCP-DVI signal and unfortunately the general answer was no. Some board manufacturers said that the boards that are currently shipping do not contain the HDCP decryption keys necessary to support HDCP at the board level. Regardless of the GPU, if the board does not have the necessary component and key, HDCP will not work. We further asked ATI's partners as to what possible reason board level support for HDCP was left out but the same reason was given almost unanimously: ATI did not consider HDCP to be ready because copy protection for Blu-ray and HD DVD was still up in the air, and therefore did not feel it was worth it to pay the licensing fees necessary to be fully HDCP-compliant.

This is where ATI's professional products differentiate from consumer level products. So if no money was spent on including HDCP support, why claim HDCP-ready? More AIB partners explained to us that upon the release of Vista, a driver update can be applied to enable HDCP output. Unfortunately, we already know that this is not the case from information provided to us directly from other AIB partners.  To enable HDCP, a board must include the necessary hardware and key at the time of manufacturing.  It may be possible to send in your board to an AIB partner and RMA it for a new HDCP compliant board (which would involve new hardware, but potential reuse of key components such as the memory).  NVIDIA stated that a BIOS upgrade, a driver upgrade, or retrofitting a board after the fact will not work.

AIB partners say ATI claims the uncertainty of Blu-ray and HD DVD is the reason why keys were not purchased. However, according to Microsoft's HD content protection documents, it is clearly defined that Windows Vista will ship with HDCP support and will also contain support for both high-defintion formats. ATI argues that HDCP may end  up not being required for Blu-ray and HD DVD playback but according to the MPAA, this is not the case. Considering how hard the RIAA is pushing on MP3 copyright issues, the MPAA will be very adamant that high-definition movies be protected.

Visiting hdmi.org, several hundred supporters of the technology are listed on the adopters page, and ATI Technologies is one of them. With a significant amount of industry leaders backing HDMI/HDCP, and ATI's clear presence on the HDMI members board, the argument that HDCP might not be required is far fetched. Audio/Video products such as home receivers, flat panel TVs and other devices have been shipping with HDMI and full HDCP compliancy for well over a year now. In fact, Sony is already shipping PCs with full HDCP compliancy.

According to Godfrey Cheng, ATI's marketing director, it is up to the board partners to put in the necessary keys for HDCP-DVI decoding. Unfortunately, this still does not explain why ATI's own "Built-by-ATI" video cards also claim HDCP support when this is clearly not the truth. Users who visit ATI's latest website revision, especially for the X1900 series, are now greeted with a "fixed" specifications page that omits any reference to HDCP support. However, those who visited ATI's website before yesterday and purchased any one of ATI's cards will be disappointed to know that they will not be able to play back HDCP-DVI signals, either from Blu-ray, HD DVD, or Windows Vista. A search on ATI's website on various consumer products now show "HDMI interoperable", which means there is either a physical HDMI connector available or a DVI to HDMI adapter supplied. This solution however, only outputs a standard DVI signal. ATI does not currently ship a consumer video card with an HDCP/HDMI or HDCP/DVI output.

The bottom line: ATI has publicized that many of its consumer products are HDCP ready, when in fact are not. Some products boast HDMI connectivity, when they do not even have a physical HDMI connector nor do the products ship with an adapter. Even if they do, having a HDMI connector does not mean the board is able to output a HDCP-DVI signal. Products such as ATI's own X1900XT claim to support HDMI connectivity. Unfortunately, HDMI compatibility doesn't mean that the board can output a HDCP-DVI or HDCP-HDMI signal. Customers who have any one of ATI's currently shipping consumer (enthusiast, mainstream, gaming, entry level) products that were advertised to support HDCP were misled. Many of ATI's add-in board partners also repeated the same specifications as those listed by ATI.

ATI was unreachable for comment at the time of publication. Instead, ATI's website has been changing gradually to remove any previous mention of "HDCP-ready" and specifications have been replaced with a more generic "HDMI interoperable" spec.

ATI has sold millions of products with a claimed feature that does not and will not work and most customers will not find this out until they attempt to play Blu-ray and HD DVD titles. As a company with an incredibly loyal following, this is a big issue that ATI needs to address to its customers immediately.

Update: ATI has restored the HDCP wording on its website as of 1:05PM EST today (02/17/06).  Unfortunately, it's back to the original phrasing.

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oh lordy
By NoToRiOuS1 on 2/17/2006 5:24:44 AM , Rating: 2
this really isn't gonna be pretty for ATi. I didn't think they were the type of company who would do such a thing but I guess one should never assume such things.




RE: oh lordy
By Sharky974 on 2/17/06, Rating: -1
RE: oh lordy
By JarredWalton on 2/17/2006 5:55:24 AM , Rating: 5
ATI makes cards, NVIDIA does not. That's why ATI is singled out more. All of the NVIDIA and ATI card manufacturers are similarly to blame, but in truth the real blame belongs with HDCP, HDMI, and all the other lousy attempts to limit what people can do with hardware. As Ars Technica so elegantly put it, the irony is that purchased BluRay/HD-DVD content won't work properly without buying a new graphics card for your PC (once HDCP is finalized), while the pirated content will work flawlessly. Oops! Way to go MPAA.


RE: oh lordy
By Sharky974 on 2/17/06, Rating: -1
RE: oh lordy
By hemmy on 2/17/2006 12:58:31 PM , Rating: 2
NVIDIA creates the GPUs, ATI creates the GPUs

Sapphire makes the Built By ATI cards, ATI does not. They simply replace the sticker


RE: oh lordy
By CheesePoofs on 2/17/2006 10:33:21 PM , Rating: 2
its still sold under their name. There are no "built by nvidia" cards


RE: oh lordy
By stmok on 2/18/2006 2:29:50 AM , Rating: 3
quote:
NVIDIA creates the GPUs


Actually, they don't make them. They design them, and then email the designs to a semiconductor manufacturer (TSMC most probably) and TSMC actually builds the GPU and some other company makes the reference design boards for them. (They design the reference boards, but they don't make them).

Once they get the initial design back, they'll test it if it works as planned. All designs that Nvidia does is on the computer, they won't actually know if it will actually work as planned until they get the first samples back from TSMC.

Nvidia (once satisfied with the design), then gives those reference boards to software developers and companies like ASUS and such to base their products on. The cheap way would be to just copy the reference board. The more expensive solutions will use their own cooling solutions. They also let hardware sites try out the new video cards to give the public an idea of what to expect.


This is different to ATI, where they actually make their own GPUs designs and reference board. For mass production, they get someone else to do it. Although, last time I heard, they were looking at trying to be more like Nvidia in the design process. It apparently saves a great deal of money.

But its disadvantage is that you must rely on a third-party to build the designs for you...If they can't you'll run into trouble. This is what happened to Nvidia in the past. Because of a production related issue with TSMC. (it was the shrinking of the manufacturing process that was the source of headaches).

As for ATI getting total blame for this HDCP nonsense?

Both Nvidia and ATI don't work with this DRM standard. Ati shouldn't be the only one taking the heat. Although, they should take responsibilty on the advertising part. (should have released a notice or something).

This is more of a public relations issue. If a company is more upfront and responsive to the public, this article won't exist.


RE: oh lordy
By hemmy on 2/18/2006 10:33:47 AM , Rating: 2
I didn't say the create the actual silicon

create=design


RE: oh lordy
By Lakku on 2/18/2006 5:29:44 PM , Rating: 2
I believe eVGA makes the reference boards, but I'm not sure. As for HDCP and nVidia, they are not taking heat because they didn't advertise on every product they sold that it was HDCP ready or compliant. They didn't lie, which is the bottom line. Why pay a useless certification board that much money when very few things will need HDCP until late this year? HDCP isn't needed until you get WGF 2.0 compliant cards designed specifically for Vista, which in turn was designed with HDCP, Blu-Ray, and HD-DVD in mind.


RE: oh lordy
By Spoonbender on 2/17/06, Rating: 0
RE: oh lordy
By GoatMonkey on 2/17/2006 11:10:01 AM , Rating: 4
I miss 3dfx.


ATI Graphic Cards
By TMLF on 2/21/2006 10:13:43 PM , Rating: 2
The Mason Law Firm, PC is investigating claims arising from ATI's representation that certain of its graphic cards are HDCP-ready. If you are interested in pursuing such a claim, or would like more information about this potential class action, please email Gary E. Mason at gmason@masonlawdc.com. For more information about The Mason Law Firm, PC, please visit www.masonlawc.com.


RE: oh lordy
By bhall on 2/24/2006 7:05:37 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, what is hurts more is the MPAA position and DRM, and like the Sonly / RIAA DRM issue on CD-ROM's, this is another black-eye on the media producers. HDCP does not need to be enabled, there is no reason for it.

However, the MPAA starts with the premise that all consumers are criminals. They do everything in their power to restrict how and when we can watch something we have paid for. They pay off courts to create insane laws like DMCA. In doing so they say that we consumers no longer have fair copy rights to make backup copies.

Any other capitalistic market item, companies do the opposite. They market to their customers, where they live, when they want to do business. They try to be friendly and reasonable "the customer is always right". As long as you don't want to compete head-to-head, they let you have the recipe for black-eyed stew.

In other words, it's better to build a business relationship on trust and mutual needs, than on harsh layering and criminal threats. In the end, the criminals who want to mass-produce copies of the latest HD-DVD will do so, just as bank robbers still rob banks. But treating all your bank customers as robbers will do nothing but alienate consumers.


By deeznuts on 2/17/2006 3:30:20 PM , Rating: 2
Since this article did not provide a link to the product page at ATI where those cached pages were, I wandered to the ATI site to take a look. I notice at the bottom of the page there is an addendum, saying ATI added back in the language it took out.

This nVidia not being a cardmaker and ATI being one (well they outsource it but they do brand it, same thing) piqued my curiousity. If you go to the homepage for the X1900 series on the ATI site, here: http://www.ati.com/products/RadeonX1900/index.html, you will notice that there are two menu buttons on the left. One for X1900 technology, and one for ATI products. If you click on the one for X1900 technology, and go to specifications, you do see it saying that the X1900 chip is HDCP ready: http://www.ati.com/products/RadeonX1900/specs.html. If you go to their X1900 products page, where they talk about actual cards, http://www.ati.com/products/RadeonX1900/Products.h..., on none of their specifications do they list HDCP ready capabilities.

So their X1900 technology page, talking strictly about the GPU is analagous to nVidia claiming HDCP ready. When you go to their products page, they do not list HDCP ready or compliance. What their AIB partners did was on their own (just like nVidia). So unless someone has a cache of ATI's site with the PRODUCTS specifications claiming HDCP, I don't see what ATI did was different than nVidia, or therefore totally wrong. A little misleading maybe, but nothing egregious. What happened I bet was that ATI got scared, pulled the language, realized what they did wasn't legally wrong (after talking to lawyers), and put it back.

This took me 2 minutes to do btw, and several others quickly did too.




By Tuan Nguyen on 2/17/2006 3:33:39 PM , Rating: 2
The link to Google's cache is in the article. But here it is again: http://72.14.207.104/search?q=cache:U1dQ4I-8HPsJ:w...

Also, notice the update at the end. Since this morning, ATI has re-edited its spec pages to include the HDCP-ready bit once more. So now both the cache and the currently available spec page are the same. Prior to this morning, they were as they looked in the first screenshot.


Tuan


By Tuan Nguyen on 2/17/2006 3:35:32 PM , Rating: 2
Oh, about NVIDIA, since it doesn't produce boards, it hasn't claimed anything. The chip containing the approved HDCP keys are done at the board manufacturing level. If NVIDIA board partners have claimed HDCP-compliance without keys, then they are in the same boat as ATI. This article mainly points out ATI because it produces its own boards as well as marketing.


By deeznuts on 2/17/2006 3:45:30 PM , Rating: 2
Ok, that link you provided to me shows they are claiming HDCP readiness at the GPU level, the X1900. It says at the top "Radeon® X1900 Graphics Technology - Specifications." Notice the Graphics Technology. As I said earlier, this is analogous to nVidia's site, since it is just talking about the GPU, not actual cards. If you go to ATI's product page, here:
http://www.ati.com/products/RadeonX1900/Products.h...
and select any of their products, actual cards, and go to specifications, you notice that none of the specs list HDCP readiness.

So how is this wrong or different than nVidia?