Adventures in DRM

[BillsPaseo]

I used to be able to connect my Samsung S9+ to our van's TV via HDMI and watch downloaded content, but it quit working about 6 months or so ago. I gave up on it and now we just use my laptop for viewing. If my hotspot doesn't work, we read books (via kindle app on our phones). Any more it seems like there isn't much worth watching anyway...

[SDDavis]

I did try the hdmi adaptor to pass Prime video (downloaded) on my Iphone 7 with airplane mode enabled. No issues, at least during the 15 minutes I watched an episode of Hanna. Same with Netflix. Didn't get a chance to try it on my wife's 10s. I guess it's possible there's a time limit or that the DRM checks are random?

[avanti]

Originally Posted by SDDavis

I did try the hdmi adaptor to pass Prime video (downloaded) on my Iphone 7 with airplane mode enabled. No issues, at least during the 15 minutes I watched an episode of Hanna. Same with Netflix. Didn't get a chance to try it on my wife's 10s. I guess it's possible there's a time limit or that the DRM checks are random?

Not sure about time limit--It doesn't work at all for me (and it is not a "bug"--it is a deliberate blocking). The other thing is that it may be tied to particular content. If you get a chance, try it with a current movie.

Also, Airplane mode isn't what it used to be. For example, it doesn't always turn off wifi. Best to go to the control panel and turn off cellular, BT, and WiFi.

Thanks for following up!

[SDDavis]

I did check all my setting after turning airplane mode on and everything was off. I will try something more current. However, I'm not sure NT of Prime will let you download, for offline viewing, current movies/content. I have directly streamed content not available for download, via the adapter, and not had any issues. Will report back. It is interesting that the feedback on if this works or not runs the gamut. Works for some, not for others.

[SDDavis]

Double checked and I was able to view anything I was able to download and stream all content from Netflix. I did read that the HDMI cable needs to be HDCP compliant...who knew. I am using a relatively new HDMI cable. Here's a link to a Youtube review discussing this issue. v=vpFEtIqaOEI&t=619s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpFEtIqaOEI&t=619s

[avanti]

Originally Posted by SDDavis

Double checked and I was able to view anything I was able to download and stream all content from Netflix. I did read that the HDMI cable needs to be HDCP compliant...who knew. I am using a relatively new HDMI cable. Here's a link to a Youtube review discussing this issue.

Thanks for the update.

That video is not relevant: As far as I can see, he was streaming live, not off-line downloads. I have no problem with the former, the problem is with downloads only.

The HDCP thing may be a clue, though. Perhaps the ca. 2014 TV in my van is not HDCP-compliant. I will investigate. If that turns out to be an issue, there are HDCP-agnostic splitter boxes available which are supposed to address that problem.

Stay tuned...

[SDDavis]

For reference: My TV in a 2010 Vizio, also ca. It will be interesting to see if the splitter box solves it.

[avanti]

Originally Posted by SDDavis

For reference: My TV in a 2010 Vizio, also ca.

Hmm. Guess it is possible that my TV is too NEW, and yours is ignoring the HDCP. This is getting confusing.

[daveamaro]

My first post.

I have been researching this topic and find this thread very interesting. We have been downloading Netflix content for a couple years on my Samsung S4 Andriod phone. This worked well when we had AC power and could connect to the RV (2008 Roadtrek Adventurous RS) entertainment system through a HDMI input. Good picture and sound. Boondocking not so much. I do want not to run the inverter or generator for that. The S4 screen is too small and the sound can be too weak.

Last year I purchased an ACER 15 Chromebook to replace the S4. Picture and sound are fair. My plan was to connect the Chromebook to the RV through the HDMI input as I had done with the S4 phone. We had used the Chromebook at home to watch a TV series on the National Geographic app successfully. In the RV however we only saw a black screen with Netflix. We found the same results at home using the same HDMI cable and TV that worked before. I tried other TVs and HDMI cables with the same black screen results for Netflix. After trying many Google searches I called Netflix support. I was told Netflix does not support content through HDMI. I asked if connecting my phone through the HDMI cable is OK and answer was yes. Connecting the Chromebook through a HDMI cable is not supported and does not work.

For the next trip I will bring both the Chromebook and S4. My first wish would be to bring only the Chromebook.

Any better ideas? Thanks.

[themexicandoctor]

Either way, it's another small victory for the Common Man - thank you for sharing!

[avanti]

Thanks, Daveamaro.
It is becoming increasingly clear that random combinations of device/dongle/television/provider/app-version/program-material either work or not. Seems clear that if you have a combination that works for you, you should carefully avoid changing anything for as long as possible.

[dhectorg]

Originally Posted by avanti

This is going to seem completely ridiculous, but bear with me...

Many of us like to carry along stuff to watch on TV during periods without Internet connectivity. Setting aside the folks who collect DVDs or who take their home DVR along with them, the most common approach is to use the "download" feature that most streaming apps offer these days. This works very well except for one thing: Most of these services have decided to restrict download viewing to device screens, and have used DRM techniques to block the ability to cast most content to larger screens. So, for example, you cannot use Airplay and an AppleTV to watch downloaded Netflix content on your rig's big screen. This is annoying, so I have searched high and low for a legal way around the issue. I have finally found a foolproof way to do this. It works very well. It is a little wacky, though.

Here is my solution:

Attachment 9753

All you need is a camera with an HDMI output, your phone, a small cardboard box, and some extruded foam. Cut the foam into a shape that securely points the camera at the phone. Put the camera into manual mode and focus it. Plug the camera into your TV. Feed audio from the phone into your sound system, and start streaming. The video quality of modern screens and cameras is so high that the results are nearly indistinguishable from a direct connection.

Bizarre, yes. But it works great, and the DRM people are going to have a hard time disabling it.

Problem solved.

I refuse to be limited by oppressive copyright nonsense, so I typically purchase hard copies of the content I want and rip digital copies of it that I can store on any hard drive. This allows me to simply connect the storage drive to my laptop, which I can connect to a TV or any display device. Some smart TVs can even play certain digital files directly from hard drive, eliminating the need for a laptop.

[avanti]

Well, after almost 4 years of yeoman service, I have finally been able to retire my silly cardboard box DRM evader. I have found a better way:

There is a legal cloud-based DVR service called "PlayOn.tv". it is an interesting business. You give them your access credentials for all the streaming services to which you subscribe. For a (very) small fee, they will upon request record anything that you could legitimately watch using your subscription. They are not cracking the services' DRM. Rather, they play the show in real time, and record it for you, which of course can take several hours. Once it is finished recording, they send you an email, and you can download the resulting non-DRM-protected file to your laptop or phone. As long as you don't share it with anybody else, you can play it, cast it, and save it forever if you like--all perfectly legally. The trick to this is that, by playing the whole show just for you, it falls under the "VCR exemption" to the DMCA. It is exactly as if you made a VCR copy of the show while you were watching it at home, which, of course, is perfectly legal. They just do the recording for you, which changes nothing. Of course, the quality is much better than with a VCR.

This is truly great (at least for our needs). It works extremely well, is very easy to use, and support all the major services (except AppleTV+). They try to sell you a monthly package, but you don't have to do this. Instead, they will sell you a la carte tokens--each token is worth one recording. You can buy 50 credits for $7.50. That is 15 cents/recording!
https://www.playon.tv/offers/cloud/
You can also get your first seven recordings for free.

It is so nice to actually have a sane solution to the off-line viewing problem.

[booster]

Originally Posted by avanti

Well, after almost 4 years of yeoman service, I have finally been able to retire my silly cardboard box DRM evader. I have found a better way:

There is a legal cloud-based DVR service called "PlayOn.tv". it is an interesting business. You give them your access credentials for all the streaming services to which you subscribe. For a (very) small fee, they will upon request record anything that you could legitimately watch using your subscription. They are not cracking the services' DRM. Rather, they play the show in real time, and record it for you, which of course can take several hours. Once it is finished recording, they send you an email, and you can download the resulting non-DRM-protected file to your laptop or phone. As long as you don't share it with anybody else, you can play it, cast it, and save it forever if you like--all perfectly legally. The trick to this is that, by playing the whole show just for you, it falls under the "VCR exemption" to the DMCA. It is exactly as if you made a VCR copy of the show while you were watching it at home, which, of course, is perfectly legal. They just do the recording for you, which changes nothing. Of course, the quality is much better than with a VCR.

This is truly great (at least for our needs). It works extremely well, is very easy to use, and support all the major services (except AppleTV+). They try to sell you a monthly package, but you don't have to do this. Instead, they will sell you a la carte tokens--each token is worth one recording. You can buy 50 credits for $7.50. That is 15 cents/recording!
https://www.playon.tv/offers/cloud/
You can also get your first seven recordings for free.

It is so nice to actually have a sane solution to the off-line viewing problem.

That is an interesting business model, as all they really are doing is saving your time on what appears to be a legal way to do it home, also. That said at $.15 per recording well worth it I would think as long as you don't need a subscription, although they may require one once they get established.



I have been using Audials 2023 to do the same. As long as you are legal to watch it at home, which for us is Prime and Peacock currently plus some free channels, you can download/record/change to whatever format you want. You just put them in the list on the program and it will record them in real time, like your vendor is doing, and we just transfer them to a flash drive to take with in the van. It can run in the background while you use the computer or just let it run overnight.