10 years ago TI's Digital Light Processing (DLP) chip technology was introduced commercially to the cinema exhibition industry. Since that time, and through many iterations of projector development, the DLP chips remain at the heart of D-Cinema Projection Systems - that is now going to change !TI announced on July 5th that it has developed a new on-chip security feature - called M-Shield. It is a security layer that unlocks the encoded video which can then be played back on Smartphones, tablets, or TVs connected via a HDMI (high-def multimedia) port.
The purpose of this technology is to provide end-to-end security for protected video content. TI stated that "its OMAP chip had been certified to unlock full 1080p movies from Netflix for smartphones and tablets based on Google's Android 2.3 operating system". The on-chip security feature minimizes the ability to copy content. Currently it is easy to access memory where the stream is temporarily stored and then write the movie to another device - M-Shield enhanced chips will prevent this!
Fred Cohen, the TI spokesman for this project, stated " we have implemented an on-chip firewall. The technology is to provide a security layer so devices get access to HD movies " without copy capability. Ergo: this should have a big positive impact against movie piracy. Intel has also implemented a similar on-chip security feature called Insider on its Sandy Bridge chips for PCs and notebooks - which began shipping out this year.
Netflix provides different levels of security-certification depending on features such as video quality and resolution. Currently, the M-Shield is certified to work on devices incorporating TI's OMAP4430 chip (a dual-core which brings 1080p HD video playback to mobile devices) and which can also run on Google's new operating system - Gingerbread. In the future, the M-Shield will be incorporated on all chips used in Google systems, such as the Android 3.1 and the upcoming, and very powerful, successor to 3.1 the Ice Cream Sandwich. Where do they come up with these names? The TI and Intel on-chip security features will eventually be incorporated on many, if not all, streaming accessible devices.
Digital Cinema is a dead-end technology, and it is very apropos that TI is one of the companies that will be responsible for its demise. Cinema exhibitors seem to be in a state of denial about the future (which is starring them in the face). They need to take their anger and frustration and direct it. Begin to restructure and prepare for the inevitable fact that movies are going to be streamed day-and-date worldwide to all accessible points of distribution including movie theatres. That's the future-prepare for it !
Best and Happy Movie Going!
Jim Lavorato
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