How do Netflix and Hulu hide the screen image when trying to do a screencapture?
In: Technology
The operating system provides this feature to any app that wants to use it. They provide this feature because companies like Netflix and Hulu want it for their apps.
It’s a feature of the Widevine DRM plugin that all streaming services use. If you disable hardware acceleration in your browser you can bypass it.
If you use chrome you can go to settings and turn off hardware acceleration and you can then share apps that you normally couldn’t (:
This is windows-specific no? I think on Mac you can record whatever you want…
An operating system usually has to offer support for HDCP video (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) which has specific methods to prevent the video from being screenshotted or recorded. If the device does not offer this functionality, then distributors will refuse to support the platform.
This is a DRM system called HDCP. Basically, the contents of the display area are encrypted, and only something with an HDCP Receiver chip “should” be able to decrypt it. That thing is your monitor or TV, and not the computer itself — it’s just relaying an encrypted signal.
This means that at a software level, you can’t just capture the streaming video for the purposes of ripping it and pirating it elsewhere.
Of course, the entire system was compromised within a few years of going out, and the master key for it is widely available for anyone who knows where to look, which means pirates have circumvented this for years, but it’s still in use to limit honest people.
Video players (or rather, their content) used to not show up on screenshots, even without doing anything special, because the video was shown in a special, faster way. Basically, the “normal” way of showing stuff on the screen shows everything except the video, then the video card is asked to add the video in the appropriate spot later. The screenshot is taken only from the output of the “normal” path.
A similar approach, except specifically designed to keep you from capturing the video, is a part of some DRM (“Digital Rights Management”, anti-piracy) systems the platforms use.
The specific answer depends on what exactly you are asking about: The video in the browser or a separate app, and on which operating system. Some, for example, allow apps to ask the operating system to prevent screenshots, which is why e.g. you may not be able to take screenshots of your banking app on your phone.
… how terrifying.
I tried to take a screenshot of a BBC News article just now (I’m in UK) and the screenshot kept manifesting as a weird green-to-red gradient. In the end I opened the app-selector and screenshotted it that way.
Annoying. Never ever happened before. *And minutes later there’s a ELI5 question on it*
Someone smarter than me can probably explain this better but I know it has to do with hardware acceleration, and has nothing to do with “hiding” what you’re watching.
North Dakotan here
We spent 40 straight days below zero last winter and came within a half inch of breaking our all time snow record. Just 2 weeks ago we hit 65 below zero with wind-chill. I’ll take the “heat wave “. Even if this is the new normal have a little faith that all life on earth has successfully adapted to all types of weather and climate patterns.
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