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Pirates have apparently found a way to bypass the High-bandwidth Digital Copy Protection (HDCP) v2.2 DRM used on Netflix's Ultra HD (UHD = 3840×2160 resolution) content. The release group iON has uploaded a 17.73 gigabyte, 2160p/UHD copy of Breaking Bad's first episode:
The media info for the release shows that the episode has a bit rate of 41.3 Mbps and overall the video specs make it hard to play the file smoothly on the average computer. At the time of writing the 4K leak is only available on private torrent trackers but it's expected to eventually leak to public sites as well. It's currently unknown if the release group broke HDCP 2.2 or if they found another way to capture the stream.
Leaked drafts of the 4K copy protection agreement between Sony and Netflix reveals that the streams are generally well-protected. They also include a watermark so that leaks can be traced back to the source. "The watermark must contain sufficient information such that forensic analysis of unauthorized recorded video clips of the output video shall uniquely determine the account to which the output video was delivered," the document reads.
Netflix informs TF [Torrent Freak] that they are looking into the reported leak and the company will do its best to prevent similar breaches in the future. "Piracy is a global problem. We, like others[sic] content providers, are actively working on ways to protect content featured on our site," a Netflix spokesperson told us.
The torrent description mentions that the file is an "HDMI cap of UHD Netflix with a lossless capture card, encoded with x264." The use of H.264 encoding accounts for the relatively massive file size and bit rate, since Netflix uses H.265/HEVC to encode and deliver UHD streams at a bit rate of about 15.6 Mbps, far less than the 41.3 Mbps seen here.
Original Submission
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday August 30 2015, @05:38PM
Sure it's a novelty release. It's basically a proof of concept. But it is something that could become routine and a sign of an increasing amount of 4K content available in general and on torrent sites.
There's nothing hypothetical about it. Netflix uses H.265 for all 4K streaming... so it is content that was served up as H.265, captured "losslessly" using a capture card, and re-encoded as H.264. If the group had used H.265 instead, maybe the initial filesize would have been closer to 4 or 7 GB. The 17 GB filesize isn't the point. Cracking the DRM could lead to sudden growth of available 2160p content. Now that 4K displays have dropped from over $1000 to as low as $350 (for an admittedly mediocre spec 4K display), 4K viewing could become more mainstream.
As for the scene and H.265, it is becoming more common, as I've noted. There will be H.264 releases for years to come, but it's not hard for the scene or others to upload both versions for each resolution. Especially when the file sizes are so low. H.265: 150-250 MB for 45-minute 720p, and maybe 500 MB for 1080p. You could basically fit 3-4 720p episodes of a show onto a CD, where DVD used to be necessary for under 720p.
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