BenQ Screens & Copyright

[JTTCM]

Hi All,

 

We've had a few 65" BenQ interactive screens put in school and they are great. However, I cannot seem to get past a small yet significant issue.

 

The staff try to pause/freeze the screens using the blue button and there is an error or more a message that says:-

 

"The currently playing content involves copyright protection, and the ZoomIn cannot be taken normally" Preventing them from being paused. The "content" being played is usually a powerpoint that a teacher has made. So not really copyright.

can anyone shed any light on this or tell me what we are doing wrong?

 

Many thanks

John

[rf600]

I'm getting the same but on some new Smart boards

 

Hoping someone on here can point us in the right direction

 

James

[BennyG]

Hi,

 

Just a thought and I am probably wrong - Is there any video content in the PowerPoint presentation? Could it be some sort of over keen HDCP protection in ZoomIn? Also, is the Smartboard and GX series?

[steveg]

I have the same issue with smartboards, but only with computers with AMD graphics, integrated in this case. They are supposed to be releasing new firmware to fix the issues, but as a work around I've found using the display port input doesn't have the problem, our desktop screens have hdmi so we were able to swap it around to make it work.

[JTTCM]

I've emailed Proactive AV whom installed them (BenQ RE6503 ) asking how to get this issue resolved. It would seem that the copyright message is there regardless of when the screen is paused.

[BenQ_Chris]

Afternoon John, Chris from BenQ here. Can you drop me a DM with the model number and firmware version. I believe I know the issue and it can be rectified by updating the firmware - I picked up on the issue a few months back.

[SamanthaD]

What device is sending content to the screen? Apple devices always send HDCP no matter what content is being shown (and has prevented us from recording Macbooks on lecture capture for years), but I've heard some newer Windows devices may be following the same path.

 

If the method used to "freeze" the screen is to take a screenshot then that is technically recording it, which may be why its throwing up an error.

[JTTCM]

I have an update - Thanks to Chris, It seems to have been as simple as a firmware update. I thought they were up to date but clearly not. - Staff are reporting no issues at the moment. Thank you for everyone who contributed.

[desseardo]

Hi Chris

Are you able to help me with this issue please as I am having the same problem?

Thanks

[BenQ_Chris]

Hi @desseardo I'll reply to your DM.

[Sheridan]

Thread revival here, as we're seeing exactly the same thing on a Philips board, but there doesn't seem to a fix for this. Anyone else use Philips boards?

[BenQ_Chris]

Hi @Sheridan - I can't say for certain it's 100% the same; but on the BenQ it was a software fix. Perhaps Philips can provide the same support?

[Sheridan]

Hi @Sheridan - I can't say for certain it's 100% the same; but on the BenQ it was a software fix. Perhaps Philips can provide the same support?

 

Thanks, I'm guessing it was an firmware/android update on the BenQ models rather than the Windows side of things?

[BenQ_Chris]

Hi @Sheridan, yes it was an Android FW update, to do with the way the chipset handled HDCP.

[Sheridan]

My problem with Philips has got weirder. We only have a handful of these screens and all show the copyright error but only when connected to the desktops which are Asus/AMD/Radeon based. All of our desktops are based on Asus motherboards so are basically a mix of two generations so similar in specs.

 

However I tested with a Lenovo laptop which has Intel Iris onboard graphics and it works fine. So I'm not sure now whether the boards don't like AMD or AMD doesn't like the boards!

 

We've updated to the latest drivers as well, Philips haven't got a firmware update so short of replacing the desktops with Intel ones I'm a bit baffled what to do. You used to be able to disable hdcp (even if just to test) but this seems to have gone in W11 - at least on Asus/AMD chipsets anyway

[BenQ_Chris]

@Sheridan as a workaround you could place a HDCP splitter between source and screen. These will often bypass HDCP. There are a few listed on Amazon.

 

Thanks, Chris.

[Sheridan]

Hmm thats an idea - its odd that no content is even being displayed but if I can fool it!

[BenQ_Chris]

@Sheridan if no display is being shown it could also be an EDID issue (1.4 v 2.0). Most panels use HDMI 2.0 which supports EDID 2.0 (max 4K60), however some laptops have a GPU that can do 4K60, but the physical HDMI port is 1.4, which caps at 4K30. It wasn't an issue until all panels moved to 4K with HDMI 2.0. Some panels have a software switch to go from Auto, 1.4 and 2.0. But not all do. We had this issue on our RM03 screens and were able to create a software fix. Other workarounds are, use VGA, use an EDID emulator or set laptop resolution to 30Hz.

 

Thanks, Chris.

[Sheridan]

Sorry I meant the display is working OK but no copyright content is being displayed - just powerpoints, chrome browser etc

 

The fact it works with Intel chipset suggests a huffy situation between the philips and Amd systems

[SamanthaD]

That would be expected behaviour if the handshake was with a recording device. Does the screen have any screen capture functionality?

[BenQ_Chris]

Hi @SamanthaD I cannot speak for the Philips, but the BenQ has screen capture built in, both image freeze (which is essentially image capture) and screen recording.

 

Thanks, Chris.

[SamanthaD]

In which case I would guess the EDID handshake is reporting the screen as a recording device, hence why HDCP is activated on protected content?

[Sheridan]

Odd how it only affects this combination of desktop and screen. We have loads of AMD PCs connected to Promethean, ViewSonic, CTouch screens all with the same features and they work ok with the freeze function

 

It seems like either Philips or AMD regard HDMI content in this scenario as HDCP regardless of what is actually being displayed

[SamanthaD]

Macbooks have done it this way for years - their digital outputs have always been encrypted regardless of the content, been a PITA when trying to record PowerPoints shown on them! Workarounds have been to use VGA (doesn't have the HDCP signal on an analgoue cable!) or to find a way to remove the signal (which may or may not be possible, I couldn't comment 😉)