Quick Brick TV Apps - DRM Support

DRM Support in TV Platforms

Introduction

All TV devices support content protected with DRM, but there are important considerations to keep in mind

• There are 4 main DRM types used in the media world
• PlayReady (owned by Microsoft)
• Widevine (owned by Google)
• Fairplay (owned by Apple)
• Sample AES - a simple encryption plus token solution

• Not all platforms support all DRM types, meaning content has to be either:
• packaged by an OVP (Online Video Platform) in all required formats 
• Or encrypted on the fly with the requested DRM at the content origin
• DRM support is usually linked to a content package format i.e. DASH or HLS, with only certain combinations being allowed by a device
• If the player is changed then that player’s DRM capabilities define the DRM supported
• DRM technology is developing all the time and it takes time for device platforms to catch up. Legacy devices may not be upgradeable to latest DRM technologies
• Smart TVs have lagged in their implementation of DRM and generally, a legacy model year TV may not be updated to the latests DRM technologies.

IMPORTANT

The above makes DRM a complicated technical process to ensure device coverage and correct operation. It should Not be considered as a simple “feature enablement.”

Applicaster has tested DRM with public test streams however, any customer engagement must involve detailed pre-discussion to cover stream packaging, DRM formats, their specific OVP, DRM and player solution.

Testing will need to be detailed to cover the many variances in DRM implementation and will be a process of some weeks to complete with liaison with their DRM provider.

TV Platform DRM support

The table shows the supported DRM type per TV device with links to the latest information of each manufacturer.

Platform	PlayReady	Widevine Modular	Fairplay	Sample AES	Manufacturer Info
Apple TV	No	No	Yes	Yes	https://developer.apple.com/streaming/fps/
Android TV Amazon TV	Yes	Yes	No	No	https://exoplayer.dev/drm.html
Samsung TV	Only from 2015 devices and only on DASH streams	Only from 2017 devices on DASH streams only	No	From 2015 devices on HLS streams only	https://developer.samsung.com/tv/develop/specifications/general-specifications
LG TV	2016 models onwards	2016 models onwards	No	HLS content only	http://webostv.developer.lge.com/discover/specifications/supported-media-formats/
Roku	DASH content only	HLS content only	No	HLS content only	https://developer.roku.com/en-gb/docs/specs/streaming.md

Basic DRM principles

DRM requires two basic processes to be in place in the content flow:

• Content encryption, typically using AES-128 (full or sample methods)
• The addition of a licence key that will allow content to be unencrypted and will also inform a device how that content can be managed (the “Rights” part) e.g. play once, prohibit download to own, enable recording etc.

The diagram below shows a typical the content flow in an OVP when encrypted with DRM. The OVP produces all packaged variants (HLS and DASH) with the required DRM combinations to be uploaded to an Origin Server. In recent years, to avoid the storage of multiple versions of the same content asset, On The Fly encoding is deployed to add the encryption at the point of request of a stream (live or VOD)

DRM Support Requirements

DRM support requires that an Applicaster customer has 4 key components available in their streaming workflow:

1. Content must be packaged and encrypted in formats compatible with the devices to be supported
2. A DRM License Server must be in place - the video player will request decryption keys from a license server every time a piece of content is requested; the license server authenticates and responds to these requests. The license server is quite often deployed within an OVP by a 3rd party specialist DRM provider such as Vualto, BuyDRM, Verimatrix, Irdeto and others. The customer will pay for license keys when content is requested
3. DRM configuration must be correctly set up within a feed
4. The video player must be able to request a key from a license server URL and use the key to decrypt the video

Applicaster DRM support for Applicaster player

It is important to note that Applicaster’s support for DRM is only in step 3 above, to define the correct setup for feeds to deliver DRM protected content to the Applicaster player. The functioning of the encryption process, and DRM key serving is completely in the control of the customer's OVP. Tthe key request and decryption capability is completely under the control of the player. The DRM properties should be defined in the extensions of the feed. This extension is stating the DRM type, the URL of the license server and specific DRM configurations. These specific configurations vary with DRM type and may include information about how the content can be used once decrypted at the device.

Fairplay for iOS and tvOS

Make sure this plugin is added to your app before app build time.

Ensure all feeds for Fairplay protected content have these extensions available and completed for each content entry. (example URLs not shown for security reasons).

{
    "extensions": {
        "drm": {
            "fairplay": {
                "certificate_url": "",
                "license_server_url": "",
                "license_server_request_content_type": "",
                "license_server_request_json_object_key": ""
            }
        }
    }
}

Other DRM

Ensure all feeds for protected content have these extensions available and completed for each content entry. (example URLs not shown for security reasons).

{

  type: { value: “feed”},
  ... ,
  extensions: {
    drm: {
Widevine: {
ksm_server_url: ””,
ksm_params: “json string”,
},

PlayReady: { /**  **/},
    }
  }
}

3rd party player plugins

If an Applicaster customer uses a 3rd party player plugin such as JWPlayer, Bitmovin or others, their respective documentation must be used to understand the DRM supported and how to configure the player.

Examples:

JWPlayer - https://support.jwplayer.com/articles/digital-rights-management-drm-reference