HDCP videos no longer playing after installing UltraStudio

I’m on a Mac Studio M2 Ultra running Sonoma 14.1.1. After installing the software to support my new UltraStudio 4K Mini, everything looks great from a DaVinci Resolve perspective. However, I’m no longer able to play any videos inside the Apple Music app. The audio plays, but the video is just a black screen.

The QuickTime app continues to play videos without an issue. It only seems to have impacted playing videos within the Apple Music app.

UPDATE: After further testing, this appears to be related to HDCP videos (encrypted), and not specific to the Apple Music app. I was able to obtain two identical videos. One was encrypted (HDCP) and the other was not. The non-HDCP plays fine (audio + video) but the encrypted video does not (audio only). I have another Mac Studio running the same version of macOS Sonoma (14.4.1) and it does not have the BMD UltraSudio software installed, and it plays both videos perfectly. I have seen some topic online where software that uses DisplayLink has this issue, but I have no idea if the UltraStudio drivers use DisplayLink or not. Unfortunately, it appears as though installing the UltraStudio drivers break the playing of HDCP videos on the Mac regardless.

Blackmagic devices have always killed hdcp embedded video.

Typical work around is to find an hdmi splitter that strips out the HDCP, and place it before the blackmagic device.

Thanks for your response Glenn. I’m a bit confused regarding the HDMI. My environment is a Mac Studio connected to my UltraStudio 4K Mini via the required Thunderbolt cable. My FSI reference monitor is then connected to the 4K Mini via SDI. After installing the UltraStudio drivers on my Mac, the Mac can no longer play any HDCP videos on the Mac itself, whether those videos are via my browser, Apple Music or any other source. When attempting to play these videos, I’m not engaging the UltraStudio/reference monitor at all. I simply want to play these videos on my Mac’s display. So, I’m not certain where HMDI or an HDMI splitter comes into play? I have confirmed that the HDCP videos were playing fine before installing the software to support the UltraStudio 4K Mini. I suspect that the BMD drivers do not allow any HDCP videos to be played locally on my Mac, which is a problem for me.

Interesting. I've never encountered a total blackout. Typically it is the device itself that handles the hdcp.

I am on Windows, so maybe it is part of the mac/blackmagic environment.

What is the source of your videos?

I do have a mac studio here for my scopes with an ultrastudio 4k on it.

If I can find a similar video, I can give it a try on both mac and windows.

In Apple Music, not a single music video will play. And, in my Safari browser, any HDCP videos will not play. Every other video plays fine. The video will play and the audio is fine, but the video will remain black.

On the Udemy website, there is a test you can run to diagnosis any video problems. They have two videos to test. One is HDCP protected and the other is not. The non-protected video works great. The HDCP protected video does not play. So, the issue is very consistent across all apps on the Mac, and I've narrowed it down to whether the video is encrypted or not.

Here is the page that I use to test...

https://business-support.udemy.com/hc/e ... ack-Issues

I found the fix for the issue by pure accident. When I installed the UltraStudio 4K Mini and my reference monitor, I also added an iPad to my system to display scopes in DR. I have seen several YouTube videos on this topic, and I have found the ability to display the scopes on the iPad to be very handy. Believe it or not, if you install an iPad via MacOS Sidecar, it breaks the playing of any HDCP content on ANY device. In my instance, I have 2 Mac Studio monitors, an FSI reference monitor connected through the UltraStudio 4K Mini, and my iPad tethered via USB/Sidecar. Other than the UltraStudio, this is a 100% Apple ecosystem. It's really hard to believe that using Apple's own hardware and feature (Sidecar) it breaks HDCP playback, whether it be via Apple Music, any browser, and any other app installed on the Mac.

I stumbled on this when I disconnected my iPad from Sidecar to use it remotely, and before reconnecting it, I tried playing a HDCP video, and it worked. Interesting that I haven't found any other DR user that takes advantage of Sidecar post this issue.

Glad you found the source of the issue.

When I installed the UltraStudio 4K Mini and my reference monitor, I also added an iPad to my system to display scopes in DR. I have seen several YouTube videos on this topic, and I have found the ability to display the scopes on the iPad to be very handy.

Interesting, Gary. I use the 7" Video Assist 12K, for my waveform monitor, with the US 4K Mini. Very accurate too and cheaper than BMD's own dedicated unit. I have it mounted to the top of the reference monitor, with a quick release so I can double it up on the camera. I feed it SDI and downstream from it, HDMI to the client monitor. This way I can have HD to the ref mon (only HD) and at the same time have 4K at the client monitor.

HDCP is a pain with all the BMD i/o gear. I only solved it properly by getting a new 4K client monitor. It seems newer tellys are more accepting of the different signal from the very compliant and strict BMD stuff.

I found the fix for the issue by pure accident. When I installed the UltraStudio 4K Mini and my reference monitor, I also added an iPad to my system to display scopes in DR.

Yeah, I've warned people NOT to use an iPad for scopes, for the simple reason that the delay in the response is too much and will affect your comfort level. You figure, an iPad is at least $800-$900 (or more); I used a $75 used 15" flat screen for 5 years for hard-wired scopes in the 2010s, and it was flawless and instantaneous. Since 2017, I started using a widescreen LG for Scopebox (and later Omniscope) -- also flawless, and that's a $150 display. Bigger than an iPad, but much thinner, and 10% of the cost.