Does NFL ST use HDCP to limit number of screens?

[Smith P.]

I still don't get it, especially I'm doubt if any HTTP or whatever client could manage IGMP in the router and it was mentioned Cisco router doesn't required "it does NOT have to be a Cisco switch". By my knowledge managing IGMP must be done thru management console of the router. That's foundation rule. Clients must have no access to managing any router.

 

[boomer_106]

That information is publicly available from the DirecTV website. You can find all the details in the PDF at http://www.directv.com/images/Direc..._and_Restaurants_Public_Viewing_Paperwork.pdf . The pricing is not based on the number of receivers, it's based on the firecode approved seating capacity of the establishment. Here are some of the posted prices for automatically renewed bars/restaurants:

Seats Season Fee
1-50 $945.99
51-100 $1,049.97
101-200 $2,519.97
201-350 $3,464.97
-
-
-
5,001-10,000 $39,899.97
10,001+ $48,089.97

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Thanks. I'd never seen that pdf on their website. It does say on that first package the 170+ pack that it includes 2 outlet fees and then it's $13 per each extra receiver. I guess most places have programming besides Sunday ticket so they probably pay that. All in all, it's not real cheap to have it. It takes a pretty good business increase I would think to pay it.

 

[Nded]

I still don't get it, especially I'm doubt if any HTTP or whatever client could manage IGMP in the router and it was mentioned Cisco router doesn't required "it does NOT have to be a Cisco switch". By my knowledge managing IGMP must be done thru management console of the router. That's foundation rule. Clients must have no access to managing any router.

I asked the engineers behind the networking component of the HDMI over IP solution to comment about this recommendation and they don't really want to publicly give out a whole lot of details/secrets away about how we are doing some of this at this time. Please just accept that we recommend you choose a Managed Switch that does support IGMP. You are certainly welcome to try the HDMI over IP solution on a Managed Switch that does not support IGMP, we just don't recommend it. The switch we used during the "proof of concept" phase was the Cisco Catalyst 2960 24LT-L. About 1/4 of the way down the specifications posted on the Cisco website at Cisco Catalyst 2960 Switches with LAN Base Software [Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series Switches] - Cisco Systems you will see the following under the heading Superior Manageability:

IGMPv3 snooping for IPv4 and MLD v1 and v2 Snooping for IPv6 provide fast client joins and leaves of multicast streams and limits bandwidth-intensive video traffic to only the requestors.

Do you have a specific objection to using a Managed Switch that supports IGMP? If you have a business opportunity in mind that justifies a "need to know more", please send me a PM. I hope you can appreciate the need to keep some things about our technology confidential.

 

[Smith P.]

OK, thanks for the clarification - it would be enough for me now to do diligent work in background when it will be nessesary.

 

[JosephB]

I asked the engineers behind the networking component of the HDMI over IP solution to comment about this recommendation and they don't really want to publicly give out a whole lot of details/secrets away about how we are doing some of this at this time. Please just accept that we recommend you choose a Managed Switch that does support IGMP. You are certainly welcome to try the HDMI over IP solution on a Managed Switch that does not support IGMP, we just don't recommend it. The switch we used during the "proof of concept" phase was the Cisco Catalyst 2960 24LT-L. About 1/4 of the way down the specifications posted on the Cisco website at Cisco Catalyst 2960 Switches with LAN Base Software [Cisco Catalyst 2960 Series Switches] - Cisco Systems you will see the following under the heading Superior Manageability:



Do you have a specific objection to using a Managed Switch that supports IGMP? If you have a business opportunity in mind that justifies a "need to know more", please send me a PM. I hope you can appreciate the need to keep some things about our technology confidential.

I can understand the need to be confidential, but the reasoning behind why IGMP is required seems like required knowledge for getting the system up and running. How do you troubleshoot if something goes wrong unless you know what purpose IGMP is serving? Or do you require your company install/setup/support the product?

 

[Nded]

I can understand the need to be confidential, but the reasoning behind why IGMP is required seems like required knowledge for getting the system up and running. How do you troubleshoot if something goes wrong unless you know what purpose IGMP is serving? Or do you require your company install/setup/support the product?

The setup is really quite simple (at least from my perspective). All of the devices have fixed IP addresses, so you don't have to bother with HDCP or adding a Router to the HDMI LAN. Using static port VLAN's, you setup a different VLAN for each HDMI over IP Transmitter. Then you plug your HDMI over IP Receivers into their own network ports and tell the switch what VLAN they should join. When you want to change a screen to a different source, you just change the VLAN for that Receivers port.

The Cisco Catalyst 2960 we used for the test was reset to factory default settings before we began, and we did nothing to customize the switch, beyond the VLAN assignments. We have some other make/model Managed Switches coming into the lab this week for testing purposes. It is our expectation that the HDMI over IP solution will work with all of these Managed Switches right out of the box.

We are also working with a number of companies to develop a more friendly to Wife and Kids interface, and even some IR control options.