Certain end-to-end scenarios may require protected content to be exported from one content-protection system to another in order to play or copy the same content on multiple platforms and devices.
For example, a consumer may use a PC to acquire subscription content that is protected with PlayReady and may then want to stream that content to a playback device on a network that only supports DTCP-IP. To play the content protected with PlayReady on that device, the protected content must be exported to DTCP-IP.
To enable this scenario, the PlayReady Server SDK permits exports to a license. The PlayReady Compliance Rules contain a list of content-protection formats that are permitted for export and their associated rights mappings with PlayReady, along with methods that developers can call to export the content from PlayReady.
The client sending content may only export the content to those content-protection systems specified in the license. As is the case with Windows Media DRM, the final decision about the systems that systems-specific content may flow to will be made on a case-by-case basis by the content service provider.
PlayReady devices and applications can decrypt legacy WMDRM protected content without requiring any modification to the original encrypted content files, however the licenses will be delivered using the PlayReady Server SDK.
Both the PlayReady PC SDK and the Device Porting Kit allow the application, if desired, to change the license header of existing content files into the PlayReady format, thus allowing an invisible conversion to the new ecosystem with all of its advantages, i.e., domains and embedded licenses, even on "legacy" content.
From version 2, Silverlight can play and decrypt the same Windows Media DRM-encrypted content that is played in Windows Media Player, but a PlayReady license server (running the PlayReady Server SDK) must be deployed to provide licenses to Silverlight clients. Therefore the migration requires deployment of a PlayReady License Server.