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What’s new in PlayReady version 4.6?

December 13, 2022

The new PlayReady version 4.6 is now available! A single Key Exchange license can now include multiple keys with different algorithms. In order to make logs easier to navigate, the DRM manager test area was broken up into numerous separate test areas. Code was moved across various files to enable linkers to do better optimization. A memory leak was fixed, and all memory allocation functions now take sizes based on the architecture of the system (32bit or 64bit) instead of always taking 32bit sizes.

New PlayReady Version 4.5 Release Now Available!

November 03, 2021

The new PlayReady version 4.5 improves the experience for both the PlayReady Server SDK and the PlayReady Device Porting Kit. Functionality was added to simplify use of the Watermarking Signaling Explicit Digital Video Output Restriction as defined by the PlayReady Compliance Rules.

The entire PlayReady Device Porting Kit has been updated to Microsoft Source-code Annotation Language (SAL) 2.0. In order to eliminate confusion and reduce compile times and binary sizes, some unsupported code paths only used in Microsoft-internal implementations were removed. Moreover, native 128-bit integer types can now be used to accelerate the default implementation of ECC256 and a default implementation of the SHA256 HMAC algorithm was added.

New PlayReady Version 4.4 Release Now Available!

June 09, 2020

Microsoft announces the availability of a new PlayReady version 4.4 for both the PlayReady device porting kit and PlayReady Server SDK’s. Microsoft’s PlayReady porting kit version 4.4 has added several feature and performance improvements to continue it’s feature leading platform for hardware security (Securestop2, EME API’s, CBCS, Renewability, etc.).

Microsoft's new PlayReady version 4.4 extends license support for CBCS to software drm clients and enhanced client feature reporting. The PlayReady Server SDK for .Net Core (.NET standard 2.0) add full Async support for optimal performance. PlayReady Server for .NET Core runs on Linux (such as Ubuntu 16.04+, Oracle Enterprise Linux 7, Debian 9+, and Linux Docker containers)! It will also run on Mac OS X 10+ in addition to running on Windows Server 2016+.

New PlayReady Server SDK for .NET Core available!

August 28, 2019
Microsoft announces the availability of a new PlayReady Server SDK v4.3.5841 for .NET Core. Microsoft's new PlayReady SDK now supports non-Windows server operating systems on Linux (such as Ubuntu 16.04+, Debian 9+, and Linux Docker containers)! It will also now run on Mac OS X 10+ in addition to running on Windows Server 2016+. Service providers now have the flexibility to run PlayReady (the most proven, scalable, and versatile content protection technology in the world) in their most preferred environments.

More Comprehensive PlayReady documentation available on docs.microsoft.com

March 12, 2018
Microsoft announces the availability of a new set of public documentation about PlayReady, available at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/playready/. This documentation aims at describing how PlayReady works end to end, and helps current and potential new PlayReady users to make more comprehensive decisions when selecting their content protection technology and/or developing their PlayReady servers and clients. Readers can also access these documents on GitHub and provide feedback on the quality of the documentation and/or provide suggested updates to the documentation. This documentation is supplemented by the documentation pack provided to PlayReady licensed companies in the form of a CHM file. This CHM file contains additional confidential documentation about the details of the PlayReady technology specifically for Application Developers, OEMs and Service Providers.

PlayReady 4.0 supports CMAF interoperable format with AES-CBC and AES-CTR encryption

September 12, 2017

AMSTERDAM — Released today at the International Broadcasters Conference (IBC), Microsoft Corp. announced new features to be included in the next update of PlayReady, its digital rights management system.

Support for CMAF — “Microsoft is committed to enabling premium content in Windows 10, Xbox and other media platforms through a PlayReady client”, said Rob McAuley, Director, PlayReady Business Development. “Microsoft is a strong promoter of the ‘Common Media Application Format’ (CMAF, ISO/IEC 23001-7: ‘Common Encryption’, ISO/IEC 23000-19) and we are investing in PlayReady 4.0 to ensure services can fully leverage the potential of a true common format, and optimize the cost of their infrastructure while delivering the best content to Windows, Xbox and other media platforms through a PlayReady client”.

Support for AES-CBC content encryption - Microsoft adds support for AES-CBC keys to PlayReady 4.0. A PlayReady Server SDK and a PlayReady Client Porting Kit version 4.0 is being released in September 2017 to allow services and OEMs to add this new feature to their devices and device applications. AES-CBC will be rolling out on Windows clients starting with Xbox One, Xbox S, Xbox X before holiday 2017 for use of HLS and DASH. Windows 10 PCs will receive an update later in 2018 that brings AES-CBC decoding to new devices that have AES-CBC capable hardware.

Which DRM supports what platforms?

June 09, 2016

Which DRM supports what platforms? We have decided to sum up platform native support of several DRM technologies that should help you decide and eventually deploy the best solution for all the major OTT platforms and devices.

Pascal architecture (from NVidia) to meet the highest requirements of Microsoft PlayReady 3.0

June 01, 2016

The Pascal architecture (from NVidia) to meet the highest requirements of Microsoft PlayReady 3.0, allowing premium video content playback on Windows platforms. Content providers such as Netflix will be able to stream their latest content to Pascal-enabled PCs and have it play back at the highest supported quality, including 4K.

Axinom DRM 6 supports PlayReady 3.0

December 12, 2015

Increased availability of a broader range of consumer devices, featuring different hardware and OS versions, already caused a high demand for the content protection. As the media and entertainment industry moves beyond HD, introducing 4K/UHD and higher resolutions, robust security becomes even more important, especially for premium Hollywood content. Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to secure, user-friendly protection of content and cross-platform capabilities inherently positions Microsoft PlayReady DRM as a key enabler for the media and entertainment industry. Customers using Axinom DRM 6 with PlayReady 3.0 support are empowered to license a wide range of 4K Hollywood premium content for a variety of consumer devices.

PlayReady enabled CSG Ascendon™ Now Powers Media-Saturn's New Entertainment Portal JUKE!

October 20, 2015

CSG International, a global provider of interactive, transaction-driven solutions and services, announces that its CSG Ascendon digital services platform now powers JUKE, the new entertainment portal from Media-Saturn Germany, Europe's largest electronics retailer.

Keepixo and bitmovin Demonstrate PlayReady over DASH-CENC at IBC 2015

September 15, 2015

Keepixo, a leading provider of software-based head-end solutions for IPTV and OTT, and bitmovin, vendor of fastest cloud-encoding platform bitcodin and HTML5/Flash MPEG-DASH and HLS video player bitdash, will be providing an end-to-end demonstration of Microsoft PlayReady protection over MPEG-DASH at IBC 2015.

Keepixo and Inside Secure Complete Microsoft PlayReady Integration to Secure Delivery of HEVC Content over IPTV Systems

September 10, 2015

Keepixo, a leading provider of software-based head-end solutions for IPTV and OTT, and Inside Secure, a leader in embedded security solutions for mobile and connected devices, announce the successful completion of Microsoft PlayReady integration to secure end-to-end delivery of HEVC content.

Inside Secure releases white paper, "New Era of Premium Content Protection: Hybrid Hardware-Software Security Solutions."

July 30, 2015

The paper provides an overview of OTT security and technical challenges as well as how hybrid security works in their implementation of a PlayReady enabled solution.

ALi Launches Hardware-assisted DRM Solution Integrating Microsoft's PlayReady Technologies

January 06, 2015

ALi Corporation, a leading Set-Top Box (STB) chipset solution provider, today announced a hardware-assisted DRM solution integrating Microsoft PlayReady Porting Kit 2.5 on ALi's M3733 platform. The strategic collaboration between ALi and Microsoft PlayReady delivers a highly secure DRM solution utilizing a unique combination of hardware and software security for a revolutionary level of protection not available in pure software solutions.

Symphony Teleca Announces Support for Microsoft® PlayReady® Interoperability, Expands Commitment to Connected Home Entertainment

January 06, 2015

Symphony Teleca Corporation, the global innovation and development services company, today announced that it has expanded its connected home entertainment portfolio to provide Microsoft® PlayReady® content protection to media platform suppliers and device manufacturers. The company will be showcasing its latest connected home entertainment solutions at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2015, January 6 – 9 in Las Vegas.