How can I watch DRM protected content on second screen?

Hello! In my main PC (see 2nd system specs) I have one monitor connected via a Display Port to VGA adapter and a second monitor connected via HDMI. When I try to watch DRM protected content, such as a movie or series from a Greek TV channel (antennaplus.gr) I get a warning that VGA connection is not supported and I should switch to HDMI or Display Port. Moving the Google Chrome window to the second monitor doesn't work. Using another browser is not directly supported, the website works only in Chrome. I tried to use Microsoft Edge or Firefox and change the User Agent to Chrome but I still get the warning for my VGA connection. The only way to watch is to disconnect the first monitor, but then I cannot work and watch at the same time. The first monitor doesn't support HDMI, only VGA.

Is any way to bypass DRM compliance check in Google Chrome so I can watch without disconnecting the first monitor? Any other workaround?

Thanks.

Does the second display have a DP port?
If so,have you tried to switch the HDMI to VGA instead?

EDIT: scratch that: you'd need an audio input/output with VGA as it does not support audio

What difference would it make? As far as I use a Display Port to VGA or an HDMI to VGA adapter, the monitor connection is detected as VGA which is not DRM compliant. So I need to trick Chrome that my connection is DRM compliant and let me watch the protected content.

Thinking out loud here.

Perhaps, you could you set up a vm in Hyper-V to watch the program and drag vm output to second monitor?

Is this an HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection - Wikipedia) issue?

If I knew of a hack to circumvent it (I don't), it might be against the forum rules to post it here.

In the let-them-eat-cake category, the normal solution would be to replace the VGA monitor with one with an HDCP compliant digital interface.

A cheap trick that may or may not work.

Use OBS Studio to capture the stream from the compliant display, but put the OBS monitoring window on your VGA screen...it may or may not work and is a hack. But desperate times require desperate measures...

I don't know if OBS can grab DRM content...

Virtual machine could work unless the computer is busy enough to make virtual machine crawl. I will try it...

bobkn said:

Is this an HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection - Wikipedia) issue?

If I knew of a hack to circumvent it (I don't), it might be against the forum rules to post it here.

In the let-them-eat-cake category, the normal solution would be to replace the VGA monitor with one with an HDCP compliant digital interface.

Click to expand...

I do not think this is against forum rules - OP is not trying to bypass the DRM rules but merely to watch something on a second screen.

DRM gets really huffy sometimes.

I recently tried to watch a movie playing on my laptop with windows generated subtitles remotely on my mobile phone by using a remote connection (app like Teamviewer) from mobile phone, and drm kicked in and remote screen on mobile was blank.

I then connected using RDP and it worked fine.

spapakons said:

What difference would it make? As far as I use a Display Port to VGA or an HDMI to VGA adapter, the monitor connection is detected as VGA which is not DRM compliant. So I need to trick Chrome that my connection is DRM compliant and let me watch the protected content.

Click to expand...

I get it but, if the VGA is not high bandwidth then, you might not get anything at all from the source.

Could a splitter work out for you" It's also called a HDCP limiter.

If you have an HDMI port available, there may be adapters that can spoof HDCP compliance.

This may not be helpful at your location, but here's one that claims HDCP support:


The safest course would be to replace the old VGA monitor with one with an HDCP compliant digital interface, though. (There may be other pitfalls with multiple monitors that I don't know about, though.)

cereberus said:

I do not think this is against forum rules - OP is not trying to bypass the DRM rules but merely to watch something on a second screen.

DRM gets really huffy sometimes.

I recently tried to watch a movie playing on my laptop with windows generated subtitles remotely on my mobile phone by using a remote connection (app like Teamviewer) from mobile phone, and drm kicked in and remote screen on mobile was blank.

I then connected using RDP and it worked fine.

Click to expand...

I don't know. That's why I said "might be against forum rules".

I'm not a prig. I have a BluRay burner on which I put an old firmware that permits it to play UHD BD movies. (Not that I do that. I prefer my TV screen.)

Well I tried the virtual machine, I still get the annoying warning. It seems the only solution so far is to disconnect the unsupported monitor. If I want to work and watch I can only use PiP (picture in picture) and only a small video window.

spapakons said:

Well I tried the virtual machine, I still get the annoying warning. It seems the only solution so far is to disconnect the unsupported monitor. If I want to work and watch I can only use PiP (picture in picture) and only a small video window.

Click to expand...

Maybe this will work.

Run Hyper-V and app in a minimised Window on screen 1. Then run rdp and put screen on second monitor, then rdp to minimised Hyper-V. You have to use external switch in Hyper-V so vm and host are on same subnet.

The members at VideoHelp Forum may be able to help. you can try doing a search or join and ask if it can be done.

I didn't completely understand what you suggest using RDP, but a VMWare Workstation virtual machine didn't work. I still get the warning about VGA and that I should switch to a digital HDCP connection. Is there any configuration in VMWare to make the virtual monitor appear as digital HDCP compliant?

spapakons said:

I didn't completely understand what you suggest using RDP, but a VMWare Workstation virtual machine didn't work. I still get the warning about VGA and that I should switch to a digital HDCP connection. Is there any configuration in VMWare to make the virtual monitor appear as digital HDCP compliant?

Click to expand...

I have no idea about vmware - my suggestion was with Hyper-V with vm and host on same IP subnet (not behind a NAT Wall).

I have RDPd from my mobile phone to vm on pc playing drm content and I could see it but if I used Splashtop (similar to Teamviewer), I could not.

So although your case is different, I think it could work.