How to play DRM content on any PC or Mac computer

IdeaNova Technologies, Inc., a provider of Inflight Entertainment (IFE) solutions and Digital Rights Management (DRM), unveiled INPLAY INSTANT, their newest multimedia player. Now, airline passengers can quickly and easily playback any DRM content - such as Hollywood movies - on their laptop or any web browser, regardless of the supported DRM Content Decryption Module (CDM).

The majority of players on the market are limited to playback only in web browsers using the supported DRM Content Decryption Module (CDM). In addition, many of these players require Flash based browser plugins, which require connectivity for installation and updates. The process for installing these plugins can be very confusing and oftentimes leaves passengers without the ability to watch any content at all during their flight.

INPLAY INSTANT utilizes a simple user-friendly installation process that does not require connectivity or installation of plugins giving passengers an uninterrupted multimedia streaming experience. The multimedia player features support for adaptive streaming, adaptive download, in-flight chat, multi-language subtitles and audio, data analysis tools and ad integration with DRM content.

With the new player operators can incrementally rollout DRM platforms on their own schedules, without impacting a consumer’s ability to watch content in their platform of choice. Since the player is DRM agnostic, customers can choose which platform to support. In a sense, this gives operators the ability to extend the life of existing legacy solutions, like Widevine Classic or Marlin DRM, without hassling with periodic Flash updates. “We believe this will have a huge impact as it gives operators more time to rollout new technology while providing entertainment to customers on their existing platforms,” said Juraj Siska, CTO of IdeaNova Technologies.

In addition, the new player fully supports the new Dash DRM platforms. If, for example, an airline decides to initially rollout the Widevine Modular platform only, the INPLAY INSTANT users using Internet Explorer, Edge and Safari would be able to enjoy watching the same DRM content in these browsers that would be otherwise unsupported.

“The flexibility of the INPLAY INSTANT technology gives us freedom to combine features and functionality from each DRM vendor, while maintaining the web look and feel that is so desired by our customers. For example, we can now deliver web playback of offline content that the customer downloaded while in connected mode,” said Siska.

This player fills a gap in today’s common encryption technology (CENC) environment, which is still maturing. As DRM vendors are consolidating on the encryption algorithms and making their CDMs more robust and secure, INPLAY INSTANT provides operators with the freedom of falling back on a platform that is guaranteed to work every time a user wants to play DRM content.