Digital rights management (DRM) systems have a way of being both maligned and praised in the same breath. While DRM systems help ensure that content's copyrights are protected, and therefore the content in question can be appropriately monetized and the content's copyright holder compensated, DRM can also get in the way of use. After all, the most secure system is the one that absolutely no one can access. But INSIDE Secure and Digisoft (News – Alert).tv may have a new solution to the issue with a simpler breed of DRM revolving around a PlayReady Encrypted Media Extension (EME) for Digisoft.tv's Iris application.

Iris, an operating system (OS) middleware application powered by HTML5, is particularly useful in set-top boxes (STBs) as a means to bring HTML5 video to the systems in question. Indeed, systems like Iris have helped a variety of businesses, ranging from mobile operators and service providers to even broadcasters to bring out multiscreen media applications backed up by smart TV systems and the various mobile devices in the field. But STBs didn't always have the kind of access that other devices did, mostly because a video playback application program interface (API) is something of a closed system when it comes to DRM. With the EME, meanwhile, the possibilities are opened up a bit and STBs can come more into play.

Digisoft.tv's CEO, Fearghal Kelly, offered up some commentary on the new release, saying “The Digisoft Iris platform for STB is built from scratch with full HTML5 support. Right from the start, Digisoft has always supported the use of HTML5 video for playing and controlling media from any OTT broadcast source. The recent addition of Media Source (News – Alert) Extensions (MSE) to HTML5 enhances its capability to give the application developer full control over the delivery of video content to the browser. MSE allows operators to optimize video delivery from a content delivery network (CDN) to implement adaptive bit rate support using JavaScript. It also removes the need for native plug-ins to support these capabilities.”

Since INSIDE Secure was already known as a major market force when it comes to DRM, it makes sense that Digisoft.tv would have turned in that direction to bring new DRM capability to its current systems. Better yet, since INSIDE Secure's line of DRM solutions are already found in most of the major mobile device platforms—iOS, Android, BlackBerry (News – Alert) and Linux—the jump to an STB format made a further note of sense, giving the company the opportunity to expand its product line, and therefore, its market influence.

DRM systems help keep the entire process of online video running, whether its HTML5 video or any of its contemporaries. In order for content providers to reasonably put content online, there has to be some kind of protection measure in place in a bid to keep that content out of the wrong hands, and only available for viewing where the rights holder wants that content viewed. But when DRM actually makes things worse, people end up eschewing the location that's offering the content, because it's too difficult to actually get to the content in the first place.