Sharp built Verance’s Cinavia watermark detectors into its Aquos TU-UD1000...

Sharp built Verance’s Cinavia watermark detectors into its Aquos TU-UD1000 4K set-top box, the first such implementation in an Ultra HD set-top, Verance said Wednesday. Global penetration of Cinavia-enabled devices surpassed 168 million as of June, an increase of 49 percent from June 2013, it said. The partnership with Sharp follows other Cinavia 4K “device integrations” that will help “pave the way for broader consumption of 4K movies, TV shows and other high-value content through secure Cinavia-enabled devices as we partner with other studios and device manufacturers,” Verance said. An audio watermark embedded in motion picture soundtracks is detected by the Cinavia-enabled device, which differentiates between legitimate and unauthorized copies of content, it said. When viewers play back legitimate content or their own personal video recordings, playback is unaffected, it said. However, if they try to play a copy of a Cinavia-protected movie illegally captured from a theater, digital download or streaming service, ripped from a Blu-ray or DVD, or otherwise obtained from an unlicensed source, the device detects this unauthorized use and blocks its playback, it said.