That's just a software deficiency. There's no reason the software couldn't use the KDM to get the keys and decrypt a frame or 2 (or even a few seconds worth) of the (MXF) film footage as a test, regardless of the time. The encryption isn't numerically tied to clock-times--it's only enforced by the software (which now that I think about it may be enforced by legal contracts somewhere).
> One of those would be manna from heaven for any unsavory projectionist who wanted to make high quality copies from theater prints.
Not really. The keys and image decryption happen in a tamper-resistant "FIPS can" in the media server and then are re-encrypted and sent across a bus to the projector. Some newer projectors have the FIPS can directly inside so that there are no physically exposed interfaces with anything other than the full-blown AES encrypted frames. Having a KDM means you can play the movie but you can't ever actually get to the data.
Fun fact: before DCinema there used to be people who owned tele-cine scanners mounted in the back of flatbed trucks that would go around to theaters and pay unscrupulous employees to borrow the film for a couple hours. They'd have an very nice scan of the movie for pirate DVDs the day the movie came out.
> One of those would be manna from heaven for any unsavory projectionist who wanted to make high quality copies from theater prints.
Not really. The keys and image decryption happen in a tamper-resistant "FIPS can" in the media server and then are re-encrypted and sent across a bus to the projector. Some newer projectors have the FIPS can directly inside so that there are no physically exposed interfaces with anything other than the full-blown AES encrypted frames. Having a KDM means you can play the movie but you can't ever actually get to the data.
Fun fact: before DCinema there used to be people who owned tele-cine scanners mounted in the back of flatbed trucks that would go around to theaters and pay unscrupulous employees to borrow the film for a couple hours. They'd have an very nice scan of the movie for pirate DVDs the day the movie came out.