RealNetworks Inc. and Cable Television Laboratories Inc. have announced CableLabs' approval of Real's universal Helix DRM solution for OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR) devices connected to PCs. The approval by CableLabs allows manufacturers to build and deploy a secure digital cable ready solution for PCs, and enables consumers to view digital and high definition (HD) cable programming on PCs, as well as other devices connected within their home networks.

Real's Helix DRM will enables secure delivery of content to the PC through CableCARD removable security modules. The OCUR device receives encrypted digital cable content from the CableCARD and then re-encrypts that content with Helix DRM. The secure IP output of the OCUR follows CableLabs' "Digital Receiver Interface" (DRI) protocol specification, which allows connection to compliant PCs that also have Helix DRM.

Helix DRM is a secure media content delivery of standards-based as well as Internet formats, including RealAudio, RealVideo, MP3, and MPEG-2, AAC, H.263 and AMR. It is the second DRM system to complete the due diligence necessary for approval by CableLabs for use with the OCUR and PCs. Prior approvals of digital rights management systems and secure digital output and recording technologies include DTCP over IEEE-1394, HDCP over DVI and HDMI, WMDRM over DRI, and VCPS and CPDO for optical media recording and hard drive storage, respectively.