Re:Why can't we screenshot frames from DRM-protected video o...
by ack_complete on Saturday March 01, 2025 @11:26PM
(#43227275)
Those never went away, they're just called multiplane overlay (MPO) now and are better integrated into the system. The Windows 10/11 DWM automatically migrates swap chains in and out of independently flipped overlays to save power, and can recomposite them when screen capture is requested.
The XP era is when we depended on fixed-function hardware overlays to scale video and handle yuv translation, and yes in that case you'd just get a magenta or blue background instead of the video. That era sucked, and hardware got better since then.