RPi MPEG & VC-1 Licence keys - content playing without?

    Hiya,

    I've noticed today that two of my RPi3 devices were playing MPEG based TV today without licence keys from here: Raspberry Pi Store

    Is this by design or a bug? I'm pretty sure Standard def TV never used to play on previous version on the PI without the correct keys.

    PS: For safety sake I have now gone ahead and installed the correct keys in config.txt.

    Without key = software decoding.
    With key = hardware decoding.

    I bought the keys when I started using pvr (mpeg satellite tv). Without them it was watchable, with them much much better. The difference was very noticeable.