Systems and methods for performing secure playback of media content are described. One embodiment, among others, is a method for performing secure playback of video in a hardware protection module. The method comprises receiving media content from a media player comprising video data, audio data, and navigation data. The method further comprises receiving digital rights management (DRM) information relating to the media content, removing a portion of the video data from the media content, forwarding the audio data, navigation data, and a remaining portion of the video data to the media player for decoding, and decoding, in the hardware protection module, the portion of the video data.