Aspect ratio problems fixed?

em5500 · Post by **em5500** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 10:23

I'm hoping to digitise some VHS tapes. $20 for a LiDiC to hook up to my DP-P1 seems like a cheap way of doing it, but before I buy I'd like to know: Were the aspect ratio problems ever fixed?

Does the LiDiC even have updatable firmware? (All I can see on the download page under LiDiC firmware is the Win32 software and driver, and the LiDiC isn't listed at http://www.openwiz.org/wiki/Firmware_Versions .) Or were the problems in the DP-P1 firmware?

prl · Post by **prl** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 11:26

em5500 wrote:... the LiDiC isn't listed at http://www.openwiz.org/wiki/Firmware_Versions .) ...

Neither of the forum members (myself or IanSav) who update the firmware versions page has a LiDiC. Perhaps a LiDiC owner could register on the Wiki and start a LiDiC firmware updates page.

IanSav · Post by **IanSav** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 12:22

Hi Em5500,

I seem to remember reading that there are occasional updates for the LiDiC embedded in the Beyonwiz firmware updates. The details were never discussed or specifically listed. I suspect that the updates were limited to driver updates on the Beyonwiz side of the connection.

Regards,
Ian.

prl · Post by **prl** » Sat Dec 03, 2011 13:08

IanSav wrote:Hi Em5500,

I seem to remember reading that there are occasional updates for the LiDiC embedded in the Beyonwiz firmware updates. The details were never discussed or specifically listed. I suspect that the updates were limited to driver updates on the Beyonwiz side of the connection.

Regards,
Ian.

Yes, you're right. I'd forgotten about them. There is LiDiC firmware in the Beyonwiz firmware file system in directory /flash/wizdvp/lidic (in the running firmware). The files are ql201baudfw.bin, qlusb.ko, ql201bvidfw.bin & qlusbfwb_im.bin. I'd forgotten about them. qlusb.ko looks like a loadable uClinux kernel driver module. The .bin files look like LiDiC firmware. Not sure what qlusbfwb_im.bin is; it's small (~7kB). I think the ql201b in the file names refers to the QPixel QL201B (PDF).

If you have the BWFWTools package running, you can unpack the firmware and look in the /flash file system yourself. I couldn't find any obvious version strings (nothing matching in a "grep -i 'ver' " or "egrep '[0-9]+\.[0-9]+" '). Does the LiDiC setup interface on the Beyonwiz tell you what firmware the LiDiC is running.

Anyway, if you run the most recent Beyonwiz firmware, you should be running the most recent LiDiC firmware, too.

I don't think the updates are limited to the Beyonwiz side; I think the .bin files (or at least some of them) are uploaded to the LiDiC at boot time (probably more accurately, when the LiDiC is detected on the USB).

em5500 · Post by **em5500** » Sun Dec 04, 2011 11:21

Thanks for all the info guys. At least I know the issues could [i]potentially[/i] have been fixed by a firmware update. Unfortunately, the only mention of the LiDiC in the last several DP-P1 firmware release notes linked on OpenWiz wasn't aspect ratio related, so I'm none the wiser.

Having said that, I wouldn't be using it often anyway, so having to manually correct the aspect ratio after transferring the recordings probably isn't a deal breaker.