Techguy unlocked freeview firmware 1.7.350 free ur freeview

[techguy]

Hi everyone, Want to free your beyonwiz freeview from those restrictions "fast forward & copy"?

Well this is for you. What I've managed to do is Un-restrict the original freeview firmware so its now identical to the beyonwiz p1 firmware in functions.

"everything as before except you can now adjust your fast forward settings down to whatever you want "15 seconds instead of the dreaded 600 seconds" and copy your recordings from your hard drive to usb or network.

Update. I've received over 6 freeview beyonwiz's in the last few weeks. so far all freeview fvl1 models fitted with a factory 500gb hard drive have had a rev c cpu. while all 320gb models have had a rev b cpu. so this information is just to prevent anyone from opening and voiding their warranty. while my firmware will support both cpu revisions, the other older patch firmware out there "not by me" utilising the p1 sysid patch won't work.

I also personally believe that the newer rev c freeviews are more stable and faster at network functions. e.g. watching a movie via your network. anyway just wanted people to know, at least you now should be able to identify your freeview just from its factory hard drive size without opening it up.

Please note= once you install firmware, its recommend you do a reset of settings and channels.


I made 2 versions of the firmware.

Standard edition "unlocked unrestricted" download here = rev 13 final standard web.wrp

or

Updated GUI edition "unlocked unrestricted and updated look" download here = rev 13 final gui web.wrp


instructions: just download, copy to usb flash drive and insert usb flash drive into beyonwiz, goto settings, firmware, update via usb. press ok.

The firmware is totally reversible. you just download the factory firmware from beyonwiz and reinstall that over this one if you don't like it.




see youtube link or pictures link below

youtube link here ]
youtube description: Video showing my firmware, mods, photos, video, lidic testing and unbricking a good 5 min watch

photos album here - click here to see




Supports: all freeview models fv-l1 rev b 320 GB & fv-l1 rev c 500 GB


Requirements: all fv-l1, rev b/c cpu. Loader 1.1.3.1.67

Function: "revision 13"
• Unlocked fast forward to adjust at any seconds,
• Unlocked copying from hard drive to network/usb.
• Removed Auto update over the air “freeview option”
• Mpeg 4 3d TV support
• Lidic supported *fixed in r13

Function not working:
• wizfx "but you can still copy from hdd to pc via beyonwiz"


More details:

Hi,

my aim is to give extra ability's to the rev c fvl1. "newer freeview"

currently no one, except me hasn't managed to figure out how we can unlock this rev c fvl1.

Background: the newer freeview model fv-l1 uses the same CPU "rev c" as the newer p2.

The only problem with this is that the main board is a p1. Currently there is no firmware for a rev c CPU with a p1 main board combination. Until I decided to pull apart all the firmware's beyonwiz has to offer and compare each file under a hex compare program.

after 12 revisions of testing different files and mucking around with uploading multiple firmware’s to my fvl1, I then found the binary code which controls the menu functions which happens to be in a single file. I copied some of this code over to my fvl1 firmware file and I managed to enable addition copy functions found in p1/p2 "otherwise normally not there in the freeview firmware” I also managed to sort out the 600 second fast forward adjustment. these are the only two things that really $hit me with the freeview model.

Its great when my freeview lets me fast forward with 15sec increments"

to be honest this is not normally the way to go about modifying firmware "hex compare". but since I have unlocked firmware from the p2 and p1 to compare with. it makes it a whole lot easier.

as a second project I’m actually looking into the proper resources to build the actual firmware. I found out that the cpu sigma's em8623 sdk utilises gcc compiler and linux. which follows under the gnu. I also found that the cpu em8623 is found in many other brands of set top box's and unfortunately due to its low ram 128mb, by the time it runs linux and attempts to play a hd video, the ram is all used up, which causes a problem when you want to add additional features which need to run in the memory. alot of people have developed tools for this cpu.mini beyonwiz anyone?

From the research I’ve done with similar stb containing the chipset sigma em8623
And the realtek network chip rtl8139, I believe these are the functions which each file operates with. I have also dismantled all beyonwiz firmware's to compare binary differences within each file. While this is a long shot in hope, it still answers a few questions about this firmware as I couldn’t find any information explaining the tree structure prior to this.


my redesigned firmware, rev 13 gui version. see pictures and youtube link at the top of the page.[/url]

if you have trouble installing the firmware or any firmware for that matter, I'm happy to help, just ask.

For those who have purchased Freeview "refurbised from dealspace" to p1 specs.

I discovered today that beyonwiz company "dealspace" are preloading their freeview without modded sysid p1 firmware, but they are actually changing the eprom sysid on board to look for p1 firmware. This means you will always have to use p1 firmware.

I found out when I recently purchased a refurbished fvl1 a few days ago and attempted to load the freeview factory firmware or even my firmware and it gave me the error below pictured "invalid system id". Since my firmware is based off the factory freeview firmware sysid. it will only work on machines looking for original fvl1 firmware. This way my firmware is reversible with the original firmware.



If anyone likes the GUI "Graphical user interface update" that i have done. I'm happy to port it over to any beyonwiz firmware, if interest is generated.

[Teddles]

Thanks Techguy, now have a 'free range' Freeview Wiz!

A bit worried when it sat at 75% installed for around 3min before the progress bar got a wriggle on again. If this delay is typical at this point of the install, it might be worth making mention of it in your notes. I can see more than a few impatient upgraders bricking their units by interrupting the install process.

Thanks again

[IanSav]

Hi,

To all users taking Techguy up on his offer for custom firmware. Please do not report any issues with this firmware to the forum. All problem reports should be directed to Techguy.

If you do post here please ensure that you *VERY* clearly state that you are running Techguy patched firmware. Standard support information and ideas may have different implications on patched firmware.

Binary patching is a risky business at the best of times. Patching a system that you don't fully understand is even more risky. Techguy has not disclosed what and how things have been changed and as such his changes can not be peer reviewed. It is possible / likely that these changes could have random and unpredictable results.

I don't want to discourage Techguy from his efforts but I feel it appropriate to warn other users that his changes may have implications.

Regards,
Ian.

[warkus]

Teddles,

That is absolutely not normal behaviour for a wiz when firmware updating.

If it is normal behaviour for Techguy's moded firmware, then that should be addressed and discussed by him, as I cannot comment never having used it.

I can tell you though, having firmware updated over 200+ machines, without exaggeration, I have never ever seen the firmware upgrade process hang at any point and keep going. (Once it starts actually erasing and programing the IC that is - just to clarify).

Extremely odd behaviour. Perhaps it was a one off gremlin/glitch?!?!?!

Mark

[madmax]

I have never ever seen the firmware upgrade process hang at any point and keep going.

I'm pretty sure it happened to me once - was quite scary for a bit. I've definitely had a few terminal hangs during the verification process. Luckily it didn't seem to matter, because after the mandatory power-plug pull it always booted up fine.

[warkus]

Yep, verification process yes, have also had it hang during that part as well, but at that point it has not yet begun erasing and programming the IC, so not too much of an issue.

But the way that Teddles said - 75% "installed" - made me think that it froze for 3mins DURING the programming stage, that is definitely a first for me...

Mark

[prl]

...
Binary patching is a risky business at the best of times. Patching a system that you don't fully understand is even more risky. Techguy has not disclosed what and how things have been changed and as such his changes can not be peer reviewed. It is possible / likely that these changes could have random and unpredictable results.

I don't want to discourage Techguy from his efforts but I feel it appropriate to warn other users that his changes may have implications.
...

Agreed.

The icon hacks are relatively straight-forward, and can be done by simply replacing the icons in the unpacked /usr/wizdvp/gui_data/bitmaps. I've done a hack in there to replace the background image (/usr/wizdvp/gui_data/bitmaps/total_image) and included it in the BWFWTools (the Beyonwiz::Hack::BackgroundChanger module for bw_patcher). I lost interest in that one for a while, because there was so little spare room in the firmware flash to allow any sort of interesting background image (which is quite big; even the standard boring background is 208kB).

Some of the GUI text can probably be readily hacked by modifying /usr/wizdvp/gui_data/strtable.txt. Other GUI text is in /dump.dat and it's less clear how much that can be changed.

I suspect that the Freeview skip jailbreak is a hack of /usr/wizdvp/wizdvp, but I'm not certain.

It would be nice if Techguy would share any new information he has about the firmware structure and operation on the OpenWiz Firmware pages.

[techguy]

Thanks Techguy, now have a 'free range' Freeview Wiz!

A bit worried when it sat at 75% installed for around 3min before the progress bar got a wriggle on again. If this delay is typical at this point of the install, it might be worth making mention of it in your notes. I can see more than a few impatient upgraders bricking their units by interrupting the install process.

Thanks again

hey, yep it will do that. This mainly happens at the verification process, its actually not the firmware but the way it loads onto the beyonwiz, if you have a poor usb connection, bad flash drive, slower flash drive "1mb transfer rate" and things like this will cause the delay in updating. but this process is simply copying the firmware from the usb to the device's ram prior to flashing it to the eprom. if you disconnect your usb while its updating, you will find you won't brick it. " i've tried "

I find bad capacitors are a serious issue when updating/flashing.

regardless even if you somehow managed to brick it. you can always use the network recovery which works perfectly with a crossover cable and a xp laptop.

so tell me, how does she run? I've been using my firmware for over a week now with no issues at all. no bugs or freezing.

[techguy]

Hi,

To all users taking Techguy up on his offer for custom firmware. Please do not report any issues with this firmware to the forum. All problem reports should be directed to Techguy.

If you do post here please ensure that you *VERY* clearly state that you are running Techguy patched firmware. Standard support information and ideas may have different implications on patched firmware.

Binary patching is a risky business at the best of times. Patching a system that you don't fully understand is even more risky. Techguy has not disclosed what and how things have been changed and as such his changes can not be peer reviewed. It is possible / likely that these changes could have random and unpredictable results.

I don't want to discourage Techguy from his efforts but I feel it appropriate to warn other users that his changes may have implications.

Regards,
Ian.

I think because Teddles is reporting this issue in my post, it would be classified as reporting it to me. He also mentioned that he is using my firmware.

To: Ian, Prl, Warkus,

Originally when I tried to explain in crazy depth how I determined and analysed the firmware and attempted to get a better understanding on how it work. You lot criticised me. I’m honestly done with explaining. I find explaining only gets me frustrated with people who sometimes misunderstand when I’m attempting to explain.

I do acknowledge that you guys are smart and have contributed many useful posts which have resulted in great knowledge and support for the beyonwiz community and I’m also thankful for that.

Think of this as my 2cents in contributing to the beyonwiz solution. A firmware which I’ve managed to unrestrict.

Now before you scare off people who don't understand it and may not trust it. I will break it down.

1. I attempted to keep it as original as possible. Utilising only the freeview firmware instead of p1 or other firmware. 99.5% is as close to the freeview firmware in files and binary.

2. There is no sysid hacking which makes this totally reversible with the factory firmware.

3. The only thing I changed was the file that controlled the menu options. Not the functions, not the operating system, not the codec’s, nothing else. This makes this nearly identical to the original firmware.

These 3 things are the key to making the firmware safe and stable.

I do respect you as I respect everyone else in the forum. So far I’m running this firmware and I’m sure others on the forum are running it as well, with no bugs reported as of yet.

[warkus]

Techguy,

I have not directly referred to your modified firmware in anyway / shape / or form.

I have never used it, and have no opinion on it whatsoever.

I merely commented on a users post questioning the firmware update process freezing when he updated his machine, which I took to occur during the actual programing stage not verification stage. It is NOT normal for firmware to freeze then start working during the actual programming stage, and I stated that perhaps it was a glitch or gremlin?!?!?

That's it...

Other than that I have not posted or commented on your firmware so please do not make reference to the fact that I have apparently "criticised you" as that is entirely untrue.

Further to that, I don't believe that anyone else criticised you either to be honest, but if you have taken their posts as such then so be it, but do not put me in that basket, I haven't said bugger all to you.


Mark

[techguy]

The icon hacks are relatively straight-forward, and can be done by simply replacing the icons in the unpacked /usr/wizdvp/gui_data/bitmaps. I've done a hack in there to replace the background image (/usr/wizdvp/gui_data/bitmaps/total_image) and included it in the BWFWTools (the Beyonwiz::Hack::BackgroundChanger module for bw_patcher). I lost interest in that one for a while, because there was so little spare room in the firmware flash to allow any sort of interesting background image (which is quite big; even the standard boring background is 208kB).

Some of the GUI text can probably be readily hacked by modifying /usr/wizdvp/gui_data/strtable.txt. Other GUI text is in /dump.dat and it's less clear how much that can be changed.

I suspect that the Freeview skip jailbreak is a hack of /usr/wizdvp/wizdvp, but I'm not certain.

It would be nice if Techguy would share any new information he has about the firmware structure and operation on the OpenWiz Firmware pages.

Prl is on the money, "with some things"

The icon hacks are NOT relatively straight forward. There is nothing simple about it.

Each file has to maintain a maximum kb, dpi and resolution. If you exceed the certain resolution, you will either cause issues to the GUI infrastructure, or if you’re under the resolution, you will cause stretching/blurring of the new icons. The total of the icons also has to maintain a maximum kb to ensure you don't exceed the firmware size over the EPROM size. If it really was that easy, anyone would be simply replacing icons with little care about how they will damage their system, just imaging a firmware update that exceeds the EPROM size, it will only manage to write to its maximum capacity then brick. And yes I don't want to be the one to attempt to recover from that. There is no safety warning system that stops the flashing process if exceeds 8mb.
If I had recklessly suggested it was easy and relatively straight-forward, a lot of people would have given it a shot and this could have caused a lot of issues on the forum by inexperience people believing in my word of “easy and relatively straight-forward” and you lot would have been telling me off for the suggestion.

While to someone like me, its straight forward with my experienced knowledge of Photoshop, Web design & Png format etc. I understand all of the risks when changing any file in a System that doesn’t freely support change. Please don’t give people the impression that anyone can do it. That would be on you.

Anyway’s all good.

[techguy]

Techguy,

I have not directly referred to your modified firmware in anyway / shape / or form.

I have never used it, and have no opinion on it whatsoever.

I merely commented on a users post questioning the firmware update process freezing when he updated his machine, which I took to occur during the actual programing stage not verification stage. It is NOT normal for firmware to freeze then start working during the actual programming stage, and I stated that perhaps it was a glitch or gremlin?!?!?

That's it...

Other than that I have not posted or commented on your firmware so please do not make reference to the fact that I have apparently "criticised you" as that is entirely untrue.

Further to that, I don't believe that anyone else criticised you either to be honest, but if you have taken their posts as such then so be it, but do not put me in that basket, I haven't said bugger all to you.


Mark

i was referring to the other deleted post topic prior to this one. i started prior to uploading the firmware, i had to have it deleted as i was getting criticised.

anyway i recommend you try my firmware, i would also find it weird if the programming stage froze at 75%, but so far the only frozen issues I've had is at the verification stage, which as you all may know, typically freezes for no reason regardless of firmware. Solution: turn off and on and repeat.

anyway all good.

[warkus]

No - not all good.

I DO NOT take kindly to someone referencing me when referring to being criticised - unless of course I have done so.

I didn't even POST in your previously deleted thread.

Get a grip! REMOVE my name from your post 4 up.

[Gully]

Okay guys, this is getting ridiculous again.

Techguy as I already said to you, please stop attacking the users, if you have a point to make, respond to that.

You are off the mark too if you think that Peter and Peter and Mark (and others) are not capable of working at a similar level just because they didn't try what you did or were trying to warn you of the risks. You didn't take kindly to that though are happy to make similar warnings.

There have already been hacks for various features and graphics, if you search the forums or check Openwiz, and these guys (and others ) have contributed to these as well as hardware mods.

By all means take credit for your achievements but if you work with them you might actually find collaboration pays bigger dividends.

[IanSav]

Hi Techguy,

You appear to be taking forum post comments as personal attacks. This is not the case. My warning comment is typical of what I post after any hack or firmware modification post. Over time posts from users who are running your firmware may turn up all over the forum.

To assist with a verification of your changes why don't you document a simple step by step list of changes you made to the firmware. Include copies of any files, images etc that you change. The document doesn't have to be a long verbal narrative just a dot point list of the facts. The audience for such a document is likely to be able to follow your instructions. If there is anything they don't understand they will probably ask succinct relevant questions. This would not be a document for end users.

You seem to be quite concerned with the size of the firmware in the flash ROM. While this *is* important my concerns extend to firmware space usage in RAM. Beyonwiz engineers have been quite emphatic that many of their choices were made for specific technical reasons. This includes the images used and the size of those images. There are also possibilities that memory locations may be significant. Patches and changes that are not generated at a source code level *could* negatively impact the operation of the unit.

As Gully suggested, there will be more benefit for all if you allow collaboration of your efforts.

Regards,
Ian.

[techguy]

ok first off, I'm not attacking anybody. i just don't appreciate shitty comments thrown my way, you don't see me jumping on the capacitor post and saying, well hey your post suxs because of the following reasons, users don't properly understand how to discharge a capacitor, esr capacitors have a better rating and make sure of the temperature rating on the caps, i don't voice negative input despite there being any things wrong with other posts,

at the end of the day, if anyone is going to post something negative in my topic, they can go f**k them selfs. unless they are going to say either something positive, or talk about issues. thats cool,

i don't care if you lot don't understand what i did, and its apparently obvious that people who don't understand something from a technical view have a harder time trusting something that someone else did.

simple, attack me, i attack back,

respect me and i respect back. i'm sick of this jibba jabba.

i've already reviewed the openwiz and its just a mess, its not simple or easy to upload/post and i don't have the time to spend justifying what I've done by writing up a essay for a week just so everyone knows what i know.

its like saying would you care to explain what each and every file in windows operating system does "prior to trusting and using it". pfft.

its really simple. people can either use my firmware or not. they are not forced to. its there to help out people, and if you smart 3 want me to contribute to helping you guys, well you are all off to a bad start.

[warkus]

Again,

I would just like to say that I have not criticised you or your work in any way, didn't even post in your previous deleted thread, and have said nothing untoward in this thread whatsoever.

Again, I ask you to remove any reference to me criticising you, I have not done so and have no intention of ever doing so. I do not understand why you think I have.

[Teddles]

Techguy,

On a more positive note ............... all's well with the hacked unit so far. It's business as usual with no discernible change in performance - apart from the improved functionality of course.
With regards to the issue I mentioned during the install; I wouldn't describe it as a 'freeze' as such, it just sat at 75% complete for an extended period of time. Your explanation of possible causes of this makes sense - I was using a very slow el cheapo memory stick!

regards,

[prl]

Hi Techguy,

You appear to be taking forum post comments as personal attacks. This is not the case. My warning comment is typical of what I post after any hack or firmware modification post. Over time posts from users who are running your firmware may turn up all over the forum.

To assist with a verification of your changes why don't you document a simple step by step list of changes you made to the firmware. Include copies of any files, images etc that you change. The document doesn't have to be a long verbal narrative just a dot point list of the facts. The audience for such a document is likely to be able to follow your instructions. If there is anything they don't understand they will probably ask succinct relevant questions. This would not be a document for end users.

You seem to be quite concerned with the size of the firmware in the flash ROM. While this *is* important my concerns extend to firmware space usage in RAM. Beyonwiz engineers have been quite emphatic that many of their choices were made for specific technical reasons. This includes the images used and the size of those images. There are also possibilities that memory locations may be significant. Patches and changes that are not generated at a source code level *could* negatively impact the operation of the unit.

As Gully suggested, there will be more benefit for all if you allow collaboration of your efforts.

Regards,
Ian.

+1

IanSav has also in the past suggested that I should also be clearer about the risks of running hacked firmware. Hence the warning on the BWFWTools page on OpenWiz.

The BWFWTools programs that create firmware .wrp files (pack_wrp and bw_patcher) both check that the .wrp file created is not too big for the flash (and the check takes into account the larger flash on DP-P2s). It also checks that modifications to the size of the root file system don't exceed the available space in the kernel image.

I'm not at all surprised by the restrictions on replacing icon files - they're similar to the ones on replacing background files. They don't really amount to something outside what I'd call "relatively straightforward".

As for the organisation of the OpenWiz pages, I don't think they're all that bad. But perhaps as a major contributor I'm overly defensive. It's probably partially a problem of multiple authors and no clear editorial policy. Changes to the structure that don't remove any of the information there would be welcome, though it may be good do discuss them in the forum first.

Techguy, is the file that needs to be patched to break the skip limits on the FV-L1 the file that is /dump.dat in running firmware? I had a cursory look at the strings in it in a DP-Lite .wrp and couldn't find anything obvious there.

[peteru]

dump.dat is the in-memory representation of the XML GUI description. Normally, in development (or for WizTV) wizdvp will load the XML GUI description, parse it and then build the GUI from that. To speed up things in production firmware and reduce the flash footprint, the XML is loaded and parsed as usual, but then the in-memory representation is dumped to the dump.dat file. The dumped file is then compressed and it is this compressed in-memory representation that is subsequently used by the production firmware.

The in-memory representation isn't actually as efficient as it could be. For example, comments are actually stored and parts of the UI that are not reachable are also retained. One could actually optimise dump.dat and gain some extra space in flash and in RAM at runtime. Same goes for the graphical assets.

By editing dump.dat, one could substantially change the look and functionality of the user interface. It's a lot easier to play with this when running the Beyonwiz firmware in development mode from NFS root. There is a lot of functionality that is inherent in the GUI toolkit (part of wizdvp binary), but those are mostly building blocks for the UI itself. The UI look and feel is mostly parametrised by the XML GUI description.

It would be nice if Techguy shared the exact details of what he modified to fix the Freeview UI parameters. I'm sure it would help others interested in reverse engineering / modding the UI to learn how he located the GUI control, figured out the appropriate attributes and changed them.

The icon look-and-feel changes are trivial enough to not really need an explanation. The information about preserving graphical asset dimensions and file size has been around for years and WizTV developers know about the memory constraints too.

[techguy]

Again,

I would just like to say that I have not criticised you or your work in any way, didn't even post in your previous deleted thread, and have said nothing untoward in this thread whatsoever.

Again, I ask you to remove any reference to me criticising you, I have not done so and have no intention of ever doing so. I do not understand why you think I have.

I;m sorry if i mixed you up in the hype of it, i was receiving so many comments i wasn't aware you didn't say anything bad, my apologies

your not part of the hate i've been receiving. thanks for your support

[techguy]

Hi Techguy,

You appear to be taking forum post comments as personal attacks. This is not the case. My warning comment is typical of what I post after any hack or firmware modification post. Over time posts from users who are running your firmware may turn up all over the forum.

To assist with a verification of your changes why don't you document a simple step by step list of changes you made to the firmware. Include copies of any files, images etc that you change. The document doesn't have to be a long verbal narrative just a dot point list of the facts. The audience for such a document is likely to be able to follow your instructions. If there is anything they don't understand they will probably ask succinct relevant questions. This would not be a document for end users.

You seem to be quite concerned with the size of the firmware in the flash ROM. While this *is* important my concerns extend to firmware space usage in RAM. Beyonwiz engineers have been quite emphatic that many of their choices were made for specific technical reasons. This includes the images used and the size of those images. There are also possibilities that memory locations may be significant. Patches and changes that are not generated at a source code level *could* negatively impact the operation of the unit.

As Gully suggested, there will be more benefit for all if you allow collaboration of your efforts.

Regards,
Ian.

+1

IanSav has also in the past suggested that I should also be clearer about the risks of running hacked firmware. Hence the warning on the BWFWTools page on OpenWiz.

The BWFWTools programs that create firmware .wrp files (pack_wrp and bw_patcher) both check that the .wrp file created is not too big for the flash (and the check takes into account the larger flash on DP-P2s). It also checks that modifications to the size of the root file system don't exceed the available space in the kernel image.

I'm not at all surprised by the restrictions on replacing icon files - they're similar to the ones on replacing background files. They don't really amount to something outside what I'd call "relatively straightforward".

As for the organisation of the OpenWiz pages, I don't think they're all that bad. But perhaps as a major contributor I'm overly defensive. It's probably partially a problem of multiple authors and no clear editorial policy. Changes to the structure that don't remove any of the information there would be welcome, though it may be good do discuss them in the forum first.

Techguy, is the file that needs to be patched to break the skip limits on the FV-L1 the file that is /dump.dat in running firmware? I had a cursory look at the strings in it in a DP-Lite .wrp and couldn't find anything obvious there.

in regards to the openwiz, personally, i feel it should be more of a forum with support for attaching files which include jpg and any extension, so we can attach exe and wrp files. the wikipedia formatted openwiz is in my opinion extremely hard to navigate, and even harder to submit information. if something that's designed to contribute information is so hard to use,. most people will just simply give up in attempting. i know i have. maybe you can install a phpbb which has the extra features the beyonwiz forum currently lacks, "attached images on server" and attached files on server". that way anyone can submit information easily and we can all work together.

as for the dump.dat its not in the dump.dat.

[techguy]

dump.dat is the in-memory representation of the XML GUI description. Normally, in development (or for WizTV) wizdvp will load the XML GUI description, parse it and then build the GUI from that. To speed up things in production firmware and reduce the flash footprint, the XML is loaded and parsed as usual, but then the in-memory representation is dumped to the dump.dat file. The dumped file is then compressed and it is this compressed in-memory representation that is subsequently used by the production firmware.

The in-memory representation isn't actually as efficient as it could be. For example, comments are actually stored and parts of the UI that are not reachable are also retained. One could actually optimise dump.dat and gain some extra space in flash and in RAM at runtime. Same goes for the graphical assets.

By editing dump.dat, one could substantially change the look and functionality of the user interface. It's a lot easier to play with this when running the Beyonwiz firmware in development mode from NFS root. There is a lot of functionality that is inherent in the GUI toolkit (part of wizdvp binary), but those are mostly building blocks for the UI itself. The UI look and feel is mostly parametrised by the XML GUI description.

It would be nice if Techguy shared the exact details of what he modified to fix the Freeview UI parameters. I'm sure it would help others interested in reverse engineering / modding the UI to learn how he located the GUI control, figured out the appropriate attributes and changed them.

The icon look-and-feel changes are trivial enough to not really need an explanation. The information about preserving graphical asset dimensions and file size has been around for years and WizTV developers know about the memory constraints too.

1+
i find it extremely funny how you word your explanation of the operating system.

i didn't mess with the dump.dat

it would be nice if i "Techguy" shared the EXACT information but that would be no fun.

remember i originally wanted to try, and i was hoping on someone helping me better my self to understand this operating system, but when i questioned about the rev c and p2 firmware and other comments, i was shutdown by comments from you guys saying it can't be done and that you won't hand me a loaded gun.

i'm not saying we can't work together, i just feel that the attitude of the forum with people who help also think they know it all until someone like me comes along and figures out the entire structure and restrictions of the beyonwiz in a day. prior to this i still didn't even know all the functions in the beyonwiz menu. look at my posts, i have no where near as much as posts as you guys.

what i want to see is any one of you guys figure out how i did it.

i've put a signature in my firmware so i can determine that its modded firmware from the stock. if you install the standard version you will see in the bottom right corner my name very faintly, not to mention i've also got some notes *now outdated within the firmware.

to me this is just another restriction which has held me down with the fast forward and i wanted it gone. often i get stuck in situations like this and i don't take no for a answer, while i haven't studied programming at uni, i have been on computers since i was 5, c64, amiga, iie, 286 etc etc. I'm actually in my late 20's and while this has been fun i'm not heavily interested in doing much else to the beyonwiz.

the firmware is safe. at the end of the day changing a option can't cause multiple issues. i have to thank the guy who actually made wiz_pack , without it i would have never extracted the files and investigated how this whole structure works.

anyway its been fun, thanks for everything.


btw

The icon look-and-feel changes are trivial enough to not really need an explanation. The information about preserving graphical asset dimensions and file size has been around for years and WizTV developers know about the memory constraints too.

This totally contradicts what prl said about the ease of changing the icons, which also is funny cause until i mentioned in rebuttal about the ease and explained why its not easy, now all of a sudden its common knowledge but i didn't see any post on this forum other than mine explaining this. *please correct me here as i haven't used the search button.

And Der, Oh really about the wiztv developers, everyone knows that the developers of any firmware,software, hardware would commonly know everything about there own software/hardware.

sorry i had to put that line in there. it was just to tempting. a little childish but funny never the less.

[techguy]

Here's my honest concern about hacked firmware.


My Standard = 7.36 MB (7,721,984 bytes)
My Gui Update = 7.53 MB (7,898,112 bytes)
Stock Fvl1 = 7.36 MB (7,721,984 bytes)



yes my standard unlocked firmware is the exactually the same size down to the byte as the factory fvl1 firmware. wow i'm good. i guess i was considering the eprom size while i was messing about.

here's my only concern!~ and believe me its possibly the most genuine one.

by rasing the size of the firmware while mucking about with it, this could cause damage to the eprom. if the eprom is 8mb in size and you exceed this during the update there is no safeguard to ensure only half the files are written or byte are missing. which could brick a unit.

my bigger concern was even though i've tested my raised size gui updated firmware, it might work perfectly on my unit, but what's to say that other beyonwiz units happen to have different eproms, different brands, slightly different byte size. i noted that versions of the beyonwiz all have different regulator transistors with the milliamp draw on the usb port. which means they didn't stick to one part number.

so in conclusion while this may not pose as a problem, its still possible that some beyonwiz's may not support the gui update. while all should still support my standard unlocked firmware being the same byte size as the stock fvl1. I'm Good

[prl]

The people who host the OpenWiz site have set it up as Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike (CC BY-NC-SA).

Posting Beyonwiz firmware, hacked or not, on it would not conform to the CC labelling. It would probably also be in breach of Beyonwiz's copyright.

The latter is one of the reasons why I make modification tools for Beyonwiz available, not modified versions of the firmware. The tools are available as Perl source and so the details of the modifications they make are implicitly available in the source code.

There has been an ethos of sharing details of what has been discovered about Beyonwiz firmware in the forum, either by discussing it directly here or by posting the information on OpenWiz.

While I respect Techguy's ability to break the 600-sec skip limit on FV-L1, I do not think he shares that ethos, so I have no further wish to engage in this topic.

[techguy]

The people who host the OpenWiz site have set it up as Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike (CC BY-NC-SA).

Posting Beyonwiz firmware, hacked or not, on it would not conform to the CC labelling. It would probably also be in breach of Beyonwiz's copyright.

The latter is one of the reasons why I make modification tools for Beyonwiz available, not modified versions of the firmware. The tools are available as Perl source and so the details of the modifications they make are implicitly available in the source code.

There has been an ethos of sharing details of what has been discovered about Beyonwiz firmware in the forum, either by discussing it directly here or by posting the information on OpenWiz.

While I respect Techguy's ability to break the 600-sec skip limit on FV-L1, I do not think he shares that ethos, so I have no further wish to engage in this topic.

what is with the way you post, i had no idea what ethos meant until i googled it. ethos is a greek word for "character". could you just say character instead of ethos. there is no need to make your wording technical, and another thing, why do you always talk in open rather than directly to me, you could just say, i respect your ability to break the 600 instead of, while i respect techguys ability, or why i want techguy to reveal the source, if you had said, can you explain to me. i would feel more comfortable. rather than being called out in the open. here's a greek word for you = Onomatopoeia

anyway i respect all that's on the forum and in regards to your firmware issue of copyright. it is of my humble opinion that regardless of me providing different modded firmware or you providing hack tools to change features in the firmware, its still of the same nature. you are just as liable. its like you telling me because I'm hosting a .mp3, I'm encouraging illegal sharing of copyrighted music, but you who is providing the tools " limewire " torrents etc who does not host the .mp3 but provides a means to find a .mp3 is not liable. well i got news for you buddy. they are after anyone providing any tools to assist in the use of .mp3 downloads as copyright issues. therefore your tools hosted in openwiz are subjected to the same copyright infringements as mine. sorry for the bad news.

but here the good news, its of my belief that beyonwiz doesn't really care about copyright issues as they are allowing featured options such as copy recordings from tv to computer, which other companies like sony, panasonic with there stb won't ever allow to do. further more, they are purposely hacking there own freeview box's and selling them as p1 on there dealspace site, which i'm sure would breach freeview terms and conditions. besides from what i can tell, they have downsized and dealspace is only interested in one thing. selling alot of products and making a profit.

i don't believe they will be interested in making updates to the firmware since they moved out of there old factory. i believe the company has gone through a restructure.

anyway never the less, people now have the ability to use my modded firmware to fast forward & copy. you should try it sometime.



btw, how do i join your smart club. i wanna contribute intelligence

[techguy]

hey, so who here likes my avatar
<------ ???

[techguy]

Dam, 40 posts in total since 2009. I'm on a roll. must be a genius at beyonwiz stuff.
so when does my title change from apprentice to master & ruler of the world







<----------

[Paul55]

hey, so who here likes my avatar
<------ ???

I do. It tells your story.

[IanB]

@techguy,

Good job.

A simple request, ignore others emotive guff and do a simple post that states :-

1. This is the file.
2.These are the bytes I found.
3. This is what I changed them to.
4. This is how I found them.

Rinse, repeat, for each patch developed.

t.i.a. .... inquiring minds want to know .....

[techguy]

here's the answer:

U28geW91IHJlYWxseSB3YW50IHRvIGtub3cgaG93IEkgZGlkIGl0PyBXZWxsIGl0GXMgYWxsIGluIHRoZSBzZWNyZXQgc2F1Y2UsLCwuLi4uLi4uLi4uLi4uLi4uLg==

[Gully]

here's the answer:

U28geW91IHJlYWxseSB3YW50IHRvIGtub3cgaG93IEkgZGlkIGl0PyBXZWxsIGl0GXMgYWxsIGluIHRoZSBzZWNyZXQgc2F1Y2UsLCwuLi4uLi4uLi4uLi4uLi4uLg==

Sorry but what is the point of this and why after the topic has been quiet for 3 months?

I was tempted to just delete it but wanted to ask first.

[Half Round]

here's the answer:

U28geW91IHJlYWxseSB3YW50IHRvIGtub3cgaG93IEkgZGlkIGl0PyBXZWxsIGl0GXMgYWxsIGluIHRoZSBzZWNyZXQgc2F1Y2UsLCwuLi4uLi4uLi4uLi4uLi4uLg==

An interesting bit of hex. Now is it all before or all after, or sections of before and after.
I'd like to buy a vowel please

[peteru]

It's not an answer at all, just base64 encoding of:

So you really want to know how I did it? Well its all in the secret sauce,,,.................

[techguy]

It's not an answer at all, just base64 encoding of:

So you really want to know how I did it? Well its all in the secret sauce,,,.................

lol, sorry i was bored. but i have to say peteru, your a smart cookie

anyway the current bw is starting to get boring. i would really like them to release a new model with new firmware from scratch. i feel our current beyonwiz has been great for the last few years but is starting to get seriously outdated with current technology.

who knows what the future holds...


cmcvd2lraS9OT1A=

[Yorto]

"everything as before except you can now adjust your fast forward settings down to whatever you want "15 seconds instead of the dreaded 600 seconds" and copy your recordings from your hard drive to usb or network. .

Have you used wizfx or Yardwiz to successfully transfer files to a network ???

[techguy]

"everything as before except you can now adjust your fast forward settings down to whatever you want "15 seconds instead of the dreaded 600 seconds" and copy your recordings from your hard drive to usb or network. .

Have you used wizfx or Yardwiz to successfully transfer files to a network ???

Umm... no

See what happened was due to my accidental purchase of a freeview rev c unit, I was spewing about the fast forward thing, that really shitted me. The copy option was annoying but the fast forward is a thing I couldn't live with. so I trolled around these forums looking for answers and when I did, these *experts told me its impossible and can't be done and then I went to the beyonwiz factory to get a remote, and the service guy there also said the same thing, in fact he was changing the sysid on the rev b units to suit normal p1 firmware but it seems the rev c was built to prevent this.

So I was going to give up but being the type of person who never says no. I spent 4 hours learning everything there is to know about beyonwiz. See my post count in total on the forum which just shows how much I’ve participated as I have a life outside beyonwiz forums lol jks.

Anyway I took apart the firmware and as I researched it without any idea or prior knowledge I started to restore its normal functions.

I made firmwares from revision 1 to revision 13, each with differences, by the time I was at revision 7; I had fixed the copy function and the fast forward. I possibly could have kept going and made more revisions and managed to sort out wizfx as well, but I didn't get into that section of the firmware to make the changes. To be honest I lost interest when all I received negative criticism from these *experts, I felt disgusted so I quit. Instead of a nice simple thank you, we respect new input into something we have yet to work out.

So I stopped at rev 13 and left the project to die. I’m still running rev 13 on my machine with no errors. In fact I’d say it’s more stable running with the rev c CPU. Than running the older rev b with stock p1 firmware. This is not due to my firmware but to rev c CPU structure. I’ve now had both rev b and rev c cpus and all rev c, regardless of p2 or fvl1, just seems to run better and smoother. I also know my firmware isn't buggy because I changed as little as possible to ensure compatibility on the fvl1.

*=those that base their experience on their forum post count.

Anyway this is just a history lesson into my account of my firmware. This is in no way to start drama’s on the forum’s. I’ve said my peace and there isn’t anymore.
I’m guessing anyone with a freeview machine would possibly be running my firmware out there. How many of you actually are using it?

[Teddles]

How many of you actually are using it?

Me! big thumbs up

[pandrus01]

I need some help please.

I have a Freeview rev b that has been working very well for some time. I can copy and I have the plus minus 15 sec.

I picked up another Fv L1 the other day but was unaware of the rev B, rev C situation. As you know the rev B software doesnt work on the rev C.

In this case I am happy to try Techguys software but cannot load it from the link that's given.

Between 3 houses we have 4 DP-P2's , 1 DP litei, 1 FvL1, a T3 ( just acquired) and now this latest Fvl1.

How do i get a copy of Techguys software please?

Thanks

pandrus01

[techguy]

http://tnttec.net/beyonwiz/rev%2013%20f ... andard.wrp

updated hosting.

[Spot]

http://www18.zippyshare.com/v/sudL2ub9/file.html


i uploaded it to zippy cause the other hosting was playing up.

G'day there Tech Guy and Happy New Year!

Hey, I'd love a copy of your firmware too... please?

Thanks!

[Gully]

You might have more luck sending him a PM as he isn't around much these days.

[Spot]

Thanks, Gully. Will do that.

[techguy]

http://tnttec.net/beyonwiz/rev%2013%20f ... andard.wrp

you can find it here. happy new year.

[Spot]

Awesome!! Thank you so much, mate!

I am upgrading right this minute.

Thank you for doing such a great service. Bye bye Freeview restrictions!

[Spot]

Um, is it normal to sit at Verifying written Firmware for several minutes? Like about 5 minutes or more so far?

Oh dear, it is about 10 minutes now. A little help?

[Spot]

Never mind. It's all good... well great really.

[IanSav]

Hi Spot,

Good to hear.

Regards,
Ian.

[Spot]

OMG!! This is sooo good! Skip 60 seconds, skip 60 seconds, FF a little and back at the program. I might play with that time a little too.

Thank guys, you all ROCK and Tech Guy is my new hero.