Newbie Questions

[max]

I'm trying to understand what the firmware and nvram does ( besides give a good t.v. guide) if it's all in the xc chip?

If my xc chip were open why would I even need to DL a good nvram or firmware?

Trying to understand this stuff............

max

[patsfan]

firmware is like an operating system for the box and the nvram is the program parameters for it. the xc chip is what decides what content/functions the box is allowed to perform. it's the security guard.

[max]

I understand what you're saying about the xc chip needing to be auth but i'm still not sure it's not. Granted i'm not getting the premium channels my subbed box does but i'm also not sure I programmed everything I could.

The only thing i've done so far is copy a good nvram from my subbed box to my ebay box. That just got me a better t.v. guide. Don't I need to do something else? Do i need to copy the firmware too or is that the same? I get confused by the terminology. Some things mean the same and some things are different.

patsfan?

thanks.

[max]

I hope i'm not being annoying here but what is the difference between spi logging and the nvram and firmware? What exactly are you doing when you program the spilog that's different than getting and saving nvram?

I know this stuff is very complex but i'm just trying to understand the basics of what you're talking about so that I can follow some of it.

I'd love to be able to open up my dct to get the best channels but the more I read this stuff the more I realize i don't know. So far i've managed to get a better t.v. guide than it came with but i'd like to do better than that.

What's that spilog really do?

[cipher]

max,

It's not all that complex. (really)

The box is basically a complex tv tuner. The BCM7015 chip does the tuning. It's like the network card in your computer but it's on steroids. The BCM tunes the channels and the systems message data commonly called OOB (out of band), stuff like the tv guide, authorizations, time etc. Some of the tuned channels are digital and some are analog. If the channel is digital it is sent to the XC chip which checks it's for authorization and if it is allowed it will decrypt it with the key it was instructed to use from the authorization for that channel and send it back to the BCM to be displayed. The MC68331 microprocessor talks to the BCM and the XC device and performs a variety of functions too many to list but the basic ones are managing the tv guide, user interface (ir remote), data integrity , uplink back to the CC, identiying and sending XC chip commands etc.

When we speak about SPIlog we are working with a custom MC68331 program that echos all communication between the MC68331 and the XC dev and the external serial port. This makes it available for logging to a PC. The SPIlog program then logs the data to a text file. In addtion to logging it is possible to send commands to the XC device.

[patsfan]

good post cipher

max, you haven't missed anything. the xc chip can't be programmed (not yet anyways). copying the firmware won't do anything for you. basically what you have is probably all you can get out of that box right now.

[max]

Great post Cipher, and thanks to you too Patsfan!

Very useful in helping me understand how the microprocessors in the dct's work. I will continue to read on since this stuff is all very interesting but i've somewhat lost hope of getting myself a box that is wide open or has an open xc chip, and tweaking it to make it stay like that indefinitely.

Certainly not like the old days where one could take out the circuit board, chip away the resin covering it at a certain spot, sodder a couple of wires from one point to another and ta-daaa, you get all the channels for free and forever........

Used to be so simple..............

Anyway, thanks for your input and keep up the good work mates!

I will continue to lurk and learn.................

cheers, max

[usbbdm]

max, if you have a subed dct 200,0 try to use SPI log. The CC regularly send command to each box. Your authxx.bin hold the SPI auth command to the XC chip. If you call CC to downgrade the box, you can latter replay the command and get the channel you have before. If your subed box is not dct2000, you can use faked unit address to get the command. I used an E11 box to get the SPI command for DCT 2500. The command is EXACTLY the same as dct 2000.

[max]

Ok usbbdm, I will give the spilog a try. My subbed box is a dct 2000...

What you're saying is that ultimately, if I do the spilog correctly, after I call cc and downgrade, I can replay or reload the command and get back the channels that they turned off? Is this correct? And if so how long do you think it would last before they got wind and turned me off again, or is there something I can do to keep that from happening?

thanks for the help!

[jc2002]

Je reçois toujour cet erreur sur un des mes dct2224 PH9 à chaque fois que je veux aller dur VOD.
Mon signal est bon car je n'ai pas cette erreur seur les autre récepteurs.

Data of search for error

Unable to connect to VOD serveur.
please try again later.
If problem continues please call your cable
operator.
reference 204

I receive toujour this error on one as of my dct2224 PH9 to each time I want to go hard vod.
My signal is good because I do not have this error the other receivers

I checked my connected and I also connected my dct on other connection but always this error message I have to change Umit adress but even if I give it true Unit adress
that does not change anything.
Will somebody have an idea this what causes the problem?

Thank you.
jc2002