Thanks!
J. Goodman
----------
"Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable
from magic." Clarke
-----------------------------------------------------------
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Rick <noxspamxs...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:11tuos45mekeht355...@4ax.com...
On Tue, 08 Aug 2000 11:30:35 -0700, goodman_j
<goodman...@accuwx.com.invalid> wrote:
>Rick <noxspamxs...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>Is there any way to read the Dishplayer's hard drive on a PC??
>>anybody tried this yet?
>>
>>Thanks!
>>
>>
>>
>Sorry, can't be done. The Dishplayer users a propietary file
>system that noone has figured out yet, and even if someone does
>all programming is stored encrypted.
>
>J. Goodman
>----------
>"Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable
>from magic." Clarke
"anything a man locks up, another man can crack!"
Also keep in mind two points.
You couldn't use it anyway as it is encrypted and you don't have the smart
card and related circiutry (sp?) to decrypt it.
And the sector editing works because all IDE drives are formatted at the
factory, what you do in a pc is set it up so the OS can use it, IE write a
MBR (Master Boot Record), Partition it so the operating system knows where
the drive leters should be assigned, and formatting which sets up a FAT
(File Allocation Table) so that the file names and locations ree stored, anc
can be found by the OS. Formatting also does a quicky surface test on new
drives or is a /U switch is used on used drives.
MS has special software that OEMs use to quick format a drive even when it
has never been formatted. This wouldn't work if the factory didn't set up
sectors and tracks.
goodman_j <goodman...@accuwx.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:0417cbdc...@usw-ex0101-008.remarq.com...
> Rick <noxspamxs...@hotmail.com> wrote:
> >Is there any way to read the Dishplayer's hard drive on a PC??
> >anybody tried this yet?
> >
> >Thanks!
> >
> >
> >
> Sorry, can't be done. The Dishplayer users a propietary file
> system that noone has figured out yet, and even if someone does
> all programming is stored encrypted.
>
> J. Goodman
> ----------
> "Any technology sufficiently advanced is indistinguishable
> from magic." Clarke
>
Where did you hear that it was encrypted? If it is stored encrypted based on
the same system that it is transmitted with (smartcard has decryption key),
then you'd lose access to saved programming every time they rotated keys.
A proprietary filesystem is encryption enough.
...Sean.
--jbuff
I also recall using DEBUG (which Microsoft stopped shipping with
MSDOS years ago) to read and write sectors using hand assembled
bios calls. I recall reading and modifying the Master Boot
Record itself, to change FAT and cluster sizes (MSDOS 2.2 IIRC).
All of this was over 15 years ago, but I might be able to fire
up a few of those old techniques. When I finally get around to
upgrading one of my DP's, I'll give it a try on the drive I
remove before I reformat it.
hmmm. if you have two dishplayers, you could try swapping drives and see what
happens to your recordings...
--
"Marc Kaplan" <kap...@who.net>
--
"Marc Kaplan" <kap...@who.net>
If you run a Dishplayer next to a regulaer receiver (ie 4700) the
program is delayed on the DP leading you to believe that the image on
the screen is not produced by the receiver section of the unit. The
decrypted data stream is probably passed to the WebTV record function,
and also passed to the video play function causing a delay due to the
additional processing the data stream has to go through. Since the
video display function has to handle direct video or recorded video
(to allow simultaneous recording while viewing a recorded program),
the functional sections probably look like this:
Satellite Receiver
||
||
WebTV Record function
|| ||
Hard Disk ||
|| ||
|| ||
WebTV Play function
||
||
||
Display Device
While watching a direct show, the WebTV function would record and
"play back" at the same time pulling it's data stream from the "WebTV
Record function" as it is being recordrd on the hard disk. Watching a
show while recording another would cause the data stream to come from
the hard drive while the record function would be saving the data
stream to disk at the same time.
This block diagram, if correct, would imply that the receiver would
have to decrypt the data before passing it to the "WebTV" functions in
the box.
This is all conjecture based on observation.
Neal
Mine go back and forth as to which receiver is leading and lagging.
Much as I surmised.
> Yeah, yeah, stealing peeks at our code are you?
>
Nope, just applying years of system analysis and engineering
to the problem in an idle moment
--jbuff
Visit the Echostar Knowledge Base http://echostar.swiki.net
Echostar and Dish News, FAQs, Bugs, Mods, Magic and More...
* Sent from AltaVista http://www.altavista.com Where you can also find related Web Pages, Images, Audios, Videos, News, and Shopping. Smart is Beautiful
For the most part, I'm impressed. That's a very accurate description of
the general way the DP works. Where were YOU when I was trying to
figure that out? :)
However, the data that is passed from the satellite in to the hd is in
its original format, hence, still encrypted. When it gets to the Dish
side, it is unencrypted and decoded. Sorry.
>
> This is all conjecture based on observation.
Yeah, yeah, stealing peeks at our code are you?
Matt
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
>For the most part, I'm impressed. That's a very accurate description of
>the general way the DP works. Where were YOU when I was trying to
>figure that out? :)
>
>However, the data that is passed from the satellite in to the hd is in
>its original format, hence, still encrypted. When it gets to the Dish
>side, it is unencrypted and decoded. Sorry.
Are you sure? It would seem that that's a "backasswards" way to do it, because
it would mean that the smartcard needs to be involved twice as much during
simultaneous record playback. It would just seem to make more sense to decrypt
upon reception and record the decrypted data to the HD- that's far less
"messy"- when simultaneous record/play is needed, the smartcard can simply
handle the "record" channel, and the stored hard disk programming can simply be
directed to the MPEG decoder.
Just a thought...
>
--
Todd Allcock, DISH/DirecTV Dealer
Electronic Connection, Lee's Summit, MO
"Under the new Usenet Home Reader's Improvement Act (UHRIA), you may only
receive this post if you are located in the Kansas City Designated Market
Area."
I have a feeling that it is on the disk still encoded which is why people
have reported that if they take their DP with them and then attempt to watch
something after plugging the unit back into power without re-hooking the
dish, it didn't work. Because the DP thought it no longer had authorization
to show it.
Just my feeble attempt at logic.
"ElecConnec" <elecc...@aol.comyadayada> wrote in message
news:20000831182237...@nso-ce.aol.com...
>
> Are you sure? It would seem that that's a "backasswards" way to do it,
because
> it would mean that the smartcard needs to be involved twice as much during
> simultaneous record playback. It would just seem to make more sense to
decrypt
> upon reception and record the decrypted data to the HD- that's far less
> "messy"- when simultaneous record/play is needed, the smartcard can simply
> handle the "record" channel, and the stored hard disk programming can
simply be
> directed to the MPEG decoder.
>
> Just a thought...
>
>
>
>
> >
>
>
> --
> Todd Allcock, DISH/DirecTV Dealer
> Electronic Connection, Lee's Summit, MO
> "Under the new Usenet Home Reader's Improvement Act (UHRIA), you may only
> receive this post if you are located in the Kansas City Designated Market
> Area."
>
>
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Seth wrote in message <39aefb8c$1...@news4.newsfeeds.com>...
The smartcard might be used at part of the routing for "loading" keys into some
decoder chip(s) on the motherboard. That might happen when you change
channels, or start playing a previously recorded show.
--
"Marc Kaplan" <kap...@who.net>
>The smart card is almost certainly NOT "involved" during either playback or
>record, at least not on a steady-state/"realtime" basis. Smartcards use a
>slow serial (9600bps or thereabouts) interface, they have extremely limited
>memory and (slow) processors. The Mpeg stream is processed at a rate of
>several Mbps.
True- however from what I understand of the system, every x # of seconds, a
"control" word or byte is send along with the MPEG data that is routed to the
smartcard to insure the system is still authorized to receive that channel.
Otherwise you could tune to a channel like HBO, cancel your service and receive
that one channel forever.
>The smartcard might be used at part of the routing for "loading" keys into
>some decoder chip(s) on the motherboard. That might happen when you change
>channels, or start playing a previously recorded show.
It's more often that that I'm told- on older receivers you can remove the card
and still watch for maybe 10 or 15 seconds before you get a "please insert your
smartcard" message. The newer receivers "notice" the state of a mechanical
switch in the socket that trips when the card is inserted or removed so the
message is immediate. I assume the 10 or 15 seconds the old receivers "last"
without a card is the interval between "is this channel still ok?" queries are
sent to the card.
I'm sure the hackers could correct me if I'm wrong, but you get the idea.
Correct. Its a randomly changed "key" that allows you to decode signals.
>
> >The smartcard might be used at part of the routing for "loading"
keys into
> >some decoder chip(s) on the motherboard. That might happen when you
change
> >channels, or start playing a previously recorded show.
>
> It's more often that that I'm told- on older receivers you can remove
the card
> and still watch for maybe 10 or 15 seconds before you get a "please
insert your
> smartcard" message. The newer receivers "notice" the state of a
mechanical
> switch in the socket that trips when the card is inserted or removed
so the
> message is immediate. I assume the 10 or 15 seconds the old
receivers "last"
> without a card is the interval between "is this channel still ok?"
queries are
> sent to the card.
I can't give you the exact number, its proprietary, but its close to
what you are saying.
>
> I'm sure the hackers could correct me if I'm wrong, but you get the
idea.
I'm NOT a hacker, thanks :)
Matt
>
> --
> Todd Allcock, DISH/DirecTV Dealer
> Electronic Connection, Lee's Summit, MO
> "Under the new Usenet Home Reader's Improvement Act (UHRIA), you may
only
> receive this post if you are located in the Kansas City Designated
Market
> Area."
>
>
Its true. Would be a LOT less messy. LOL. Honestly, I could tell you
exactly how it works, but then I'd lose my job and NOBODY would ever
fix the black screen problem.
>
> Just a thought...
A good one too. But trust me, you can't just copy something off a DP
hard-drive and play it back...
Matt
>
> >
>
> --
> Todd Allcock, DISH/DirecTV Dealer
> Electronic Connection, Lee's Summit, MO
> "Under the new Usenet Home Reader's Improvement Act (UHRIA), you may
only
> receive this post if you are located in the Kansas City Designated
Market
> Area."
>
>
But seriously, I've found that a HD with a 2 Meg buffer
nearly eliminates the blackouts and near as I can tell,
completely eliminates the associated tiling incidents.
I'm using the WD 307AA, and it has improved my viewing
tremendously.
Now what are you going to do about the popping?
> But trust me, you can't just copy
> something off a DP
> hard-drive and play it back...
>
That is, even if you can figure out where the files begin
and end.
I've noticed that a Dishplayer can be unplugged for a short
while and still be able to play back recorded material
without a satellite connection.
After a longer while this is no longer possible, so I guess
the keys expire somewhere between that short while and the
long while. (How's that for not giving anything away?)
Once a new key is obtained, the recorded material can be
played again, which is still an interesting conundrum.
Apparently, the key doesn't control the decryption, but the
permission to view it.
--jbuff
Hey, its a weekend! I'm allowed a break :)
>
>But seriously, I've found that a HD with a 2 Meg buffer
>nearly eliminates the blackouts and near as I can tell,
>completely eliminates the associated tiling incidents.
Interesting. We've discovered quite a bit about the black screen
issues. It depends, of course, on the channel, the signal strength,
etc. There is more than one reason it occurs. Sigh. The remainder
of my life will probably be spent removing them.
>
>I'm using the WD 307AA, and it has improved my viewing
>tremendously.
>
>Now what are you going to do about the popping?
Working on it....
>
>> But trust me, you can't just copy
>> something off a DP
>> hard-drive and play it back...
>>
>
>That is, even if you can figure out where the files begin
>and end.
>
>I've noticed that a Dishplayer can be unplugged for a short
>while and still be able to play back recorded material
>without a satellite connection.
>
>After a longer while this is no longer possible, so I guess
>the keys expire somewhere between that short while and the
>long while. (How's that for not giving anything away?)
Actually, the two aren't really related. The PTV stuff becomes
unavailable as soon as your box is unregistered. No great
proprietary secret there.
>
>Once a new key is obtained, the recorded material can be
>played again, which is still an interesting conundrum.
>Apparently, the key doesn't control the decryption, but the
>permission to view it.
Exactly.
>I've noticed that a Dishplayer can be unplugged for a short
>while and still be able to play back recorded material
>without a satellite connection.
>
>After a longer while this is no longer possible, so I guess
>the keys expire somewhere between that short while and the
>long while. (How's that for not giving anything away?)
>
>Once a new key is obtained, the recorded material can be
>played again, which is still an interesting conundrum.
>Apparently, the key doesn't control the decryption, but the
>permission to view it.
Oooooh! Oooooh! I think I've guessed it Mr. Kotter!
I'll bet (and Matt can tell me how far off I am!) that without the proper
authorization, the DP refuses to play the recorded material because it can't be
sure you still subscribe to PTV! I assume the DP checks the smartcard to see
if you subscribe to "channel 1" (PTV) before it allows you to view PTV, just
like it checks if you subscribe to channel 300 before you can watch HBO.
>Its true. Would be a LOT less messy. LOL. Honestly, I could tell you
>exactly how it works, but then I'd lose my job and NOBODY would ever
>fix the black screen problem.
Hey, after you've fixed that, if you're taking requests could you get around to
fixing the "Getting Info From Satellite" bug that occurs randomly while
scrolling through the EPG? :-)
>A good one too. But trust me, you can't just copy something off a DP
>hard-drive and play it back...
I never assumed for a moment that you could! Regardless of whether the data is
stored encrypted or not, I assume the file formats used are proprietary enough
that nobody is going to develop a routine that spins off a RealVideo or QT file
from the raw DP data! ;-)
The DishPlayer (DP) MPEG-2 stream is *not* encrypted to disk
(regardless of any info to the contrary).
The DP data is recorded to disk as a simple MPEG-2 transport stream.
If you have an intimate understanding of DVB data formats, you *can*
play it back from the hard drive.
Reassembling the miscellaneous file segments from disk into a coherent
single file, i.e., interpreting the proprietary FAT format, is the key
challenge to exporting DP MPEG files.
Matt, if you really work for the DP developers, you need to have
someone knowledgable explain the DP code to you; obviously you don't
understand it yourself.
xxxx
------
In article <8okkl6$71l$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, mattt...@sprynet.com writes:
>
> >However, the data that is passed from the satellite in to the hd is in
> >its original format, hence, still encrypted. When it gets to the Dish
> >side, it is unencrypted and decoded. Sorry.
In article <8oprbe$9es$1...@nnrp1.deja.com>, <mattt...@sprynet.com>
wrote:
Since we're discussing DP issues,since the microprocessor can flip the
relay to pass the antenna signal through to the TV when the POWER
button is pressed Why can't they let the TV/VIDEO button on the
remode do the same thing (like every other Dish receiver does?
Neal Eckhardt
p.s. Thanks for the insights on the DP, We all find it interesting
reading.
>Bingo! You get a cupie doll (Ooo, did I just give away my age?)
Worse, I understood you, which gives away mine!
>Since we're discussing DP issues,since the microprocessor can flip the
>relay to pass the antenna signal through to the TV when the POWER
>button is pressed Why can't they let the TV/VIDEO button on the
>remode do the same thing (like every other Dish receiver does?
Here's a quick reason I thought of, and I'm not even an engineer- the TV/Video
button on the remote is probably not able to send a signal the DP can
recognise. Like the TV Power button it simply sends an IR signal based on what
TV brand you program the remote to control.
So even if the relay is accessable to DP software control, the remote has no
way of signalling the DP to do anything about it. (Unless you think DISH needs
to send a 3rd DP remote out to customers!) ;-)
Also, as I've posted before, this unit is a WebTV box with a satellite receiver
"grafted on"- not the other way around. WebTV plus units have no "pass thru"
function either, because they have OTA tuners built in. Like with TiVo or a
DISH model 5000, you are "supposed" to hook the WebTV Plus to the TV and only
use IT to select channels from now on. Of course since the DP is the ONLY
WebTV Plus box without an OTA tuner, it causes a problem. If your DP was a
"real" WebTV Plus, you'd never need to switch to OTA- you'd already be there!
I'm not trying to say that a TV/Video switch wouldn't be a "Good Thing (TM)"-
it's just something that A) the original software authors never considered
(unnecessary for WebTV+ use), B) doesn't affect the "proper" use of the unit if
connected "correctly" (meaning to the TV's A/V input) and C), reasons A+B above
aren't enough in and of themselves to justify "fixing" it now- particularly
since the remote won't even support it! Since a cheap (< $20) signal combiner
will "fix" your problem without any modification of the unit's software or
hardware, it would be easier for DISH to label that the "official fix" for your
problem. Certainly cheaper than selling the DP owner a new remote with a
working TV/Video button!
Sigh. Don't remind me. Its on the list of things people want. The basic
reason is
because the DP is a hack. It can really only deal with the WebTV side of
things.
We can probably turn that off, but we haven't had the time to look into it
yet.
>
>Neal Eckhardt
>
>p.s. Thanks for the insights on the DP, We all find it interesting
>reading.
Oh hey, no problem. Long as you don't "yell on me" (as my grandmother used
to say).
Your wish is my command, sahib. Should be in the next release.
>
> >A good one too. But trust me, you can't just copy something off a DP
> >hard-drive and play it back...
>
> I never assumed for a moment that you could! Regardless of whether
the data is
> stored encrypted or not, I assume the file formats used are
proprietary enough
> that nobody is going to develop a routine that spins off a RealVideo
or QT file
> from the raw DP data! ;-)
The real question is, why would you WANT to? I mean, it would be nice
to have it in MPEG format so you could play it on a PC, but its not
like we make our files easy to play back... they are in a format that
is most convenient for us. Even if you decoded it, you'd be better off
digitizing a tape and playing that (I don't recommend this, btw).
Matt
>
> --
> Todd Allcock, DISH/DirecTV Dealer
> Electronic Connection, Lee's Summit, MO
> "Under the new Usenet Home Reader's Improvement Act (UHRIA), you may
only
> receive this post if you are located in the Kansas City Designated
Market
> Area."
>
>
>The real question is, why would you WANT to?
How else are we going to trade our favorite past Charlie Chats through Napster?
;-)