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BillW
Joined: 14 Apr 2005
Posts: 2519
Location: in a tightly curled dimension
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 Posted:
Wed Jun 29, 2005 12:25 am |
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CVS Camcorder FAQs
General Info
Q: What's this site about?
A: The camerahacking.com site is the central place to get hacking information about the $10 and $20 Ritz/CVS one-time-use cameras, and $30 one-time use camcorder. All of these devices can be converted into multi-use, if you have the right cables and software installed.
Q: Is the camcorder hacked yet?
A: Yup, at least partially. Pure Digital accidentally left a security hole in their key routines. This bug allows us to unlock the camera and send commands to it. So far this bug appears to exist in the B2 and B3 camera revisions, but expect it to dissapear soon.
Q: Will this camcorder be skinnable like the pv2?
A: Actually, it looks like it will be even more skinnable than the pv2. Already from morcheeba's file list you can see the screens in jpeg format, and different sounds in .wav format!
Camera Operation
Q: I only seem to be able to view the last clip I recorded - how do I view previous clips?
A: The only way to do this is to delete the last clip. Perhaps this will change much later, when we understand and can change the firmware on the camera.
General Technical Information
Q: Is the cable the same as the original Dakota or pv2?
A: Yup, it's the same cable. Various designs are available at http://cexx.org/dakota
Q: What's the video size/format? I heard the size was VGA!
A: The size is not VGA, as was misreported in an interview, it's QVGA. Here's the breakdown of all of the format:
Encapsulation/Stream-type: AVI
Video codec: XviD
Video framerate: 30 fps
Video bitrate: ~500 kb/s variable
Video size: 320x240
Audio codec: MPEG (mp1/mp2)
Audio bitrate: 32 kb/s
Audio format: mono
Update: the camera's resolution is now changeable, thanks to Corscaria's hack. It can now do 640x480, 512x384, and perhaps other resolutions yet to be explored.
Note that XviD format, like DivX, is an imlementation of the MPEG-4 standard. For more info on XviD, or to download the codec, see: http://www.xvidmovies.com/info/
Q: How do I find out which version of the camera I have?
A: You can nerve pinch it and it will display an information screen:
-With the camera off, hold down Record and Delete, and press the power button.
...If that doesn't work, try this...
-With the camera on, hold down the power button and press delete
Q: What different versions of the camera exist?
A: There appear to be two different versions of the camcorder, hence the two different nerve pinch procedures:
The less common one has a nerve pinch in this format:
VERSION 2005#######
CCF VER ####
ID FA##########
And the more common one has a nerve pinch in this format:
FW-VERSION: 03.40
CAMERA ID: ############
PCB VER: B#
It's worth noting that we've seen 3 different PCB versions for the more common one, and a firmware version of 03.01 has been reported in addition to the more frequently found 03.40.
Q: What chips are used in this camera?
A: Zoran's Coach 7, which contains a MIPS 4k core and DSP, has been used. Additionally it has a 128Mb Hynix/Samsung flash chip, which is storage for firmware, system files, and the recorded video. Specific chip information can be found in this post by mconsidine: http://camerahacks.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=1096#1096
Q: How do you open this sucker up?
A: You can remove the battery compartment by sticking a paperclip into the latch at the bottom of the camera - the camera comes with more detailed instructions on how to do this.
To get access to the inside of the camera itself, feel around the sticker at the back for 4 screw holes and pierce the sticker to remove the screws. Alternatively, you can just remove the stickers from the back of the camera.
USB Related
Q: Everybody keeps mentioning PID... what's a PID?
A: PID is an acronym that stands for (USB) Product IDentifier.
Each USB device is supposed to have a Vendor IDentifier (or VID) and a PID. The identifiers are used so the Operating System can distinguish one device from another.
Q: What's the PID of the camcorder? What's the VID?
A: There are a couple known VID/PID pairs.VID=04c5 (Fujitsu), PID=2003 showed up in earlier models. Later models use VID=167b (Pure Digital), PID=0101. The camera always seems to report itself as "Saturn" though.
Misc
Q: Why bother with all of the time and effort hacking these things to save a few bucks? QVGA is useless, and there are much better cameras available...
A: We've already hacked the camera to a higher resolution. Aside from that, there's lots of reasons that apply here...
...the thrill of discovery
...you can film video in dangerous/risky situations
...giving a $30 camcorder to a young child doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Add a zero or two to the price and you may think differently.
...the unit could probably be used to play back uploaded videos for long car trips!
FAQ Contributors: BillW, Sailpix. (and all of the fine folk who uncovered much of this information and posted it in the forums!!! ) |
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Fraggerman
Joined: 11 Sep 2005
Posts: 34
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Sun Oct 09, 2005 9:16 pm |
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I think these updates should be included to the FAQ:
General Info
Q: Is the camcorder hacked yet?
A: Yup, at least partially. Pure Digital accidentally left a security hole in their key routines. This bug allows us to unlock the camera and send commands to it. So far this bug appears to exist in the B2 and B3 camera revisions, but expect it to dissapear soon. The FW Version 3.40 is totally hacked, the FW Version 3.62 not hacked yet but progress is being made see http://camerahacks.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=1176
General Technical Information
Q: What's the video size/format? I heard the size was VGA!
A: The size is not VGA, as was misreported in an interview, it's QVGA. Here's the breakdown of all of the format:
Encapsulation/Stream-type: AVI
Video codec: XviD
Video framerate: 30 fps
Video bitrate: ~500 kb/s variable
Video size: 320x240
Audio codec: MPEG (mp1/mp2)
Audio bitrate: 32 kb/s
Audio format: mono
Update: the camera's resolution is now changeable, thanks to Corscaria's hack. It can now do 640x480, 512x384, and perhaps other resolutions yet to be explored.
other resolutions 192x144 256x192 384x288 448x336 576x432
Q: What different versions of the camera exist?
A: There appear to be two different versions of the camcorder, hence the two different nerve pinch procedures:
The less common one has a nerve pinch in this format:
VERSION 2005#######
CCF VER ####
ID FA##########
And the more common one has a nerve pinch in this format:
FW-VERSION: 03.40
CAMERA ID: ############
PCB VER: B#
FW-VERSION: 03.62
CAMERA ID: ############
PCB VER: B#
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Possibly consolidating some FAQ that keep poping up such as:
Q: My camera connects sometimes and doesn't others, why?
OR
Q: I was able to unlock the camera but I can't download any videos, why?
A:
1. Check to see if it's wired right.
2. Make sure cable is making good contact.
a. Shim up the connector with hot glue
b. Wire directly to the boards terminals
Q: What do all the buttons do on OPS?
A.
[Open Camcorder]
Scans the USB bus for Saturn Camcorders, and connects to the first one found
[Unlock]
Attempts to send the correct response to the camera's challenge. A succesful unlock is required before the camcorder will allow you to access it.
[Close Camcorder]
Disconnects from the currently connected camcorder.
[Powerdown Camcorder]
Sends a command to the camcorder to immediately shut down, without doing any of it's normal shutdown procedures
[Download All Movies]
Downloads all movies on the camcorder to a directory on your PC
[Download Last Movie]
Downloads the last movie recorded on the camcorder to a directory on your PC
[Upload Movie]
Uploads a movie from your PC to the camcorder, so it can be played back by the camcorder. Movies need special formatting to be played succesfully.
[Format Storage]
Formats the movie storage area of the camcorder, erasing all movies and presumably flagging bad flash sectors.
[Enable Mass Storage]
With 3.40 firmware cams, this button will temporarily turn the camcorder into a USB disk device - it will show up in Windows with a new drive letter
[Send Monitor Command]
Allows you to send a command string to the camcorder. This is mainly used by hackers exploring the inner workings of the cam.
[Download Memory]
Allows you to download a range of SDRAM from the camcorder to a file on your PC, for further analysis.
[View/Change Cam Settings]
Allows you to tweak the cam's recording characteristics (resolution, framerate, timelimits) as well some other cam properties (camcorder ID string, ready-to-recycle flag)
[Sync Camcorder Time]
Sets the camcorder's internal clock to the same time as your PC.
[Download Flash]
Allows you to download the camcorder's flash memory to a file on your PC. Partition flash images can be edited with Winimage or a Linux loopback mount.
[Upload Flash]
Allows you to overwrite the camcorder's flash memory with the contents of a file on your PC.
[Update Directory Listing]
Creates/Refreshes a directory tree view of the files and directories in your camcorder.
[Download File]
Allows you to transfer any file from your camcorder to your PC. The file must be selected in the directory tree view.
[Upload File]
Allows you to transfer any file from your PC to the camcorder. The file to replace or the recieving directory must be selected in the directory tree view.
[Delete File]
Allows you to delete any file on your camcorder. The file to delete must be selected in the directory tree view.
THis is just a suggestion, if the admins don't like it ignore it. I think these questions will keep poping up as long as they're not addressed here. Also, if they are asked in the questions section then they can be directed here.  |
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