Official Firmware Hacking Thread (new)

[_gl]

Hey, you've hit the Official Firmware Hacking Thread . This post is regularly updated with the latest news, so keep checking back. All firmware hacking discussion should be kept in this thread.

Last update: December 13 2010

HV20 & HV30 HACK 2.0
HAS LANDED!!!

Now with GAIN CONTROL!

the Region Switching hack will switch a camera from NTSC to PAL (and back again).

The LCD Flipping hack inverts the LCD display (for use with 35mm/DoF adapters).

The NEW Gain hack sets analog gain to user specified maximum.


Now with Graphical User Interface: apply any or all of the hacks to your NTSC or PAL HV20 or HV30 with this one download!*

HV Hack 2.0 — NTSC & PAL HV20s & HV30s Download link: http://www.hv20.net/HV20_HV30_Modifi...mware_v2_0.zip

HV Hack 2.0 — NTSC & PAL HV20s & HV30s Alternate Download link: http://www.hv20.com/HV20_HV30_Modifi...mware_v2_0.zip


*plus the official firmware update you can download from Canon

WARNINGS: For the moment, these firmware modifications are only known to work on the HV20 & HV30. Attempting to install them on any other model will probably brick your cam. These are non-factory-authorized, use-at-your-own risk, version 1.0 firmware modifications. Installing them may void your warranty. Be sure to carefully read and follow jollyrogerxp's instructions. You will also need to download the "official" HV30 firmware update from Canon.



(Below are older links to previous versions)

HV30 Flip Hacks
PLEASE NOTE: even if you have region-switched your camera with the other firmware hack, you must use the proper version for your camera. The NTSC version is for original NTSC ('Vixia' & 'iVIS') HV30s, the PAL version is for PAL ('Legria') cams.

The original "tried & true" flip-hack (inverts the image, but does not 'mirror' it left-to-right)

Original LCD Flip Firmware — NTSC HV30s Download link: http://hv20.info/yopu/HV30_Modified_Firmware_v1_1b.zip

Original LCD Flip Firmware — PAL HV30s Download link: http://hv20.info/yopu/HV30_Modified_..._v1_1b_PAL.zip

The new & improved flip-hack (both inverts & mirrors the image)

Improved LCD Flip Firmware — NTSC HV30s Download link: http://hv20.info/yopu/HV30_Modified_Firmware_v1_2.zip

Improved LCD Flip Firmware — PAL HV30s Download link: http://hv20.info/yopu/HV30_Modified_...e_v1_2_PAL.zip



Region Change firmware hack is here!

Follow this link to download:

Region Change Firmware Download link: http://hv20.info/yopu/HV30_Region_Hack_v1_0.zip


Jolly has now ported these hacks to the HV20, using an HV20 purchased by the hack fund.

HV20 Firmware Hacks

Yes, it's finally here!

The HV20 Firmware Hack v1.1 (includes both region swapping and LCD flipping). Download link: http://hv20.net/HV20_Modified_Firmware_v1_1.zip

(Also requires the "official" HV30 firmware update from Canon.)

User waverz has joined the team as moderator of the hack thread and treasurer of the remaining hack fund balance.


BELOW IS THE OLD STATUS FROM FEB 2010:


Previously:- Official Donations to date: $1,095.31 US! Hack fund is now CLOSED.

Background: HV30 and HF10 firmwares have been released by Canon. Hackers on the CHDK forum had already decrypted them, and managed to flash simple modifications onto their cameras (like changing the firmware version & messing with AVCHD bitrates). It's early days and there's a lot left to figure out. Exciting times & we need your support!

- Rumours that Canon would release a HV20 firmware never panned out (however it was not needed as the unstoppable Jolly found a way to read out the existing firmware).

- You can follow the hacker's progress 'live' (or get involved) on the CHDK forums (and lately here ):

Check the main thread, and
5.1) WIKI: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/HF10/100_Firmware_Analysis
5.2) WIKI: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/HV20
5.3) WIKI: http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/HV30_Firmware_Analysis



What's this all about ?

Our cameras are driven by their own software, called 'firmware'. It controls the cameras menus, functions, buttons, etc. The camera hardware is capable of much more than the firmware exposes - Canon deliberately cripples or removes some features to differentiate between their 'consumer' and professional cams.

One of the biggest limitation is not having full manual exposure control, ie. full control over shutter speed, aperature & gain - the camera exposes only shutter or aperature priority, and the rest are chosen automatically (there is a trick to avoid unwanted gain, but it's limited).

We want to see the firmware 'hacked'. This means figuring out how it works, and then either changing it, removing artificial limitations, or adding entirely new features! This has been achieved on many other devices by dedicated programmers, or 'hackers' - most notably in the CHDK project, which drastically enhances the firmware & features of many Canon still cameras!


You can Help!

We need extra hackers, and people willing to pursue the possibility of reviving a bricked HV30 via the JTAG interface.


Why Bother?


What could a firmware hack do? Well, we all want to see full manual exposure control (this means manual adjustments of shutter speed, aperature, gain, and if possible the cine mode gamma curve). Other things that might be possible are:

- PAL/NTSC switching CHECK!
- custom (or at least all possible) frame rates
- new compression bit rates
- custom gamma curves
- a live histogram
- LCD/to-tape image flipping (for eg. 35mm adapters) CHECK!
- button/remote control remapping/shortcuts
- option to disable controls (to avoid accidental zoom change, gain CHECK!, etc.)

- ability to assign parameters to the focus wheel (eg. shutter speed)
- tightly syncing two cameras (frame sync, exposure, white balance & zoom) for stereoscopic shooting.
- adjustable in-cam noise reduction.
- exposure settings remembered after power off (like zoom is).
- adjust LCD/viewfinder to show whole frame (to avoid vignetting)
- live LCD/viewfinder zooming (for sharpness check)
- more information on screen (eg. zoom factor readout, shutter/aperature etc).
- More visible peaking (eg. bright red).
- fixed zoom presets / different zoom speeds (eg. faster, during playback and recording).
- LCD frame cropping overlays.

Of course once the firmware is hacked enough to add new features, the sky's the limit ...


Players:

waverz - Moderator of this thread; took over hack fund from sdeming.
Soultrape - started this whole thing & got us donating.
jehugarcia - donated an HV30 to the hackers!


Hackers that post here :

jollyrogerxp (our main hacker)
nxb (JTAG guru)
jboy (built a contact-only JTAG interface for jolly)
Khaver & MoDu (helped with the hack control software GUI)

MIA:
sdeming - formerly handled the donations.
_gl - formerly in charge.
Wiesel (worked on decrypting the firmware)

[_gl]

Welcome, this is the new Official Firmware Hacking Thread. The old one is now closed, so we can keep things current here.

I'll regularly update the 1st post with the latest news. It also explains what this is all about.

All firmware hacking related discussion is welcome, and in fact needs to be kept in this thread by request of Mal (forum owner).

[1]

Okay, I apologize, _gl for taking a while to agree with you for how you want to handle this.

All looks sweet.

This is the new HACKING THREAD.

Let's hope this is SUCCESSFUL, it would be HUGE!!

[fkasparek]

Friends,

syncing (genlock) of two cameras HF11 (and sister's models) is the key point . If not posible via firmware change, is there a chance to do it via HW modification (locking the internal oscilators etc.)? Does anybody have Service Manual and schema of HF11 - in order to verify this option?

Thanks

Frank

[Soultrape]

Cool Stuff dudes! I'm glad things are rolling - to all the hackers: Your talent is undeniable - keep those minds crunching ideas at our lovely cams!
I'm glad the project is buzzing - sorry I haven't been able to be more productive here, I'm kinda in a middle of a War thing :] (check the pub for more info :>)

[rapunzel666]

i am happy that there is something going on. keep going ! i would love to see a menusetting that allowes to switch off gain. i am already thinking of a donation

[_gl]

syncing (genlock) of two cameras HF11 (and sister's models) is the key point .

Yes that's what I'm hoping for too, for stereo (3D) shooting with two HV20s. I'd also want to have zoom, focus, exposure & white balance synced. This is already possible with Canon still cameras using a modification of the CHDK firmware called StereoData Maker, so it's probably doable on the camcorders too.

If not posible via firmware change, is there a chance to do it via HW modification (locking the internal oscilators etc.)? Does anybody have Service Manual and schema of HF11 - in order to verify this option?

No idea on that one.

[_gl]

The CHDK forum is down, apparently unpaid... ?

[CycleWriter]

To all concerned: there has been a sudden burst in donations over the past week. Nothing huge, but the obvious interest level increase is a good sign. Keep 'em coming!

[d1rockwild]

i am happy that there is something going on. keep going ! i would love to see a menusetting that allowes to switch off gain. i am already thinking of a donation

how bout $2? really.

[rapunzel666]

how bout $2? really.

thinking bout $20 really

[spideralex90]

How much has been donated?

Also if this only finds a way to fix 24p that 'd be awesome for me.

[sdeming]

Also if this only finds a way to fix 24p that 'd be awesome for me

I think that would be awesome for everyone...I'm not sure how plausible that is though.

[_gl]

I think that would be awesome for everyone...I'm not sure how plausible that is though.

I guess in theory it's only a question of software (adding the right flags), so it may be possible. The question is whether the firmware will be hacked enough to uncover those mechanisms.

As an aside, the newly announced HV40 apparently has 'true' 24p.

[HV20_Likeable]

i always thought the HV30 was a nice upgrade even though it was very minor, but im seeing the HV40 doing something very similar which questions if it is unnecessary, unless someone really wants lens correction and stuff, when it can be corrected by other lenses itself.

i always wanted the HV40 to be a major upgrade so i would feel bad for owning a HV30, but im going to say naaah. I would have proposed for a 3CCD, if not a 3CMOS would be better and a more accurate LCD screen as they always seem to crop off the edges. In addition, i know this would be abit extreme, but yes i still want MiniDV at the medium, however, to compete with AVCHD, i would option for Panasonic's AVC-Intra, which is H.264 like AVCHD, but better and because a MiniDV tape is very much like a file storage of around 11GB, just imagine the quality we could get if it was able to encode or record 1 hour of footage at a bitrate that would result to a 11GB file

sorry if that went abit off topic, i thought it would actually be good, especially if we can get 2K recording.

[Ian-T]

I guess in theory it's only a question of software (adding the right flags), so it may be possible. The question is whether the firmware will be hacked enough to uncover those mechanisms.

As an aside, the newly announced HV40 apparently has 'true' 24p.

I don't see why that would be more difficult than anything else you guys are trying. I was recently able to record (while in Picture mode) 29.97fps (30p) over firewire with my HV20. The footage was all progressive (no interlaced lines at all) and every video player I used confirmed this. So to get real 24p out of this hack should be more probable...right?

[eno]

I don't see why that would be more difficult than anything else you guys are trying. I was recently able to record (while in Picture mode) 29.97fps (30p) over firewire with my HV20. The footage was all progressive (no interlaced lines at all) and every video player I used confirmed this. So to get real 24p out of this hack should be more probable...right?

How did you do this? Did you switch the HV20 to card mode and then capture over firewire to your NLE? I'm trying to figure out what you mean by recording in picture mode. A native 24p firmware hack for the HV20 would be great.

[vorob]

Just interested in possibility to add 24mbit bitrate in HF10/100

[Ian-T]

How did you do this? Did you switch the HV20 to card mode and then capture over firewire to your NLE? I'm trying to figure out what you mean by recording in picture mode.

That's exactly what I did. I used HDVSpit to monitor and capture it. It was confirmed in another thread, by Racer-X, that the footage is absolutey progressive and not interlaced at all (not even wrapped in an interlaced container). You have access to all of the different video functions (including TV mode, Aperture mode etc.). All except cinemode. Duke was able to capture the footage over HDMI also. You can choose 1920x1080, 1440x1080 or 2536x154?..which that last size turned out to be useless because it pilar boxes the image into 1920x1080 (because the HDMI is not capable of spitting out over 2k). So the only "real' advantage in using the cam this way is to get real 30p.

[_gl]

I don't see why that would be more difficult than anything else you guys are trying. I was recently able to record (while in Picture mode) 29.97fps (30p) over firewire with my HV20. The footage was all progressive (no interlaced lines at all) and every video player I used confirmed this. So to get real 24p out of this hack should be more probable...right?

The problem with 24p is that it's wrapped in 60i, so you need to apply 3:2 pulldown to recover the frames - and the HVs don't write the necessary flags to indicate which part of the pulldown sequence each frame occupies, so there's no simple way to get true 24p back - at least that's what I've read (I'm in PAL land where 25p is easy).

So either writing the relevant flags, or recording in true 24p (or 48i which is how 25p/30p work) is needed - but I don't know if the HDV specs will even allow transmission of 24 or 48 fps? Probably not, hence them being wrapped in 60i in the first place.

[devinhfox]

That's exactly what I did. I used HDVSpit to monitor and capture it. It was confirmed in another thread, by Racer-X, that the footage is absolutey progressive and not interlaced at all (not even wrapped in an interlaced container). You have access to all of the different video functions (including TV mode, Aperture mode etc.). All except cinemode. Duke was able to capture the footage over HDMI also. You can choose 1920x1080, 1440x1080 or 2536x154?..which that last size turned out to be useless because it pilar boxes the image into 1920x1080 (because the HDMI is not capable of spitting out over 2k). So the only "real' advantage in using the cam this way is to get real 30p.

Could you please explain more? What I'm getting from this thread is this:
For 30p on HV20,
1.) Set to card mode
2.) Hook up firewire to PC
3.) ????

Are you recording while in card mode, or are you recording in tape mode, then transferring to PC in card mode?

[um3k]

You record direct to the PC, skipping tape altogether.

[Ian-T]

Exactly what um3k said. You would have to use a laptop a firestore or some other portable device to capture with (over firewire or even HDMI).

[Ian-T]

So either writing the relevant flags, or recording in true 24p (or 48i which is how 25p/30p work) is needed - but I don't know if the HDV specs will even allow transmission of 24 or 48 fps? Probably not, hence them being wrapped in 60i in the first place.

Well, looking at the specs for the upcoming HV40 (ability to record 24p natively) makes me wonder even more about this. They are all obviously the same cams, using the same chips and software. It might just be a small tweak (coming from someone who has no coding background at all ). I am leaning towards the idea that this hack can produce an HV20/30 the ability to "natively" record 24p just like the upcoming HV40. I've already seen my HV20 do 30p....with no pulldown added. I'm being optomistic here.

[HV20_Likeable]

once the firmware is hacked and modified to unlock the features of the pro counterpart, i think one of the next steps is to be able to record and bypassing tape.

OR similarly as i mentioned on my previous post, we could record at a different codec onto tape itself as a file data, as some people should know that software has been made to record any sort of computer data on MiniDV cassettes using common DV decks or camcorders, but first, one step at a time, what im talking is far imagination