Official Firmware Hacking Thread (new)

**simulacro** · 2012 February 15th, 17:33

Originally Posted by jollyrogerxp

...The amount of reverse engineering and the amount of software I had to write from scratch to get to that point is quite substantial and it opened the door to the HV20 hack, which was my original goal.

Jolly

You Did It!

i don't post often in any forum but i open everyday hv20.com, it's a refference place for my video research... I have a PAL hv20 and using the hack the 60i for slowmo is great.

It worked, and i'm sure you went beyond many many people could do. don't let them think it wasn't a success!!

1 · 2012 February 15th, 18:54

Originally Posted by zephyrnoid

I'm glad this hack did not turn out to be anything like that and I truly apologize for sounding so rude!

I accept your apology.

Remember, it was the MONEY that made me very cautious also.

**jollyrogerxp** · 2012 February 15th, 22:07

Originally Posted by zephyrnoid

I've been on small and huge technology teams from 1995-2001 and the HV20 'success' would have been considered that in the context of a high school science project. If I had to put a dollar figure to each hour spent: executing the hack(s), reading about them, trying them out, paying for them, and avoiding upgrades to one of the hundred of cameras that surfaced in the duration, I reckon we could all have spend $100,000 dollars in aggregate. That assessment is not "misguided" it's simply sound business sense.
Sure I've witnessed tons of false starts, detours, dead ends and crashes in my work during 1995-2001 and that's really part of the process of innovating. However the project lived for years on false hopes that may well have been better channeled elsewhere. I do applaud the workers on this hack for their successes and efforts. I only hope that we all learned that there's a limit to time and money expended on such pursuits.
Part of my cynicism was the result of about 5 years on a certain flashlight forum wherein tens of thousands of dollars were stolen from trusting souls, buying into that ever present siren of the human race.... SNAKE OIL.
I'm glad this hack did not turn out to be anything like that and I truly apologize for sounding so rude!

I not only accept your apology, but I think I understand your point of view.

The only issue I strongly disagree with though is that you assume this all has/had to make sound business sense.

I have been in the software/hardware business for the last 20 years, working on a variety of projects, from tiny 4-bit systems with teams of one/two, to large supercomputers with tens of thousands of processors, and design teams of thousands of engineers, and yet I fail to see the reason why something like the HV20 hack needed to pursue business-style accomplishment.

Nowhere on this thread I remember reading explicitly words like "hold on to buy new cameras, this lone hacker will quickly and certainly realize all our dreams"; I trust anybody reading something even remotely similar to have exercised proper judgment and acted accordingly. Right from the start I stated that I had started working on this only for fun, and to ultimately turn my own Japan-spec HV20 from NTSC to PAL...
So I am of the opinion that since the "second thread" started it was pretty clear that a hack would not a) surface quickly, and b) contain a lot of "dream" features.
In my personal view at least some of the people who "stuck around" were in it for the ride, to follow the "blog" of a guy describing the effort required to hack an unknown system, to share the pain and the joy, even more so than to resurrect a dying line of camcorders.

To me personally the HV20 hack was then indeed a success, as it required a lot of my skills and a lot of time and effort, and finally I reached the goal I had.
I believe that even for some other people simply interested in using the HVXX for some other purposes the hack turned out to be fine, and trust me it was more work than any high school science project I have ever seen in my life, even if from the "outside" it seems trivial.

I do agree completely that perhaps the time and effort might have been better channeled elsewhere, but such is life; I could have chosen to dedicate my time to help the CHDK team (a truly admirable effort), but this was way, way more of a challenge, and therefore more fun.
I would love for people who have time and skills to work on exactly what I need, sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't...

**Janke** · 2012 February 16th, 03:01

Jolly, even just the NTSC/PAL hack has helped a lot of people, who unknowingly bought the wrong model HV !

Even though I have not used your hack myself, I congratulate you and thank you on behalf of all who have needed and used it.

**zcream** · 2012 February 16th, 05:27

I used my hacked HV30 with a Hyperdeck Shuttle 2 recorder and a cheap SSD. I used it to film dancers using cinemode.
This has as much resolution as my GH1 (Im talking about line resolution not pixels), with slightly less dynamic range. Also, I dont have to worry about focus issues with a larger camera. Especially important as we are filming dancers.
And ZERO aliasing and artifacts. As well as less rolling shutter due to a smaller sensor (perhaps faster readout).

Even today a hacked HVxx has value.

Check out my mod that allowed the Shuttle enclosure to be used as a DIY camera cage/cheeseplate

http://www.mishra.tv/wordpress/?p=311

Originally Posted by zephyrnoid

I've been on small and huge technology teams from 1995-2001 and the HV20 'success' would have been considered that in the context of a high school science project. If I had to put a dollar figure to each hour spent: executing the hack(s), reading about them, trying them out, paying for them, and avoiding upgrades to one of the hundred of cameras that surfaced in the duration, I reckon we could all have spend $100,000 dollars in aggregate. That assessment is not "misguided" it's simply sound business sense.
Sure I've witnessed tons of false starts, detours, dead ends and crashes in my work during 1995-2001 and that's really part of the process of innovating. However the project lived for years on false hopes that may well have been better channeled elsewhere. I do applaud the workers on this hack for their successes and efforts. I only hope that we all learned that there's a limit to time and money expended on such pursuits.
Part of my cynicism was the result of about 5 years on a certain flashlight forum wherein tens of thousands of dollars were stolen from trusting souls, buying into that ever present siren of the human race.... SNAKE OIL.
I'm glad this hack did not turn out to be anything like that and I truly apologize for sounding so rude!

**morozband** · 2012 March 30th, 13:23

Dear Friends,
I hacked my HV30 three months ago and everything went fine.
Today I wanted to transfer a PAL Tape so I changed the region, captured the tape and switched back to NTSC…and this is when the nightmare started:
Back to NTSC, I can record normally but I CAN’T playback / capture anymore :
The playback is FREEZING, and the screen is going blue.
I cleaned the heads with a Panasonic dry tape but nothing changed !
I am sure that it is a hack / firmware corruption problem because when I switch back to PAL , record and capture everything work fine!!
Could you please tell me how to reset / undo the hack and reinstall the firmware ?
Please I need your help.
Thank you in advance

**Bertzie** · 2012 April 9th, 00:28

Where/how does a person learn to hack firmware? I'd love to crack my Kodak point and shoot, but don't have a clue what I'm doing.

**jollyrogerxp** · 2012 April 10th, 19:11

Originally Posted by morozband

Dear Friends,
I hacked my HV30 three months ago and everything went fine.
Today I wanted to transfer a PAL Tape so I changed the region, captured the tape and switched back to NTSC…and this is when the nightmare started:
Back to NTSC, I can record normally but I CAN’T playback / capture anymore :
The playback is FREEZING, and the screen is going blue.
I cleaned the heads with a Panasonic dry tape but nothing changed !
I am sure that it is a hack / firmware corruption problem because when I switch back to PAL , record and capture everything work fine!!
Could you please tell me how to reset / undo the hack and reinstall the firmware ?
Please I need your help.
Thank you in advance

You can always download and install the original Canon firmware using their 1.0.1.0 updater.
That will restore the original firmware.

**ieftinachee** · 2012 April 16th, 04:37

Hello,
First of all, I thank you for that great forum. Many things I learn from here.
Can anyone tell me, step by step, how to hack my camera (HV20) for gain control? (I mean with firmware... and all stuff).

My camera is Canon HV20, PAL, 1.0.0.0 firmware.

Thanks.

**merlin2p** · 2012 April 17th, 07:43

Hi everyone,

I use a DOF for several years with my HV30 and your extrodinary Hack jollyrogerxp - thks again for all your tremendous work - but now my dof adapter is out of range and I want to remove the LCD Flip Hack (but keep the others options). is it possible ?
after various research on this LONG post I havent found the way...

I tried to move back to the original Canon Firmware following the procedure but I got this message as I pluged the usb connector "the connected camera already contains the latest firmware version.(...) close the program".

please, can someone provide any help ?

ieftinachee: on the 1st page of this post clik on the link "read and follow jollyrogerxp's instructions"

**ieftinachee** · 2012 April 17th, 09:05

Ths, but my question is: that firmware update works with HV20? or is only for HV30? My camera is an HV20 and I want to be sure that I will not damage the camera. Is anyone that do this on HV20?

And the gain hack will remain even if switch batteries?

Sorry for not reading all the post in this forum.

**merlin2p** · 2012 April 17th, 10:45

Originally Posted by ieftinachee

Ths, but my question is: that firmware update works with HV20? or is only for HV30? My camera is an HV20 and I want to be sure that I will not damage the camera. Is anyone that do this on HV20?

And the gain hack will remain even if switch batteries?

Sorry for not reading all the post in this forum.

seem's obvious
saw the title "HV20 or HV30 hack as landed"

**Erik Bien** · 2012 April 17th, 10:57

Originally Posted by ieftinachee

And the gain hack will remain even if switch batteries?

No; the "set max gain" hack is the only one that does not persist after a power cycle or battery change.

**BZLProductions** · 2012 May 15th, 17:26

Anyone thinking of doing a hack for the Canon Vixia M400?

1 · 2012 May 15th, 18:12

Originally Posted by BZLProductions

Anyone thinking of doing a hack for the Canon Vixia M400?

Sure, I'll have it finished by tomorrow. I'll post it here.

**drapeama** · 2012 May 15th, 19:16

Originally Posted by BZLProductions

Anyone thinking of doing a hack for the Canon Vixia M400?

Unless one could provide a "dummy" camcorder to test, it won't happen any soon. Jolly has been able to hack the HV20 & 30 because they were simillar, but as far as I remember the HV40 wasn't exactly the same: so he would have needed a camcorder to experiment on it...

Originally Posted by 1

Sure, I'll have it finished by tomorrow. I'll post it here.

Glad I'll get one and wait for the hack!

**DrDave** · 2012 June 26th, 02:55

An M400 hack would be awesome.

1 · 2012 June 26th, 03:15

BBQ'ed shrimp on sticks taste great!

**drapeama** · 2012 June 26th, 16:44

Originally Posted by 1

BBQ'ed shrimp on sticks taste great!

Not Giving a F*ck is AHHHH-SOME! (< 1:25)

**BZLProductions** · 2012 July 3rd, 08:49

Originally Posted by DrDave

An M400 hack would be awesome.

I know! That camera is amazing. I've played footage from it up on a cinema screen and it looks great. The dynamic range of the sensor is just unsurpassed by any of the other lower budget cameras.

**manoeuvre** · 2013 March 5th, 10:29

Anyone got a working link for the Ver2.0 hack, both the links seem to be broken. Cheers if you can help.

1 · 2013 March 5th, 17:05

Originally Posted by manoeuvre

Anyone got a working link for the Ver2.0 hack

I apologize; I deleted them in the move to hddv.net...let me see if I can re-upload them....

1 · 2013 March 5th, 17:27

Okay, it's all sorted out.

HV Hack 2.0 — NTSC & PAL HV20s & HV30s:

Download link: http://www.hv20.net/HV20_HV30_Modifiied_Firmware_v2_0.zip

Alternate Download link: http://www.hv20.com/HV20_HV30_Modifi...mware_v2_0.zip

**manoeuvre** · 2013 March 9th, 00:30

Thanks!

Thread: Official Firmware Hacking Thread (new)

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