Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

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Loretto
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:45 pm

Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by Loretto »

Hi, after updating my TV (model UE32C6000RPXZT) from firmware T-VALDEUC-1013.2 (2010/05/28_001013)
to firmware T-VALDEUC-3008.3 (2011/04/13_003008) and applying the model change hack (from UC6000
to UC6900) in order to enable internet@TV, PVR function and animated menu, I noticed that in
"Picture Menu ---> Advanced Settings" the "Shadow Detail" option is missing, while in
"Picture Menu ---> Picture Options" a new option called "Smart LED" appeared.

I changed all settings according to how they were prior to updating everything (I took pictures
of every menu) but, I've got the feeling that dark scenes were darker before (I am talking
about TV mode only and not AV modes, since I did not check there). Also while changing
program, the black screen was once darker, with a couple of clouding, while now
it's dark grey, when watching in the evening with the room lighting off.

But, I am not sure. As I told you before, it's only a feeling ... maybe, the power of suggestion.

Anyway, I did some research on Google and I found out that the "Smart LED" option should be
related to the so called "Precision Dimming" used by Samsung on three 2010 LED HDTVs:
the UC6800, UC6900 and UC8000.

I read that "Precision Dimming" uses the usual edge LED lighting but with the ability to dim selected
areas on the screen for improved black level performance. I guess that the UC6000 hardware (the
LED panel itself) doesn't allow this: maybe that's why I didn't notice any difference while playing
with the different settings of this option ...

So, I thought that the culprit was the missing "Shadow Detail" option, which was already there with
the original firmware ... That's why, I changed again the model string through the service menu,
this time from UC6900 to UC6600 and finally I have got the "Shadow Detail" option instead
of the "Smart LED" one, which disappeared.

But, sad to say, I think nothing changed in the dark scenes. Furthermore, I do not see any difference
if I move the "Shadow Detail" option from -2 (default) to +2 (its min and max values). So, I am a
little confused and here I come with my questions:

1) from a hardware point of view (screen panel, tuner unit, mother board, ...) is there any difference
between UC6000 and UC6600 models which can lead to some malfunctioning or trouble in any part
of the TV set, when changing the model to UC6600 via the service menu on a UC6000 hardware ?

2) in your opinion, is "Precision Dimming" and "Smart LED" option somehow useful on a UC6000 hardware ?

3) is there any alternative way to enable animated menu without changing the model string to UC6900 ?

Closing with, one more question about PVR. I tried 3 or 4 models of USB flash drives but, none
of them overcame the compatibility test which the TV set runs just after formatting the key:

4) did someone else tried the same and had more luck ? Which model of USB flash drive would you suggest ?

Thanks in advance.
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beatfreak
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Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by beatfreak »

if you really need to change your model code in SM i would stay as close to your hardware type as possible, so 6500 or 6600 would be the better choice over 6900 (you also can leave 6000 and activate pvr only in SM)

its also a good idea to do another factory reset after you changed the model (if your tv doesn't do one by itself) backup your channel list before doing this

micro dimming/ precision dimming require different hardware, so its not useful to be activated on c6000 hardware.

if you have a rooted tv you could try to switch to your backup firmware set it might be an older version

for your recording storage: you can place a flag-file on your formatted drive (linux filesystem) to tell your tv that the drive has passed the performance test, if you have a rooted tv you could do some tests with the connected drive to see how fast you can write to it from within your tv
i am using a NAS to record to, it even passes the performance check by itself.
//UE40C6500 @ T-VALDEUC 3011 // rooted manual HotelMode style // PVR to NFS via 18MB on-the-fly sparse XFS //
FYI: you can close your ssh session with SamyGO with

Code: Select all

~.
If you can't fix it using dvct tape, you are not using enough dvct tape.
Loretto
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:45 pm

Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by Loretto »

Hi beatfreak, thank you for the tips.

> ... 6500 or 6600 would be the better choice over 6900 ...
I know that chassis for UC6000 is N96A. Is chassis for UC6600 the same one ?

> ... it's also a good idea to do another factory reset after you changed the model ...
I did a factory reset (pushing the "Exit" button on the remote control for more than 20 seconds) once
just after updating the firmware, then a second time after changing the TV model from UC6000
to UC6900 and a third time after changing again the TV model from UC6900 to UC6600.

> ... if you have a rooted tv you could try to switch to your backup firmware set it might be an older version ...
My TV is not rooted yet and sorry but, I do not understand what you mean exactly. Do you think that my TV set could
be an older version ? I bought it on the 4th of September 2010. As for the original firmware T-VALDEUC-1013.2
(2010/05/28_001013), I haven't got any backup for it and the links in "Old & Good Firmwares" does not
seem to work anymore. So, even if I would like to install it again using for example the
zero" firmware (which I already have), I cannot do it yet.

As for PVR, I did some more tests.

I reminded to have a few micro SD cards and a couple of USB to micro SD card adapters. One of the cards was labelled
"Lexar 8GB Micro SDHC Class 10". I inserted in one of the two adapters, the TV set recognized it but, didn't pass
the compatibility test. So, I took another card, labelled "Lexar 16GB Micro SDHC 1 I 600x Class 10" and inserted
it in the same adapter but, neither the TV set nor the PC recognized it. So I inserted it in the other adapter:
in this way both the PC and the TV set recognized it and, above all, it finally passed the compatibility
test. I estimated that on this 16GB micro SD card I can record about 9 hours of standard TV
programs (timeshift included), which is more than enough for me, to begin with.

Anyway, you wrote:

> ... you can place a flag-file on your formatted drive (linux file-system)
> to tell your tv that the drive has passed the performance test ...

It sounds interesting and I would like to explore this possibility as well: what do you mean exactly ?

Best regards.
Loretto
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:45 pm

Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by Loretto »

Hi beatfreak, as for the flag-file matter:

> ... you can place a flag-file on your formatted drive (Linux file system)
> to tell your TV that the drive has passed the performance test ...

I explored this possibility by myself and I arrived to following conclusion.

At the root of a TV formatted drive (XFS Linux file system) there is a folder named "CONTENTS".

Inside this folder you there is the hidden file ".PVRPfmChkLog" which is 10 bytes long.

It's not a text file and when the drive doesn't pass the compatibility test its contents are like this:

0x30 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00

while, when it passes the compatibility test its contents are as following:

0x31 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00

where the first byte is the ASCII code for 0 (0x30) or for 1 (0x31).

The file has the following attributes:

Owner: root
Access: Read and Write

Group: root
Access: Read-only

Others
Access: Read-only

Execute: [x] Allow executing file as program [ticked]

Well, it's enough to change the first byte from 0x30 to 0x31 without cutting the
trailing zeros (or to copy the attached file overwriting the old one and trying
to restore the right attributes if changed) in order to let the TV recognize
and use the problematic drive.

Anyway, if the drive is really slow, of course it will not work correctly.

I tried this solution with a "32GB JetFlash Trascend" flash drive which did not
want to pass the test and after replacing that file, I could begin recording
but sometimes, after 5 or 10 minutes, the recording stops with a
message error and what's more, all of the current session is
lost: I did 6 attempts and 3 of them failed in this way ...

On the other hand, if I intentionally stop the recording before any message error can
appear, the clip is correctly stored, apparently without any frame loss even when
the recorded program is broadcasted in HD mode.

Regards.
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beatfreak
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Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by beatfreak »

0x30 is an ASCII 0 and 0x31 is an ASCII 1 ;)
this is the line from the script that handles the recording storage for recording to network share

Code: Select all

echo '1' > "$CONTENTSDIR/.PVRPfmChkLog"
so permissions or length don't matter

the TV stores two sets of firmware in case an update goes wrong or something
to tell the currently running firmware that there is a second set available log in via ssh and run:

Code: Select all

cp /mtd_rwarea/Version.1 /mtd_rwarea/Version.0 
you might have to change the .1 and .0 depending on which one is currently there
after you have done this you can navigate in normal tv osd menu to Software Update and then there is the Option "alternate firmware" available
//UE40C6500 @ T-VALDEUC 3011 // rooted manual HotelMode style // PVR to NFS via 18MB on-the-fly sparse XFS //
FYI: you can close your ssh session with SamyGO with

Code: Select all

~.
If you can't fix it using dvct tape, you are not using enough dvct tape.
Loretto
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:45 pm

Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by Loretto »

Hi beatfreak, thank you again for your tips.

> To tell the currently running firmware that there is a second set available, log in via ssh and run:
> cp /mtd_rwarea/Version.1 /mtd_rwarea/Version.0

My TV is not rooted yet. Do I have to install the "SamyGo Extension Pack" as explained in
"https://wiki.samygo.tv/index.php5?title ... _series_TV"
in order to be able to establish an "ssh" connection ?

Isn't there any easier way to enable "telnet" or "ssh" ?

If I am not wrong, what I have to do is only to duplicate e file (for example, copying "Version.0"
to the new "Version.1"): maybe this can be done in some alternative way, without "ssh" ...

If I write a simple "C" program which does everything and I run it from
"Content Player ---> USB ---> Game Menu" do you think it can work ?

Or can I run a script in any other way ?

Regards.
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beatfreak
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Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by beatfreak »

if you are able to write c you should understand how the rooting is woking, have a look at the manual hotel mode method in wiki

in short: after the hack the tvs OS wil look on any connected usb drive for a script called 'run.sh' and will execute it
so you could also put the command you need to run in that script, downside is you dont really know if something goes wrong
for this kind of "blind execution" you would add an if clause to run the right command (0 -> 1 or 1 -> 0) depending on which one is present

this way you dont need to install the samygo extensions, but, yes, you need them to have ssh access

that would be very nice of sam sung if they enabled running executables from content player
at this point i notice i never saw the game menu and i had a german C6000 and now c6500 (bought as c6500), must be in the c6900 settings...
//UE40C6500 @ T-VALDEUC 3011 // rooted manual HotelMode style // PVR to NFS via 18MB on-the-fly sparse XFS //
FYI: you can close your ssh session with SamyGO with

Code: Select all

~.
If you can't fix it using dvct tape, you are not using enough dvct tape.
Loretto
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:45 pm

Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by Loretto »

Hi beatfreak, I had a look at the hotel mode hack for C series TV
models on "viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1076".

Then I found this page:

"https://wiki.samygo.tv/index.php5/For_w ... s_Hacks%3F"

where there is written:

> Rooting over Hotel Mode is done via a typical design flaw:
> - Importing Files without checking the content of the imported Files.
>
> First Part: an exported Channel List is a ZIP archive. If you add a file or directory to it
> you will find them in the folder /mtd_rwarea after importing the Channel List.
> This is used to create the directory usb_mount on TV by adding it to a
> Channel List and import the modified list ...

So, what do you think if I add at the root of the ZIP archive ("channel_list_UE32C6600_1001.scm" in my case)
the two files "Version.0" and "Version.1", with the same contents of "version_info.txt" inside the
T-VALDEUC-3008.3 firmware image which I used to upgrade the TV ?

Or maybe, for the new T-VALDEUC-3008.3 firmware I could
try writing the following string inside "Version.0":

SWU_T-VALDEUC_003008_I04_ES000DS000KS000RS000_110413

while, for the old T-VALDEUC-1013.2 firmware, I could
try writing the following string inside "Version.1":

SWU_T-VALDEUC_001013_I04_ES000DS000KS000RS000_100528 (anyway, this string is only a
guess and I am not sure at all of the
"I04_ES000DS000KS000RS000" part: maybe you
can suggest me something about it ...)


and see what happens to the items "Current version" and "Alternative firmware" inside the
"Update firmware" page. If "Current version" shows the old one, then I can import again
the channel list with the contents of files "Version.0" and "Version.1" inverted ...

Do you think it can work ?

Can I brake anything if I do like this ?

Thank you again.
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beatfreak
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Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by beatfreak »

the problem for the root was that the files we imported this way werent executable (permissions) but as you only need the bare textfile it might work. About the string i wouldn't be so sure, but you could go with the one from the downgrading how-to from wiki "SWU_T-VALDEUC_001000_I04_ES000DS000KS000RS000_100205"

i'll check if it matters when the current Version.x file gets overwritten with another string and if it will be reset on boot

in general you want to create a backup of the files you are going to change
//UE40C6500 @ T-VALDEUC 3011 // rooted manual HotelMode style // PVR to NFS via 18MB on-the-fly sparse XFS //
FYI: you can close your ssh session with SamyGO with

Code: Select all

~.
If you can't fix it using dvct tape, you are not using enough dvct tape.
Loretto
Posts: 9
Joined: Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:45 pm

Re: Model Change Hack on UE32C6000RPXZT (Italy)

Post by Loretto »

> I'll check if it matters when the current Version.X file gets overwritten with another string and if it will be reset on boot.

Thank you. Let me know.

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