Stuck changing ES8300 to UK tuner

[gball]

I've searched in vain for changing my E8300/ZF to a UK model, to pick up correct guide data. Having got so far by buying a serial TTL lead and setting up Exnet, I am flummoxed.

I think the UK model is a E8300M/XU (or is it E8300N/XE) I can change that in the factory settings.. But I can't get the "Local Set" or "Ch Table" to populate. I assume Region is "PANEURO" rather than "ED_DTV"?

I'm not even sure now if the right way to reload the setup is via "Factory Reset", or just exiting the menu and doing a normal setup. I once managed to get the country list to UK and Ireland - and got the channels picked up... but after powering off and on, it lost the county code... and then crashed - I had to do a EEPROM reset to bring it back to life.

Unit is BPH-E8300EUB-1017.0 I know the tuner is a SEC_TC rather than a SEC_T2 which means I cannot get HD TV, that's not a problem. But I cannot seem to get the country code to stick.

Alternatively, is there a way to set this from TDM? Help please!!

[gball]

Oh, and the serial log shows the following "[IsSupportHbbTV] HbbTV is NOT supported in current country: 73" if that helps!

[gball]

I've figured out a workaround - thought I would write up incase it helps others!

It seems the country choices are not driven by Region, or even model - but by tuner. Perhaps "Local Set" works as an override, but I still haven't been able to unlock this. Maybe that setting doesn't even exist for BD PVRs!

You can't get HD freeview (the tuner does not support DVB-T2) but at least the channel order is correct (BBC1 = 1, not 4Music)

Option 1:
1. Go into factory menu, change model to 8300M/XU (or equivalent - XU is the UK model) This automatically changes the tuner to "SEC_T2" (which is not the hardware installed - however don't change it back! Leave country as "PANEURO"
2. Do a factory reset from this menu
3. Follow the startup wizard, you should now see countries Ireland and UK only (rather than the continental European countries)
4. When it gets to auto-tune, skip this step. It won't work as the tuner is incorrect (you can see from the serial logs that the tuner keeps throwing up error messages)
5. Go into factory menu again, leave model and country alone - but change tuner back to SEC_TC (which is what the sticker on the demodulator shows)
6. Send Factory key twice to get out of factory menu, then power off and on again - this does not work unless you reboot the box. Not a factory reset, just a reboot
7. When the box is back up, go back and do a channel search.
The important thing here is never to select 'system/setup' or 'channel/country' as the UK option won't show and it will fail back to Austria or whatever the top of the list is.
The UK setting seems to have stuck through reboots, full power-cycles and auto retunes, so I hope it works even up to a firmware upgrade.

Option 2: Couldn't quite get working
1. Having looked at the logs while spending hours fiddling with setups, I figured out the country code for UK is 7
2. Under TDM TD Debug / SSConfig, there is an option to list country codes. For PanEuro, you get this list, which matches the number of entries in the dropdown. 73 = "other"
<PnP Country List> 24 25 13 4 8 15 16 9
14 17 18 38 3 21 73
<Digital Country List> 24 25 13 4 8 15 16 9
14 17 18 38 3 21 73
<Analog Country List>

3. Under Tuner debug, there is an option SetDigitalCountry which can be set to 7 Unfortunately this does not seem to solve the guide renumbering problem.

I'm not sure how to edit the country list. Perhaps the countries/tuners mapping is not even part of the NVRAM config, but a file. Anyway, let me know if this helps you!

[zoelechat]

Perhaps "Local Set" works as an override, but I still haven't been able to unlock this. Maybe that setting doesn't even exist for BD PVRs!

Did you try to unlock extended service menu? It normally allows then to change local set.
How to send FACTORY+3SPEED keys
Change region (Local Set) on F series

[gball]

I tried this using the ruCommunicator and via TDM ssKeyInputDebug, but could not get either working. I understood that the ES PVR works differently to the C/D/E TVs.

If you've done this on a PVR, could you let me know if
- You send 3SPEED + 3SPEED when you are already in the factory menu, or before you are in (i.e. do you do INFO+FACTORY then 3S3S, or just go straight into 3S. Or do you do 3S3S and then INFO+FACTORY?)
- Whether 3SPEED is actually key 60 for a PVR (like 59 is for FACTORY)

I don't know why ssKeyInputDebug wouldn't work to send any key to the device... though I couldn't find anything on SamyGo or on the internet about how to use it for 3SPEED.

The only method I haven't tried is soldering up the IR LEDs to send via a WAV file - but I did read somewhere that the WAV file codes were for TVs, and not for the PVRs...

Thanks for replying though!

[zoelechat]

I haven't tried this on PVR, just supposing it was similar to TVs
I think at least keycodes are the same (FACTORY=59, 3SPEED=60), no idea about WAV.
It's needed to send FACTORY+3SPEED (not 3S + 3S ) when you're already in service menu to unlock extended options.

[gball]

Oh great - I don't think I ever tried that combo whilst inside the service menu already. Will give it a shot tonight, using ssKeyInputDebug. I'm sure there is a way to write the country direct to the NVRAM (and TDM allows you to do thi), but I've no idea what location it is.

However given a full NVRAM recovery/reset (locking the data pin to Vcc while booting) doesn't change the region, so presumably there is some hardware-level setting that drives the country selection. Perhaps that is the tuner hardware, or maybe it's part of the flash firmware. Though it seems the firmware is common across countries/continents, so I now doubt that.

Learning a lot more about this than I had expected!

[zoelechat]

Though it seems the firmware is common across countries/continents, so I now doubt that.

Usually 1 continent=1 firmware, not cross compatible between them (at least without high risk of brick). Yours contains "EU" which means it's European one

[gball]

Sadly no joy! If I send 59 + 60, then the unit drops out of the menu and into "Aging" mode (just like pressing 59 on its own)

I did figure out a way to send multiple keystrokes - if you send KEY_TYPE_RC (0) then 59 it seems to lock the key down, but sending KEY_TYPE_AR and 0, 0, 0 seems to release the key.
DBG> : KEY_TYPE_RC 0/ KEY_TYPE_FP 1/ KEY_TYPE_AR 2/ KEY_TYPE_RELEASE 3: KEY Value:

So the following notepad file will send INFO + FACTORY (where <cr> actually translates to a return)
1 <cr> 0 <cr> 31 <cr> 1 <cr> 2 <cr> 0 <cr> 0 <cr> 0 <cr>
1 <cr> 0 <cr> 59 <cr> 1 <cr> 2 <cr> 0 <cr> 0 <cr> 0

But then FACTORY + 3SPEED just drops out of the menu and into aging mode.
1 <cr> 0 <cr> 59 <cr> 1 <cr> 2 <cr> 0 <cr> 0 <cr> 0 <cr>
1 <cr> 0 <cr> 60 <cr> 1 <cr> 2 <cr> 0 <cr> 0 <cr> 0

[mixol]

Hello.
I've got BD-E8500M (UK model). I use it in Poland - it works, when I choose Ireland in setup menu. I'd like to turn on HbbTV. I read on SamyGo forum, that in TV's it works, when you choose in "Local set" country code "EUR_GER". Is it possible to change it in UK model of BD player?
regards