Diablo - update error - technical info required

[Ghitulescu]

Hi everyone,

I hope this answer does not exists in this forum (I've searched for it) so I'll begin my story:

-I bought one Diablo CAM wireless off eBay (used item). It had an older version of Stealth on it.

-After several unsuccessful tries, I managed to update it to Stealth 2.46 and open PW and TPS.

-Time passed by and after returning from holidays, TPS wouldn't open. No problem I said, the movies repeated on and on so no worry.

-Last week I read that TPS fusioned with CanalSat and a change from 13 to 19.2 would be expected. Nevertheless, the channels on 13 are still 100% quality (I see though no image but I trust my Topfield),a lso the EPG works, so it might be the old channels are still in place.

Now I opened a can of worms. I tried to reprogram Diablo to Stealth 2.54. I own a CAS 2 interface (I have no idea if it's 2 or 2+ - any help appreciated) and I used CAS studio 8.3a. The same combination as the first time.

And I encountered the following problems (DIablo CAM wireless 2.2, CAS 2(+??), CAS 8.3a with date back):

1. The CAM does not format, messages like "Format error" or "CAM not responding" being issued seconds after the command.

2. Upgrading also stopped at 67% (Verify on) or 73% (Verify off).

3. Accessing CAM File system by clicking Connect almost everytime pushed CAS studio to format the CAM without any confirmation (like "Do you want to format the CAM? Yes/No"). Ironically, this appears to work (both pars of LEDs flashing alternatively for some time).

4. I changed the CAS studio to 8.4 and after dismissing the info (your card should be upgraded to 2.3 ;-) I repeated the procedure. Again in vain.

5. After I don't remember what combination of CAS 8.3a and 8.4, I managed to have 2.46 back on my system (100% with Verify On). I wanted to copy the system from CAM to PC to have a backup and guess what: CAS studio began again to format my CAM. So I spent another day reflashing the CAM till I got it programmed again (100%).

6. At this stage I didn't dare to put the CAM again in CAS 2, being afraid of a new formatting. So I would have to input the new keys by hand from now on. Now I have the CAM as it was, no TPS, but I can live with this.

I used to know some computer hardware quite in detail I would say so please consider the questions as they are! Please! They are serious! I searched the net and every forum, still no answers.

Now the questions:
-Why is CAS studio doing a Flash format then copying the files one by one? Isn't it redundant?
Bkgnd for the question: I noticed that the updating process runs like that: first writes the flash then copies the files. Which makes no sense to me: if you copy a dump file over a harddisk drive you won't need to copy the files again, since they are anyway copied in the first place. The CAM is quite similar to a HDD in its function.

-Why Stealth comes as DUP and not as a collection of files?
Bkgnd for the question: The ******* update stopped at TURKISH.XML. I don't use Turkish, I don't watch Turkish TV, but I want to have KEYS.BIN, EXTENDED.BIN and other essential system files. So having the files handy I could select myself what to put on CAM and what not. That this is possible, it is stated and confirmed by many internauts, that said replacing KEYS.BIN is enough to update the keys (and KEYS.BIN is copied in the middle of the process and has a variable length, so it cannot occupy a certain memory address).

-What EXACTLY the Backup function back ups?
Bkgnd for the question: In the manual it is said that DataFlash is saved - without any hint what does it contains. Will a previous saved backup restore the CAM as before (remember my story).

-There is no explanation for what the LEDs are signalling. NOWHERE in internet, NOWHERE in the RTFM (f***ing manual). Does anyone knows their role?
Bkgnd for the question: It might help dignosticising the problems. I noticed that during formatting both pairs of LEDs flash alternatively at different paces, during flashing only the yellow flashes, during copying the files yellow/red flash alternatively. It also seems that the red LED lights during decrypting encrypted frames (it lits just before having image on TV then from time to time).

-There are also 4 LEDs on CAS 2. The red one seems to be the Power on status. The last one seems to flash when data or commands are transmitted. What is their purpose?
Bkgnd for the question: Same as the previous question.

Thank you for your time and help.

PS: I hate companies that launch products on the market, target them to a certain segment with provocative slogans, but do not disclose the implementation details. Thanx God there are hackers!

[Mickha]

TPS upgraded their encryption and is currently not available.
With the Diablo 2.2 you can still open Premiere 19.2E, Polsat 13E, and Digi TV 1W, if you manually update the keys.
Go into the cams menu, Keys, List keys Edit, Nagravision 2, and select the relevant provider.
Key 86 = key 00 Key 96 = key 01.
Do you have the base station for the wireless cam?
Both the Stealth and Underworld .dup files are not accessable to alter prior to updating your cam, they are designed in this way by the makers, and with good reason as the underworld.dup files contains hidden information for other packages.
If someone could access and alter these files then they could write false, malicious, files.

[Ghitulescu]

Thank you, Mickha,

Originally Posted by Mickha

TPS upgraded their encryption and is currently not available..

I want to see RTL9. There are rumours that RTL9 is still encrypted in Viaccess 2.5 on another transponder, probably part of CanalSat, therefore openable with Diablo. Which goes to the next part of your reply.

Originally Posted by Mickha

Both the Stealth and Underworld .dup files are not accessable to alter prior to updating your cam, they are designed in this way by the makers, and with good reason as the underworld.dup files contains hidden information for other packages.
If someone could access and alter these files then they could write false, malicious, files.

I see your point. It's possible that somewhere might lurk in the dark an employee of TPS, PW, you name it, trying to fool people with false code snippets.

But not this was my question. Maybe I was wrong, I assumed that the special things are done somehow internally and the files in those 4 directories were mere configurations or keys.

Since my upgrade went wrong dozens of time while uploading these files, I wanted to have only those "loadable by hand :-)", not the other ones (the hidden ones). Maybe the CAM is deffective, don't know... but I have to live with it.

Coming back to Viaccess, I also wanted to have the possibility to edit the entries to add eg 0025 instead of I don't know which Turkish/Arabic/Chinese provider. I think it's possible, since the algorithm would be essentially the same.

And the second issue: would it be possible that Stealth/Underworld will work in the future with the newer generation (HW 2.3) ONLY?

[Mickha]

Underworld files work in all Diablo cams but you only get the conax channels with Diablo 2.3 cams.
You can make your own CAIDS files, or select other ones.
To selest a different CAID option go into the cams menu, configuration, and select a CAID folder.
You can make your own XML file, or edit one that is already in the cam.
Connect your cam to your Cas programmer and start up the Diablo Software.
Click on the Cam File System tab and Connect.
You can now explore the folders present and copy any files to your desktop.
Use Fausto to edit any CAID file or keys file.
You can update your keys.bin file this way as well.
RTL9 is supposed to be available if you update the v_tps.db 210708 to 230708 file using the Cam File System option, but this needs to be done regularly.

[Ghitulescu]

I've managed to get some automatic translations of some Russian fora, so I can tell that there are indeed incompatibilities between Diablo and CAS2. I've also encountered some 200 entries in Google concerning "No response from CAM" message (it actually says "Not response ....", most of them due to imperfect contacts between the the pins of CAS2 and the connector of Diablo.

Therefore I would like to ask again some questions, since no answer was given:
-Why is CAS studio doing a Flash format then copying the files one by one? Isn't it redundant?
Bkgnd for the question: I noticed that the updating process runs like that: first writes the flash then copies the files. Which makes no sense to me: if you copy a dump file over a harddisk drive you won't need to copy the files again, since these files are anyway copied in the first place. The CAM is quite similar to a HDD in its function. Or is it something else?

-What EXACTLY the Backup function back ups? Can I use the backup to restore back the CAM to its original function? Any restrictions?
Bkgnd for the question: In the manual it is said that DataFlash is saved - without any hint what does it contains (it seems that its size is always the same). Will a previous saved backup restore the CAM as before? There is a backup that runs across internet that pretends to be the original dump and that one might use it to revert the CAM before selling it (legal problems, yeah).

-There is no explanation for what the LEDs are signalling. NOWHERE in internet, NOWHERE in the RTFM (f***ing manual). Does anyone knows their role?
Bkgnd for the question: It might help dignosticising the problems. I noticed that during formatting both pairs of LEDs flash alternatively at different paces, during flashing only the yellow flashes, during copying the files yellow/red flash alternatively. It also seems that the red LED lights during decrypting encrypted frames (it lits just before having image on TV then from time to time).

-There are also 4 LEDs on CAS 2. The red one seems to be the Power on status. The last one seems to flash when data or commands are transmitted. What is their purpose?
Bkgnd for the question: Same as the previous question.

Thank you again for the time and willingness.

PS: It is not our job to write technical manuals for lazy (lousy ?) companies, but we have to solve our problems too.

[Mickha]

Both the cas programmer and the Diablo Cam are produced by the same company, Duolabs, so if you really want all their technical knowledge just ask and I'm sure they wont give it to you

The reason that you see the flash being written first is because this is the way that it always happens, with every Cam and card programmed, although with some you can leave the flash on it.

The backup option is just that a back up to try if everything else fails.

Yes it is known that the Cas 2 is almost redundant and every later CIS file works worse than the one before.
Duolabs even destroyed a lot of Cas 2 clone programmers with one release.
The only option you have is to use the earliest CIS version you can find, that will work with the Diablo Cam, and turn the date back on your computer, as Duolabs build in a redundancy feature on their files, which relates to the date on your computer.
You would be better off asking duolabs these questions but don't expect any satisfactory answers as their usual answers are if you don't like the way they run their company then don't buy their products.
Duolabs produce some very innovative products but they don't seem to test them fully before release but do tend to provide good software support.
Try browsing the duolabs site as you might find the old manuals for the Cas 2 that might answer a few of your questions.

[Ghitulescu]

Originally Posted by Mickha

Both the cas programmer and the Diablo Cam are produced by the same company, Duolabs, so if you really want all their technical knowledge just ask and I'm sure they wont give it to you.

That's exactly why I am asking the people with experience.

Originally Posted by Mickha

Duolabs produce some very innovative products but they don't seem to test them fully before release but do tend to provide good software support.

It's a general tendency nowadays to cut the costs and therefore to shift them to customers, I'm referring here to testing and quality control. It seems to be cost effective to replace some defective products than to keep hired a whole control dept and to sell only the good ones.


Actually this was the reason for these postings: to gather data, opinions, problems and their solutions. Anyone who ever tried to ask a technical question to any producer would almost always receive a "standard answer" (copy/paste from the manual). Two reasons:
1. the support staff are by any means connected to the development team
2. they are specifically instructed to use standard clauses (carefully created by attorneys) in order to avoid possible legal problems.
So it seems that once again we have to solve ourselves the problems they created "for us".

Before I post something I use Google to search the subject-matter, so I assume other people would do the same if they find the answer. With the notably exception of the Americans, there are few fora in Europe wherein the participants ask without a proper research. So answers like "See post #xyzw" are quite rare here.

The benefic effect of gathering only real problems consists simply in the reduced amount of redundant information someone needs to read in order to reach the solution. Let me explain: if 2000 people ask the same question: "I have a Diablo. Can I watch XYZ?" there would be more than 2000 hits in Google containing maybe 1500 answers, but only say 2 of them would contain the real information someone might look for (like "XYZ that used Vide**uard changed recently the algorithm and Diablo needs to be upgraded to x.yz"). Thus the googler would be overflood by irelevant info.

Sorry for this long post

[Mickha]

Most cam firmware is secret, this includes the Diablo and Dragon/T-Rex cam, they don't use open firmware like the linux boxes.
They are specifically designed so as not to be breached, for security, no malicious files, and for the manufacturers to maintain their monopoly.
Bot the T-Rex 4.6 and the Diablo 2.3 have had embedded coding to open extra channels, not available on general emulation, and the Diablo cam 2.3 still does with conax.
If anyone could gain full technical insight they could then reproduce the software and make it more widely available, thus hurting the sales of the Diablo cam.
The same goes with the Cas programmers, after duolabs spent time and money developing these adaptable programmers somebody cloned them, this being the Cas 2, and made money from duolabs invention and software support.
Duolabs then became nasty and released a file to knock out these clones, although afterwards they did offer an upgrade deal to owners of the clones.
Naturally they are not going to release the full technical details of their products, or software, but do have user guides and manuals.
There are some utilities, like Fausto for the Diablo Cam, and PredEdit for the Dragon Cam, that will allow you to modify files and update keys, but there is no way anyone can write a new Predator/Predasaur file or Stealth/Underworld file without the coding being released.