Freeview box software upgrades.

I read a lot about software upgrades for various boxes (either set
tops or PVRs) happening over the air. How exactly does this happen?
Does each manufacturer get a timeslot to transmit their new firmware,
is there a special reserved channel? Does the box have to be on at the
time or can it be in standby? Also what happens if the upgrade goes
wrong and your box is bricked?

B2003

Have a look at
http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/download_schedule.pl
And you'll get the idea.

In a recent message, Boltar wrote ...
I read a lot about software upgrades for various boxes (either set
tops or PVRs) happening over the air. How exactly does this happen?
Does each manufacturer get a timeslot to transmit their new firmware,
is there a special reserved channel? Does the box have to be on at the
time or can it be in standby? Also what happens if the upgrade goes
wrong and your box is bricked?
--
David G4DMP
Leeds, England, UK
------

In message .com,
Boltar wrote

Does each manufacturer get a timeslot to transmit their new firmware,

Yes, but often for any one manufacturer it can happen very
infrequently.

Some manufacturers don't support all of their products once they are few
years old.

http://www.dtg.org.uk/retailer/download_schedule.pl

Some boxes can be upgraded via a serial port and firmware upgrades can
be obtained over the web.

Also what happens if the upgrade goes
wrong and your box is bricked?

Your box is bricked

--
Alan
news2006 {at} amac {dot} f2s {dot} com

Boltar wrote:

I read a lot about software upgrades for various boxes (either set
tops or PVRs) happening over the air. [...] Also what happens if
the upgrade goes wrong and your box is bricked?

If the box has a serial (RS232-C) port or a USB port it is likely that
it can be upgraded via that way, too. (So you might be able to unbrick
it yourself given that the manufacturer/importer has made upgrades
available on their web site.)

If not, you'll need to take it to the authorized service centre. There
is probably always _some_ sort of internal interface/connector for
reflashing it properly - JTAG, for example, or some other type of serial
interface.

Smart designs have permanent bootloaders that allow reflashing no matter
what, or keep the last known-good firmware version on the flash in case
the latest upgrade should fail the CRC check.

--
znark

Roughly - based on talking with the guys who arranged this for the
Toppy - the process is more or less like this:

1. Manufacturer creates a firmware that they decide they'd like to
have sent OTA to boxes.

2. Firmware is submitted to DTG for testing and approval - to make
sure it won't cause problems with other boxes, and some other sanity
checking. A fee is payable (not sure if it's specifically for the
testing, or for the first broadcast, but it's not free).

3. When firmware has been approved, a slot is allocated in the
schedule for the engineering channel, which is a hidden channel used
specifically for the purpose, and the firmware is broadcast in that
period.

(3a. I'm fairly sure the actual mechanism for the broadcast is as a
dsm-cc carousel)

4. What happens next depends on the box design - some always wake up
at a certain time to check for firmwares, and grab them automatically;
others check each time you turn on; some have to be told to check
manually. Box installs firmware, users all radiant and beaming with
happiness. Hopefully.

5. Firmware broadcasts can be repeated; my understanding is that at
least a certain number of repeats can be done without it costing more
- hence presumably the fact that some manufacturers still repeat
broadcast firmwares that have been sent out some time ago.

So, when you have a firmware ready, you can get it sent out and
repeated reasonably easily, and try to upgrade lots of kit in the
field. But it has to pass DTG checks first, and for each new firmware
you want to send out, it'll cost money.

How much, I don't know. But I daresay somewhere in the budget
departments of manufacturers, there are evil accounting dwarves who
decide whether or not there's any shareholder value in spending the
money to send out a new firmware, when they could just let their
customers stew free of charge.

On Oct 15, 12:05 pm, Nigel Whitfield wrote:
3. When firmware has been approved, a slot is allocated in the
schedule for the engineering channel, which is a hidden channel used
specifically for the purpose, and the firmware is broadcast in that
period.

Are there any boxes that will show this channel and whats being sent
on it with some hidden menu options/key presses?

(3a. I'm fairly sure the actual mechanism for the broadcast is as a
dsm-cc carousel)

A what?

B2003

On 15/10/2007 16:15, Boltar wrote:
On Oct 15, 12:05 pm, Nigel Whitfield wrote:

(3a. I'm fairly sure the actual mechanism for the broadcast is as a
dsm-cc carousel)

A what?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSM-CC