Sunstar ST-5000HD DVB-S2 HD HDMI receiver for $44 shipped

[carlospr43]

so, the openbox firmware works in this models??

 

[Bugsy1]

so, the openbox firmware works in this models??

not sure yet carlospr43 after i open the box up and read it with a jtag im going to try to clone it to an openbox

 

[KE4EST]

Doubt you will get openbox S9-S12 firmware to work being that it is a different chipset. Maybe openbox X3, Q3 firmware. Just thinking out loud though. Very curious to see your result.

 

[Bugsy1]

Doubt you will get openbox S9-S12 firmware to work being that it is a different chipset. Maybe openbox X3, Q3 firmware. Just thinking out loud though. Very curious to see your result.

so far the SilverMax PUMA HD and the Digital Satellite USB2 box use the same M3601SAllCode.abs as the ST-5000


after doing a simple compare in hexworkshop both abs codes about alike i need to break them down more to make sure but they look close enough to work i would say the remote codes are the difference and probably some clone kill bombs

 

[KE4EST]

I have always wondered if you could use the same code on different numbers that way, I just don't know enough about those chips.

 

[Bugsy1]

I have always wondered if you could use the same code on different numbers that way, I just don't know enough about those chips.

Im not sure about the ALI Chipset but I know with the STI chipset you could but thats for a whole different thread


Oh I just found this which gives us some extra hope in a clone of openbox

Openbox X3 HD PVR Released
Ali M3601S chipset,

 

[KE4EST]

Openbox X3 HD PVR Released
Ali M3601S chipset,

Yeah this is what I was talking about, the X3 uses the same chip-set as the receiver you have. Whereas the S-Series Openboxes(well most) used the 3602. In all fairness though several different brands use the M3601S, that don't mean they are trying to clone the openbox, but I know what you mean.

 

[Bugsy1]

Yeah this is what I was talking about, the X3 uses the same chip-set as the receiver you have. Whereas the S-Series Openboxes(well most) used the 3602. In all fairness though several different brands use the M3601S, that don't mean they are trying to clone the openbox, but I know what you mean.

they might not be trying to but maybe we can get some help modding the software to make it work more like the openbox so we have a little support on it im pretty sure it will work and all we would need is a remote code fix clone kill bombs removed and a checksum fix so probably could all be done in a script

After checking the chip differences on the ALI Tech website the M3601S and M3602 Chipset take you to the same spec page for

this chipset

M3329E DVB-S SOC
The ALi M3329E is a cost effective, single-chip solution for DVB-S set-top box (STB) applications. The M3329E integrated a QPSK demodulator, a high performance CPU, and a dedicated hardware block for TS stream demultiplexing, a TV encoder, a 2D graphic Engine, a flexible Scatter Gather DMA, a hardware accelerator for MPEG decoding and a dedicated display engine for STB playback.
Feature:

Embedded high performance CPU
Embedded BPSK/QPSK demodulator
Support parallel/serial transport stream input
DiSEqC Spec. 1.x and 2.x supported
DVB-CSA de-scrambler supported
DVB Common Interface
ISO7816 smart-card reader interface
16/32-bit DRAM interface
Support parallel/serial flash
ATA/ATAPI interface
USB host controller
Embedded 2D Graphic Engine
Support Interlace and Progressive scan output
Programmable DACs outputs provide the flexibility for different configurations
Build-in Audio DAC
Power save mode


Also other STB's with the same chipset's can do 2-45m bitrate so their might still be hope

 

[KE4EST]

Nice work and research!

 

[Bugsy1]

Nice work and research!

Thank you Im still working on it but thats what I have for now I want to get screen shots of every menu I can and how it does with and without modded code im also working on a code to add Diseqc 1.2 if i can figure it out last code I did was simple it was just removing clone kill from the pansat codes to run it on cheaper boxes

 

[LittleBob]

Well got mine today. Receiver is smaller than I expected,about the size of a openbox S10. Remote is also small and has clunky sounding buttons. Blind scan is fairly fast but it does miss some transponders. It does pick up news feeds that have a symbol rate below 4 . I was able to receive the CBS feeds on Galaxy 16 ku that are 3979 symbol rate. I did not pick up any transponders that had a lower rate than that. One really annoying think is it displays a Sunstar oceansat banner across all menus making them hard to read (see picture). This receiver could defiantly use a firmware upgrade. As it is now I am not impressed with it. My Openbox S9 is a much better unit.

 

[Mr Tony]

3979 is close enough to 4000 so that might be why

That banner on the back looks gaudy. Wonder if there is a way you can get rid of that yet keep the rest of the screen?

 

[LittleBob]

I did'nt see anything in the menus that might get rid of it unless I missed it

 

[Mr Tony]

Maybe there is a way to download something into it like you can the radio thing on the MicroHD...like this
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/291449-Want-a-Black-Screen-for-Radio-Mode-on-the-microHD

 

[LittleBob]

I may give that a try. I wonder if I would dare risk loading a S10 file?

 

[Bugsy1]

Maybe there is a way to download something into it like you can the radio thing on the MicroHD...like this
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/291449-Want-a-Black-Screen-for-Radio-Mode-on-the-microHD

Im sure we can change the image and the blue text on the info screen will make your eyes burn trying to read it I found some ALI tools that im going to try to work with and see if I can get a little better firmware for us I want to upgrade the diseqc switching from 1.0 to 1.2 fix the SR the M3601S can do from 1-45 in other stb's so I see no reason why this stb cant do that as well the ali universal fixer 1.4b only works for M3602 chips but im still searching for something that works with M3601

be very careful when attempting to mod this stb it has no jtag port and im not sure if the boot code would allow you to reflash if we corrupt the code

 

[Bugsy1]

I may give that a try. I wonder if I would dare risk loading a S10 file?

LittleBob the Openbox X3 Firmware would probably work on it where they have the same chipset

 

[Bugsy1]

ok guys with some help from members of other forums we have found a edit tool for M3601S firmware you can extract the bin boot image defaultdb and userdb with OpenBox S9,S10 Firmware Tool v0.5 by MST it will also fix the checksum im still playing with it but it extracted the code easily

 

[KE4EST]

Thanks for all the updates Bugs. Can you get some better pics of the guts that aren't blurry?

 

[xtgold]

the no rs232 is a handicap.
I believe the openbox series with the same processor-the firmware is encrypted.