New Coolsat firmware.

[B.J.]

I check every day for new factory firmware for the Coolsat, and I just noticed that they FINALLY came out with a new version.

Version # 2525A (Big jump from 1444A..... must have had a LOT of unsucessful versions.)

Anyway, I'm torn right now about putting it in. I guess I'll wait until the next time my 8100 freezes up and annoys me. Right now, the darn thing is working fairly well. But I'll be interested in seeing what if any improvements they've made.

 

[Mr Tony]

From what I understand in the 8000 the most recent jumps did the following

-dropped the 31 sat limit
-Added Channel Quick Find

now that was the previous factory. I guess you could load it and if its bad, just go back to what you had. You would need the "clean" file which wipes out all software so you can go backwards but it works

 

[gremlin411]

hey Iceberg where do you find the "clean " file

 

[B.J.]

From what I understand in the 8000 the most recent jumps did the following

-dropped the 31 sat limit
-Added Channel Quick Find

now that was the previous factory. I guess you could load it and if its bad, just go back to what you had. You would need the "clean" file which wipes out all software so you can go backwards but it works

Yeah, re the 31 sat limit.... I hope that they improved that a bit compared to what I've seen in an obsolete hacker version I've tried, that have this improvement. What I've seen is that they had about 4 "user" sats, which you could use for sats like AMC21, which wasn't on their list, however there was no way to give this USER sat a longitude, so it would always be out of place, and couldn't be used with USALS (I think... I was using it with a fixed dish, so I didn't try). Anyway hope this version fixes that.

Re the "clean" file, I think I mentioned this in another thread recently, but that clean file doesn't seem to erase EVERYTHING. On 2 or 3 occasions, I have (1) deleted channels, (2) reset to factory conditions, (3) loaded the CLEAN file, and (4) loaded old factory firmware, then (5) loaded new firmware, and when I went to start loading channels, I found that channels were still in the receiver from before, even though I deleted them then cleared them.

I think the thing was that I was going between a versions with the 31 channel limit and versions without the 31 channel limit, and they must store channels differently enough that you might erase them in one version but they reappear in other versions.

But in any event, I was under the impression that the CLEAN file started a short program (it's only about 16 bytes long) that actually cleared out the memory, but if it is, it apparently doesn't clear out ALL of the memory. Either that, or the function of the CLEAN program depends upon (ie calls routines) the version of firmware loaded at the time. I recently ran into a problem where my 8100 started rebooting over and over without ever coming up. I loaded the CLEAN file, and factory bin, but it was still doing it, but I repeated this 2 or 3 times with different versions of firmware, and eventually got it to stop rebooting.

I'm also hoping that this new firmware will fix a very annoying problem I'm having, and that is that my 8100 no longer works on the 3 SR=4444 PBS transponders on AMC21. They break up very badly, even though other receivers attached to the Coolsat's passthru play them perfectly. I'm afraid though that this must be a hardware issue.

 

[Mr Tony]

hey Iceberg where do you find the "clean " file

clean file. Wipes out everything to allow you to go load older software in the receiver

 

[Mr Tony]

The clean file cleans out the software but not the channel list (if I remember right....its been a while)

 

[gremlin411]

Thanks you are a lifesaver ( cherry flavored ! ) LOL ...........

 

[Mr Tony]

no problemo

 

[brentb636]

I just loaded ver 2025A , over the top of ver 2021A, which I was previously using. Haven't seen a difference , so far, but of course, there must be an improvement. Maybe I'd find out if I restored default values. May try that ! [edit] Please remind me NOT TO EVER restore factory defaults. Here I am, re-scanning my whole arc because I'm back to nothing ! Every so often this is fun, since it takes a while, and I get to remember how to tweak in birds that aren't on the sat list.

 

[Comptech]

I noticed under add neww transponder there is a option for advanced 8psk. Any idea what that is? Also this so called factory firmware gives me the option when i hit favorited for d*sh or B3v package. And yes I ran the cleaner and did a factory reset and downloaded the new filw from coolsat USA site.

 

[brentb636]

I see the same thing. Obviously , the same coders are coding the factory firmware, as are coding the pirate code. First time I've seen "Echopack" in factory firmware, though.

 

[Pepper]

Wow, if that is available at coolsat's official site and contains such things as y'all are describing, sounds like evidence E* could use in their lawsuit.

 

[Mr Tony]

but the main difference between the hackware and the factory software is the area where you can steal. But the menus are the same (minus that area)

Heck the Visionsat software shows "Bell & Echostar" sorting on it....

 

[Tron]

Unfortunately, this demonstrates who the target market for these boxes is. I was thinking the same thing when the Visionsat factory firmware update with the Echo stuff (Dish and Bell renumbering) came out. But, as Iceberg noted, the factory software is completely LEGAL as it does not decrypt encrypted channels :up

The manufacturers may be hiring hackers to work on "clean" firmware. Another possibility is that the manufacturers are adopting the pirate code (just taking it, without hiring the hackers) to fix issues, but leaving out the decryption routines.

 

[B.J.]

....

The manufacturers may be hiring hackers to work on "clean" firmware. Another possibility is that the manufacturers are adopting the pirate code (just taking it, without hiring the hackers) to fix issues, but leaving out the decryption routines.

I don't think that there is any doubt the pirates are writing the firmware for the manufacturers, although I guess there is the question of whether they were employees first, and then did the pirate stuff on their own time, or if the pirates did their work on their own, and are selling it to the manufacturers.
But the factory firmware always seems to come out first on the hacker sites, long before ever showing up on the Coolsat site, and they come out using the same numbering system that the files have when they come out on Coolsat, and the files are identical.
There was an interesting thread on one of the now defunct hacker sites, which described a nasty argument between Coolsat and a couple pirate firmware writers. Perhaps that had something to do with why it's been so long since a new factory firmware version came out at Coolsat. There have been 2 or 3 new versions of "factory" firmware out on the hacker sites since the previous 1444A version that hit the Coolsat site back in September.
Anyway, for years, I have stayed away from those pirate sites, but once I got this Coolsat, it very quickly became obvious that in order to get this receiver to do what it's supposed to do, that we could NOT depend upon Coolsat alone, that we were dependent upon the hackers for correction of bugs, and by bugs, I'm talking serious deficiencies. My first 8100's PVR function didn't work at all with original firmware, and my second one rebooted continually, until I found a version of hacker firmware that fixed the problem, so basically without the hacker support, my 2 receivers wouldn't work at all.

 

[B.J.]

I noticed under add neww transponder there is a option for advanced 8psk. Any idea what that is? Also this so called factory firmware gives me the option when i hit favorited for d*sh or B3v package. And yes I ran the cleaner and did a factory reset and downloaded the new filw from coolsat USA site.

I haven't tried this new version yet, but I noticed something similar in a few of the intermediate firmware versions, only instead of saying "advanced 8PSK", I think it specifically referred to the dishnet "Turbo" version, so it seems clear that the pirates who are working for Coolsat are trying to get the 8000/8100 to work with the DN Turbo 8PSK. I'm not sure if I hope they succeed or not, because if they don't succeed, the prices for these receivers will continue to come down, but if they don't succeed, the pirates might just abandon the 8000/8100 and switch to some of those other receivers that work with the Turbo modules, which will leave the 8000/8100 without any hope of firmware improvements in the future.

I'm convinced that the only reason we have this 8000/8100 that does DVB-S2, is because the manufacturers thought that S2 would work on the DN 8PSK transponders. Now they know that it WON'T work, so unless they find a way to MAKE it work, we might not see many new DVB-S2 receivers available for FTA use, since there just isn't enough volume to make it worth their while to produce them if they can't sell them to the pirate community.

I'm just wondering if the fact that they're now referring to this as "Advanced 8PSK" might mean that in addition to Turbo 8PSK, that perhaps there might be a chance that they think it might also do Trellis 8PSK too??? That would be nice. But I don't think it's likely that it will ever do either, as I was under the impression that it was a hardware (tuner) issue.

Interesting.

 

[brentb636]

The turbo-8psk is also a tuner issue, so I don't think seriously that there is any chance that the 8000/8100 will ever receive turbo 8psk. I think the DVB-s2 compatility is related to the "EURO" imbedded in the factory bins. The Coolsats support the international standard for HD, rather than any American non-standards. I think they picked up those chipsets when the box was being designed, and stuck with them.
As to the coders, they are probably contract programmers who will be happy to play with anyone who will pay them.