Foxy - An HD recording backup utility for the HDR-Fox T2 now released !

[raydon]

Want to play HD video from the HDR-Fox-T2 on your PC ?
Well now you can, with Foxy, the first utility to enable in the clear HiDef backups from the HDR-Fox-T2.



Firstly can I state quite categorically that Foxy does not decrypt HD video from the T2.
However, what it does do is enable the T2 to do this for you.
It does this by modifying the recordings hmt file, so that the HD recording is treated in the exactly the same way as an SD recording, when copied to a USB drive.
Foxy does not require any changes to be made to your T2 firmware.
Operation is as simple as dragging and dropping the hmt file into Foxy's window and it's done in a flash.
Literally, it only takes a fraction of a second and Foxy will then flash its window to denote success.

There are two methods for using Foxy, depending on whether you have your T2 connected to a network.

With a network connection

(a) Using FTP, copy the hmt file from the HD recording onto your PC.
(b) Start Foxy then drag and drop the hmt file into Foxy's window. Alternatively, you can browse for it.
Foxy's window will then flash to denote success.
(c) Copy the hmt file back to the T2, overwriting the original.
(d) On the T2, open Media, and browse to your HD video. (note that the 'Enc' icon is no longer displayed).
(e) Copy the HD video to USB. The resulting copy will be in the clear.
You can then copy it back to the T2 and it will remain in the clear, same as an SD recording.

Without a nework connection

(a) On the T2, open Media, browse to your HD video, and copy it to your USB drive.
(b) Connect the USB drive to your PC then follow step (b) as above.
(c) Connect the USB drive to the T2, browse to the USB drive using Media browser, then copy the recording back to the T2.
You can overwite the original or copy it to a different location.
The recording on the T2 will now be in the clear.
(d) Finally you need to do one last copy from the T2 back to USB.

As you can see, the decryption works in both directions so if you have earlier backups of encrypted HD recordings you can process the hmt file in the same way, before copying the recording back to the T2.

Foxy is a .NET application and a prerequisite is that Microsoft .Net framework 3.5 runtimes are installed.
These are available as a download for Windows XP and are an integral part of Windows 7
I have tested it on Windows XP SP3,Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit.
I have also successfully ran it under mono on Mac OSX Snow Leopard, and Debian Linux.

You can get your copy of Foxy by downloading the zip archive attached below.

enjoy !

raydon

Note: For those pioneers who are using af123's custom firmware for the T2.
I have passed the relevant information on to him, and I'm confident he can very quickly implement this function 'on the box'

 

[Dan]

This is great news. Thank you.

 

[af123]

Note: For those pioneers who are using af123's custom firmware for the T2.
I have passed the relevant information on to him, and I'm confident he can very quickly implement this function 'on the box'

Funny you should say that, see this post over on the HDF thread.

 

[suarez]

Nice one Raydon! Instant fulfillment of my request!

 

[staceydsf]

Will this work with the foxsat HDR?

 

[raydon]

Will this work with the foxsat HDR?

Unfortunately no.
This utility exploits the fact that all recordings on the T2 hard disk are encrypted, and that SD recordings are subsequently decrypted on the fly by the T2 when copying to USB. The Foxsat HDR only encrypts the HD recordings, so there is no need for any decryption of SD content when copying to USB.

 

[staceydsf]

Oh well, digital switch over comes in July, time to start saving the pennies again...

 

[Wallace]

Thank you for this, much appreciated.

 

[ejstubbs]

Want to play HD video from the HDR-Fox-T2 on your PC ?
Well now you can, with Foxy, a utility to enable in the clear HD backups from the HDR-Fox-T2 to PC.

Sweet! Many thanks for the effort you've put in to this, I shall definitely try it out.

Foxy is a .NET application and a prerequisite is that Microsoft .Net framework 3.5 runtimes are installed.
These are available as a download for Windows XP and are an integral part of Windows 7
I have tested it on Windows XP SP3,Windows 7 Ultimate 32 bit.

Cheeky question: any chance of versions for other platforms, like af123 did with humidify?

I have also successfully ran it under mono on Mac OSX Snow Leopard, and Debian Linux.

I'm not familiar with mono, can you provide some pointers?

UPDATE: Aha, I've now located the mono web site. So can I just run the exe using the mono runtime ie simply type "mono foxy.exe" in terminal once I've run the mono installer?

 

[raydon]

Aha, I've now located the mono web site. So can I just run the exe using the mono runtime ie simply type "mono foxy.exe" in terminal once I've run the mono installer?

Yes, "mono Foxy.exe" should do the trick.

 

[suarez]

Unfortunately no.
This utility exploits the fact that all recordings on the T2 hard disk are encrypted, and that SD recordings are subsequently decrypted on the fly by the T2 when copying to USB. The Foxsat HDR only encrypts the HD recordings, so there is no need for any decryption of SD content when copying to USB.

Is there a possibility of getting the encryption key by analysing the encrypted HD recording against the buffer which is not? Or having a look around in the FOXSAT-HDR ROM to find the encryption key which is unique for each box?

 

[ejstubbs]

Yes, "mono Foxy.exe" should do the trick.

Excellent, I shall give that a try. Thanks again for your work on this!

 

[cirens]

Thanks raydon this is hugely appreciated.
I can't quite get the transport streem file to play properly though!
In Windows Media Player on Windows 7 the picture plays fine but there is no sound. Presumably I'm missing an audio codec?
The ts file does not play back either picture or sound on my Sony BDV-E37o either (this plays most files types).

I used to transefer the ts file from my Hummy PVR9200T to my PC and then demux with Project X (editing adverts etc as I went) to mpv and mpa files and then use DVDLab Pro to crated a menu'd DVD. Obviously these were SD ts files and I was hoping to do similar with HD (though am happy with raw files without menus ).

Can anyone answer
1) Why no sound on PC?
2) What are the native file formats contained within the ts file (mp4 and aac?)
3) Is there a good (pref free) ts editor for HD files?

Thanks in advance if anyone can help.
Apologies if answers are already on another thread that I've missed.

 

[raydon]

1) Why no sound on PC?

Windows 7 AAC codec does not like this particular flavour of AAC. Play the video using VLC.

2) What are the native file formats contained within the ts file (mp4 and aac?)

H264 video AAC audio

3) Is there a good (pref free) ts editor for HD files?

VideoRedo TV Suite H264 is excellent but is commercial software, free trial period.

 

[crankcaller]

This is incredible. Thanks very much.
Can't wait till next month till I get HD!

 

[Ezra Pound]

Thanks for this excellent utility, I have successfully played HD files that were decrypted using Foxy on a P.C. running VLC ver. 1.0.5 but I would prefer to use Media Player Classic HC ver. 1.5.0.2827 , Does anyone know which codec pack works with MPC-HC and these decrypted files?

 

[Kevin]

Superb, thank you. So simple to use, and has prompted me to try Filezilla for FTP, another great complement to the HDRFox.

For anyone else setting up Filezilla, note you need to go into settings on the Hummy to set a Manual IP address, to use as Host Name, otherwise it changes each time you switch on. Choose a high number so not likely to get a clash with ones assigned automatically. Probably obvious to everybody else? Kept me pondering for a while!

Also I have downloaded the latest VideoRedo to edit out adverts - something I've been longing to do. All good, although editing HD does start to show the age of my PC!

Only problem I cannot sort is playback over my network, 3/4 of my edited film plays great, then it stops as though it's reached the end. Always at the same point, not at an edit. I've FTP'd the edited file back to the Hummy and it plays through fine. It's as though there's a bytes limit on streaming over the network! I've been watching SD films streamed from the PC without problem since I had the HDRFox.

 

[Ezra Pound]

I have put together a simple guide to Foxy here, Note it is possible to FTP directly from Internet Explorer or Windows (File) Explorer without having to setup an FTP server.

1) on Humax turn on FTP e.g. Menu >> Settings >> System >> internet settings >> FTP server = on
2) on a networked P.C. open Internet Explorer and enter address ftp://humaxftp:0000@10.0.0.200 (Enter Humax IP in place of 10.0.0.200)
3) drill down to *.hmt e.g. My Video >> *.hmt >> edit >> copy
4) Paste *.hmt file to a P.C. tmp directory
5) drag file into Foxy.exe window (foxy will write a new *.hmt back to P.C. tmp directory)
6) copy new file from P.C. tmp directory and paste into the Internet explorer window ... Job Done

Now check the Humax Media and you will find the program you have worked on (Family Guy 1) will have no ENC flag while family Guy 2 still has it's ENC

Please Note that removing the 'ENC' flag forces the HDR to treat the file the same as if it was an SD file, However both SD and HD files remain encrypted while they are on the main internal Hard disk, A copy to USB using OPT+ on the remote control is required to decrypt the files, They can then be FTP'ed to a P.C. directly from the USB (usually labelled as Drive1) e.g. ftp://10.0.0.200/drive1

 

[raydon]

Thanks for the guide Ezra, and if you are using af123's custom firmware it's even easier than this.
On the T2 itself there are utilities to batch convert, or even automate the process completely. Alternatively, from your PC just open the Samba share \\HDR-Fox-T2\Media , browse to the Video folder, then just drag and drop your .hmt files into Foxy's window. No need to copy them to the PC and back again.

 

[Kev_w]

Alternatively, from your PC just open the Samba share \\HDR-Fox-T2\Media , browse to the Video folder, then just drag and drop your .hmt files into Foxy's window. No need to copy them to the PC and back again.

This is how i've been doing it - works like a charm!