Dissecting the Humax TV Portal

R

RickM

I've been poking around humaxtvportal.com and have found some interesting info out that may be of use at some point. I thought it may be an idea to document bits and bobs here so we can work out how everything works. My ultimate goal is a replacement. A new web-based frontend that will let you still access everything on the portal, but also let us add extra bits and bobs onto it.

Some early observations:
  • The copy you see running at humaxtvportal.com is not the copy being used on UK based boxes.
  • A subdomain, test.humaxtvportal.com contains a number of modules which seem to be under development.
  • You can roughly browse the portal on a PC/Mac using the arrow keys and enter. Some parts work with the mouse but not many. Tested with Safari 5, most functions work. Not tried any other browsers yet.
  • Runs on ASP.NET (edit: seems some parts do run on jsp however)
  • Completely web based. All the freeview/freesat boxes seem to do is load a URL.
  • Uses Jquery and JQuery UI!
  • Still not being developed by Humax - its maintained by mit-xperts.
  • It looks like the Humax boxes use Opera as the browser of choice - will have to install it to see if any functionality works.
Module Locations & Info
Below are the locations of some of the modules.

Sky Player
https://www.humaxtvportal.com/Apps/sky_player/0.8.17/preset/init/init.html

Poking around I was able to locate some XML manifests for skyplayer which expose the IP and paths to everything being offered. Interestingly its using the same service and configuration files as the xbox version of sky player.

I can confirm its still in active development. Everything recently became hidden behind SSL and I cant seem to get around that. All the config files were exposed a few days ago. Working on finding them again and will repost once I do.

ABC iView (Australia?)
Seems to be fully working - maybe its coming in the next update?
http://test.humaxtvportal.com/iView/
(Note you'll need to use arrow keys and enter to use this on the computer)

Application ID's
You can attempt to access hidden modules by doing this: http://test.humaxtvportal.com/Home/GoApplication/19
Where 19 is the module ID.
  • 1 = youtube
  • 2 = wikitv
  • 3 = Ticketmaster (germany)
  • 4 = ARD Mediathek HbbTv (NB: It downloads a file called mediathek which is just HTML)
  • 5 = ARTE+7 (again, downloads HTML)
  • 6 = JOY Flickr (blank page)
  • 7 = Humax Support
  • 8 = Internet Radio (NOTE: Takes you off to http://tvportal.humaxdigital.com:8094 - needs exploring! add /PortalService/ to view a VERY old looking TV Portal!)
  • 9 = iPlayer
  • 10 = Youtube (again)
  • 11 = Sky Player
  • 12 = HBBTV (Downloads HTML)
  • 13 = 404 on itv.mit-xperts.com - looks like its for ZDF Mediathek (Germany?)
  • 14 = maxdomeTV (Germany)
  • 15 = Software Update
  • 16 = ABC iView
  • 17 = N/A (redirects to home)
  • 18 = Picasa
  • 19 = ABC iView (again)
  • 20 = N/A (redirects to home)
  • end
As above, to access any of the above pages, go to http://test.humaxtvportal.com/Home/GoApplication/<ID>and replace '<ID>' with the corisponding number.

Each of these pages needs to be inspected. Each 'module' has its own set of directories to store images, javascript, xml config files, etc. If you use Safari or Chrome you'll find the developer Inspector to be very handy to poke around ;)
 
Sky Player may be protected with https authentication (requires a specific certificate). But I did find this: http://humaxtvportal.com/Apps/sky_player2/preset/init/init.html

http://humaxtvportal.com/Apps/sky_player2/preset/manifest.xml

List of pages in the skyplayer area (do http://humaxtvportal.com/Apps/sky_player2/presets...etc)
Code: 
var common = [
"../../preset/manifest.xml",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/images/1280_720/background.png",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/images/1280_720/preview_throbber.gif",
"../../preset/apps/controller/config.xml",
"../../preset/apps/zapper/config.xml",
"../../preset/apps/menu/sky/config.xml",
"../../preset/library/config.xml",
"../../preset/apps/error/config.xml",
"../../preset/logo/ant/config.xml",
"../../preset/lang/eng_gb/apps/zapper/config.xml",
"../../preset/lang/eng_gb/apps/menu/sky/config.xml",
"../../preset/lang/eng_gb/apps/error/config.xml",
"../../preset/lang/eng_gb/library/config.xml",
"../../preset/theme/sky/apps/menu/sky/config.xml",
"../../preset/theme/sky/apps/zapper/config.xml",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/config.xml",
"../../preset/apps/controller/controller.html",
"../../preset/library/js/tvlib.js",
"../../preset/library/js/utility.js",
"../../preset/library/js/application.js",
"../../preset/library/js/modulelist.js",
"../../preset/library/js/animation.js",
"../../preset/library/js/config.js",
"../../preset/library/js/event.js",
"../../preset/library/js/keyboard.js",
"../../preset/library/js/language.js",
"../../preset/library/js/theme.js",
"../../preset/library/js/theme_templates.js",
"../../preset/library/js/model_templates.js",
"../../preset/lang/eng_gb/library/lang.js",
"../../preset/apps/controller/js/controller.js",
"../../preset/apps/zapper/zapper.html",
"../../preset/lang/eng_gb/apps/zapper/lang.js",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/theme_1280_720.css",
"../../preset/theme/sky/apps/zapper/theme_1280_720.css",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/theme_1280_720.js",
"../../preset/theme/sky/apps/zapper/theme_1280_720.js",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/theme_1280_720.html",
"../../preset/theme/sky/apps/zapper/theme_1280_720.html",
"../../preset/apps/menu/sky/sky.html",
"../../preset/lang/eng_gb/apps/menu/sky/lang.js",
"../../preset/theme/sky/apps/menu/sky/theme_1280_720.css",
"../../preset/theme/sky/apps/menu/sky/theme_1280_720.js",
"../../preset/theme/sky/apps/menu/sky/theme_1280_720.html",
"../../preset/apps/error/error.html",
"../../preset/lang/eng_gb/apps/error/lang.js",
"../../preset/apps/error/js/skyerror.js",
"../../preset/apps/error/js/error.js",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/images/1280_720/sky_player_title.png",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/icons/1280_720/key_device_red.png",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/icons/1280_720/key_device_green.png",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/icons/1280_720/key_device_yellow.png",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/images/1280_720/warning_triangle_grey.png",
"../../preset/theme/sky/library/icons/1280_720/key_device_blue.png",
"http://iptv.sky.com/vod/page/applicationData.do.xml",
"http://iptv.sky.com/vod/page/applicationNavigation.do.xml",
"http://iptv.sky.com/vod/content/Home/Application_Navigation/Live_TV/content/tvListing.do.xml",
];

Looks like we also have a hidden sky iptv API: http://iptv.sky.com/vod/page/applicationData.do.xml

 
RickM said:
  • It looks like the Humax boxes use Opera as the browser of choice - will have to install it to see if any functionality works.
Click to expand...
Sounds most likely based on this I came across the other day.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/1939947/opera-sings-broadcoms-set-boxes

I believe we are using the BCM7405 chipset.

"Broadcom's DirectFB graphics porting layers to run smooth page animations and effects using 2D and 3D graphics engines."

Smooth page animations! could have fooled me - about 1 update every 5 seconds is what I'm getting ;)

Steve

PS good work with the investigations...
 
Found something VERY interesting.

In the latest update (telnet kindly installed for us all by af123) go to /var/lib/humax_backup/ and you'll find a directory titled 'skyplayer' It contains EVERYTHING that you cant see at http://humaxtvportal.com/Apps/sky_player (and sky_player2). Thanks Hummy :)

It looks like some of this javascript in it are exposing a possible API to the humaxtv package...not an expert when it comes to that side of things however may be worth a look! If we can get into the humaxtv API theres pretty much nothing you cant do to the TV side of things.
 
Hit the jackpot!

/usr/browser/

It contains sky_player, iplayer, the actual TV Portal loader & more. Theoretically it should be possible to build custom modules based on whats been provided. Not sure yet if you can modify the actual portal however.
 
RickM said:
Holy crap Humax are terrible. They left a Sky username/password in one of the development files :eek:
Click to expand...
cd that be somehting to do w/ the beta of skyplayer? iirc (I took it off my Hummy a few wks back) u didn't hav to log in to access skyplayer with the beta f.ware
 
Whats interesting here is that the portal seems to take just as long to load up onto my computer than it takes onto the humax box (all other web sites come up instantly - its not my connection!)

It also seems as if every time you press the portal button it loads up the opera browser - why can't they just leave it runnig in the background with no page displayed so it does not take so long to load...... If you display a page with a transparent background then it continues to display the TV picture befind it without any noticable difference
 
I've been poking around the files and found what seemed to be a settings file in the /usr/ folder, but i've not had any success as yet.
I'm trying to create a test environment first so I can test without wrecking the rest of my box or settings ;)
 
I've failed to make a test environment on my HDR box, but have managed to create one on my HD box using the bootHDRmode script by Drutt.

Turns out you can edit the /usr/browser/config-ocontroller-si-rootfs.txt file and amend the mom.hbbtv.portal: field to point to wherever you want.
This opens the door :)

Screenshot below uses the new twitter app available on humaxtvportal.com/twitter ;)
IMG_0218.JPG
 
Cool - looks like humaxtvportal.com/ also has an experimental Picasa app - looking forward to having a play with this :)

Also means should Humax give up supporting the porrtal in the future (still bitter ex-Digifusion owner!), we should be able to set up our own alternative.
 
I can't do multiple Likes!! That's looking very cool. Since I saw the unofficial portal (mainly with Picassa on there) I have been wondering when we'd see something change from Humax's end - but hey why wait for them. Can't wait to see this develop.
 
ChrisDaniels said:
Turns out you can edit the /usr/browser/config-ocontroller-si-rootfs.txt file and amend the mom.hbbtv.portal: field to point to wherever you want.
This opens the door :)
Click to expand...

Hello Chris, Is this info valid for the HDR? Your OP said it was on the HD but your recent post says it's on the HDR. Ta, Oijonesey
 
We'll see what happens! I'm learning as i go at the moment.

I should mention that although that pic shows a "Settings" button, there is nothing behind it at the moment. I need to look at what i'm going to do there, but I like the sound of updating packages from the TV ;).
 
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