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Copying HD file from neighbour's Humax

I

inspiredron

Member
My Humax has custom firmware (Thanks for that) but it missed an important recording last week. My neighbour also has a Humax and DID capture the recording. Obviously I'm not able to install custom firmware on his machine. If I simply copy the HD file to a USB stick (or memory card in a USB card reader) can I decrypt it on my machine or on my PC) provided that I have noted the MAC address and serial number of his Humax. If that is possible then can you please give me ( or refer me to links) which will help an 81 year old who still has most of his marbles to do the job. From what I have seen by trawling through old threads there are multiple ways of skinning this cat and I'm very unsure where to start. What is clear is that I can only access the neighbour's Humax to make the copy. Anything after that needs to be on my Humax or my PC.
Thanks in advance.
 
inspiredron said:
My Humax has custom firmware (Thanks for that) but it missed an important recording last week. My neighbour also has a Humax and DID capture the recording. Obviously I'm not able to install custom firmware on his machine. If I simply copy the HD file to a USB stick (or memory card in a USB card reader) can I decrypt it on my machine or on my PC) provided that I have noted the MAC address and serial number of his Humax. If that is possible then can you please give me ( or refer me to links) which will help an 81 year old who still has most of his marbles to do the job. From what I have seen by trawling through old threads there are multiple ways of skinning this cat and I'm very unsure where to start. What is clear is that I can only access the neighbour's Humax to make the copy. Anything after that needs to be on my Humax or my PC.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
PS. Do I need to format the USB stick to NTFS rather than its FAT32? It's an hour program.
 
Yes (it is possible).
It's probably easiest, but definitely slowest, to decrypt it on the Humax, but you could you do it on your PC (assuming you mean Windows, rather than Linux).
You need to create a file called /mod/etc/keys and write a line containing the MAC address and the first 10 characters of the serial number, but with each of the latter's digits pre-pended with a 3.
e.g.
If the MAC address is dcd321010203 and the serial number starts 1234567890 then you would write:
dcd32101020331323334353637383930

Then you can do a software decrypt using the WebIf - select the option "Decrypt (direct, slower)" when queuing it. You MUST queue it because of the time it'll take.
Can you state your CF version and WebIf version?

If the file is too big for FAT32 then yes. But it probably won't be.
 
The first problem is that without the customised firmware all HD recordings have copy protection enabled and cannot be copied to a USB stick,
So you would either need to persuade him to install the CF and enable Auto-unprotect or to let you remove the hard disk
Had CF too long to remember non CF behaviour
 
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MymsMan said:
The first problem is that without the customised firmware all HD recordings have copy protection enabled and cannot be copied to a USB stick,
Click to expand...
Not true. It will copy, but not be decrypted.

inspiredron said:
PS. Do I need to format the USB stick to NTFS rather than its FAT32? It's an hour program.
Click to expand...
Probably not, and in any case NTFS will be of no use on your neighbour's HDR. FAT32 will accommodate files up to 4GB each, and current HiDef data rates are much less than that per hour. Be aware however that you will get no warning if the file has been truncated – just be suspicious if it turns out to be anywhere near 4GB in size. The alternative is to use Ext3 (not NTFS), and you can use the HDR to format it as Ext3.

Be prepared for the copy to take quite a long time, roughly 5 mins per GB.

Be aware also that there is a bug (or at least used to be) in the copy operation. For more information see Things Every... (click) section 12:
Black Hole said:
...There is a defect in the OPT+ copy operation, in that unless there is about twice as much free space on the destination drive than you expect to need, the large .ts recording file will be copied but not its small sidecar files (.hmt, .nts, .thm) that hold information about the position of bookmarks and the synopsis information...
Click to expand...
...and also (most importantly) the encryption status of the recording.

IMO the easiest way (in this situation) An alternative (to the method in Post 3) is to use the decrypt utility for Windows (click). That will only decrypt the .TS, and then you will need to patch up the .HMT file. You can do that on your HDR WebIF. A Windows machine won't read Ext3 however.
 
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The next best (IMO), which saves patching the .HMT, is to copy the recording as is (complete with sidecar files) onto your HDR (using the on-screen copy operation, the reverse of copying off your neighbour's HDR), and then:
  1. Ensure you have auto-unprotect installed;

  2. Use your neighbour's MAC and serial number to generate the encryption/decryption key as per footnote;

  3. WebIF >> Settings >> Advanced Settings >> Encryption Key >> Custom Encryption Key >> [enter key] >> Set;

  4. Reboot: WebIF >> Diagnostics >> Reboot System >> Restart the Humax now;

  5. WebIF >> Browse Media Files >> [browse to recording] >> Opt+ >> Decrypt;

  6. Delete the custom encryption key (set in step 3);

  7. Reboot.
Footnote:
Black Hole said:
How to compute the key (from https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Custom_Firmware_Package_Notes#Stripts): concatenate the 12 hex digits of the MAC, with 20 hex digits obtained from the S/N by converting the first 10 digits to hex ASCII. Presuming the S/N is purely numeric, this is not so difficult as it sounds because the decimal-to-hexASCII conversion is simply to prefix each digit with "3". Thus, for example: for MAC 00-03-78-bd-11-f3 and S/N 6371044960-1234, the first 12 hex digits of the key will be 000378bd11f3, and the subsequent 20 digits 36333731303434393630, so the whole key is 000378bd11f336333731303434393630.
Click to expand...

Update: I have reviewed the Windows option and now believe this post is the better route.
 
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prpr said:
Yes (it is possible).
It's probably easiest, but definitely slowest, to decrypt it on the Humax, but you could you do it on your PC (assuming you mean Windows, rather than Linux).
You need to create a file called /mod/etc/keys and write a line containing the MAC address and the first 10 characters of the serial number, but with each of the latter's digits pre-pended with a 3.
e.g.
If the MAC address is dcd321010203 and the serial number starts 1234567890 then you would write:
dcd32101020331323334353637383930

Then you can do a software decrypt using the WebIf - select the option "Decrypt (direct, slower)" when queuing it. You MUST queue it because of the time it'll take.
Can you state your CF version and WebIf version?

If the file is too big for FAT32 then yes. But it probably won't be.
Click to expand...
Custom firmware is 3.13, webif is 1.5.1-1
Haven't used webif for at least 2 or 3 years so when I connected I found a whole raft of notifications of various updates. (I have Auto-Update ON) I guess I can assume that I am fully up-to-date with the various packages of CFW. I noticed a stripts update in 2020 that referred to add decryption mode which sounds promising. Now v 1.4.6-1.
Glad to hear that FAT32 should be OK.
I presume that once I insert a stick into the USB port it will appear as a potential destination on the OPT+ menu?
Thanks for the very rapid responses to all. I will report back on progress.
Ron
 
inspiredron said:
I presume that once I insert a stick into the USB port it will appear as a potential destination on the OPT+ menu?
Click to expand...
You have to select "Move/Copy" and navigate to it, but yes.

I forgot to add my footnote re encryption keys – will add to the post above.
 
Has everyone forgotten the Windows offline decryption prog that ephil did four years or so back - here's the thread about it. Or am I missing something?
 
everthewatcher said:
Has everyone forgotten the Windows offline decryption prog that ephil did four years or so back - here's the thread about it. Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...
See post 5. I skimmed that thread and installation seems rather involved if you don't already have the Java runtime environment (not that I've tried it).

And I can't find that stripts has been compiled for Windows either.
 
I think my solution still wins for minimising 'faff'.
Black Hole said:
I can't find that stripts has been compiled for Windows either.
Click to expand...
It's not as simple as doing it for Linux.

The hassle of filesystems and file sizes is of course removed if the user were to format the USB stick as ext3. Obviously it depends a bit more on skill levels and familiarity with command line tools.
 
prpr said:
Can it? I never knew that.
Click to expand...
Sure. That's what you get if you format a drive from the Menu >> Settings >> System >> Data Storage options. Select the external drive in the Storage option, then Format Storage.

I guess I've been in this game longer than you, when we had to rely on the SUI for almost everything!

prpr said:
You missed out two reboot steps though
Click to expand...
Funnily enough I spotted that just now and edited them in.

@inspiredron there is yet another means, harking back to pre-CF, which avoids mucking around with encryption keys but would mean a return trip to your neighbour for the use of his machine (and multiple data copy delays): Foxy.
  1. Get a copy of the HiDef recording onto UPD. It won't be decrypted, but we're only interested in the .HMT file;

  2. Download and unzip Foxy to your PC: http://hummy.tv/forum/attachments/foxy-zip.1990/

  3. Drag the recording .hmt file onto foxy.exe (this removes the protection flag);

  4. Copy the recording from the UPD back onto the original HDR-FOX (this decrypts the recording now the protection has been removed);

  5. Copy the decrypted recording onto UPD.
The recording (now decrypted) will continue to play on the original HDR-FOX, and if copied to any other HDR-FOX.

Unfortunately the above will only work if the recording is no larger than 4GB (because only Fat32 is compatible with both an unmodified HDR and a Windows machine). In the event that Ext3 is necessary, we can instruct you how to do the equivalent of Foxy, but using the WebIF command line.
 
That all looks brilliant. Given my own fairly limited experience (and my age which has repercussions on remembering to do all the steps in the right order - shades of Andrew Preview and Eric Morecambe) plus the wish to not go back to my neighbour to complete the decrypt I am leaning towards the method of entering a temporary key within webif. It just seems simpler overall! Thanks again - I've formatted a suitable stick and hope that the file will be under 4Gb. I might find that I am surprised and he recorded in SD but that is unlikely since the default always seems to be to record from HD even when you have set up the timer from the SD channel. The man in the street will simply accept the default offered!
 
Black Hole said:
And I can't find that stripts has been compiled for Windows either.
Click to expand...
I have a compiled Windows version of stripts and use it whenever I want a decrypted file and can't be bothered to wait until the HDR does its auto processing in the wee small hours.
It works brilliantly.

It requires a copy of cygwin1.dll - just need to have that in the same folder as stripts.exe.
Both are available here: https://wiki.hummy.tv/wiki/Customised_Firmware_-_Features_Available , tucked away near the bottom of the page, but BEWARE .....

If I attempt to download it Bitdefender reports that stripts.exe is infected with "Cloud.Icebreaker.t8Y@dK51reaab".

Bitdefender has no issue with the copy on my pc so maybe the web copy has been corrupted in some way.
If it comes to it I'd be very happy to upload my copy or forward it to whoever can restore it. Its a valuable tool.
 
inspiredron said:
I am leaning towards the method of entering a temporary key within webif.
Click to expand...
I recommend you do not operate on your primary copy, just in case you get the parameters wrong (which would scramble the recording file beyond recovery). There are safeguards built into the WebIF, but nonetheless...

If you find it difficult, and presuming you have a fast Internet connection, I'm sure somebody can help you by uploading to a file sharing site (Dropbox, Google Drive, etc). Not me, not while I'm at home anyway (broadband too slow).
 
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everthewatcher said:
Has everyone forgotten the Windows offline decryption prog that ephil did four years or so back - here's the thread about it. Or am I missing something?
Click to expand...
Kind of you to mention it. But realistically the stripts solution is probably more in keeping with this branch of the forum. I haven't looked at the software for a number of years and have forgotten how it works. Use it at your own risk and expect support to be limited/slow!
 
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