Mass Media & Technology

What's this port on a Virgin remote?

JTAG? UART? (January 2017)

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EL
elmarko
Odd question, but:

http://imgur.com/GK9DCtv

That's a port on the back of my mother's V+ remote. Any ideas? Perhaps for programming a remote to a particular box post-manufacture? Or maybe JTAG or UART? Could maybe dump the firmware off it?
DO
dosxuk
While it could be anything (you'd have to dismantle the remote to get a better idea), a six pin header is a common microcontroller programming / debug port.
DA
davidhorman
They look more like jumpers than a port, which might serve the purpose of selecting different settings for... some reason I can't think of. That said I did find one quote-of-a-quote-of-a-quote that says it's for uploading different firmware for different manufacturers/providers.
NG
noggin Founding member
Suspect it is a JTAG or similar port for reflashing firmware. Chances are the remote is reasonably generic, and can be flashed with different remote codes for different territories, applications, or boxes. Lots of remote chipsets are quite generic.

Pretty certain my One4All remotes have similar connectors on them. Could well be a way of adding new TV codes (if the remote also can be programmed to control your TV) as time goes by during the manufacturing process, so the same design of remote can be shipped with newer codes over the months/years it is in manufacture.
RK
Rkolsen
Suspect it is a JTAG or similar port for reflashing firmware. Chances are the remote is reasonably generic, and can be flashed with different remote codes for different territories, applications, or boxes. Lots of remote chipsets are quite generic.

Pretty certain my One4All remotes have similar connectors on them. Could well be a way of adding new TV codes (if the remote also can be programmed to control your TV) as time goes by during the manufacturing process, so the same design of remote can be shipped with newer codes over the months/years it is in manufacture.


There's the same thing on my Comcast remote.
JO
Joe
(if the remote also can be programmed to control your TV)

Indeed this remote can be.
EL
elmarko
I googled so much and couldn't find anything specific on it. It did look more like jumpers at first but I thought it'd be odd to have those accessible like that.

Right. Maybe time to get the multimeter out and borrow a logic analyser. And learn how to use it...
DO
dosxuk
Before you start prodding the port, open the remote up and see what it's connected to. You'll probably then find a datasheet to tell you exactly how to use it.
NG
noggin Founding member
I googled so much and couldn't find anything specific on it. It did look more like jumpers at first but I thought it'd be odd to have those accessible like that.

Right. Maybe time to get the multimeter out and borrow a logic analyser. And learn how to use it...


As dosxuk says - sensible thing is to work out what the chip it is connected to inside is and then have a look around for a datasheet or others who have reverse engineered.

Logic analyser probably only useful if you have actual data being passed through the port (i.e. something plugged into it)
EL
elmarko
That is a good idea and one I always forget about.

I've got into firmware disassembly and information security lately so it's fun to investigate something different.
WH
Whataday Founding member
It's to upload programming codes for the latest television models so the remote can control the latest television sets without having to manually input the code for a specific TV model.

Sky remotes have them too.
EL
elmarko
Ahaaaa! Solved, thanks.

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