Experimenting with Sunstech X505 and Star
Cluster 3201 DivX DVD players
I have bought a very inexpensive Sunstech X505 for about
49Euros. I was looking for a Star Cluster 3201 that I have previously
bought and liked very much. The Sunstech I didn't quite like
as much at first for two reasons. Region Hacking the Star Cluster 3201
was easy. Go into Setup, Preferences, 1379, arrows up and down
to change region, Setup to end.
Although the menus are very similar on the X505, this procedure
did not work. I had to dig around a lot more to find the correct
way to hack the X505. Open
tray, Clear, 13690, close tray (and you see no indication of
what's going on), then Setup, 1379 and you see that the region
has been unlocked to 0.
Version
05.00.02.06
SUB-VER
54.05.00.06
8032
05.00.02.06
Servo
02.06.00.00
RISC
05.00.02.06
DSP
03.03.00.36
Region Code
0
I still like the Star Cluster better because it has a volume
control on the remote, and more variables to set about picture
quality, brightness, contrast, hue and so on.
Still, I am messing with the Sunstech. It is now sitting
here next to me opened and under surgery.
My main goal is to see if it is possible to replace the firmware
of the X505 with something a little more versitile, just like
the 3201.
The X505 is built around an MT1389E and the firmware is stored
on a Atmel 49LV8192A (1Mbyte).
On the far right side there is a connector for interaction with
the firmware loader that works even when the player seems dead.
Using a cellular phone cable that incorporates an interface to
convert RS232 levels (+-12V) to LowPower TTL (3v3-0), I connected
the Player to my PC.
Most of this is also written here http://personal.inet.fi/koti/mabreaker/mabreaker/mediatek/programs/index.html I have loaded the latest firmware, and as a result of that
this is the version as on the TV Screen
Version
53.00.00.01
SUB-VER
00.00.00.07
8032
05.00.04.00
Servo
02.12.10.00
RISC
05.00.04.06
DSP
03.03.01.94
Region Code
0
I don't see a lot of improvement, but at least it seems I have
changed it to a newer release, and hopefully that might bring
some benefit.
I have also tried to load the firmware of the StarCluster
3201 on this player, but even the file size is too big for this
Flash Chip, and so it is just impossible.
What I can confirm is that even when the player seems totally
dead (after loading half of the 3201 firmware on the X505 it
looked really dead), you can revert to your previous backup,
and the player comes back to life.
As a personal tip, keep your cell phones away (and I mean
really away, like another room) from your serial cable when you
do this. If the cable is not well shielded (and cheap cables
aren't), the emissions from the cell phone (even when it's not
in use, but just logging into the network) can disrupt communication.