videostorm
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Posts posted by videostorm
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Sleep is 0xc 0x0034 which translates to 2000052 in QHIDCODE (conversion detail in the protocol manual, but mainly just hex to dec conversion)
Technically it is Android KEYCODE_POWER in the table. The Android key code column lists how each HID key is used (or ignored) by Android.
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19 hours ago, Eric Stiff said:
Tagging @videostorm since this involves their great little IrUSB device.
My Google Fu is failing me and I cannot find a reference source for all the QHIDCODE commands for Android TV devices, specifically the nVidia Shield. I had a reference for them 4 years ago but have since lost it. Could anyone point me in the correct direction please?
Thank you,
Eric
Hi Eric,
The QHIDCODEs are built into our C4 driver (to respond to navigator commands etc). Are you looking for a specific code that isn't available via navigator?
Our protocol for the QHIDCODE mapping is at: https://www.video-storm.com/manuals/IrUSB_protocol.pdf
The Android reference for the base HID codes is: https://source.android.com/docs/core/interaction/input/keyboard-devices#hid-keyboard-and-keypad-page-0x07
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7 hours ago, eggzlot said:
I use the CMX to do doorbell announcements. Unless I never found out how - there is no ducking. Audio pauses, doorbell plays, audio stream resumes. You don’t hear the doorbell over the audio stream
This is correct. The announcement feature ramps down the currently selected audio (to zero), then switches to the network audio to play the announcement (wav file), then switches back to original audio and ramps it back to original volume.
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10 hours ago, Shoe said:
Thanks. This is a good tip. I had sort of considered them a good buy configured for 1080P.
I saw a bunch of CVE's on Uray gear so I was a little weary of that brand... but to my inexperienced eye some of these look like they are all from the same manufacturer. Perhaps the majority of the firmware is based on the same few packages and they all have the same vulnerabilities.
All the 3rd party encoders we have tested are using older versions of embedded Linux which are not updated for security. No malware or anything like that, but they definitely shouldn't be considered a secure device that you can expose through a firewall. No reason to do that anyway, so no real issue in most applications.
Basically they are not tamperproof to an attacker who is already on your network. However, lots of other smart home gear is the same in that regard.
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1 hour ago, Shoe said:
Like so-so or it's seems like a good 4k picture?
Thanks for chiming in there. Yes, I know for tiling in portrait I don't need more than 1080P, but if I'm buying 3 or 4 of them I was thinking of getting a 4k one for the same reason as @eggzlot. I mean if I'm going all in on Netplay I might was well be able to do 4k and full screen on the other 8 TV's if I wanted. Just wondering about the quality. If it's just so-so and not much better than 1080P then I wont bother. Not a great deal of reviews on this kind of item. I'd prefer a 4 channel rack mount or I've seen some 8 channel 4k 30fps rack mount units for 700, but who knows if they suck or not. Some of your encoder links and other links are broken on your website so I'm doing the best I can to search about for options.
The KunuoMagic 4K is the best encoder currently available. When running 4K60 h265 at 25Mbps the PQ is very good. Shineco also has a 4K60 2.2 one but it still has a couple bugs. Can't recommend it yet. PQ and price are pretty much the same anyway. Setup is faster on Shineco, but that is a one time thing.
If you have a huge TV or like to sit / stand very close the difference is meaningful. Otherwise, the 1080p ones are inexpensive and a great choice.
The 4Kp30 1.4 encoders are only good if you know your source will output 4K with hdcp 1.4. Most won't.
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10 hours ago, Shoe said:
@eggzlot did you end up with a KunuoMagic encoder? I'm looking at them to solve a need to tile on a portrait TV. I'd like to get something more current than many of the encoders, but only if it makes sense.
For tiled sources you only need a 1080p encoder. 4K streams are only used for full screen display. Subpictures use the lower resolution streams from the encoders to optimize performance. For example, video on a 4K display in portrait mode is natively 1920x1080 horizontally, with up to 4 of them stacked (some cropping/scaling in the case of 4).
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TV audio (tv speakers) can be selected from any of the tiled sources (via gui or C4). If you are using CMXA2 centralized audio, you would likely just switch that way instead.
You can use Lumi TV as a NetPlay decoder (instead of VRX042). VRX042 is a better choice for large installations (faster setup, managed via NVMM, etc). For just one or a few TVs, Lumi TV is a good way to save some $$.
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10 minutes ago, Shoe said:
@videostorm Do you have an experience in supporting a The Frame TV in portrait mode and showing 3 16:9 sources stacked on the screen? If I wanted to do that on one tv what's required? Does splashtiles do that or do I need Netplay etc? I like what's happening with the splashtiles and had wanted to do a Dakboard like situation. I'm keen on getting a tiling solution for video and security cameras.
Thanks for your time.
Assuming you are looking for live (hdmi) video, then NetPlay is the way to go. If only video files & cameras, then Splashtiles will work. NetPlay can also display SplashTiles content so it is basically a superset.
For NetPlay, you will need to use a decoder capable of portrait mode. Our VRX042 supports portrait mode properly. A minimum system would be:
- NetPlay Manager
- 1 VRX042
- 1 or more encoders depending on how many HDMI sources you need
In portrait mode, you can show 3 video sources stacked. You can even mix with other content if you like. Our layouts are fully configurable.
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Our Lumi TV devices will work for this. Professional Android based digital signage players. Can be controlled in C4 using our free driver. Direct command to play any file loaded on internal flash or USB stick (or URL etc).
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Just released: IRUSB version 2
Our popular IRUSB devices have been upgraded!
We have replaced the IR RX sensor (which no one was using) with a PIR (passive infrared) motion sensor. This new sensor is fully integrated in our C4 driver for configuration, motion state, and motion triggers.
How can you use this?
- Hands free switch: Configure the sensor for very short range (~2ft) and set to toggle mode. Wave your hand near the sensor to "toggle" the switch -> which can be tied to anything in C4
- Short range live object motion sensing: Configure the sensor for max range (~10ft). Acts like a standard thermal motion sensor.
IRUSBv2 motion sensing can also be used WITHOUT an attached Android device. It can issue USB HID and / or IR TX commands (from flash memory) directly in response to motion events. This allows you to plug it into the USB port of generally any device and use the motion trigger to turn it ON / OFF (or other keyboard/hid commands). For IR control, just use a USB power supply for IRUSB and position IRUSB over the IR eye of the device to control. The motion event can fire saved IR codes to turn the device ON/OFF.
Of course, the new version still provides FAST IP control of Android devices. Nothing has changed here, the same drivers work. IP GUI control + IR TX extension + PIR motion sensing
IRUSBv2 is the same price as the prior version. All IRUSB orders will ship the new version starting now!
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24" FireTV
in TVs
41 minutes ago, Neo1738 said:Just checking back for FireTV as the OS of a TV the best solution we have found is IRUSB? I'm looking for only on/off ability. I could get by with an outlet that turns off to turn the tv off (not ideal) and a way to turn it on. Got one to use as a digital poster for outside the theater. Was a good deal on prime day.
For FireTVs it is actually turn on / go to standby (screen blank).
IRUSB will work. We also have Splashtiles (splash-tiles.com) which is probably the best option for you. It is digital signage software, so it can handle your posters. It also has a (free) C4 driver which can perform the turn on / go to standby function for you. Plus it is either FREE or very low cost depending on your use case.
You can download the app on the Amazon store (https://www.amazon.com/SplashTiles-customized-digital-signage-including/dp/B07N4HNBZG/) and setup your account at https://splash-tiles.com
Our C4 driver is at https://video-storm.com/Downloads/driver support.htm (NetPlay cloud driver)
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20 minutes ago, eggzlot said:
I am only using a VRX020 as the manager of the system, all end points are either Sony TVs or AFT/Shields.
I won't use Shineco products, I have one of their other models and its awful. I need to have it set to reboot 2x a week and the picture quality leaves something to be desired. My installer had some Shineco products too and he wasn't thrilled with them. That is why I hestiate on Kunuomagic and I was leaning towards Uray
I will email you regardless - thanks!
Ok, in this case setup the Kunuomagic for h265 at 38Mbps (main stream). It will look very good.
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4 minutes ago, eggzlot said:
I finally need to move, my VTX (10 years old not complaining) just needs constant reboots.
Any major diff between URay or Kunuomagic and H264 vs H265. Both have 4 channel models with 1.4 (2 at 4k, 2 at 1080p) and both have a H264 or a H264&265 model and prices are close. Any recommendation on brand and feature w the 264 vs 265 for use in Netplay?
Use either the Kunuomagic or the new Shineco 4kp60, both are HDCP 2.2 and support both h264 and h265. Email us for the purchase contacts on these.
In setup, use h265 unless you still have VRX020/10s in the system. If so, use h264.
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52 minutes ago, tmj4 said:
@videostorm taking a look at the estimator and the encoding devices needed. I'm not seeing any devices that make mention (but they may support) of HDR, Dolby Vision, Atmos, DTS:X. Does your system support that?
HDR is supported on the 4K models (both encoders and decoders). On the audio side, live HDMI is general distributed (in NetPay) as downmixed PCM stereo for optimized playback on TV speakers. Centralized audio is handled differently (direct connections through audio matrix) and handles the multichannel audio for you. If you are going the centralized audio route, our engineers can help you design the system. As Cyknight said, it is more complicated but there are options.
I usually recommend people always use direct connected sources in their main viewing area. This gives you support for all the latest video & audio formats without any compromises on the largest screen in the best room where you might actually be able to see / hear a difference. NetPlay can be used to provide sources to every other display in the home for synchronized "game day" modes or just general convenience of use. NetPlay is an easy to install and affordable way to do this. It is also a very clean solution in C4.
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Our NetPlay is another option that is often lower cost and can use existing wiring and simple networks (if that is a concern for some zones). It is fully integrated in C4 (free drivers) and includes dynamic multiview, PIP, and even graphical overlays at ZERO additional cost (at every TV).
The video is h264 or h265 encoded, which is the same codecs used to encode the source video material. Very high quality and reasonable bit rates that don't need specialized networks.
There are a lot of upsides to NetPlay, but the only downsides are the end to end latency is higher (200ms to 700ms depending on the source, always a fixed and synced value) and our switching speed is 1 second or less. Most competing AV over IP uses non temporal encoding which can have lower latency and faster switching speed (at the cost of much higher bit rates, more complex networking, and in some cases lower quality). Our phone support can always help if you have questions about the tradeoffs.
NetPlay residential estimator: https://video-storm.com/residential.php
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18 hours ago, Cyknight said:
I'd be curious to know if some of the 'branded' ones were found to have the potential malware indicators, such as ONN, Xiaomi, MxQ and Pendoo.
Of course most of the 'generic' android boxes are bought solely for, well lets call it 'grey' purposes to begin with: when you buy a device to get hacked movies and streaming services, you really shouldn't be surprised that they aren't safe.
But agreed, if you want a cheap android based streaming box, just get a fireTV or googletv, and if you want a good one get a shield. If you're looking for a commercial solution, get a commercial solution.
Yes, our tests included most of lesser known "brands" that you can purchase at Walmart and the like. They also contacted a lot of yellow level risk sites (suspected malware), and a few hit red sites (known malware). This is why we recommend you only use Google TV, NVidia Shield, or Fire OS for residential installs.
It is possible that some of the other brands aren't intentionally doing anything nefarious, but the lack of transparency on their traffic means you can't be sure. Plus the most likely answer is they have no idea themselves, they are using lots of software built by whoever provides it cheap (and may have other motives for doing so).
"grey" purpose devices should be as walled off as possible. Would be a good idea to give the list of potential consequences (original post) to customers who want to use them. Most people don't realize what can happen until after it already has.
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9 minutes ago, msgreenf said:
And the lack of Google play services and store don't make it a replacement for most use cases
True, Lumi TV is mostly for commercial applications (signage, business apps, etc). These applications require data security, network security, and anti tamper tech.
For residential applications, you should be using either Google TV, NVidia Shield, or Fire OS products. All the popular streaming services basically require that you allow them to snoop on your data. This makes them unfit for commercial applications, but is the trade off residential customers must accept. These brands do keep actual malware off their devices as shipped and make a reasonable effort to police their stores. Not perfect, but way better than using known malignant devices.
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4 hours ago, msgreenf said:
IDK how you gurantee Malware free unless you take it off the internet.... Can you gurantee the OS is clean, yes...but there are a lot of other ways to get malware on a box....
As shipped from our warehouse, it is Malware free. Our OS is build by our in house engineering from the AOSP sources (with our own optimizations tailored to this market). There is no other software installed on the device other than the minimum we explicitly added. They are all build from source by us.
No Play store, no Google play framework, etc. Nothing that collects information or connects to internet servers.
Lumi TV will connect only to our server (lumi-tv.com) to load the device profile for device setup and to install any apps you (the customer) explicitly specify. Once configured, you can choose to have the Lumi TV automatically check lumi-tv.com for profile updates once a day, only when you manually tell it to, or never again. If you use the optional PRO features for real time remote management it will create a constant connection to our MQTT server.
These are easily verifiable using Wireshark.
Assuming the authorized user isn't manually installing Malware on the device, it is a clean device.
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2 minutes ago, Ryanjackson said:
you have any links from the security experts report?
Many. Two of the best written are:
https://www.humansecurity.com/hubfs/HUMAN_Report_BADBOX-and-PEACHPIT.pd
We have also performed our own testing to simulate how our device (and all the generic devices) would perform in a strict security audit. The audit has three main parts:
Device intrusion: Testing if the DUT can be accessed and compromised by an attacker on the local network. The generic boxes all fail this. They are easy to access and gain full admin rights. Consumer devices (Firestick, etc) are better protected, as long as ADB isn't enabled. Lumi TV is secure against network intrusion and exploits.Device behavior: We use dedicated MIM network bridges to monitor all the DUTs on our test network. They monitor and record all network traffic to/from the DUT. LAN traffic is filtered to find suspicious behavior like nmap and similar. Internet traffic is compared against our threat database to draw risk conclusions.
Honeypot: We have a rPi honeypot on the test network which exposes commonly exploited interfaces (ssh, telnet, samba, ftp, etc) and monitors any attempt to use them.
All the generic devices we tested (~30 models) failed the device behavior testing. They either communicated with sites flagged by the threat database (most) or unknown sites which had no corresponding legitimate use (all).
Several also directly attacked the Honeypot.
Lumi TV passes all these tests and is actively maintained for ongoing security.
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1 hour ago, RAV said:
Thank you for the information.
General inquiry, should a client not listen and want to use one of these types of boxes that they "got from a friend", would isolating it in it's own VLAN be sufficient to sandbox it from the home network?
Realizing it's still going to use Bandwidth and be doing illegal things on an ISP account. But as to protecting what we do from their stupidity, which we can't always control.
Isolating it helps to limit the potential damage. Keep in mind that it the switches/routers used for the VLAN must have up to date firmware and no known exploits, otherwise they could be compromised which opens the network.
They also need to consider how they "use" the box, as any credentials it sees will end up being sold. People reuse passwords (or small variations of the same password), so the effects can be much further reaching than might be expected. In this case, make sure the customer didn't set the router/switch passwords (or even knows them if possible).
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You probably have seen some of the reports from security experts over the last year regarding the Malware that has been discovered on nearly all generic Android players sold on Amazon, AliExpress, and elsewhere.
What you likely don't know is how this will affect your clients when installed on their networks.
The preinstalled Malware has 5 primary functions. These are detailed below along with how each affects your business.- Network proxy: Hackers will utilize YOUR CLIENTS network to launch attacks and create fake accounts. Other than using bandwidth, the major impacts are possible legal action against your client as well as being banned by their internet provider.
- Account theft: The infected hardware captures the credentials of all accounts used on the device. This includes their Google Play credentials and any other app credentials. Their credentials are then sold online for other hackers to use.
- LAN intrusion: In some cases, the infected hardware actively scans your LAN. If it discovers open network storage or older devices which have exploits available (rPis, etc), they will also infect those devices.
- Ransomware: Most Ransomware attacks involve critical data on your network. Much of this can be avoided by having the devices on a separate network (when possible). Hackers can also control what is show on your attached screens and can use this to disrupt and damage your clients business.
- Ad fraud: Hackers use fake accounts generated on your network to utilize pay per click advertising (rendered in an invisible WebView on the infected devices). Since you aren't liable for this type of fraud, it affects you the least. It will reduce the performance of the infected device and your network somewhat.
The infected devices have Malware in the OS which cannot be removed without completely replacing the OS with a trusted build. Trusted builds just aren't available, nor are the tools to do this yourself. The hardware needs to be replaced.
If you are using generic Android players, experts recommend making immediate replacement of the infected hardware a top priority.
Lumi TV is an excellent replacement option which is guaranteed Malware free. Lumi TV is an Android device, but the OS has been completely rebuilt specifically for secure remote managed digital signage. Lumi TV features high performance hardware with rapid installation & management technology, has free OTA security updates for the life of the product, and is resistant to physical and electronic tampering. Lumi TV brings a new level of professional reliability and security to Android. -
Getting the 4Kp60 HDCP 2.2 encoders is going to be the best way to go. It always works (gives you 4K) regardless of the source.
4Kp30 HDCP 1.4 with a converter in the middle can work (4Kp30 delivered), but it is really source and convertor dependent. No harm in trying of course.
That said, for most content the 4K encoders aren't worth the price premium over the 1080p ones.
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24" FireTV
in TVs
On the integrated Fire TVs, the "best" way to control ON/OFF is:
- On: You can wake the device from SLEEP via IP. Our IRUSB will provide this. Perhaps other drivers will as well
- Off: Better to just set the TV sleep timer to 1 minute. That way when the TV isn't playing video, it will just go to sleep after 1 min. In sleep mode, the IP ports are still active while the screen is off. Our IRUSB driver just uses the HOME key for the power off macro and lets the sleep timer handle it.
Using IR to turn OFF the TV will kill IP communication on most models.
BTW, if you have a good wifi connection (>100mbps reliable 5Ghz) you can use NetPlay over wifi for 1-2 rooms. Just make sure your encoders are using HTTP streaming for best performance.
IrUSB QHID question
in Third Party Hardware
Posted
USB defines multiple codes for power / sleep / suspend etc. Android in turn chooses how to interpret these, and different platforms sometimes do it differently.
In practice, the Sleep 0xc 0x0034 which translates to QHIDCODE2000052 is the one that works the best. The others aren't wrong, they just may not do what is expected.