TV Guide Channel Emulation Working!

[LocalH]

F for the aforementioned diagnostic that I am not sure what its for
H to cycle through the CLU/PI (channel related but not yet sure what exactly that stands for)
J to cycle through the TS (timeslot) once you selected a PI.

Ctrl-H and Ctrl-J cycle backwards through the respective diagnostics.

[tin]

OMG OMG OMG OMG

Apparently I wrote the disk image onto a bad disk and it caused the problems I was having. Got it written onto a good disk and IT BOOTS!!!!!!

Gonna have to build a custom startup-sequence for this, tailored to my system, to check for 3.1 ROM, and if present softkick 2.04 ROM.

It seems to work on my 3.1 ROM, sorta. It doesn't switch into interlace mode and it causes my genlock to output a signal that is constantly drifting to the left (but otherwise "stable", no skewing across scanlines), and the palette on the upper half of the screen is messed when it loads images. Still seems to work better on a real A2000 than emulation when it comes to 3.1.

Got two good disks here now, one write-protected as my physical "master", and the other one for day to day mucking around.

Excellent work you'll have to let us know how it goes, I'll give it a try on my a2000 (if it still works! ) but trying to focus on the reverse-engineer, so if it has already been done once, that will speed things up

[swest77]

Incase the information helps with the dissection.

Order of one grid cycle:

Code: Select all

[TV GUIDE GRAPHICAL LOGO]
[10:00 PM | 10:30 PM | 11:00 PM]
[Thursday April 1 1999]
[Effective February 1st, our Torrance & Hawthorne Service Center hours...] *RED HIGHLIGHT*
2 KCBS
3 METMRK
4 KNBC
5 KTLA
6 TBS
7 KABC
8 FOXFAM
9 KCAL
10 NICK
11 KTTV
12 KTVG
13 KCOP
14 USA
15 BRAVO
16 A&E
17 DSC
18 CNN
19 FOXW
20 FSW2
21 ESPN
22 CABLE
23 KWHY
24 KSCI
[Home Terminal (converter) needed in order to receive Premium...] *BLUE HIGHLIGHT*
[Get our HBO Value Package - HBO and HBO Plus for only $10.95...] *RED HIGHLIGHT*
25 HBO    *BLUE HIGHLIGHT*
26 HBOPL  *BLUE HIGHLIGHT*
27 AMC
28 KCET
[Get our Showtime Value Package - Showtime, Sundance Channel...] *RED HIGHLIGHT*
29 TMC    *BLUE HIGHLIGHT*
30 SHOW   *BLUE HIGHLIGHT*
31 SUNDC  *BLUE HIGHLIGHT*
32 DISNEY *BLUE HIGHLIGHT*
33 MAX    *BLUE HIGHLIGHT*
34 KMEX
35 TVJAPN
36 CSPAN
37 CSPAN2
38 HN
39 CNBC
40 TBN
41 VH1
42 MTV
43 BET
44 LIFE
45 TNN
46 KHSC
47 MSNBC
48 GALA
49 FX
50 KOCE
[In Torrance Channel 51 is Torrance Unified School District...]  *NO HIGHLIGHT*
51 TLC
52 KVEA
53 EDUACC
[In Torrance Channel 54 is a Public, Educational, Government...]  *NO HIGHLIGHT*
54 COMEDY
55 QVC
56 KDOC
57 PEG
58 KLCS
59 PUBACC
[In Torrance, channel 60 is a Public, Educational and...]  *NO HIGHLIGHT*
60 E!
61 TRAVEL
62 KRCA
63 TOON
[Fridays in December, ESPN will reveal the top 10 of the...]  *NO HIGHLIGHT*
64 ESPN2
65 FNC
66 AP
67 TNT
68 KPXN
69 HIST
95 GOLF
96 SPICE   *RED HIGHLIGHT*
[Spice will feature an alternate audio feed (music) between...]  *NO HIGHLIGHT*
[Order "The Blair Witch Project", "Election", or "Life is Beautiful"...]  *NO HIGHLIGHT*
97 VC1     *RED HIGHLIGHT*
0/98 INT'L
1/99 HGTV
[TV GUIDE CHANNEL COPYRIGHT BANNER]  *NO HIGHLIGHT*
(...go to top; i.e., TV GUIDE GRAPHICAL LOGO here...)

Versus:

Code: Select all

(CLU[#] / Chan= / Source= / CallLtrs= / third line of H diagnostic / fourth line of H diagnostic)
0         SBP003            None HILITESRC CAF_PPVSRC              Grid MR
1         SBP004            None HILITESRC CAF_PPVSRC              Grid MR
2         LO708J            HILITESRC DITTO STEREO                 Grid MR
3    2    CBS006   KCBS     None STEREO                            Grid MR
4    3    METMRK   METMRK   DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
5    4    NBC019   KNBC     None STEREO                            Grid MR
6    5    TWB001   KTLA     None STEREO                            Grid MR
7    6    TBS      TBS      None STEREO                            Grid MR
8    7    ABC002   KABC     None STEREO                            Grid MR
9    8    FAMW01   FOXFAM   None                                   Grid MR
10   9    KCAL     KCAL     None STEREO                            Grid MR
11   10   NICW01   NICK     None                                   Grid MR
12   11   FOX015   KTTV     None STEREO                            Grid MR
13   12   TVGC     TVGC     DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
14   13   UPN006   KCOP     None STEREO                            Grid MR
15   14   USAW02   USA      None STEREO                            Grid MR
16   15   BRV001   BRAVO    None STEREO                            Grid MR
17   16   A&E001   A&E      None STEREO                            Grid MR
18   17   TDCW04   DSC      None STEREO                            Grid MR
19   18   CNN      CNN      None STEREO                            Grid MR
20   19   FSRN19   FOXW     None STEREO                            Grid MR
21   20   FSRN20   FSW2     None STEREO                            Grid MR
22   21   ESP001   ESPN     None STEREO                            Grid MR
23   22   CTYACC   CABLE    None STEREO                            Grid MR
24   23   KWHY     KWHY     None STEREO                            Grid MR
25   24   KSCI     KSCI     None STEREO                            Grid MR
26        LO708B            DITTO ALTHILITESRC STEREO              Grid MR
27        LO708I            HILITESRC DITTO STEREO                 Grid MR
28   25   HBOW02   HBO      ALTHILITESRC STEREO                    Grid MR
29   26   HBO206   HBOPL    ALTHILITESRC STEREO                    Grid MR
30   27   AMC002   AMC      None STEREO                            Grid MR
31   28   PBS002   KCET     None STEREO                            Grid MR
32        LO708E            HILITESRC DITTO STEREO                 Grid MR
33   29   TMCW02   TMC      ALTHILITESRC STEREO                    Grid MR
34   30   SHOW02   SHOW     ALTHILITESRC STEREO                    Grid MR
35        LO708E            DITTO ALTHILITESRC STEREO              Grid MR
36   31   SUN-W    SUNDC    ALTHILITESRC STEREO                    Grid MR
37   32   DISW01   DISNEY   ALTHILITESRC STEREO                    Grid MR
38   33   MAXW02   MAX      ALTHILITESRC STEREO                    Grid MR
39   34   KMEX     KMEX     None STEREO                            Grid MR
40   35   TVJAPN   TVJAPN   None STEREO                            Grid MR
41   35   PACSUN   PACSUN   DITTO                                  Grid MR
42   36   CS1001   CSPAN    None STEREO                            Grid MR
43   37   CS2002   CSPAN2   None STEREO                            Grid MR
44   38   CNHN     HN       None STEREO                            Grid MR
45   39   CNBC     CNBC     None STEREO                            Grid MR
46   40   TRI001   TBN      None STEREO                            Grid MR
47   41   VH-1W    VH1      None STEREO                            Grid MR
48   42   MTVW01   MTV      None STEREO                            Grid MR
49   43   BET001   BET      None STEREO                            Grid MR
50   44   LIFW01   LIFE     None                                   Grid MR
51   45   TNN-W    TNN      None STEREO                            Grid MR
52   46   HSN008   KHSC     None STEREO                            Grid MR
53        LO708F            DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
54   47   MSNBC    MSNBC    None STEREO                            Grid MR
55   48   GALA-W   GALA     None STEREO                            Grid MR
56   49   FX-W     FX       None STEREO                            Grid MR
57   50   PBS224   KOCE     None STEREO                            Grid MR
58        LO708A            DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
59   51   TLC-W    TLC      None STEREO                            Grid MR
60   52   KVEA     KVEA     None STEREO                            Grid MR
61   53   LO708C   EDUACC   DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
62        LO708F            DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
63   54   CMDW01   COMEDY   None STEREO                            Grid MR
64   55   QVC1     QVC      None STEREO                            Grid MR
65   56   KDOC     KDOC     None STEREO                            Grid MR
66   57   PEG      PEG      DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
67   58   PBS243   KLCS     None STEREO                            Grid MR
68   59   PUBACC   PUBACC   None STEREO                            Grid MR
69        LO708G            DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
70   60   ETV002   E!       None STEREO                            Grid MR
71   61   TRVL     TRAVEL   None STEREO                            Grid MR
72   62   KRCA     KRCA     None STEREO                            Grid MR
73   63   TOON-W   TOON     None STEREO                            Grid MR
74        LOPEZ             DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
75   64   2ESPN    ESPN2    None STEREO                            Grid MR
76   65   FNC      FNC      None STEREO                            Grid MR
77   66   APTDC1   AP       None STEREO                            Grid MR
78   67   TNT002   TNT      None STEREO                            Grid MR
79   68   PAX010   KPXN     None STEREO                            Grid MR
80   69   THC      HIST     None STEREO                            Grid MR
81   95   GOLF     GOLF     None STEREO                            Grid MR
82   95   TWC001   TWC      None STEREO                            Grid MR
83   96   SPI001   SPICE    HILITESRC CAF_PPVSRC                   Grid MR
84        PO708A            DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
85        LOPEZ1            DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
86   97   YV1002   VC1      HILITESRC SUMBYSRC CAF_PPVSRC STEREO   Grid MR
87   0/98 ICN      INT'L    None STEREO                            Grid MR
88   1/99 HGTV     HGTV     None STEREO                            Grid MR
89        PRV002            DITTO STEREO                           Grid MR
90        $LA21             None HILITESRC                         Grid MR

Lots of definite correlations.

1) All special items in the scrolling grid (e.g. the two messages prior to HBO/channel 25) correspond to odd items in the CLU list (e.g. LO708B and LO708I).
2) However not all items in CLU list are shown on the grid (at least during the time period I checked: Windows time of test was 12:00 AM on Apr 2 '99 -0700, a.k.a. PG time: 10:00/10:30/11:00 PM).
3) DITTO = apparently items whose listing never changes (not confirmed by checking whole 24 hour period).
4) ALTHILITESRC = blue highlighting.
5) HILITESRC = red highlighting.
6) Can't figure out what "None" means (I thought at first that it must mean no highlighting, i.e. that you would either see "ALTHILITESRC" or "HILITESRC" or "None"; however CLU entries 0 and 1 have both "None" and "HILITESRC" ... and some like CLU 4 have neither.)

[LocalH]

swest77: And you say you don't need to come to the IRC channel because your Amiga knowledge is waning...lol

tin: I do think that is best - you are much better at figuring out what means what in terms of RE'ing...you should come to IRC too, so we can all talk in realtime.

Oh, if you didn't see on the wiki, I updated one thing - N does in fact switch the top half to color 0, even on my genlock - I fed a random video source (my PS2 running Guitar Hero II, since the PS2 generates a stable NTSC video signal) through my genlock, and even though it doesn't work properly with regards to dissolving between video and Amiga graphics, when I hit N, the top half shows perfect PS2 video while the bottom half shows Amiga graphics. Quite interesting that this still works even with a non-UV genlock. If I don't put my control sliders to be 100% Amiga video, however, other than in "N" mode, when A2-Blue generates color 0, the external video drifts to the right. I really need to find a UV genlock from the AP2000 machines (as opposed to the genlock seen in the EPG Sr. machines). If anyone here has one, feel free to send it to me (I have no money to buy one, and that's assuming that one could be found separated from it's A2000).

Edit: LOL, as an aside, I ran mIRC a couple of days ago with this laptop set to 4/1/99. Now it says "You have been using mIRC for 4074 days, which is beyond the evaluation period." I've also noticed that, despite the fact that I reset the Amiga clock on every disk boot, that the last few times I've rebooted the disk, it's basically started back up as if the time hadn't been reset. No idea if it's actually changing the system clock or keeping track of the differences. I need to Ctrl-C out of ESQ on the diagnostic menu and check the date, which will answer this for me (unles ESQ is devious and resets the Amiga clock on exit).

Oh, and for the record, I have three disks now - one virgin, one "master" with my modified startup, and one for day-to-day operations. I figure, if nothing else, I can backup the file with the local text ads, and restore to the modified "master" as needed.

Edit 2: In the listings, there is an entry saying "Spice will feature an alternate audio feed [music] between the hours of 6am-10pm. This is to comply with Section 505 of the 1996 Telecommunications Act.". I looked it up, and it leads to section 641. This is what it says:

`SEC. 641. SCRAMBLING OF SEXUALLY EXPLICIT ADULT VIDEO SERVICE
PROGRAMMING.
`(a) REQUIREMENT- In providing sexually explicit adult
programming or other programming that is indecent on any channel of
its service primarily dedicated to sexually-oriented programming, a
multichannel video programming distributor shall fully scramble or
otherwise fully block the video and audio portion of such channel
so that one not a subscriber to such channel or programming does
not receive it.
`(b) IMPLEMENTATION- Until a multichannel video programming
distributor complies with the requirement set forth in subsection
(a), the distributor shall limit the access of children to the
programming referred to in that subsection by not providing such
programming during the hours of the day (as determined by the
Commission) when a significant number of children are likely to
view it.
`(c) DEFINITION- As used in this section, the term `scramble'
means to rearrange the content of the signal of the programming so
that the programming cannot be viewed or heard in an understandable
manner.'.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE- The amendment made by subsection (a) shall
take effect 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
SEC. 506. CABLE OPERATOR REFUSAL TO CARRY CERTAIN PROGRAMS.
(a) PUBLIC, EDUCATIONAL, AND GOVERNMENTAL CHANNELS- Section
611(e) (47 U.S.C. 531(e)) is amended by inserting before the period
the following: `, except a cable operator may refuse to transmit
any public access program or portion of a public access program
which contains obscenity, indecency, or nudity'.
(b) CABLE CHANNELS FOR COMMERCIAL USE- Section 612(c)(2) (47
U.S.C. 532(c)(2)) is amended by striking `an operator' an
inserting `a cable operator may refuse to transmit any leased
access program or portion of a leased access program which contains
obscenity, indecency, or nudity and'.

I bet that was quite inhibiting to viewers wanting to get their rocks off, seeing as they had to listen to music instead of the requisite moaning that comes with watching porn. Good thing that nowadays, adult channels are digitally restricted through addressable converters, so that no matter what time of day it is, the viewer can discreetly watch porn with all the proper sounds, without it being available to underage viewers who tune their sets to the adult channels without prior authorization (so that the signal is descrambled).

Edit 3: Ok, I checked the date after exiting from ESQ - it stated that it had only been three hours and change since I booted the system (I set the clock to 14:00:00, and it said it was 17:xx:xx) - I definitely need to back up the local ads and restore from my modified master. I just rebooted and was told that it was 14:00:00, but when ESQ fully ran, it said it was 6:45pm, exactly as it was before rebooting.

[AriX]

Oh, if you didn't see on the wiki, I updated one thing - N does in fact switch the top half to color 0, even on my genlock - I fed a random video source (my PS2 running Guitar Hero II, since the PS2 generates a stable NTSC video signal) through my genlock, and even though it doesn't work properly with regards to dissolving between video and Amiga graphics, when I hit N, the top half shows perfect PS2 video while the bottom half shows Amiga graphics. Quite interesting that this still works even with a non-UV genlock. If I don't put my control sliders to be 100% Amiga video, however, other than in "N" mode, when A2-Blue generates color 0, the external video drifts to the right. I really need to find a UV genlock from the AP2000 machines (as opposed to the genlock seen in the EPG Sr. machines). If anyone here has one, feel free to send it to me (I have no money to buy one, and that's assuming that one could be found separated from it's A2000).

Just so you understand, these UVGEN units are _RARE_. The hard part is not having the money to buy one, but rather to find one.

[tin]

Man that is such a shame. I guess most of them are in the bin.

[LocalH]

I have left my Amiga off for about a day now. Given the fact that I've restored from a virgin disk, and only copied over my modified startup-sequence and local.ads, it stands to reason that it's possible for the software to be storing something in battery backed RAM. Does anyone here actually know how much battery backed RAM a standard A2000 has? I'm having trouble finding out. I'll try booting it up in a little bit and seeing if it resets to 4/1/99 12pm on the listings. Either that, or it stealthily stores info on the hard drive and re-reads it on boot. I'll check for that next time I boot it as well.

If anyone ever comes across the later UV genlock card, and feels like spending the money to acquire it, feel free to send it to me for testing purposes. I'll gladly send it back once it's no use to me, but well after I make some videos I know how hard it is to find rare shit - I spent several years trying to find a decently-priced cartridge copier for the Sega Genesis, and finally found one when I came across an eBay auction that was selling a Genesis with one - I bought it for $100, and have refused to sell it even though I've been hard up for money and could probably get $75 for it alone.

Edit: I booted up the A2K. Even after all this, it still says it's 4/2/99. I modified s:uv-startup to display the date right before launching ESQ, and it said it was a few seconds after 2pm on 4/1/99...when it boots up, it says 4:13pm on 4/2/99. This is fairly serious in regards to running the software on a real system, as it means that the software is storing the last known time somewhere that isn't on the floppy. I will try one last time to restore from a virgin disk and copy over only my modifications (local.ads, s:startup-sequence and s:uv-startup). I only have two ideas for where it's storing this - either clock RAM or DH0:. Since I'm pretty sure AP2000 units didn't have a hard drive (wasn't the SCSI controller disabled?), I'm thinking it's unused bytes in clock RAM, since the software had no access to DH0:.

Edit 2: Ok. I restored to a virgin master disk, and the only thing I did was copy SetCPU to the c directory so it'd be available when I disabled DH0 and booted from the disk under 2.04, so I could use it to move the 2.04 ROM from chip RAM to fast RAM. Even after all of that, and ensuring that the date was 4/1/99 14:00:00 before ESQ booted, it still said it was 4:xx pm on 4/2/99. It has to be clock RAM.

[swest77]

Amiga knowledge needn't be one in the same with general software intuitiveness. Just means I barely remember the hardware.

Incredibly mysterious, this phantom clock issue. See, clock RAM, evidently with extra space for stuffing unrelated data. That's something else I had and have no clues about in the Amiga world. So all I can say is, good luck there.

About mIRC, if you're using 6.35, change offsets 6354C / 6354D / E6BEF / E6BF0 / E74FA / E74FB in mirc.exe from 85 / C0 / 74 / 27 / 74 / 36 to B0 / 00 / 90 / 90 / 90 / 90. Its /registration command will then become magically permissive (and internet activation-ignorant), and clock-driven messages will bug you no more.

Oh, and I remember that stupid Telecom Act crap. Cable scrambling technology (except Zenith's PM/PZ and I think SSAVI scrambling methods) back then did not secure the audio carrier whatsoever, so even if there was no useful picture, you could still listen to any scrambled channel's audio loud and clear.

[curtjr4]

Hey Guys,
I know I am a bit... off topic. Please excuse me for being offtopic
Now, I was wondering if anyone knew how to get it to show the listings. I read the thread, but it still wont work after setting the date to April 1 1999. It returns Error 007. The time is 9:22 PM in the emulator. Anyone know how to fix this?

[LocalH]

You may have obliterated the cached listings inadvertantly at some point. Save the local.ads file from the root of the disk, and restore to a virgin copy of the disk as you originally received it, and then try again.