[kanowee]

Hello,

Do someone knows how to send OSD or Messages command for jerrold CFT2XXX boxes?

I want to display a custom message at the blocked channels, or in barker channels, or even the welcome display of these boxes.

Sending messages is to dificult? Someone ever did it?

Thanks!

Kanowee

[Onlyme]

The FD 63 command is used for the On-Screen Display (OSD) in those boxes that have an on-board character generator. It is a very very complex command and set of commands. We call it a "mystery" command. If you discover anything, I would appreciate any discoveries sent to me, you have my email address now...

Typically FD 63 packets are sent in pairs: The first packet is a header/descriptor packet, and includes information such as how many text packets follow, and a complex system of multiple checksums. There is the usual end of packet checksum.

In addition there are three other checksums within this first packet. One of the checksums is the LSB (least significant bit) of the following packets.

The second is a checksum of the MSB (most significant bit) of the following packets.

And the third is a checksum of these two checksums, together with some of the data within the first packet.

The second packet is the text/display packet. Typically it contains the channel name, together with some identifying data, including ESN (although it can also be global).

For large messages such as program lists, there is more data than can be fitted into one packet, so it is split over a number of packets. Within these packets are the text together with formatting commands. It is possible to choose text colors, position text at a row/column, set background colors, etc.

However, once the OSD buffer has been filled with it's packet, sending another packet to that buffer does not overwrite the contents.

There must be a command that has to be sent to the box to tell the box to flush the display buffer so it can accept and display a new message.

As I do not have a cable signal to play with, I can only guess.

Most likely FD 63 is a compressed command for more than one box, as there are always FD 63 commands that pop up.

In a log read, and I have also noticed, there is a couple of Identification digits in the FD 63 cable commands that match the ID’s that were being addressed before the FD 63 popped up.

Look for a short FD 63 cable command in log read. Then go back and check the ID that was addressed prior to the FD 63.

You will also sometimes see a FD 9D before the FD 63 OSD stuff between some short one line FD 63 cable command's. Kind of like reference markers, referring back to the previous command, or to a subsequent command.

The FD 63 seems to send text messages including Barker messages/screens. It contains screen position information
(for example: 02 07 4D 65 73 73 61 67 6E 20 31 means draw string "Message 1" at Row 2, Column 7). I do not know what the rest of the bytes mean.

11 FD 4D E1 8F 41 20 40 00 01 48 2B 00 04 01 00 00 1B FF FF FF
08 FD 4E E1 8F 41 20 40 9C FF FF FF
08 FD 4E E1 8F 41 20 18 C4 FF FF FF
06 FF FF FF FF FF 17 FD 63 08
17 FD 63 08 AE 21 0F 01 20 00 00 00 00 01 00 01 7D 52 2F DA D1 CB C0 4C FF FF FF
06 FF FF FF FF FF 17 FD 63 08
17 FD 63 08 AE 21 0F 01 20 01 00 00 01 4D 04 44 49 53 4E DA D1 CB C0 CB FF FF FF
In this case the 21 0F 01 20 is the ESN with the top bits stripped out.

Then another explanation:
FD 63 send as compressed command, but i reduce that for my explanation
0E FD 63 60 A2 02 00 20 00 80 7E 0B 00 0E CS
0E Length
FD 63 Command
60 is a second command subset within the FD 63 command structure.
CS is Checksum
00 80 7E 0B is ESN. The first byte represents first ESN byte, for 00 (Why?, i dont know), maybe to confuse us, it does not confuse the cable box.
Here, it appears the only real important byte is the last (0E). It appears to be a "Do nothing" byte, and can vary from 00 to BF. (unknown)
On the last byte, the second nibble varys from 0 to 7 = disable channel, from 8 to F = enable the channel. The first nibble doesn't care. (This is the "LAST LAST byte, OR "SECOND to last byte, ABCD = "C", is the SECOND to LAST letter.)
60 A2 02 00 20 bytes I don't know what they do, but 60 = secondary command subset indicator...

FD63 - Channel name cmds
They always come in pairs.

The first line will setup which channel will be named. The second line will name the channel. They can be addressed or not, with both the ESN and Site Code or any of them or none. If you choose to do not address by the ESN, you need to remove the 08 (secondary command subset I suspect)that is specified just after the FD63 bytes.

17 FD 63 08 AE 20 01 27 22 00 00 00 00 0D 00 01 7D 40 35 SC SC SC SC CS FF FF FF
17 FD 63 08 AE 20 01 27 22 01 00 00 01 3B 04 53 43 54 56 SC SC SC SC CS FF FF FF

line1 details
17 FD 63 08 AE 20 01 27 22 00 00 00 00 0D 00 01 7D 40 35 SC SC SC SC CS
17 = length
01st = FD = cmd indication
02nd = 63 = cmd
03rd = 08 = indicates that the ESN is an addressing parameter.
04th = AE = channel name cmd
05th = 20 = ENS1 - mask for E0 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
06th = 01 = ESN2 - mask for 81 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
07th = 27 = ESN3 - mask for 67 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
08th = 22 = ESN4 - not masked. Last byte is never masked. = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
09th = 00 = Always 00. Maybe not used.
10th = 00 = Always 00. Maybe not used.
11th = 00 = Always 00. Maybe not used.
12th = 00 = Always 00. Maybe not used.
13rd = 0D = channel number to be named, 0x0D=13
14th = 00 = Always 00. Maybe not used.
15th = 01 = Indicates that this line will setup the next one.
16th = 7D = Varies from 7D to 7E. Maybe part of the checksum with the next cmd line to avoid errors on channel naming.
17th = 40 = It is always 5 more than the 13rd parameter on the next line. Some kind of checksum with the next cmd line to avoid errors on channel naming.
18th = 35 = Some kind of checksum with the next cmd line to avoid errors on channel naming.
19th = SC = SC1 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
20th = SC = SC2 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
21st = SC = SC3 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
22nd = SC = SC4 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
23rd = CS = 23rd parameter. Checksum of the entire line.

line2 details
The four chars can be altered without recalculating any of the unknown checksums. For this to be true, the sum of all the chars need to be the same as the original sum of the chars you've seen on a log.
17 FD 63 08 AE 20 01 27 22 01 00 00 01 3B 04 53 43 54 56 SC SC SC SC CS FF FF FF
17 = length
01st = FD = cmd indication
02nd = 63 = cmd
03rd = 08 = indicates that the ESN is an addressing parameter.
04th = AE = channel name cmd
05th = 20 = ENS1 - mask for E0 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
06th = 01 = ESN2 - mask for 81 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
07th = 27 = ESN3 - mask for 67 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
08th = 22 = ESN4 - not masked. Last byte is never masked. = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
09th = 01 = Always 01. Maybe to differentiate from the line that comes before.
10th = 00 = Always 00. Maybe not used.
11th = 00 = Always 00. Maybe not used.
12th = 01 = Always 01. Maybe to differentiate from the line that comes before.
13rd = 3B = Always 5 less than the 17th parameter on the previous line. Some kind of checksum related with the chars.
14th = 04 = Always 04. Maybe to indicate that it will use 4 chars
15th = 53 = 1ST CHAR = HEX VALUE OF THE ASCii CHARACTER CODE TO BE THE CHANNEL NAME = S
16th = 43 = 2ND CHAR = HEX VALUE OF THE ASCii CHARACTER CODE TO BE THE CHANNEL NAME = C
17th = 54 = 3RD CHAR = HEX VALUE OF THE ASCii CHARACTER CODE TO BE THE CHANNEL NAME = T
18th = 56 = 4TH CHAR = HEX VALUE OF THE ASCii CHARACTER CODE TO BE THE CHANNEL NAME = V
19th = SC = SC1 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
20th = SC = SC2 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
21st = SC = SC3 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
22nd = SC = SC4 = Not really needed. You can safely replace with zeroes.
23rd = CS = 23rd parameter. Checksum of the entire line.


This applies not only to the channel names, but also to the messages sent to the boxes. If I remember, they can span more than two packets, and are commonly three packets. When you know the format, you can then send messages to the box. Corruption is something really difficult to happen on the channel names cmds. They have 4 checksums inside it, probably to avoid insulting words to ocasionally happen due to interferences on the data stream. If you got the channel name cmds from the logs, have not modified them, and they are being processed correctly on some boxes, they are probably good cmds and your problem is on the boxes where the cmds are not being processed correctly.

That should give you some idea on how it works, and the layout procedure, and you can begin your logs, collect the FD 63 commands, then do experiments, and save the results and conclusions, and then send them on to me, and I will place them within my FD 63 studies, and we can share discoveries and conclusions....It is the only way to learn them!

[kanowee]

Wow man, this is what I call a jerrold help desk!

Sorry the late for awsering.

Will try these commands with my Hei interface. This is a little advanced for me, but I will try here in my boxes.

For sure, if I´m sucessuful, I will post the results.

Thakns again!

Kanowee

[Onlyme]

Quote:
"The FD 63 seems to send text messages including Barker messages/screens. It contains screen position information
(for example: 02 07 4D 65 73 73 61 67 6E 20 31 means draw string "Message 1" at Row 2, Column 7). I do not know what the rest of the bytes mean."
UnQuote:

On the above that I posted, the remaining bytes, exclusive of the checksum byte, are most likely the actual text, in some kind of code, that would be displayed in Row 02, at Column 07.

And on the byte designation Message 1, since the person did not explain his discovery that well, I do not know that byte designation. I suspect it may have been "00" for line 1, as they have a "01" for line 2, but I do not know that for sure either.

There must have been some kind of command similiar to:
XX FD 63 ?? 00 02 07 4D 65 73 73 61 67 6E 20 31
00 = Message 1
02 = Row 2
07 = Column 7
4D 65 73 73 61 67 6E 20 = text message???
31 = ?? or checksum number for command line???

But like I said, I just do not know, as I have no way of experimenting...So the other speculations there, are just that, speculations. But if you discover anything, I would appreciate it, as I store great fantastic files of information at my location.

Share and receive more information too... One favor helps the other receive more favors...

Also keep in mind, and we often forget it, if it was not for the Interesting Devices website, with its many forums, we would not have this ability to share, educate, and learn....Thanks ID!!!