[XCSSA] Neat Hack In Progress: CVS $30 "One Time Use" DV cam

[X-otic Computer Systems of San Antonio]

I have been working on a project and thought others here might be
interested.

CVS is distributing $30 DV cams with a 20min capacity with the idea that you
film up to 20 mins, you give to them for "processing" along with a fee of
course, and they give you a DVD with your recorded content on it, playable
in a PC, or regular DVD player. The downside is they keep the camera.

Many people have had great success with older models and using a software
called OPS and the algorithm software called "burningman" to generate the
proper response to the encryption challenge generated by the camera on
initial handshake with OPS.

The camera is a really well built device, meant for recycling and reissuance
after developing the content and erasing the user's recorded content.  The
Video stream is DivX or XviD (i forget which one) and once you have unlocked
the cam, you can record and extract the video and audio to an /avi file for
your use as you see fit.  The site mentioned below has a TON of success
stories in using these cameras (stripped way down of course) in model
aircraft and rockets as well as "Hey kids, go record your friends" without
fretting about the device get broken.. ($30 vs $500 for a DVcam, not a bad
deal?)

the website is www.camerahacking.com and although the site is a bit
scattered, there is an easy USB interface to the device that can be easily
made up.

I will be doing my own writeup on theratshack.net as soon as I've completed
it.  Unfortunately the snag for me is I have a new encryption challenge that
has yet to be beat.  My next mission is to build an in-circuit chip reader
that will allow me to download the ROM image for "dissection" to get the
proper response.

And yes, there's even an OPS version for MAC and Linux.  Some of the newer
(but opened) firmwares even allow the device to be used as a mass storage
device, but the 128MB on the device kinda limits it's practical use for
storage.

Thought you guys might be interested in a cheap DVcam solution to those of
you that can't afford a high quality DVcam.

I am no expert on this, but I've got the gist of what's going on so if you
need help, email me and I'll give it a shot.


FIRESTORM_v1
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://xcssa.org/pipermail/xcssa/attachments/20080428/796b96e8/attachment.html