3/10 Update: If you'd like to get your LCD supported, upload the latest firmware here: http://saguratus.com/nick/westinghouse_vew/upload
3/12 Update: First builds are working! Firmware is available only by request for now
3/25 Update: Trident has agreed to opensource the GPL components in the firmware, which is effectively everything
Greetings everyone,
I recently took up a bit of a side project to do some heavy firmware modification for Westinghouse LCDs, since the current firmware is rather lackluster and prone to some rather nasty bugs (HDCP key negotiation).
In short, I hope to add support for:
Booting from USB (No Flashing Required)
USB Wifi
USB Storage
MP3 Playback / Streaming Audio
Low Level Panel Tweaking on the OSD
Terminal on the OSD
Keyboard Support
RSS Feeds
Luckily, it seems that most, if not all westinghouse panels run Linux; so any panel with a USB port should be able to support this firmware. At this time however, there will only be support for the TX-52F480S 52" LCD until someone can provide me with the firmware for different models.
I'll be doing the first live flash on my panel a little later today, and I'll follow with screenshots and an initial release if all goes as planned.
Here's the current readme, and a bootlogo screenshot
Click for Full Resolution

3/12 Update: First builds are working! Firmware is available only by request for now
3/25 Update: Trident has agreed to opensource the GPL components in the firmware, which is effectively everything
Greetings everyone,
I recently took up a bit of a side project to do some heavy firmware modification for Westinghouse LCDs, since the current firmware is rather lackluster and prone to some rather nasty bugs (HDCP key negotiation).
In short, I hope to add support for:
Booting from USB (No Flashing Required)
USB Wifi
USB Storage
MP3 Playback / Streaming Audio
Low Level Panel Tweaking on the OSD
Terminal on the OSD
Keyboard Support
RSS Feeds
Luckily, it seems that most, if not all westinghouse panels run Linux; so any panel with a USB port should be able to support this firmware. At this time however, there will only be support for the TX-52F480S 52" LCD until someone can provide me with the firmware for different models.
I'll be doing the first live flash on my panel a little later today, and I'll follow with screenshots and an initial release if all goes as planned.
Here's the current readme, and a bootlogo screenshot
Code:
VeW Firmware V0.1 03.10.09 **UNTESTED BUILD**
Note: Flashing your LCD or any device always presents a risk of bricking (or in this case, tabling) your device. Always use caution and make sure you know what you're doing. That said, there is in fact little risk of a bad flash or damaged firmware on this panel, as the built-in computer will always attempt to boot safe-kernel.img1 off of a USB drive and perform a flash, making it very difficult, if not impossible to accidentally end up with a very expensive new coffee table.
This is an initial firmware test build, to verify the toolchain being used yields a working firmware image. If the flash is successful, you will see the new logo upon booting the LCD up. This firmware does not include any major changes at this time, and is purely experimental.
===========
= Notes =
===========
Shame on Westinghouse for using GPL'd code and not releasing the source. The GPL-Violations project is now aware of it, and if we're really lucky, Westinghouse will either release the source or be taken to court.
If you feel like donating to support this project, please do! Every dollar means I can work less and spend more time on projects like this. Donation links for paypal and credit are available here: http://saguratus.com/donate
Be sure to leave your name and email, as well as any feature requests or comments.
The TX-52F480S LCD has 16MB of NAND Flash and uses a MIPS CPU. This means that Audio (MP3, OGG, FLAC, etc) and Network/Wifi support are very doable, however video and other types of multimedia are not (Especially flash). A built in browser will likely be sluggish, but fairly trivial and worth a shot.
====================
= Steps to flash =
====================
1. Format a USB drive as FAT32
2. Copy update_LCD1080CX.tgz and safe-kernel.img1 to the drive
3. Unplug the LCD
4. Insert the drive into the USB slot in the LCD
5. Plug in the LCD and wait. You will see the power light blink orange for approximately 45 seconds. When it turns Blue, unplug the drive and LCD
6. Plug in the LCD and enjoy the VeW Firmware!
=====================
= Version History =
=====================
v0.1
Initial firmware build
Bootup Logo changed
(PENDING) Boot firmware from USB (No flashing needed)
=====================
= Milestone Goals =
=====================
v0.2
HDCP Code Fixes, HDCP disable
Kernel Update to 2.6 (Need Module Sources from Westinghouse)
v0.3
Terminal in OSD Support
Keyboard Support/Redirection to OSD
Low level panel tweaking via OSD
v0.4
USB Hub support
UHCI/EHCI mass storage support (16MB Flash isn't going to cut it)
v0.5
Streaming Audio and MP3 support
802.11b/g/n USB Wireless Support
v1.0
Web Browser, RSS Feeds, and beyond.
=========
Problems?
======================================
= Solid Orange LED (Flash Failure) =
======================================
If your LCD fails to flash the new firmware (Orange power LED never blinks), you'll need a different USB drive. For some reason, the low level bootloader on the westinghouse can not recognize all USB drives.
====================
= Recovery Steps =
====================
While this should never happen, if your LCD flashes, but fails to boot, make absolutely sure no device is in the USB port.
If it still doesn't come up from a cold boot, you must have an unsupported model, and you'll need to use the firmware downloader from westinghouse
1. Download the stock firmware for your LCD from here: http://www.westinghousedigital.com/firmware.aspx
2. Repeat flashing steps
Click for Full Resolution




















