Interior and flash analysis of the DVBT-T2/HEVC decoder DVBT005-SH Shark

Something contemporary this time. I've already shown some old tuners, so it's time for a change. As standard, first a presentation of the interior and then an analysis of the Flash memory along with a Linux file system extract. Maybe we can also find a program to change the batch?

The object of the presentation is a contemporary DVB-T2 / HEVC / H265 decoder characterised by a programmable remote control, which can also be controlled by the TV proper. Just right for the elderly. It was for such a person that I ordered this decoder. I paid all 60 PLN and decided to take a look inside.
First of all, some photos of the manual - maybe they will be useful to someone, there is also a description of how to pair the remote control.


Let's get to the actual presentation now. We unscrew the screws.

The circuit is very simple. The whole thing is on a single PCB. First we have the switching power supply, interestingly there is even an EMI filter on its input. Some manufacturers omit it...

On the front we have an IR receiver, buttons (quite a lot for such equipment) and a four-digit 7-segment display.

There is not a single component on the underside of the board - as you can see there was no problem with packing.

The power supply in flyback topology is based on the PN8147.

It probably generates 5 V - as usual. Then there is a section with a 1.8 V LDO and a voltage reduction inverter (5 V -> 3.3 V). The flash bone with firmware (25Q32CSIG) is also caught in the photo.

The buttons and display are handled by the HW650EO - presumably a similar chip to the HD2015 already discussed:
Running the HD2015 display/button driver after reverse engineering, comparison with TM1637itd

PCB designation: GX6706-T2-69 A1:

Finally, you need to know what kind of microprocessor is sitting there:

The NationalChip GX6706S5, is quite a popular chip in this type of device, vendors are not hiding about it. You can find a lot of decoders on this chip, although information about the chip itself is residual. It seems to belong to the larger GX/Nationalchip family of chips, along with:
- GX6701, GX6702, GX6703 (Gemini)
- GX6705, GX6706 (Cygnus)
- GX6613 (Sirius)
- GX3113, GX3235, GX6605 (Taurus)
These types of chips work with external Flash memory, but also have built-in RAM. The GX6705, for example, has 64 MB of DRAM, I could not find information on the GX6706.

The chip has a UART port out - could there be a chance for a bootloader?



Batch analysis
I soldered out the flash using hot air and ripped through the CH341:
CH341 from Aliexpress and Allegro - what modifications are needed after purchase?
On the computer side, I used NeoProgrammer. I used the command to analyse the batch binwalk in WSL:
analysis of the SPI flash memory batch using the commands binwalk, dd, lzma
I immediately got satisfactory results. The tool learned the packed batch and the ROMFS and SquashFS file systems.

Binwalk also recognised the eCos real-time system. The basics are in place, now the data can be extracted:

SquashFS contains the Linux file system along with the characteristic folders bin, etc, mnt, etc.

In the Theme folder we have skin definitions - xml files and icons:



Small graphics use the BMP format and larger images (e.g. backgrounds) use the lossy compressed JPG format.
XML maps names to paths and defines the mode of operation of the device:


Interesting that there are typos in the XML - e.g. digtal instead of digital.
In the firmware we have the file gxlowpower.fw:

Its header - repeated sequences of byte 0x02 and offsets - suggest to me an 8051 architecture. These are probably jump vectors/tab offsets to routines executed by an auxiliary microcontroller running in standby mode. Could it be that there is a second, small 8051 core in the NationalChips that is responsible for low-power mode: standby IR support, 7-segment display, LEDs and wake-up of the main SoC?

Ghidra correctly decompiles this firmware. You can see the correct C pseudocode, the jumps go to the correct functions.


Separately, we have the ROMFS section. As the name suggests, it is read only - read only. The actual ecos firmware is there, but you have to decompress it first - it uses the LZMA standard.

Successful decompression is confirmed by analysing the subtitles from the middle:

However, I have not yet found a method to load this into Ghidr. I tried with the C-Sky plugin, but the results do not look like correct instructions.

Flasher GxDownloader
I found one tool on the web - GXDownloader Boot, I put it in the attachments.

Supported chips:

I found a short presentation of this programme on Youtube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tks2E1pZvwc

Flasher Open Source from GitHub
A search on GitHub gave me only one reasonable lead - libre-gxdl by matu6968.
https://github.com/matu6968/libre-gxdl
The project shown is a flasher for the NationalChip GX series of devices, which allows you to communicate with these devices at the hardware level and perform operations such as reading and writing memory via the serial and USB ports.
It is a reimplementation of the original GX downloader (gxdl) tool obtained through reverse engineering.

I haven't had time to check it again, but presumably libre-gxdl would be able to rip the batch through the RX/TX pads shown in the picture present right next to the main SoC.

Specification
Specifications, according to the vendor:
- Reception standard: DVB-T2, DVB-C
- Video codecs: HEVC (H.265), H.264
- Multiplexes: MUX-1, MUX-2, MUX-3, MUX-4, MUX-6, MUX-8
- Maximum resolution: 1920×1080 (Full HD)
- USB port: USB 2.0
- Functions: PVR, Timeshift
- EPG: yes
- Video outputs: HDMI, SCART
- Audio output: SPDIF digital
- Support: Teletext, DVB subtitles
- OSD menu: Polish language
- Display: Front LED
- Remote control: IR, 4 programmable buttons
- Housing: metal, ventilated
- Dimensions: 168 × 30 × 105 mm

Pictures of the installation (improved contrast):


Summary
A very simple circuit, not surprisingly also available as 'plugs' for HDMI. The whole thing is basically a simple power supply in flyback topology, a voltage-reducing inverter, the main SoC with external flash memory for the program, the display together with the controller (a la HD2015), and the RF head (here signed 4110 A009 514 - I forgot the photo).
The aforementioned SoC runs the eCos real-time system and in the Flash sits a typical Linux file system from which settings, icons and graphics can be extracted.
Additionally, we have RX/TX pads available and have managed to find two promising tools for uploading the batch.
Will anything more be able to be done with it? We are yet to find out, in the meantime, just for the sake of principle, I will ask - have you had any contact with receivers based on NationalChip chips? Or does anyone have more information about them?

PS: A copy of the original batch:
https://github.com/openshwprojects/FlashDumps/commit/9437e8ceda5c2d4197f8e4745804839f3d52de9f