Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: USL Caption Encoder Firmware Update

This is topic USL Caption Encoder Firmware Update in forum Digital Cinema Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 10-26-2015, 12:35 AM:

I am trying to update the firmware on our USL captioning system, but every time I try to upload the firmware file, the browser just times out. What am I missing?

I have tried with both FireFox and Internet Explorer. I successfully log onto the panel, then select the firmware update link, navigate to the file and click update. The browser times out each time I have tried on each of three units.

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 10-26-2015, 06:29 AM:

It is SUPPOSED to time out. DO NOT reload that page again...that will just restart the update process over again...instead start a new session from the home screen. This is actually detailed in manual somewhere.

What I often do is ping the device with the "-t" switch so it is continuous. Then wait for it to disconnect and come back...at that point I know that the update is complete since some browsers don't tell you when something goes away right away.

Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 10-26-2015, 07:13 AM:

Steve is, of course, correct. What I generally do is let the browser time out, then hit the back button. Then click the home page link. The home page should appear with the new version number.

The firmware uploads the hex file, decodes it to binary, and stores the new image in external flash memory. On receiving the end of file record, the firmware immediately jumps to code in the boot section of internal flash that copies the external flash back to internal flash. This immediate jump is why the browser times out.

Please let me know of any further issues.

Thanks!

Harold

Posted by Justin Hamaker (Member # 2165) on 10-26-2015, 07:17 PM:

After reading this I went back and looked at the pages and saw the firmware was in fact updated. Thanks.

Posted by Harold Hallikainen (Member # 5405) on 10-26-2015, 09:09 PM:

By the way, the movie Lawndale has an unusually large caption file. Most movies break the file into reels, but this one does not, and it's quite large. There's a beta version of the IRC-28C firmware to handle this movie. Check the USL web site for software, then beta, then version 151021. This is a temporary fix in that it reduces the number of languages transmitted to two, but that is fine for most cases. I'll revisit the firmware soon for a permanent fix.

Harold