Fortis 4th generation HD receivers: some info

[Audioniek]

At the moment I am working on Enigma2 for 3 models of the Fortis 4th generation HD receivers, often referred to (but not altogether correctly) as the Cardiff models. Here is some info I came across while researching these receivers; info on the net is rather scarse and scattered all over the place.

Model

ResellerID

Display (width)

SoC

Tuner(s)

RAM

Flash

SATA

USB

CI slots

Cardreaders

Loader

Successor of

Marketed as (XX=)

DP6010

29XX0000

LED (4)

StiH237 (Cardiff)

1xS2

512MB DDR3

256MB NAND

No

3

1

1

L8.05, L1.0.0

HS7110, HS7119

Fortis DS220 XCruiser XDSR385HD Avant (01) Visionnet Hawk (02) Openbox SX4 HD (03) Skyway Nano 3 (04) SuperBox Elite 4+ (05) Rebox RE-2220HD S-PVR (06) Dreamsky HD4X (08) Forever HD Nano Smart PVR Cardiff (09) Drake 7500HD Mini (12) HD Box 4500 plus (13) Star Track Grand HD (14) Octagon SF928GX CA CI+ HD (24)

DP7001

29XX0100

LED (4)

StiH237 (Cardiff)

1xS2

512MB DDR3

256MB NAND

No

4

2

1

L8.05, L1.0.0

HS7810A, HS7819

Fortis DS260 Rebox RE-4220HD S-PVR (06) HD Box 6500 plus (13) Star Track DeLuxe HD (14)

DP7000

29XX0200

VFD (8)

StiH237 (Cardiff)

1xS2

512MB DDR3

256MB NAND

No

4

2

2

L8.14, L8.15, L4.0.0

HS7420, HS7429

Fortis DS260N Openbox SX6 HD (03) Skyway Classic 4 (04) Dreamsky HD6 Duo (08) Forever HD 9898 PVR Cardiff (09)

DP2010

29XX0300

VFD (8)

StiH237 (Cardiff)

1xS2

512MB DDR3

256MB NAND

No

3

0

1 or 2

L8.14, L8.15, L4.0.0

Forever HD 3434 PVR Cardiff (09) Drake 7500HD-V3 (12)

DP7050

29XX1000

LED (4)

StiH237 (Cardiff)

1xS2

256MB DDR3

128MB NAND

No

3

1

1

L8.24, L8.25, L3.0.0

XCruiser XDSR2600HD Avant (01) Visionnet Nova (02) Openbox SX4 Base (03) Skyway Light 2 (04) SuperBox Elite TV (05) Forever HD 2424 PVR Cardiff (09) HD Box 3500 plus (13) Star Track SRT 2014 HD Premium (14) Dynavision DV6000HDPVR (17)

EPP8000

2AXX0000

VFD (8)

StiH239 (Newport)

2xS2

512MB DDR3

256MB NAND

Yes

4

2

2

L8.37, L2.0.0

HS8200

Fortis ESS300 Rebox RE-8220HD S-PVR (02) Openbox SX9 HD (04) Icecrypt S6600HD PVR (05)

EP8000

2AXX0100

VFD (8)

StiH239 (Newport)

1xS2

512MB DDR3

256MB NAND

Yes

4

2

2

L8.37, L2.0.0

XCruiser XDSR420HD Avant (01)

EP8000

2AXX0101

VFD (8)

StiH239 (Newport)

1xS2

512MB DDR3

256MB NAND

Yes

4

2

2

L8.37, L2.0.0

XCruiser XDSR400HD Avant (01) Proween STI-820HD Grand (03)

GPV8000

29XX2000

VFD (8)

StiH253 (Firenze)

1xS2 1xT2

512MB DDR3

256MB NAND

Yes

4

2

2

L8.15, L4.0.0

(HS8200)

Skyway Droid 2 (04) Openbox SX9 HD Combo (03)

The DP6010 uses an external 12V DC power supply, the others have built-in 100-240V AC power supplies that internally only deliver 12VDC. The mainboard itself creates all other voltages, including the ones for the frontpanel and the LNB(s).

All these models no longer have an intelligent frontprocessor, but a relatively dumb display/keyboard driver.

The remote control shipped with these receivers is very dependent on the reseller involved. The remote control codes and the available keys have not changed however compared to the previous Fortis HD generations.

The loader has been improved greatly as it now uses USB 2.0 drivers (no more hassles with older sticks, very fast flashing) and displays a video picture directly upon powering on. The picture can be reflashed. The Fortis .IRD flash file format has not been changed. Although the sub-version numbers suggest booting an USB image is supported, running an image directly off an USB stick is not possible without changing the bootargs.

Main CPU clock speed is reported as 650 MHz on all models. The main CPU in the SoC seems to be an STxH205 cut B in all cases.

More to follow in upcoming posts...

Regards,

Audioniek.

Update (December 4th 2019)
In the past weeks I came across some new info, mainly gathered from .config kernel files in official Fortis flash files. In addition to the models listed above, there is also a DP2010, a low cost model without capabiities for CI-slots, but with a VFD display. At this moment no further information is known by me about this model, however it is quite possible that the Forever HD 3434 PVR Cardiff and the Drake 7500HD-V3 are DP2010's.
The same kernel .config files do not have an entry for the EP8000. It may well be that this model is simply an EPP8000 with one tuner left out and a different backpanel. The assigned resellerID seems to confirm this as it uses the 3rd byte to distinguish it from the EPP8000. The other models with some differences in hardware follow the same practice; the 4th byte was apparently used to indicate a different cabinet.

The DP6010 is called the FX6010 in the .config files, but DP6010 on its main board. This has lead me to conclude that the title 4th generation may not be entirely correct. Upon closer scrutiny it may well be that Fortis used the first letter of the type name as generation indicator. If so, there are 7 generations, with the following setup:

• Generation 1: FS9000, FS9200, HS9510;
• Generation 2a: HS7110, HS7420, HS7810A, HS8200 (loader 5.XX);
• Generation 2b: HS7110, HS7420, HS7810A, HS8200 (loader 6.XX);
• Generation 3: HS7119, HS7429, HS7819 (loader 7.XX);
• Generation 4: DP2010, DP7000, DP7001, DP7050 (loader 8.XX or 3.0.0/4.0.0);
• Generation 5: EP8000, EPP8000 (loader 8.XX or 2.0.0);
• Generation 6: FX6010 (loader 8.XX or 1.0.0);
• Generation 7: GPV8000 (loader 8.XX or 4.0.0).

Lastly I have come across an untouched EPP8000 which loader signs on with the unusual version number 2.00.

Update (December 26th 2019)
It appears Fortis changed the version numbering of the bootloaders during the production run of these models. Later receivers have three-digit version numbers in stead of the usual two. Numbering starts at 1.0.0. As before, no bootloaders have been seen that support booting from USB.
The DP7050 is appearently intended as a low cost entry model; it is the only one with 256 Mbyte RAM and 128 Mbyte of flash, half of the other models.