Firmware Updater Prerequisites

The firmware update tool must be run on a PC running Windows XP SP2.

The redThing/blueThing is updated via it's Ethernet interface therefore update tool must be run on PC that has an Ethernet interface.  You must connect the redThing/blueThing and the PC running the firmware updater to the same Ethernet network so that the two can communicate.

Revision history

V2.04 - 2nd May 2008

redThing and blueThing updates:

1. Minor bug fixes for TSL V4.0 and V3.1 TallyMan protocol support.

V2.03 - 23rd April 2008

redThing and blueThing updates:

1. Full UMD functionality now included.  Supports TSL V4.0 and V3.1 TallyMan protocol.

V2.02 - 14th February 2008

redThing and blueThing updates:

1. No longer shows safe area markers when in pulse-cross mode
2. Safe area marker positioning corrected for SD inputs
3. UMD text on web page no longer truncated
4. Support for extended character sets for European languages added
5. Network code modified for better reliability regarding ARP requests

V2.01

19th November 2007

redThing and blueThing updates:

1. Bug introduced in 2.00 firmware which results in horizontal shudder of output image for progressive inputs has been fixed.
2. Bug introduced in 2.00 firmware which swaps left and right channels on SPDIF output has been fixed.

3. When +/- buttons are used to force device to default IP configuration this change now over writes currently stored IP settings. When this feature is now used unit will retain the default IP configuration until it is changed by user, even if unit is reset or power is removed from unit.

4. Firmware update procedure improved to make more resilient.

V2.00

redThing and blueThing updates:

1. Fan control improved.
2. High temperature restart failure fixed.
3. Start up menu button RGB/DVI toggle mended.
4. White balance RGB (i.e. gain) controls added.
5. Pulse cross feature added.
6. Upgrader now able to recover from failed upgrade.

7. Picture positioning uses extra EDID data when in monitor mode.
8. Acknowledgement sent to applet when browser push button is pressed.
9. Re-wrote EDID handling to cope with no minimum monitor rate data block.
10. New IP stack improves Ethernet communication/web browser interface reliability.
11. On-screen menus put in same order as web control pages.
12. Local control enable/disable added to web interface (and reported on status page).
13. No caching now for all web pages.
14. IP settings remembered through an upgrade process.
15. Basic UMD controls added.
16. Horizontal filter modified to avoid narrow banding on sharp transitions. Improved SD up-scaling.
18. Improved SD vertical filtering.

blueThing only updates:

1. Audio extractor supports SMPTE 299M-2004 (i.e. works with less than 50Hz frame rate on 720P).
2. Auto recovery for out of spec embedded phase words (for 48K source) added.
3. Audio delay feature added.


V1.11

1. Minor layout change to status page of web interface

V1.10

1. Independent RGB Black balance (brightness) controls added.
2. On-screen display menus update automatically to changes made via the web browser interface.
3. Web browser interface updates automatically to changes made using the the on-screen display.
4. New Web browser layout includes status page plus a few minor format changes have been made.
5. Stability improvements.

V1.00

1. Corrects rise time of SD SDI loop out.
2. Corrects missing top line in some formats.
3. Corrects last pixel error.
4. Adds operation at 1080SF23.98 & 1080SF24 (60Hz output).
5. Improved YCbCr matrix to reduce ringing when viewing large chroma transitions.
6. Corrected initialisation error regarding 'auto' display mode if no monitor was connected at power-up.
7. Disabled the initial pop-up message 'press enter to activate control' on web browser.

V0.8
1. Improved vertical aperture.
2. Improved network robustness.
3. Fixed intermittent de-interlace polarity error.

V0.4

Initial production release.

Upgrade instructions

Overview

The firmware update tool must be run on a PC running Windows XP SP2.

The redThing/blueThing is updated via it's Ethernet interface therefore update tool must be run on PC that has an Ethernet interface.  You must connect the redThing/blueThing and the PC running the firmware updater to the same Ethernet network so that the two can communicate.

Upgrade Overview

Download the latest firmware update tool. The ZIP file that you download unzips to a single executable.  When this executable is run it will automatically detect any redThing/blueThing connected to the same network as PC and gives you the option of upgrading it to the latest version of firmware.

IMPORTANT During the update process do not switch the redThing/blueThing or PC running updater off or remove it from the network before the upgrade process is complete.  Interrupting the upgrade process could render you redThing/blueThing inoperable.  If using laptop to upgrade redThing/blueThing ensure that it running from mains power and not battery power.

Detailed Upgrade Instructions

1. Unzip the downloaded firmware update tool (usually achieved by right clicking, selecting "extract all" and then following the wizard instructions).

2. Shut down all other applications on PC running firmware updater.

3. Ensure Ethernet socket of PC running firmware updater is connected to Ethernet network.

4. Ensure that Ethernet socket of redThing/blueThing is connected to the same Ethernet network as PC running firmware updater.

5. Remove and reapply power 30 seconds later to the redThing/blueThing to be upgraded.  This is an important step as it ensures a consistent IP address during the upgrade process.

6. Ensure that no web browser is currently connected to the redThing/blueThing to be upgraded.

7. Start the firmware upgrader by double clicking on it.

8. When upgrader is started, depending on your network configuration, you may see the message below.  If you do, click on unblock to continue.

9. Wait until the relevant unit is detected i.e. its MAC address and IP address are displayed in the the interface of update tool as shown below.

Be aware that it can take up to two minutes for all MAC and IP addresses to be displayed.

10. Select the unit by single-clicking on its displayed details. This should result in the product name and version number being displayed on the 2 lower windows of the interface. 

To ensure that you upgrade the correct unit check that the MAC address of the selected unit matches that on the underside of the redThing/blueThing that you wish to upgrade.

11. Press the 'upgrade' button to start the upgrade.

IMPORTANT During the update process do not switch the redThing/blueThing off or remove it from the network before the upgrade process is complete.  Interrupting the upgrade process could render you redThing/blueThing inoperable.  If using laptop to upgrade redThing/blueThing ensure that it running from mains power and is not battery power.

If the unit doesn't require an upgrade a pop-up message will appear, saying so.

Upgrade process takes several minutes and during that time several windows will appear and disappear as various files are updated on your redThing/blueThing.

12. Wait until the pop-up message below reports that the upgrade was successful and click on OK.

13. By the time you click OK, the product version should have updated to show the new version.  At this point the firmware update is complete.

The list below is by no means an exhaustive list of panels that work with blueThing/redThing.  They are just the displays that we have had in our labs to be extensively tested.

Most displays on the market will work perfectly well with blueThing/redThing if the redThing/blueThing display size setting is left set to Auto, and the frame rate setting is left set to Follow input 60Hz which are the default settings.