Fusion Filesystem Reader

Summary

A program to read the filesystem of the Fusion FVRT100 PVR - a freeview PVR recorder sold in the UK. The program allows you to browse the filesystem and extract recorded programmes.

Since creating this tool, it has been discivered that it is able to extract recordings from many different types of DVB-T PVRs based on the Sti 551X chipsets - such as the Fusion Digitec 100/145/150/200, Thomson DHD4000, Bush IDPVR02, Digiality CX-302 and potentially others too.

In addition, the tool can replace and unpack the firmware of the Fusion 100 to allow for custom backgrounds and patching to add/remove features.

Download


Name Filename Version Size Date
GUI Extractor (Win NT/2000/XP) fusionvw_098.zip 0.9.8 115 KiB 27/8/2007
GUI Extractor (Win 9x/ME) fusionvw_097_w9x.zip 0.9.7 112 KiB 17/7/2006
Windows Command Line Extractor fusion_097.zip 0.9.7 81 KiB 17/7/2006
Linux Command Line Extractor fusion_linux_097.zip 0.9.7 317 KiB 17/7/2006
Mac Intel OSX Command Line Extractor (Experimental) fusion_osx_097.zip 0.9.7 58 KiB 11/8/2006
Firmware Utility fusionrom_095.zip 0.9.5 59 KiB 11/1/2006

Useful Links

Screenshots

How to Transfer Your Recordings to DVD

Filesystem Technical Information

The format of the harddrive is completely non-standard. It will not be recognised by Windows as it doesn't even contain a standard boot block to determine the partition types on the disk.

The default 40GB drive is split into two partitions, the first of 4GB (Standard File System) holds the configuration information, EPG stuff, preview images of recorded shows (+the database of recorded shows) + a few other config files. The software upgrade image is stored here. The cluster size for this partition seems to be 128KiB.

The second partition (AV PES/TS File System) holds the video data in a modified PES (Packetised Elementary Stream) format - the format is non-standard, and looks like it has been created in such a way to feed directly into a video processing chip onboard the PVR. Its pretty similar to an MPEG PES, close enough that the tool can recreate a valid PES from the recordings. The cluster size on this partition is 64MiB.

I've got more info (full information about FAT's and some of the file formats), but unfortunately I don't have the time to write it up at the moment....

History

In December 2004 I brought a Fusion Digitec FVRT100 PVR to watch and record Freeview programmes broadcast on UK DTT (Digital Terestrial Television). A friend asked if I could give him a copy of one of the shows I had recorded - this proved to be a problem as there were no supplied tools to transfer recordings to PC to be burned to DVD. I opened the case (voiding my warranty...) to discover that the box contained a standrard 3.5 inch hard drive. I plugged this into my PC, but quickly discovered that it was not in any standard format. I spent a few nights reverse engineering the filesystem, and discovering how the recording were stored. After which I wrote a small command line utility as a proof of concept. Using this I extracted the recording and burned it to DVD for my friend.

Due to lack of time it took me almost a year to get around to write this GUI version for Windows XP which seems to be the method that most people prefer to use. The command line version is still available and runs on both Windows and Linux.

I have successfully ripped recorded shows to my PC, and then burned to DVD. The video format broadcast on freeview is MPEG2 based which is the same as DVD - this means that you can record to DVD with no recompression of the original digital video signal - maximising the video quality.

Version History

Version 0.98

Version 0.97

Version 0.96

Version 0.95

Version 0.945

Version 0.941

Version 0.94

Version 0.93

Version 0.92

Version 0.91