Warning for Momitsu 899 and 799 and clones owners

[DrDavros]

It is not my intention to get these removed from the market.
But since the linux kernel is licensed under the GPLv2 they must adhere to the license and release the sourcecode.
They do not own the code.

The info screen of my Hiteker HTB-1026 says "Kernel version: 2.6.24.7_368-uclibc-brcm". That means Broadcom is using uclibc in their firmware. Uclibc is a library that is released under the Lesser GPL license. This means Broadcom does not have to release their source code. Check out http://www.uclibc.org/FAQ.html#licensing for more information.

[cliive]

Not everything in there is LGPL. Broadcom have gained a great deal by building on busybox, Linux etc and not having to pay. They eventually did the Right Thing with the WRT54G (when forced), and released the source and build environment for making custom firmware. It probably led to a lot of extra sales for them too. They don't have to release the source for their own front-end program (called app_player), assuming it has not stolen code from ffmpeg, vlc, mplayer etc. But it would be nice of them to do so, minus the DRM parts for DVD and Bluray even. As it is, they are cheating - taking from the hard work of everyone else, and refusing to contribute back.

[DrDavros]

I agree with you in that morally Broadcom is obliged to release their source. I really hope they will do that. But I suspect they used this LGPL licensed library to be legally safe in not having to release the (full) source code.

[newgen2005]

Slightly off topic I know but I noticed these players have SATA blu ray drivers? if the drive dies could a normal SATA drive be used?

[DrDavros]

Elsewhere, I read that the BR5005 drive indeed does use SATA for data, but that the power is provided by an old fashioned floppy connector. That would make it more difficult, but not impossible, to replace the drive.

[cliive]

not having to release the (full) source code.

That is as it should be. The LGPL allowed libraries to be used in closed software. But Broadcom has gone far beyond that. In particular, the core is based on Busybox, which is GPL, not LGPL. Broadcoms own app's are in /usr/local, and that part probably just uses LGPL code and was never required or intended to have source released. But what is really needed is not so much source, as the build environment.

[cliive]

drive indeed does use SATA for data, but that the power is provided by an old fashioned floppy connector.

I thought the old-fashioned floppies used Molex? You mean the new floppies with 0.1" pins? Mine uses neither.
Come on, it is utterly trivial to change the power connector. Don't you own a soldering iron??? Slightly more challenging would be attaching the long non-standard front part of the tray, that sits flush with the front panel. I tried putting a SATA DVD-player into mine. Was able to play avi/mkv files, but not a DVD-Video disk. Without any optical drive attached, the player would not even boot up.

[jman98]

I thought the old-fashioned floppies used Molex? You mean the new floppies with 0.1" pins? Mine uses neither.
Come on, it is utterly trivial to change the power connector. Don't you own a soldering iron???

Brain surgery is "trivial" for the doctor who has trained in it too, but I wouldn't say that just anybody can do it. I see this kind of comment all the time from people who have massive amounts of experience doing soldering, but I can tell you that most of us do not this kind of thing much if at all and it's hardly "trivial" for us to do it. I can assure you from personal experience that it's extremely easy as well with a soldering iron to completely destroy a piece of hardware by attempting to solder something when you have very little personal experience doing that.

[cliive]

Yes, soldering on a modern circuit board is tricky. But irrelevant.
All that is needed here is to splice two power cables. Strip the insulation (pocket knife of teeth will do), twist the wires together and tape it up. Solder is optional, and an eight-year-old could do it. There are also solderless clamps for joining wires.
More akin to washing a scraped knee and applying a Band-Aid than brain surgery. - in this particular case.

[Pandor]

Lets start this off.

serial bootlog: http://pastebin.com/1ySmt41u

# cat /proc/hwinfo
CFE_BOARDNAME:                  BCM97601 B0-SEC
CFE Version Magic Number:       0x00020114
CFE SUN_TOP_CTRL_PROD_REVISION: 0x74430010
Flash Type:                     NAND
Number of Flash Partitions:     25
-   Partition 0: Name: flash0.ucfe, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00000000, Size 0x00180000
-   Partition 1: Name: flash0.drmregion, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00180000, Size 0x00080000
-   Partition 2: Name: flash0.drmregion.1, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00200000, Size 0x00080000
-   Partition 3: Name: flash0.rawnvr, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00280000, Size 0x00080000
-   Partition 4: Name: flash0.macadr, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00300000, Size 0x00000090
-   Partition 5: Name: flash0.nvram, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00300090, Size 0x00000770
-   Partition 6: Name: flash0.virtual, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00300800, Size 0x000ff800
-   Partition 7: Name: flash0.cfe.0, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00400000, Size 0x00200000
-   Partition 8: Name: flash0.cfe.1, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00600000, Size 0x00200000
-   Partition 9: Name: flash0.vault-a, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00800000, Size 0x00080000
-   Partition 10: Name: flash0.rootfs.0, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00880000, Size 0x02800000
-   Partition 11: Name: flash0.vault-b, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x03080000, Size 0x00080000
-   Partition 12: Name: flash0.rootfs.1, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x03100000, Size 0x02800000
-   Partition 13: Name: flash0.vmlinux.0, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x05900000, Size 0x00400000
-   Partition 14: Name: flash0.vault-c, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x05d00000, Size 0x00080000
-   Partition 15: Name: flash0.vmlinux.1, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x05d80000, Size 0x00400000
-   Partition 16: Name: flash0.paniclog, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x06180000, Size 0x00080000
-   Partition 17: Name: flash0.cfelog, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x06200000, Size 0x00080000
-   Partition 18: Name: flash0.splash, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x06280000, Size 0x00600000
-   Partition 19: Name: flash0.syslog, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x06880000, Size 0x00400000
-   Partition 20: Name: flash0.psnv, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x06c80000, Size 0x00400000
-   Partition 21: Name: flash0.pstor, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x07080000, Size 0x00d80000
-   Partition 22: Name: flash0.bbt, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x07e00000, Size 0x00200000
-   Partition 23: Name: flash1.config, Base 0x00300000, Offset 0x00000000, Size 0x00100000
-   Partition 24: Name: flash2.all, Base 0x00000000, Offset 0x00000000, Size 0x08000000

Number of UARTS:                1
-   UART 0: Channel 0, Base_Address 0xb0400b00, Divisor 0x0000002c, Baud_Rate 0x0001c200, Data_Length 8, StopBits_Flag 0
DDR Bank 0 Size (MB):           128
DDR Bank 1 Size (MB):           256
Number of Ethernet controllers: 1
-   Enet Controller 0: MAC Address 0x00 16 fb 00 0c 39

# cat /proc/mtd
dev:    size   erasesize  name
mtd0: 00180000 00020000 \\"ucfe\\"
mtd1: 00080000 00020000 \\"drmregion\\"
mtd2: 00080000 00020000 \\"drmregion.1\\"
mtd3: 00080000 00020000 \\"rawnvr\\"
mtd4: 00000090 00020000 \\"macadr\\"
mtd5: 00000770 00020000 \\"nvram\\"
mtd6: 000ff800 00020000 \\"virtual\\"
mtd7: 00200000 00020000 \\"cfe.0\\"
mtd8: 00200000 00020000 \\"cfe.1\\"
mtd9: 00080000 00020000 \\"vault-a\\"
mtd10: 02800000 00020000 \\"rootfs.0\\"
mtd11: 00080000 00020000 \\"vault-b\\"
mtd12: 02800000 00020000 \\"rootfs.1\\"
mtd13: 00400000 00020000 \\"vmlinux.0\\"
mtd14: 00080000 00020000 \\"vault-c\\"
mtd15: 00400000 00020000 \\"vmlinux.1\\"
mtd16: 00080000 00020000 \\"paniclog\\"
mtd17: 00080000 00020000 \\"cfelog\\"
mtd18: 00600000 00020000 \\"splash\\"
mtd19: 00400000 00020000 \\"syslog\\"
mtd20: 00400000 00020000 \\"psnv\\"
mtd21: 00d80000 00020000 \\"pstor\\"
mtd22: 00100000 00020000 \\"config\\"
mtd23: 08000000 00020000 \\"all\\"

# nandinfo -d

There is 24 MTD type partitions
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd0: Size: 0x00180000 (001572864)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd1: Size: 0x00080000 (000524288)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd2: Size: 0x00080000 (000524288)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd3: Size: 0x00080000 (000524288)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd4: Size: 0x00000090 (000000144)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004000:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd5: Size: 0x00000770 (000001904)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004000:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd6: Size: 0x000FF800 (001046528)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004000:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd7: Size: 0x00200000 (002097152)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd8: Size: 0x00200000 (002097152)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd9: Size: 0x00080000 (000524288)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd10: Size: 0x02800000 (041943040)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd11: Size: 0x00080000 (000524288)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd12: Size: 0x02800000 (041943040)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd13: Size: 0x00400000 (004194304)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd14: Size: 0x00080000 (000524288)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd15: Size: 0x00400000 (004194304)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd16: Size: 0x00080000 (000524288)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd17: Size: 0x00080000 (000524288)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd18: Size: 0x00600000 (006291456)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd19: Size: 0x00400000 (004194304)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd20: Size: 0x00400000 (004194304)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd21: Size: 0x00D80000 (014155776)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd22: Size: 0x00100000 (001048576)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
No bad Block Found
Detailed MEMINFO Structure Values for /dev/mtd23: Size: 0x08000000 (134217728)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
type:       0x00000004: NAND FLASH
flags:      0x00004400:
Device is writeable
Erase size: 0x00020000 (   131072)
Page Size:  0x00000800 (     2048)
oobsize:    0x00000040 (       64)
Bad block offset 7f00000
Bad block offset 7f20000
Bad block offset 7f40000
Bad block offset 7f60000
Bad block offset 7f80000
Bad block offset 7fa0000
Bad block offset 7fc0000
Bad block offset 7fe0000

# mount
/dev/root on / type squashfs (ro)
none on /proc type proc (rw)
none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw)
/dev/mtdblock21 on /mnt/pstor type yaffs2 (rw)
/dev/mtdblock20 on /mnt/psnv type yaffs2 (rw)
/dev/mtdblock19 on /var type yaffs2 (rw)
/dev/mtdblock19 on /var/tmp type yaffs2 (rw)
/dev/mtdblock19 on /etc/config type yaffs2 (rw)
none on /proc/bus/usb type usbfs (rw)

Dump kernel:

# nanddump -f /mnt/removable/usba/vmlinux.0 /dev/mtd13

Dump filesystem:

# nanddump -f /mnt/removable/usba/rootfs.0 /dev/mtd10

[newgen2005]

What does this mean? is it a firmware dump? Looks interesting.

[Pandor]

the mtd's above are the interface to the nand flash. that way we can dump what is there.
Someone with a region free player should dump his nand so atleast we can downgrade.

mtd0, 7 & 8 are the bootloader. Best to leave those alone unless you want the upgrade/downgrade those for some reason.
mtd10 & 12 are the rootfs. the actual filesystem (squashfs image)
mtd13 & 15 is vmlinuz, the linux kernel.
mtd18 is the splash image at bootup. (yuv image)

i've quick look at where the region could be stored but no luck yet, maybe hardcoded in the app_player at compile time?

[newgen2005]

I have just brought a Maidston player with October 09 firmware (blu ray region free) How would I go about dumping the firmware? I have a PC running Windows 7 and laptop running XP but no Linux machine!

[cgmark]

Broadcom is in violation of GPL. For one thing they use FFmpeg for decoding some of the formats. I disassembled the program they use to play back content on the 7601 chipset boxes and it has numerous uses of FFmpeg and uses its code.


Example:
FfmpegAVMuxer::getAudioCodec
FfmpegAVMuxer::write(void *, unsigned char *, int)
FfmpegAVDemuxer::seekWithFlags(long long,int)
FfmpegAVMuxer::getDuration(void)
\


You can open up telnet on these boxes by running utelnetd, located in /sbin
just run it , no parameters needed , login is root, no pasword

To access the raw flash before it boots you need to press CTRL+C , BEFORE you see the lines
BUPE bootline< boot -elf flash0.cfe.0: >Loader:elf Filesys:raw Dev:flash0.cfe.0 File: Options:(null)


that will dump you to a CFE prompt
From there you can load custom kernels using NFS.

[cliive]

Only parts of ffmpeg are GPL. It can be used under LGPL . See http://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html . Do you have any evidence that Broadcom are using GPL'ed parts in their player program?

[cgmark]

Only parts of ffmpeg are GPL. It can be used under LGPL . See http://www.ffmpeg.org/legal.html . Do you have any evidence that Broadcom are using GPL'ed parts in their player program?

They don't even comply with the LGPL because they do not mention it is being used.
If someone just looked over the libraries in the firmware they would miss it. It is built into other applications rather than being called . On that list they break about 10 of the items listed.

[cliive]

> They don't even comply with the LGPL because they do not mention it is being used. You mean Broadcom, or the companies selling BD players using Broadcom hardware & software? Have you seen the kits Broadcom supply? Broadcom are only obliged to provide the information to their customers, not the end users.

[cgmark]

> Broadcom are only obliged to provide the information to their customers, not the end users.

They have altered the code substantially and not released the changes made to it. They also did not keep the libraries intact , instead ripping out core functions from libraries and using the source inside of their own applications as though it was originally part of their code. That is worse than just using the libraries without giving credit. They get away with it because there is no way to tell they are using it from just looking at the firmware files. It isn't until you disassemble them that you find things like:
X_BCM_7601.PORTING_TARGET_BCM_BD_CARD.release_pic/tools/ffmpeg/ffmpeg-0.5/libavformat/utils.


Personally I don't care if they release the source as I don't need it to do what I want. I'm replacing their crappy player application with my own and adding usb hard drive support of any file size. Currently my player only accepts 4GB files over USB but through telnet I can mount drives and use larger files so it is their player software that is at fault.

[cliive]

They have altered the code substantially and not released the changes made to it. .

How do you know that? They are only obliged to include a notice with the kit they sell to Momitsu etc, and offer to supply them the source for a reasonable fee. They have no legal obligation to the general public, unfortunately.

[cgmark]

They have altered the code substantially and not released the changes made to it. .

How do you know that? .

Because I disassembled the code and can see that what they have is not the same as what is in the FFmpeg source . It is like taking the best from someone else work and using it in your own and throwing away the rest. That is what Broadcom did with this. Anyone who knows mipsel processors and asm will spot it easily.

The requirements for LGPL and GPL are that you release the changes to everyone not just a select few. They do not have to release their other code, but the changes they made to FFmpeg should be released.

[cliive]

FFS, I mean the second part. How do you know they have not offered the source to Momitsu etc?
You are wrong about the GPL. See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

[cgmark]

FFS, I mean the second part. How do you know they have not offered the source to Momitsu etc? You are wrong about the GPL.

Just offering to momitsu doesn't comply.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


LGPL

You may convey a Combined Work under terms of your choice that, taken together, effectively do not restrict modification of the portions of the Library contained in the Combined Work and reverse engineering for debugging such modifications, if you also do each of the following:

Provide Installation Information, but only if you would otherwise be required to provide such information under section 6 of the GNU GPL, and only to the extent that such information is necessary to install and execute a modified version of the Combined Work produced by recombining or relinking the Application with a modified version of the Linked Version. (If you use option 4d0, the Installation Information must accompany the Minimal Corresponding Source and Corresponding Application Code. If you use option 4d1, you must provide the Installation Information in the manner specified by section 6 of the GNU GPL for conveying Corresponding Source.)



Part 6 of the GPL.
A “User Product” is either (1) a “consumer product”, which means any tangible personal property which is normally used for personal, family, or household purposes, or (2) anything designed or sold for incorporation into a dwelling. In determining whether a product is a consumer product, doubtful cases shall be resolved in favor of coverage.

[cliive]

Sorry, I don't follow. Where does GPLv2 say source must be provided to anyone who asks? I don't think it does.
You appear to be quoting from the wrong license - v3, not v2.

[newgen2005]

Here is the April 10 firmware if it is of any use to anyone!

http://www.mediafire.com/?vizhqqyneqqb3ba

[arglebargle]

Here's a warning of another sort.

Apparently, whether due to action taken against them for GPL violations or other reasons, Momitsu has completely exited the US market. You can no longer get their BluRay players anywhere in the USA, as far as I can tell; hkflix.com and xtremepcgear.com no longer sell them. (xtremepcgear still has the BDP799 on their site, but it's "out of stock," "discontinued," etc.)

I just had a Momitsu BDP799 die within the one year warranty period, and Momitsu told me, sorry, they won't do anything for me: Even though I'm within warranty, their story is that they're only in Japan and China now, and have "discontinued service" in the US. Scumbags. Will unfortunately be difficult to get a small claims court here in California to exercise jurisdiction over them in Japan or China.

On a somewhat related topic, does anyone have an idea of what (if any) Blu-Ray drive I could stick in my Momitsu as a replacement for the dead one? Would any old SATA Blu-Ray drive do, or would some be more suitable than others?

Thanks!

[cliive]

arglebargle, Where did you buy it? In other common-law countries you have a legal right to a warranty from the retailer, not the maker or importer. Is the retailer in the US? Does California not have such protection?

[arglebargle]

It was purchased from xtremepcgear, which provides a 30-day warranty; as a retailer, they're not required to honor the manufacturer's (longer) warranty.

[cliive]

30 days? That sucks. Consumer protection laws must be a bit too socialist for California tastes.

[newgen2005]

Here's a warning of another sort.

Apparently, whether due to action taken against them for GPL violations or other reasons, Momitsu has completely exited the US market. You can no longer get their BluRay players anywhere in the USA, as far as I can tell; hkflix.com and xtremepcgear.com no longer sell them. (xtremepcgear still has the BDP799 on their site, but it's "out of stock," "discontinued," etc.)

I just had a Momitsu BDP799 die within the one year warranty period, and Momitsu told me, sorry, they won't do anything for me: Even though I'm within warranty, their story is that they're only in Japan and China now, and have "discontinued service" in the US. Scumbags. Will unfortunately be difficult to get a small claims court here in California to exercise jurisdiction over them in Japan or China.

On a somewhat related topic, does anyone have an idea of what (if any) Blu-Ray drive I could stick in my Momitsu as a replacement for the dead one? Would any old SATA Blu-Ray drive do, or would some be more suitable than others?

Thanks!

I wondered about replacing the drive too, anybody know if a normal sata drive would do?

[arglebargle]

newgen, if you find the answer somewhere else, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could post it here! I'll do likewise.