Hacking Sasktel Max Interactive?
by devvyn on Mar.08, 2009, under hacking
So, here’s something fascinating to a geek like me that I started thinking about now that I’m back in Saskatoon (after a two-year stint in Niagara Falls). SaskTel runs an IPTV service called “Max Interactive“. They give their customers set top boxes made by Pace (model DSL4000 and possibly newer ones for HDTV since the launch of the service in 2003). IPTV itself is a specialized protocol but the box also uses a video on demand feature which is accessed through a web interface. (When the box calls on a video to begin playback, it uses some kind of internal resource scheme name but appears to call on an Internet resource.)
Okay, why is this fascinating? It implies that the set top box is fundamentally a computer playing videos from the Internet. This means that it can probably be tricked into playing videos from another computer on the network, and possible from the Internet. It also implies that with the right software, the Max Interactive service might not know the difference between a box and a computer since they both get video over ethernet connected to a regular DSL modem.
So, I want to do this but I don’t know enough of the specs on the box to understand what I can get away with. I also don’t know enough about the network activity the box is conducting to access the Max video streams. It may even be possible to download program listings on a computer, too.
A few people started up a promising discussion about this on a forum back in 2004. It seems they even started a small website with a wiki about these shenanigans. Unfortunately, the site looks defunct and the trail of information has gone cold.
Has anyone had success doing experimental things with the Pace DSL4000 or SaskTel Max?
March 9th, 2009 on 07:55
MPEG-TS over UDP (and maybe Encrypted). Make a bridge using another ether nic (USB nic?), get Mac version of Wireshark to dump and analyze packets that flows through your Mac. Use myTheater to view streams, if compatible, and might be able to decrypt using pluging for free PPV?
Spam Spam Spamm V_I_A_G_A M_AME _P_E_NIS LARGER! _CLI_CK HERE_ [Inserts pic of goatse to prove it makes it bigger]
March 9th, 2009 on 17:52
I was hoping someone had done the legwork recently. I found someone who listed the IPs and port numbers for the channels but VLC didn’t display video while receiving the stream. You’re probably right about the encoding.
http://www.hackcanada.com/canadian/scams/sasktelmax.txt
March 9th, 2009 on 18:41
Maybe it wont work as explained because the site has “scams” in the doucment path? o_O
March 22nd, 2009 on 21:53
Any luck?
April 7th, 2009 on 15:18
I put the project on the back burner. To do it properly I’d have to put my computer on the same subnet and use WireShark to sniff out the details of the traffic. Since the network and Max service aren’t mine, I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes if something goes wrong.
April 7th, 2009 on 15:23
A brief update (didn’t deserve its own post):
Rumours are circulating (from industry sources) that unencrypted signals are only going to homes with registered boxes that are non-HD. Hi-def signals are scrambled and I for one don’t feel like wading into that puddle of mud.
December 27th, 2009 on 19:15
so I already have a sasktel max in my house hooked up to a tv, is it at all possible for me to use watch sasktel max on my computer?
January 6th, 2010 on 00:52
From what I’ve heard more recently, many of the channels are now (or will be very soon) encrypted, which is why customers had to trade in their old boxes for the new Motorola ones. As such, it’s probably not feasible to receive them on a computer. In theory, though, the box is nothing more than a low-power computer running Windows CE Embedded. If you wanted to experiment, you could put your computer on the same network switch as your box and use a network packet inspector such as Wireshark. There are two problems. One is you have to tell the Max service to change channels, and the other is you have to intercept the traffic. Best of luck!
You could probably capture a decoded stream from an analogue source such as component, composite, or S-video, though.