Eaget X5 HD Player

I decided to collect high-def videos from online download and watching it on the TV (not on my computer) is the way to watch them comfortably. As you know, movies downloaded online come in different format (avi, mp4, mkv, etc..) and so a multi-format player is the only option if you want to play all movie types on the same player. Browsing over the internet, I came over the Eaget X5 player. It is actually a Full HD player, meaning it can support video resolutions up to 1080p/i. It supports 3 storage device formats - usb, sd, and mmc. I'm amazed that it can handle usb devices (even hard disk drives) with up to 2TB capacity. Being an HD player, it has an HDMI output aside from the ever-existing composite and component ports. It can play almost any video, audio, and picture files. The first time I played a 720p movie, I was impressed on how fast it rendered the images on the screen, tried a full hd movie and the result was a consistent play. I thought this would be my player for the next 5 years. Only a temporary disappointment for me was the subtitle display. On all occasions while playing a movie with a subtitle (.srt), only the first line was displayed in huge letters. In other words, it was a 1-liner display where you will miss parts of the conversations on a scene. I was glad it was just a firmware bug. I downloaded the latest firmware from the manufacturer's site..and voila! Problem fixed. Apparently, the firmware features minor bug fixes and some GUI enhancements. One problem still persisted though, the inability to turn-off subtitles, which I don't care because subtitles are meant to be there. If you don't want subtitles appearing, then don't include subtitle files in your movies.

So far, so good. I've watched every movie I throw in the Eaget X5, all of them played smoothly. One more thing though, the remote is Chinese labeled, but eventually I learned the control buttons. Also, don't expect the front panel to be an LCD display, it isn't.

You can download the latest firmware here: Eaget Firmware Download

PS: I paid around $80 for the Eaget X5, including shipping from Hong Kong to Philippines. Here is the problem: I paid another $35 when DHL handed the package to me, they say its the fee charged by the Philippine Bureau of Customs. Whether this fee is justifiable or not, Philippine government should check its agencies 'cause I'm pretty sure something wrong is happening there. 

Tip: When buying online, use EMS. I've been using it for the shipping of my online purchases and I only pay P40 pesos once the package arrives.

GlobeTelecom's BM622 Modem is Vulnerable

If you're of the first customers of Globe Telecom's Wimax Service, then you might own a Huawei Echolife BM622 modem.

Huawei BM622

I own one, and just recently I found out that it's hackable, meaning, you can get free internet even if you don't have any subscription. I said..'Really?'. So I made some research and found out that everyone is looking to buy this modem, even the disconnected ones. I dug deeper, until such time that I found myself navigating through the modem's restricted areas like the Admin Control Panel. I even changed my modem's Mac Address, and this is the part that got me baffled. Could we really change a code that is built into the hardware? Anyhow, I managed to changed mine with a Mac address "borrowed from a neighbor". Let's just say my neighbor's subscription is 1mbps while mine is only 512kbps. If all works out, my speed should be around 1mbps. Surprisingly, it did! So I was thinking, I'm not a hacker by nature, but I just made an illegal activity. By the way, I don't have any intention of keeping the Mac Address to myself, I'm happy with my current speed and I will continue paying for it.
I will not go into details about how I did the whole process, for obvious reasons. I just wanted to see for myself about the BM622 modem and it's vulnerabilities. True enough, it can be easily penetrated even by a novice computer user.  Globe Telecom, be warned.