# Mr Chill talking snowman head...hacking it to feed your own sounds.



## willoverlord (8 mo ago)

Hi,

I JUST BOUGHT A COUPLE OF THESE MR CHILL TALKING, SINGING, ETC...SNOWMAN HEAD. THEY ARE MADE BY A COMPANY CALLED MINDSCOPE. THEY HAVE A MINI OVERHEAD PROJECTOR PREPROGRAMMED WITH ALL OF THE STUFF TO TALK, SING ALONG WITH A PROJECTION OF THE FACE WITH FACE MOVEMENTS AND LIPS THAT MATCH ALL OF THE TALKING AND SINGING. HAS ANYONE EVER HACKED ONE OF THESE. I HAVEN'T TAKEN IT APART YET. BUT NO SENSE IF SOMEONE HAS AND IT CAN'T BE DONE. I THINK I WILL TEAR IT APART TOMORROW AND TAKE PHOTOS AND TINKER WITH IT. EVEN THOUGH IT'S A,XMAS ITEM. I WANT IT FOR A SCARY SNOWMAN PROP FOR HALLOWEEN. THANKS IN ADVANCE 

BILL WILL


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## BJS (Jun 28, 2015)

Bill,
Can't wait to see what you come up with. Disney does this with a lot of there animatronics with the projector in the neck. Cool to see it in a product.


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## willoverlord (8 mo ago)

Got it open. Attaching photos. This looks like a sinch. If you look close enough there's an sd card in it. So if i put my own should work fine. Now to figure out if i want to use the mirror or not. May take this little projector out and run it on one of those busts. More later. Oh yeah, got this for $4.99. They have 2 more and may go get the others.


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## BJS (Jun 28, 2015)

Any luck on the video settings?


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

I’m wondering too… what format is the video in?


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## willoverlord (8 mo ago)

willoverlord said:


> Hi,
> 
> I JUST BOUGHT A COUPLE OF THESE MR CHILL TALKING, SINGING, ETC...SNOWMAN HEAD. THEY ARE MADE BY A COMPANY CALLED MINDSCOPE. THEY HAVE A MINI OVERHEAD PROJECTOR PREPROGRAMMED WITH ALL OF THE STUFF TO TALK, SING ALONG WITH A PROJECTION OF THE FACE WITH FACE MOVEMENTS AND LIPS THAT MATCH ALL OF THE TALKING AND SINGING. HAS ANYONE EVER HACKED ONE OF THESE. I HAVEN'T TAKEN IT APART YET. BUT NO SENSE IF SOMEONE HAS AND IT CAN'T BE DONE. I THINK I WILL TEAR IT APART TOMORROW AND TAKE PHOTOS AND TINKER WITH IT. EVEN THOUGH IT'S A,XMAS ITEM. I WANT IT FOR A SCARY SNOWMAN PROP FOR HALLOWEEN. THANKS IN ADVANCE
> 
> BILL WILL


Well after looking over it. These snowmen heads have a recorded micro sd card. You just slide the metal cover to open, flip it up and remove their card. Then you can install your own with whatever video you uploaded on it. Now just figuring out how to best use this.


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## BJS (Jun 28, 2015)

I wish it was that easy. I got the audio to work but cant get any video to show up. I tried matching the original files but haven't had any luck. Anyone find a way to get the video to work?


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

BJS said:


> I wish it was that easy. I got the audio to work but cant get any video to show up. I tried matching the original files but haven't had any luck. Anyone find a way to get the video to work?


What is the video encoding format? Extension? That can be what is the issue. Also, there may be a length requirement. Can you read the SD card in your computer?


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## langolier (May 21, 2011)

Well i uploaded a 15 second clip but with no sound. I will try one with sound but i think the video is to sark. Here are photos of the beginning and then during the video.


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## BJS (Jun 28, 2015)

langolier said:


> Well i uploaded a 15 second clip but with no sound. I will try one with sound but i think the video is to sark. Here are photos of the beginning and then during the video.


Where can we find the video? What size and format did you use to get the video to work?


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## BJS (Jun 28, 2015)

Allen_Haunts said:


> What is the video encoding format? Extension? That can be what is the issue. Also, there may be a length requirement. Can you read the SD card in your computer?


I can read it in my computer. mp4 format. 24.1mb 320x240 684kbps Data Rate 50 frames a second 4:34 minutes long. There all different lengths and sizes but there frame rate and video size are all the same. I tried matching the size and rate but didn't have any luck with it playing. Any sugestions would be helpful.


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## BJS (Jun 28, 2015)

I even changed the names on the original and it still played just find. Not sure what you have to do to get it to be able to read a new video. Something in the formatting.


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

I think the error is in the frame rate. Somehow their encoding is showing up that way. 24 to 30 fps is standard. I had not heard of 50 fps but after doing some research I found that High Def video uses between 30 and 60 fps. I don’t think the video player in this prop is a high definition projector but maybe it is, I haven’t opened my prop up yet. Can you tell if the projector is a hi definition projector?

I would recode the frame rate to 30 fps and keep the 320x240 video size And see if that works.


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## BJS (Jun 28, 2015)

Allen_Haunts said:


> I think the error is in the frame rate. Somehow their encoding is showing up that way. 24 to 30 fps is standard. I had not heard of 50 fps but after doing some research I found that High Def video uses between 30 and 60 fps. I don’t think the video player in this prop is a high definition projector but maybe it is, I haven’t opened my prop up yet. Can you tell if the projector is a hi definition projector?
> 
> I would recode the frame rate to 30 fps and keep the 320x240 video size And see if that works.


If you look at the pictures above it is all "custom made". It has a screen inside I don't think it is hi def. If it was why would they be using 320x240. I have tried a few different settings. I got it to play the audio but not the video. I'll keep trying and see if I can crack it.


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

BJS said:


> If you look at the pictures above it is all "custom made". It has a screen inside I don't think it is hi def. If it was why would they be using 320x240. I have tried a few different settings. I got it to play the audio but not the video. I'll keep trying and see if I can crack it.


Sounds good, I’m going to crack mine open in a few days to check it out, the last thought I had is that some times it’s the header information that can trip up a player. Have you inspected that information? Can you recreate it in your new videos?


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

I wonder if this is the same setup as the Jabberin Jack pumpkins? I been considering picking up one with hopes of hacking a video file into it. But looks like it's easier said than done. I wonder if anyone outside the haunt community has tried hacking these?


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## JRunyon (3 mo ago)

Anyone made any progress on getting the formatting down so that it will play on the snow man projector?


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

Unfortunately, no. Mine wouldn’t play after I played around with the files. There must be some internal coding to prevent it. Still working to figure it out.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

BJS said:


> I can read it in my computer. mp4 format. 24.1mb 320x240 684kbps Data Rate 50 frames a second 4:34 minutes long. There all different lengths and sizes but there frame rate and video size are all the same. I tried matching the size and rate but didn't have any luck with it playing. Any sugestions would be helpful.


Any additional information available on the files? bit rate (I see 684K above)? codec? audio? author? description? etc? This (and more) info is usually available in an information / header tab. (Example in the Edit Project or Conversion tabs of VSDC) Not sure if all this file header info needs to match up or not?


AH -
If you have 'known working' files, and want to attach a small one here, I'd be happy to take a look. Though when you say 'wouldn't play after messing with the files' - did the whole thing quit playing or just the edited files?


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

corey872 said:


> Any additional information available on the files? bit rate (I see 684K above)? codec? audio? author? description? etc? This (and more) info is usually available in an information / header tab. (Example in the Edit Project or Conversion tabs of VSDC) Not sure if all this file header info needs to match up or not?
> 
> 
> AH -
> If you have 'known working' files, and want to attach a small one here, I'd be happy to take a look. Though when you say 'wouldn't play after messing with the files' - did the whole thing quit playing or just the edited files?


I copied the files to a directory and then loaded files in all different formats, bit rates and lengths.. nothing worked. I loaded the original files back on the SD card and they wouldn’t play. I have no clue why, except there must be something encoded in the controller chip on the player.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

So moving / copying the files effectively bricked it? Darn! It's sort of amazing they have these locked down so much. I've seen a number of other Chinese products where security should be higher, but isn't!

I know there are utilities out there which can make a bit-wise or bit-by-bit copy of drives, SD cards, etc. That might help, but you'd likely need someone with a working copy to get the 'original' bit structure.


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## Zeph (Oct 1, 2014)

It's not even "security" for the users (like preventing having a camera hacked), it just makes it harder (maybe near impossible) for us to change the videos. If they hadn't prevented us from making our own videos, they'd probably sell (a few) more of the units; they make their money selling the hardware after all.

Well, I suppose it prevents somebody from buying a unit, replacing the videos with something less um family friendly, and returning it to be resold - protecting the next consumer, the store, and the manufacturer. What else do they have to worry about, if they allowed us to show our own videos?

I wonder if the files need to be laid out in particular places on the drive? Like consecutive sectors so it could be accessed via raw reads, ignoring the file system? It _would_ be interesting to compare the original SD with the recopied one to see what differs.

What about just using the interesting super short throw projector hardware itself? Any chance it uses a standard on-wire protocol which we could use? That's getting to be deeper hacking, which fewer people can do.


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## stephen1424 (2 mo ago)

Anyone have any luck with these? The display connected looks oddly close to a raspberry pi display connector...


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## stephen1424 (2 mo ago)

Terrormaster said:


> I wonder if this is the same setup as the Jabberin Jack pumpkins? I been considering picking up one with hopes of hacking a video file into it. But looks like it's easier said than done. I wonder if anyone outside the haunt community has tried hacking these?


Can confirm the hardware is exactly the same. Going to take a crack at the video formatting in a couple weeks.


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## garrettmarscalendar (1 mo ago)

stephen1424 said:


> Can confirm the hardware is exactly the same. Going to take a crack at the video formatting in a couple weeks.


 Any luck? I just bought two.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

I haven't heard anything further. But given some earlier attempts to move/copy files seem to have bricked they system, it seems the first thing to try would be to make a bit-by-bit copy of the original SD card. Then try to get that copy working - and if it does - make changes/trials from there. That way, you always have the original / working copy to fall back to.


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## garrettmarscalendar (1 mo ago)

corey872 said:


> I haven't heard anything further. But given some earlier attempts to move/copy files seem to have bricked they system, it seems the first thing to try would be to make a bit-by-bit copy of the original SD card. Then try to get that copy working - and if it does - make changes/trials from there. That way, you always have the original / working copy to fall back to.


The first thing I did was make and image then reinstalling the card with no modifications. Device is bricked now. Image won’t restore.


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

The security is truly amazing on these. It is beyond my skill level or imagination as to what they set up. It just does’t add up for me as to why they would make such an effort to stop us editing the files.

The last and only thing I can think of is the disk format is different some how and when it is plugged into a modern windows computer it gets altered somehow. Maybe language mapping?

There even may be a script looking at the last read/write timestamp looking for a matching stamp?


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Yeah - that is crazy. Initially, I would have thought it would be just the opposite. They would have these generic 'heads' and you'd have a talking snow man, jack-o-lantern, Easter bunny, leprechaun, or what ever else, just depending on what SD card was slapped in.


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## stephen1424 (2 mo ago)

I finally got a chance to crack open my talking jack o lantern and it looks like they have moved over to a soldered-on ROM chip instead of the SD card we have seen (cheaper ?).
I'm not a master electronics hacker, so I am at a dead end.

I was thinking of trying to connect a raspberry pi to the LCD screen in the projector itself, but guessing it's not directly compatible.
The LCD is VERY basic, and you can even visually see the screendoor on the unit. I wasn't able to get a part number off it.

Guts of my unit:


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## stephen1424 (2 mo ago)

Allen_Haunts said:


> The security is truly amazing on these. It is beyond my skill level or imagination as to what they set up. It just does’t add up for me as to why they would make such an effort to stop us editing the files.
> 
> The last and only thing I can think of is the disk format is different some how and when it is plugged into a modern windows computer it gets altered somehow. Maybe language mapping?
> 
> There even may be a script looking at the last read/write timestamp looking for a matching stamp?


This is surprising to me, and I feel like the "security" is just a byproduct of some bad design or something.
I would be shocked if they put any effort into stopping us from altering them.


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## stephen1424 (2 mo ago)

Here is the info on the Flash chip.


https://www.arrow.com/en/products/k9f2g08u0c-sib0000/samsung-electronics



Looks like a cost thing compared to the micro SD option, you can get these 2GB parts for $1-2 a piece.


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## Allen_Haunts (Jul 26, 2021)

stephen1424 said:


> This is surprising to me, and I feel like the "security" is just a byproduct of some bad design or something.
> I would be shocked if they put any effort into stopping us from altering them.


My sentiments exactly, I can’t believe it either. I’m still stumped.


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