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Home / MISC Areas / Mattel JuiceBox Mattel JuiceBox

Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) IHCLaxer Profile Well, yet another PVP has hit the market... But this time it's aimed at...kids? It uses a proprietary (not for long, hehehe..) video format, but there is an addon that lets the device use SD cards for MP3 AND PICTURES ONLY. The 3" screen looks pretty promising, some people find that small but I think they are fine. link: http://juicebox.com/home.aspx http://www.playthings.com/article/CA449668/playthings?industry=New+Products&industryid=1218 10-16-2004 20:13:03

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email I saw this thing at "Toys-sur-r-expensive" yesterday. Looks really cool for just $69 bucks. Man, when I was a kid my parents wouldn't even buy me a walkman...Now they make portable video systems. Jeez... pictures: http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/index.jsp?epi-content=PUBLIC_IMAGE_VIEW&newsId=20041011005273&newsLang=en&contentItemId=1177586 Apparently it uses "write-once" memory from Matrix Semiconductor for the "Juiceware" cards: http://www.matrixsemi.com/media-resources/press-releases/10-11-2004.html I'd be willing to hack this, but there really is no point since the GBA can already play movies on it's 3" screen (with the movie player shown below), which has much nicer resolution than this thing. Check out the GBA movie player: http://portablevideo.engadget.com/entry/2598485627337141/ http://www.lik-sang.com/info.php?products_id=3983&lsaid=322441 so for just $35 more you can own a gameboy advance that plays games AND has video, mp3, and much more. I guess we can look forward to finding these in the discount bin in about 6 months. 10-21-2004 10:18:26

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Miyu2005 Profile Strange. Target has it for 54 I think. Have a PDA that plays video without going nuts trying to figure out it format. Also will be looking in the as-is-where-is bin after xmas for it. 10-24-2004 19:51:56

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) bobm Profile I just got the gameboy movie player and it's pretty cool, I'm converting some Tivo shows for my son to watch on the (ugh) 17 hour flight to Hong Kong. 10-25-2004 15:10:13

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email I may actually buy one of these "for my daughter" LOL, but I'm not very good at hardware hacking. If the price drops below $40 before Xmas maybe some others may become interested. If not for hacking the video player, Figuring out the interface for the SD card->Juiceware to use the thing as a low-cost Mp3 player seems like a cool hack. 10-26-2004 14:10:32

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) amused Profile $35 is quite a premium when you're talking about a $60 toy. Also saw one today at Toys R Us and agree that it's pretty cute for the price. Video is choppy on fast-action sports or even videos. I actually like it as a cheap, simple portable photo album for the grandparents. It's a little chunky and I was surprised at how loud the speaker is. A nice hack would be allowing it to read SD/MMC photos without having to go through Mattel's software. The $25 for a 32 MB SD/MMC card kills the sweetness of the price. Anyway, looks like the next killer portable AV device will be the PSP. 11-01-2004 22:53:35

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) 87GNX Profile Hi to all, I just picked up one of these at Target, on sale for $54 with a free MP3 starter kit. I can't wait til my 4 yr old opens it on Xmas day, so we can start experimenting. I started to pick up another set for $54 (normally $59.99 for the player + $39 for the MP3 kit) just to bust open. So far, it seems the SD/MMC to Juicebox adapter is just a pin-out adapter. If I can successfully make an adpater to plug the Juiceware chip into a USB port, hopefully I will find some readable files there. Once we can get the video files copied to a PC, then the door may open up. This little device seems pretty solid for the $$$. I played with the store demo for about 10 mins, and was surprised at how decent the video and audio quality were (much better than the VideoNow color). I also already have the GBA Movie Player, and the video quality is about the same. The Juicebox has a MUCH louder speaker though. Open for suggestions here. If this thing does end up in the bargain bin, then why not gain from it????? 12-13-2004 08:54:13

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) 02U2 Profile Yeah, I saw these on sale at Target in the Sunday paper flyer. I might try and do a price match at Toys"R"us. I Refuse to shop at Target. http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/202988_salvation09.html "To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk" -- Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) 12-14-2004 11:32:04

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) dan67sf Profile I was waiting for these to go down in price and at our local Wal-Mart they are down to $23 and the mp3 kit is down to $9. At that price I had to pcik one up, I might pick up anther 1 or 2. Anyway I'm going to play with it to see if there is any way to play home movies on it, although I'm not holding my breath. They probably have some sort of odd format. I'll post any results I find, if anyone is interested. Dan 01-27-2005 14:07:20

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 1 times) Gultig Profile Hey, these look fun. http://www.ucdot.org/articles/05/01/24/1244222.shtml Seems to be running uClinux! Here's some info on the video format used on the box from the company that made it: http://www.emsoftltd.com/technology.html gultig 01-27-2005 17:33:54

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) m_bed Profile There were several of these in the clearance aisle of my local Walmart at $10 apiece yesterday. With only 2M of RAM it doesn't have much "general-purpose computer" potential, but I'm thinking it'd be cool to use as, say, the display for a car MP3 player or part of a digital dashboard project. Wasn't there an earlier monochrome version of this thing? Or am I confusing it with a competing gadget? Ran 01-30-2005 00:06:38

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Gultig Profile The B&W one that later came out in color was the VideoNow. It played cds that contained the video. gultig 02-01-2005 13:53:24

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Well, I went by my local Wally world today and get this, they had ONE. That's it. I wonder why mattel killed this thing so quickly? They had a crapload of Videonow colors whose video quality is absolute crap compared to this. So Im taking it apart and posting pics tommorow. As soon as I read the post about it running uClinux, I knew it had potential. 02-02-2005 21:10:59

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile crazy idea. since we know the JuiceBox has an adapter for a SD/MMC card, maybe it could be possible to hack it so that we could insert a PalmOne SD Wi-Fi Card for the Tungsten T5, T3 and Zire 72?? http://www.mobiletechreview.com/tips/PalmOne_SD_WiFi_card.htm Picture of the mp3 starter kit on Amazon.com http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0002TMY8U.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg They are about $100 on eBay 02-03-2005 08:44:53

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Okay, initial findings: 1: You can do a self test by holding down the REW and Play button on startup w/ or without a cartridge. This is due to the fact that the sample cartridge is just an empty shell. 2. The self test is basically LCD, Memory, Key test, Batt Voltage, etc. It also gives you the firmware version. On the LCD test it gives you a full character set page that indicates the resolution on the LCD is probably 240x160 or so. BAD THINGS: Two big ol' globs of Epoxy. Yep. I know it sucks, but here's the thing: one of the globs is probably the rom for the included content that is not on the card. The second appears to be sitting in an area alloted for the S3C44B0X, so im guessing instead of soldering the chip, the just epoxied the core instead of the the dip package. so this is really no big deal unless you wanted to get your hands on a cheap ARM processor. (maybe Im wrong?) I'll post pics tonight for any eagle eyed hackers...I saw a few test points, but maybe you guys can spot some cool stuff I overlooked since Im no hardware hacker. 02-03-2005 12:12:54

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile Dang, $35 at my WM, guess I'll get one from ebay. If u find em for $10 then ur lucky. -Wirelessly from my BB 02-03-2005 16:58:41

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile GWIZAH, i can post the files on linux-hacker.net if you get them to me. me 02-03-2005 18:14:37

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) m_bed Profile I have to go into town tonight or tomorrow, anyway, so I'll check Wally World for stock on these, and score a few if it looks like they're in danger of running out. If you can't find them locally, drop me an email, and I'll see about picking some up for you. Rather than get the Palm WiFi card, keep an eye on this one: http://www.dealsonic.com/cguyssdlink11b.html It's cheaper, and they're reportedly working on Linux drivers for it. I haven't checked for progress lately, but it sounded a couple of weeks ago like they might already be in beta testing. Howsomever ... it's very unlikely that the JuiceBox has enough oomph to make one go. By the time you spend that much money, the ZipIt starts looking pretty interesting in comparison. Ran 02-03-2005 19:50:59

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Alright here's a very rudimentary link with pictures and info: http://www.amorphousmedia.net/juicebox/juicebox.htm Please reply with any ideas. 02-04-2005 17:03:50

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) shiett3 Profile Today I picked up 3 of these for $10 at the local Wal-Mart. No MP3 Kits or carts, just the units. I found 2 lime green and 1 blue silver unit. Now here is the interesting part: 1. The blue/silver is the same internal as described by others and the same as the pics by GWIZAH. Board Revision: PVP-01 REV:02A 2. The 2 lime green is another story: a) The board layout is completley different and only has one blob for the cpu with nice solder pads all around. b) The ROM and SDRAM are not blobbed (small package solder roms). ROM: OKI R27V64020 SDRAM:S16004LK6TW-75AG. Has this text below rom/ram and board revision text: ROM (OKI) & SDRAM (8M) c) The unit actually claims to have 8M bytes of Ram not 2M bytes. The secret test menu on these green one has an extra step that show the total mem as 8M. "Ram Size Detected: 8M Byte" is what the screen show The Blue/Silver show "Testing first 2M Byte" during it's test. Opinions? Rom is still 8M byte but has a slightly different CRC than the blue/silver unit. d) Board Revision: VID-01 REV:05B2 When I have time I will try to take some picutures of this revision. Anyone want to host them as I don't have a place to post them. Shiett 02-04-2005 21:34:23

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) BigGreg Profile I just picked one of these up at my local walmart for $13, plus the MP3 kit for $16. They had lots of both. My Juicebox is blue and the innards corespond with the pics GWIZAH posted. Unfortunately while opening it up, I broke a tiny transformer or something along the edge and I no longer get any sound. I'm going to try to return it for a green one. Anyway, what I have to add: the SD adapter is not quite straight-through, but only has 4 smd resistors, 2 caps, and and inductor or something labeled L1. I can get pictures in the near future. The mp3 player software appears to already be in rom. I copied an mp3 file without the included software to the root of another sd card and the mp3 player comes up when power is applied. The normal demo comes up if either no SD card is inserted in the adapter or there are no mp3 files in the root directory of the sd card. I can also confirm that although they only advertise being able to read up to 512M SD cards, it was able to read and start playing an mp3 file off my 1GB card. I don't have enough on the card to say definitely whether it can access the whole 1 GB, but it can definitely read the card and the self test shows it as 1023 M byte. The device also complains if an mp3 is encoded at over 128Kbps. The mp3 starter kit comes with a cdrom with their software, a USB extension cable, a USB SD card reader/writer, and the SD to juice card adapter. The uCdot article above sayd that emsoft "has no rpoblem with the GPL source distribution requirements" -- so maybe someone can get some source and see if it's possible to boot from the cartridge or something. 02-04-2005 22:30:56

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Kickass...Im gonna hit up the other wal-mart and see if I can land one of the other board revisions. 02-04-2005 23:58:07

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) shiett3 Profile After looking at both revisions closer the main differences are in the rom/ram (northeast corner). The rest of the board on both seem pretty much the same. There is also an unused pad that is labeled "reset" on the back of the new board. It will need more scruntiny to see what all the differences are between the two major revisions. There is also a Red cased version floating around so I'm curious what that one houses. I'm also curious if the serial output is connected and can be tapped. This could give some insight if we can watch it boot and run. If time permits I may try to maps this out. Shiett 02-05-2005 00:20:35

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) shiett3 Profile More SDRAM in on the Lime Green version: It has 8M bytes of Ram vs 2M Bytes on the older revision: The SDRAM chip is made by Spectek. You can see a part number breakdown here: http://www.spectek.com/pdfs/SpecTek_SDRAM_DDR_Part_Numbering_system_old.pdf S16004LK6TW-75AG S -- Spectek 16004 -- 4x16 L -- 3.3v K -- 4k Sync 6 -- 4M x 16 TW - 400mil TSOP 75A - Speed This all jibs with the test menu ram test. BTW -- The test version is still 2.6 on the green models. The the Blue/Silver has a StarRam 1MX16T2 (1M x 16) SDRAM. http://www.dokin.com/cgi-bin/upload/home/datasheet/StarRAM_Sdram-1MX16-body.pdf Interesting stuff Shiett 02-05-2005 02:24:19

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) mscdex Profile | Email I might pick one of these up if we know there's some way it'll be hackable enough to where it'd prove to be (somewhat) useful. :) 02-05-2005 05:59:39

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Gultig Profile Just got a red one and the board rev is PVP-01 REV:02A. I didn't really see any difference in the packaging between the other ones, so I may just go back and pick up a green one to see if they all really are the 8 meg models. gultig 02-05-2005 11:38:17

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) BigGreg Profile I just picked up two more Juiceboxes from Wally-World. All they had were red ones and blue ones, so I grabbed one of each. As it turns out, the blue one is a 2M RAM version and the red one is a 8M RAM version. The other noticeable difference between the two is that the backlight (BL) connection is just soldered wires on the 8M version and has a connector on the 2M version. Just to make it a PITA, all the connectors are glued Since the "production test" version number is higher on the 2M RAM version, I expect they started with 8M of RAM, and realized they could make it cheaper by only using 2M. I've been probing around for a serial console, but haven't made any progress yet. Oh, the Juicebox also comes with one "chip" that's just an empty plastic shell -- assumedly to give the impression that the demo that's built into ROM is actually on the chip. There is also a very simple mechanical interlock on the power switch -- you can't turn the unit on unless there's a chip inserted (or you push the cover where chips are inserted slightly while turning it on. It also locks the chip in while the power is on. BG 02-05-2005 22:11:54

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) BigGreg Profile I just noticed the easily-distinguishable difference between the 8M and 2M versions. The 2M version has a small red power LED above and to the right of the top (<<) button. The 8M version does not have a power LED. With the power turned off (is in when new in the package) the LED just looks like a small hole in the case. There is no hole on the 8M RAM version. BG 02-05-2005 22:35:35

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) shiett3 Profile BigGreg, The pins for TxD0 and RxD0 should be as follows from looking at the data sheet. This is based on a 2M version. To orient yourself the starram chip should be on your left at the bottom left of the board. The cpu pins run this way: 120 --------------------- 81 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 1 ----------------------- 40 Pin 100 TxD0 Pin 99 RxD0 Look on the back (gold foil cover) and locate the very large grey resistor. About an inch above the foil (you will have to peel back the foil) you will find the pads for TxD0/Rxd0 (which are not connected to anything). Once you have located them the one on the left is TxD0 and the right is RxD0. I haven't had time to wire a rs232 (maxim) chip up to test this yet, but it looks to be the best bet. Let me know what you find. A few things I don't understand yet is that TxD0 and RxD0 share the pins with other functions and are not the default function. The whole CPU is that way with one pin capable of doing multiple thing depending on mode. The manual does not explain this upfront so you might take this all with a grain of salt. Any oneout there who can shed some light on this without me having to read a 500 page manual. CPU manual with pinout diagram. http://www.samsung.com/Products/Semiconductor/SystemLSI/MobileSolutions/MobileASSP/MobileComputing/S3C44B0X/um_s3c44box.pdf Shiett 02-05-2005 23:36:04

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) zerozero Profile I just ran out to walmart and grabbed two of these. I just couldn't resist the $13... Even if they can't be hacked, they seem like a great little MP3 player and digital photo frame. Unfortunately, the employees there are mind shatteringly stupid. I was looking for the MP3 Kit, and the employee and I had a conversation that went a little like this. Me: "Hi, you have these Juice Boxes listed as $35. I heard they were $13... Is that right? And, I was also curious to see if you have any of the MP3 Kits." Employee: "Erm... Go use the price-checker, I don't know. That over there is all we have for the X-Box." So sadly, I have yet to find an MP3 kit for either of my boxes. They were also out of video cartridges. Has anyone actually bought one of them to see what's inside? If it's possible to have a SD to Cartridge converter, I wonder if it's possible to have a Cartridge to SD converter in order to see what's actually on the chips in there. However, I can verify that the absence of a power LED is the way to find an 8MB box, I grabbed one of each version. There actually seemed to be MORE of the 8MB version at my local walmart. 02-06-2005 12:54:57

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) zerozero Profile Okay, I opened up my Blue "PVP-01 REV:02A" 2MB Box... I removed the screen from the case. Printed on the ribbon cable (facing the plastic) is: -------------------- GPM425A0 0818 A-KB480405 10 10-H -------------------- The other side of the ribbon cable says: -------------------- 307039412 Giantplus -------------------- I don't know if it means anything to anyone... I'm going to go google around a bit. 02-06-2005 14:25:22

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) zerozero Profile Apparently Giantplus makes LCD screens... http://www.giantplus.com.tw/ Good luck making any sense out of the site though. It's horrible. 02-06-2005 14:43:02

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) prpplague Profile a collection of information about the juicebox hacking: http://www.elinux.org/wiki/JuiceBox 02-06-2005 21:07:09

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Glad to see you prpplague...Im going on a walmart invasion tommorow to three spots to see how many I can nab. I figure at this price, if I can get the mp3 kirs I can just give them to my daughter and her friends if the whole hackin thing doesn't work out. 02-06-2005 21:56:34

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) j3000 Profile hey all, i'm new to the board. i'm not much of a hacker but i am interested in seeing where this juicebox can go. just wanted to let you know this past weekend was when i became interested in the possiblities of hacking the box when i went down to a super walmart and saw about 15 of these things on clearance for SIX dollars. i grabbed two, one green and one red (it was later that i found out those were the 2 with 8mb instead of 2mb like in the blue one). they also had i think 7-8 mp3 kits for $10 each. i got one. i didn't see any media clips though. the super walmart is 2 hours away from me, but after playing around with this thing and realizing how fun it might be to crack it open i asked my girlfriend to try to get me maybe one more player (blue) and mp3 kit because she goes to school down there. i had seen the juiceboxes at toys r us not too long ago (i think they were silver though for some reason...) and was interested, but the price was way high for what it was. i'm amazed at how fast they seem to be killing this thing off. i went by toys r us last night but it was closed early since it was sunday. instead i went to the walmart in my town, which only had the mp3 kits and a handful of top 40 clips. the clips were $11 and the kits were $21. i got one clip for fun. so if you are looking for a deal on these juiceboxes keep looking, you might get lucky and find some players for under $10 like me. 02-07-2005 07:50:35

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile So, it sound like the Lime Green unit is more desirable, then the other colors? Is that correct? Anyone interested in selling a spare unit, and mp3 kit that got on super-sale email me. Otherwise, i'll keep calling walmarts and stalking ebay. jsmmd / MethodicJon 02-07-2005 08:00:41

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) j3000 Profile jsmmd: not sure about the desirability of the green one, but i know that i personally wanted it more than the others. it's just a cool color. :p there also seems to be a grey one for sale that's "new" on some website, i forgot where i just saw it though. if there's enough interest, i can ask my girlfriend to get as many of the players and mp3 kits as she can down in the super walmart where i got mine, they are so cheap. i can then spread them around here if anyone's interested. let me know so i can tell her soon. 02-07-2005 10:42:23

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) newell Profile Good luck! I've checked at seven local Wal-Mart stores; they had 'em marked down to $13 on the closeout aisle, but all were sold out. A few things have really cooled my interest in hacking this box: It appears that there's no flash on board, so any applications will have to be loaded into sdram at each boot. Correct? It looks like many of the data lines on the CPU are shared with the peripherals. Kinda sucks to have a 32 bit arm and cripple it with a 16 bit bus, no? From my quick glance through the CPU manual, it doesn't appear that there's any serial bootloader (as on many of the Cirrus parts). Good thing it's got JTAG. -- newell 02-07-2005 10:55:59

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) zerozero Profile I'd definitely be up for buying one of the MP3 kits from you j3000... I can't find one in my area, and I'm stalking e-bay as well. 02-07-2005 10:57:21

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) zerozero Profile Just a thought I had for those software hackers out there with an MP3 kit... I have limited programming skills, so I could be way off base here but: If the source for the player is available, I wonder if it would be possible to create some form of malformed mp3 that exploits some (assuming that it exists and wouldn't take 3 years to find) software flaw, allowing code to be run off the SD card. 02-07-2005 11:04:21

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) chillywilly Profile Hey j3000, If you can still find them I would be interested in a player and MP3 kit. let me know at lema at nymc period edu thanks, ChillyWilly 02-07-2005 13:21:47

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile j3000, yes, tell her to get them. If we don't consume them, you can eBay them. At that price, you could sell it for double. (but sell them to us for cost! Wow, this site talk about how to remove epoxy. Sounds like a major pain. Check out this JTAG programmer. I know, I know wrong cpu, etc, but nice reference. 02-07-2005 15:13:31

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 1 times) Gultig Profile Anyone have the pinouts for the mp3 kit's cartridge to flash adapter? A nice pic would be great if possible. gultig -edit- Nevermind. I just noticed that there is info on it at the wiki. 02-07-2005 16:57:01

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email Color is irrelevent, I picked up a blue and a red juicebox, and both are the 8MB version. So, look at whether or not it has an LED for power. I first tried a walmart about 30 minutes away, but they were still $35 (marked $45). Typically that store has better selecton and prices than my local one. I hit up my local walmart last night and managed to find a red and blue juicebox for $13 each and a MP3 kit for $21 in the toy clearance aisle. I think the other store had the kit cheaper, but I wanted to make sure I had at least one and I won't be going back there for at least a week. Kind of a bummer on the price for the kit, but considering all you get it isn't too bad of a price. I couldn't find another MP3 kit or any juiceware chips, but found out they had the about a quarter of the regular clearance aisle full of juiceboxes (all marked $13, and all 8MB models). I decided that 2 were enough for me though. 02-07-2005 18:02:08

toysrus (modified 0 times) j3000 Profile just came back from toys r us, still full price for players there, but they had the gray ones. they also had blue ones, and i noticed at least some had the led hole. they also had the accessories, like the carrying case, car adaptor, power adaptor, and an ok selection of media. i picked up ninja turtles :p 02-07-2005 18:12:49

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) prpplague Profile jsmmd: "Wow, this site talk about how to remove epoxy. Sounds like a major pain. Check out this JTAG programmer. I know, I know wrong cpu, etc, but nice reference." removing the epoxy isn't viable, its part of the design. the only real purpose for removing the epoxy would be for replacement. the best way to replace the rom would be to cut the power and chip select lines and solder in a new rom. the Holly-Gates dongle and Jflash-linux are what i'm using to talk to both the JuiceBox and Pixter via jtag. gultig: "Anyone have the pinouts for the mp3 kit's cartridge to flash adapter? A nice pic would be great if possible" i finished the pinouts for the external socket and are at: http://www.elinux.org/wiki/JuiceBoxConnector . i also added a pic to the JuiceBoxMMC wiki page: http://www.elinux.org/wiki/JuiceBoxMMC . as you can see from the photo, it has just a couple caps and resistors onboard, and no "electronics" per se .the socket is great for prototyping, you solder .1" right angle headers to the cardedge and use it with off the shelf protoboards (i.e. from *cough* radioshack). the mmc cart is using standard SPI interface so you could technically add several devices using the SPI interface in conjunction with some of the GPIO's. prpplague 02-07-2005 20:28:24

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email Interesting, looks like I'm taking apart my blue one first, seems to the most different from the ones posted. I'm curious what your production version and ROM check sums are, and whether or not you have an extra button press to display 8MB RAM during mem test(Testing first 2MB.. then 8MB RAM) Mine: Blue: Production Test: 2.2 Checksum: 2DB1D6A6 Extra Press: No (lasts 1 second on 2MB test screen) Red: Production Test: 2.6 Checksum: 26584d02 Extra Press: Yes (intermediate text after play is pressed, too fast to read) 02-08-2005 15:52:37

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 1 times) Tom61 Profile | Email Opened up my blue one (no LED). Label on the PCB: PVP-01 REV:01B ROM(OKI)&SDRAM(8M) Only difference, other than the lack of LED and different label on PCB, between mine and the one GWIZAH posted pictures of is that mine has different RAM chip. Has an 'S' cut out of a diamond for the logo and is labeled: EF 0423 SI004LK6TW 75AG Tried to take pics of it using my brother's digital camera, but you can't make anything out. Also, when trying an old MP3Pro file (that format died quick) at 80Kbps my blue one will play it at 128Kbps, while my red one will put up an box saying 'Sample is not 44kHz'. When playing a 196Kbps MP3 file, it sound slow on my blue one (like it's playing at 128Kbps), but is fine on my red one. I lost the menu button for my blue one, so I'm holding off on taking apart my red one until later. 02-08-2005 19:05:14

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) prpplague Profile Tom61: is the ROM chip a CoB as well or is it an actual OKI flash chip? thanks 02-08-2005 20:35:09

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) shiett3 Profile prpplague: The 8Mb has a OKI MR27V6402D 4M x 16 / 8M x 8 OTP ROM. To bad it's not a flashrom. Tom61: The ram chip is as follows: he SDRAM chip is made by Spectek. You can see a part number breakdown here: http://www.spectek.com/pdfs/SpecTek_SDRAM_DDR_Part_Numbering_system_old.pdf S16004LK6TW-75AG S -- Spectek 16004 -- 4x16 L -- 3.3v K -- 4k Sync 6 -- 4M x 16 TW - 400mil TSOP 75A - Speed Shiett 02-08-2005 21:01:52

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) prpplague Profile shiett3: so the ROM is a 44-pin SOP package? my main board is labeled PVP-01 REV-02A, so the question is, are the ones with the bigger ram newier or older? 02-08-2005 21:57:51

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) s8animator Profile | Email Does anyone know what video format they use? They claim it's proprietary but some articles I've read hint toward MPG4...the video quality has me doubting that though. More of a DYUV caliber, I'd guess. Any ideas? 02-09-2005 01:04:02

crap!!!! (modified 0 times) j3000 Profile bad news, my girlfriend went to walmart last night to clean house, and they had already sold all of the juicebox stuff we saw this past weekend! i regret not buying more, but i figured 2 players and 1 mp3 kit would be enough for me. sorry guys. :/ 02-09-2005 07:19:33

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rockhammer Profile | Email I picked up one of these with the MP3 kit yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised with the sound quality on MP3 play back. But man, the video quality sux. I can see why they ended up in the bargin bin. On the plus side, the quality on still pictures is pretty good. Anyway, my nine yo son is having fun with it. The ability make your own videos would be nice. I wonder if the quality issue stems from overcompression to make the videos as small as possible or if processor power is the limitation. 02-09-2005 10:51:25

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rockhammer Profile | Email I wonder if the video files could be H.264 format. The EMsoft people seem to be very excited about it in this white paper. http://www.bbriefings.com/pdf/744/wire041_emblaze_tech.pdf The H.264 codecs and some sample clips can be had here: http://www.videosoftinc.com/downloads.html 02-09-2005 13:01:06

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rygo Profile hey there guys. went out to wal-mart today and got 5 units @ $10 each. 1 blue, 4 greens. BUT, the interesting thing is, on the backside of one green unit, the picture is not green but white. I haven't been able to spot the LED you guys are talking about, but I also havent opened any of them. I would love to trade a unit for an mp3 kit, if anyone is interested. e-mail me at colinfuller@charter.net do you guys think it will be possible to use this as a mini-pc? howabout a car mp3 player? and what kind of battery life does it get? li-ion or aaa? 02-09-2005 14:58:44

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rygo Profile found the LED hole, and paid attention and saw it was AA/ac adapter. the adapter is 4.5v, probably have one around the house that'll work the applications I see for the device are.. car mp3 player (hook it up to your in-car speakers and power supply) but being max 128kbps kinda sucks (perhaps a workaround could be found) emulator (although buttons would be a serious issue, you would only be able to play certain types of games) for everquest, there's a program called showEQ that reads your packets and displays information about the area you're in (enemies etc). this would be a handy and cheap way to have that functionality what other ideas do people have? 02-09-2005 15:36:57

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email "Tom61: is the ROM chip a CoB as well or is it an actual OKI flash chip?" It is a chip blob. Larger than normal, nearly touches the RAM chip. Thanks for the info on the RAM, shiett3. "so the question is, are the ones with the bigger ram newier or older?" I think they may have went with what was cheaper or more availible, so RAM size may vary during the production cycle. "being max 128kbps kinda sucks (perhaps a workaround could be found)" I just tried a 196Kbps file on my two (the file I thought previously to be 196K, was really 128K), the red complains 'Sample exceeds 128Kbps', whereas my blue one plays it fine. Is it possible to extract a rom image using the JTAG pins? The image from my blue could be useful. 02-09-2005 16:47:14

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 1 times) Rockhammer Profile | Email Not sure if this has been documented before, but pressing the asterisk key while at the MP3 player main screen yields the following on my blue/no LED unit: MP3 VERSION 1.0.2 FRIMWARE VERSION 2.0.8 AUTO REPEAT ON OFF (set to off by default on mine) ABOUT BUILD 040806215450 Clicking on "about" gives copyright info on the MP3 player. 02-09-2005 17:19:20

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email Interesting find Rockhammer. My blue one (no LED) reports the exact same version and build as yours. You should be able to play greater than 128K on it. I don't have too many MP3s anymore (moved to WMA personally), so you might want to try some and report back. My red/silver one reports(keep in mind this is the version that can't play anything other than 128K MP3): MP3 Version: 1.0.5 Firmware version: 2.0.8 Build: 040812232933 My blue one's about screen has: 'Copyright 2004 Mattel All rights reserved Juice Box is a trademark owned by Mattel, Inc. MP3 Player software Copyright 2000-2004 Emsoft Ltd. All rights reserved' The red only has 'MP3 Player and Photo viewer for Mattel by Emsoft Ltd.' Makes me wonder if they had to trim it down for space. On Ebay, I'm noticing that some sellers are showing a stock photo (i.e. not the real item, from a website) of the red player with black buttons and a red bottom. Anybody seen red ones like this? All the red ones I've seen have had silver buttons and bottoms. The stock photos for blue and green show silver bottoms and buttons. 02-09-2005 18:28:06

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 2 times) shiett3 Profile prpplague: The datasheet can be found here: http://www2.okisemi.com/site/productscatalog/rom/64megp2roms/Intro-8215.html (Please note I made a type in the rom as it is a R27V6402G and not D) The rom is 48 pin tsop. The ram chip is SOP which contradicts the chip breakdown documentation I wrote about earlier (vs 400 mil tsop) I propose the everyone post the following information to help flesh out version type: (mine are below) Serial Number (Located on back of unit below "Mattel, Inc.) Production Test Version (Press both rewind and play and turn on unit) MP3 Version (Press * while mp3 stopped) Board Rev / Production Test Version / Rom Checksum / Serial / Amount SRAM / MP3 Version / MP3 rmware / MP3 Build / SRAM Chip / Rom Chip / Color / PVP-01 REV: 02A / Ver 2.6 / 26584D16 / 2584 EA / 2Mb / 1.0.5 / 2.0.8 / 040812232933 / StarRam 1MX16T2 / Epoxy Blob / Blue-Silver (LED) VID-01 REV: 05B2 / Ver 2.6 / 26584D02 / 2464 EA / 8Mb / 1.0.5 / 2.0.8 / 040812232933 / Spectek S16004LK6TW / OKI R27V6402G / Lime Green-Lime Green VID-01 REV: 05B2 / Ver 2.6 / 26584D02 / 2434 EA / 8Mb / 1.0.5 / 2.0.8 / 040812232933 / Spectek S16004LK6TW / OKI R27V6402G / Lime Green-Lime Green It it looking like the 8Mb version were the earlier revisions based on serial number and that my mp3 player is all the same version. I noticed that Rockhammer's version for the player is 1.0.2 so it will be interesting to find out where it lands in this list. It also seems the software that comes with the MP3 kit will not recognize the SD card if it been formatted by windows as it format to fat16 and the SD card is fat12 stock. I haven't had any luck with the "you must put in the juicebox to mark it for future use" thing. You can of course just drop mp3 files on the card if it's fat16 but not pictures as the software converts them into a new format. 02-09-2005 18:48:26

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 2 times) shiett3 Profile Ignore the above about the SRAM chip not being 400 mil tsop. It is now that that I have done more research on the matter. The Spectek breakdown is correct. The serial number I mentioned above may be a production run. Only time will tell. P.S. Anyone know why the board denies editing your previous posts? Shiett 02-09-2005 19:08:50

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rockhammer Profile | Email Mine is: Serial Number: 2394EA Production Test Version: 2.2 MP3 Version: 1.0.2 And yes, it plays >128k mp3s just fine. Shiett: I believe you have about 1 min to edit your post before it is locked. 02-09-2005 20:18:08

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) prpplague Profile shiett3: yea thanks i already found the datasheet, thats why i was amazed that it was a TSOP package. these boxes with tsop packages should be easy to upgrade. tom61: "Is it possible to extract a rom image using the JTAG pins? The image from my blue could be useful." yep pulled an imaged off via jtag last weekend but haven't had time to do any work on it i'll post my box specs as soon as i can 02-09-2005 20:58:58

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile administrative aside I'm a moderator for News and a few other areas. If you botch a post, post another message in this thread. Quote your incorrect statement, then type the new statement. I'll fix it for ya'. (Gotta' make it clear for me, or I'm not going to try to mess with the old post.) Also, if you put a \ before a url, it becomes clickable. If not I have to go back and put it in for ya.. 02-09-2005 21:15:15

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) prpplague Profile jsmmd: just out of curiousity, do we have enough traffic for this item to start a new group area? thanks prpplague 02-09-2005 21:19:50

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) BigGreg Profile Here's the lowdown on my 2 juiceboxes. The first one can play a variable bitrate mp3 that starts at 196kbps while the second puts up a ! symbol and a warning saying "sample exceeds 128kbps" and will not play it. Seems like the earlier version is more capable. My Red may be an especially early version since it looks like they hadn't even started numbering the mp3 firmware version yet (it literally says "A.B.C"). Board Rev / Production Test Version / Rom Checksum / Serial / Amount SRAM / MP3 Version / MP3 rmware / MP3 Build / SRAM Chip / Rom Chip / Color / VID-01 REV 05B2 / 2.0 / 2EC5940A / 2454EA / 8M / 0.1.1 / A.B.C / 040731031050 / Spektek S16004LK6TW / Oki R27V6402G / Red and Silver PVP-01 REV:02A / 2.6 / 26584D16 / 2574EA / 2M / 1.0.5 / 2.0.8 / 040812232933 / StarRAM 1MX16T2 / epoxy / Blue and Silver I stopped at WM quickly today just to see if pricing has changed, and they still have quite a few JB's and MP3 kits for $13 and $16. My quick shuffling through the racks looked like all the JB's remaining had power LED's and thus are likely 2M epoxied versions. BG 02-09-2005 22:09:53

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) TekGecko Profile I just picked up two JuiceBox's myself at Walmart for $5/e and a Mp3 kit for $5 as well. Its good to see alot of people interested in hacking this sucker, for $5 it'd be a cool toy :) Ive got a red unit, 8mb ROM & 8mb SDRAM - Production Test Ver 2.2 - 02-10-2005 02:03:37

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile prpplague, just out of curiousity, do we have enough traffic for this item to start a new group area? Your wish is granted. Thank you codeman! 02-10-2005 08:05:04

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile Well, mine is on the way thanks to eBay. If someone find a mp3 player for $13-15 at WM, please let me know. It's $35 at mine, I'll gladly pay a few $$ for your time. 02-10-2005 08:11:25

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) KD5UZZ Profile I've got one 8m RAM version, and my WM has a few more, though most are 2m versions. A few others in my area have picked them up as well. The only thing I can't find is an MP3 kit. Has anyone created a scematic of the SD adaptor? I found a few vid cards and figure I can use the edge connector from one of those to build an adaptor. What's the chance of being able to replace the ROM w/ a flash? I've got access to some SMT gear and, more importantly, someone who knows how to use it . Has anyone thought of using this as an ebook reader? Maybe even mod it so an SD card could be stored inside the device. I've taken my apart but I wasn't looking to add an internal SD card at the time. -Daniel KD5UZZ http://www.w5yj.org 02-10-2005 08:48:22

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) prpplague Profile KD5UZZ: "Has anyone created a scematic of the SD adaptor? I found a few vid cards and figure I can use the edge connector from one of those to build an adaptor." the cardedge info is at http://www.elinux.org/wiki/JuiceBoxMMC the mmc socket simply uses the spi interface. if you would like to do some mmc prototyping and cannot find the MP3 kit, you can look here for some info: http://www.elinux.org/wiki/MMC "What's the chance of being able to replace the ROM w/ a flash?" i've already experimented with replacing the onboard rom with a flash chip and this appears to work, however, the main probably is fitting it in the case, i'm currently working on a procedure for doing this. to disable the COB rom chip, just cut the VDD,VSS and chipselect lines to the COB rom, then solder in a flash chip matching the address,data, and control lines. if you'd like to look at some schematics for using flash with the S3C44BOX you can look at this development board - http://anyway.no-ip.org:8080/ep/44B0db/44B0db.htm which i have on a reasonably good authority was used early in the development for the juicebox. "I've taken my apart but I wasn't looking to add an internal SD card at the time" just to clarify something, although the MP3 kit ships with a SD card, the actual cartridge used with the juicebox is wired for MMC, so the SD is running in SPI MMC mode. thanks prpplague 02-10-2005 09:56:02

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) newell Profile I wonder...would it be feasible to use the JTAG port to load a tiny bootloader into sdram, then have that bootloader to pull code in from a MMC? Make the bootloader small enough, and maybe it could be shoved into something like an 8 pin microcontroller (PIC, AVR, whatever). The micro (at boot) could grab the CPU, wiggle the JTAG lines to load the bootloader, and then we're off and running. Not sure if the micro would need to init the CPU chip selects, port pins, and other config stuff, or if we could delay at powerup and let the code in ROM handle that for us. Thoughts? 02-10-2005 10:24:12

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) prpplague Profile newell, "I wonder...would it be feasible to use the JTAG port to load a tiny bootloader into sdram, then have that bootloader to pull code in from a MMC? Make the bootloader small enough, and maybe it could be shoved into something like an 8 pin microcontroller (PIC, AVR, whatever). The micro (at boot) could grab the CPU, wiggle the JTAG lines to load the bootloader, and then we're off and running. Not sure if the micro would need to init the CPU chip selects, port pins, and other config stuff, or if we could delay at powerup and let the code in ROM handle that for us." this is doable, however, the amount of effort needed to accomplish this far exceeds the amount of effort to simply replace the ROM with flash and replacing with flash provides much more functionality. prpplague 02-10-2005 10:44:39

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Hey Im willing to pay for extra Juiceboxes (8 meg version) or any extra Mp3 kits you guys may have laying about. Down here in Miami every walmart Ive been to has been completely cleaned out. I did manage to score a Robosapien yesterday for $43 bucks on clearance :) 02-10-2005 10:50:02

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) newell Profile "this is doable, however, the amount of effort needed to accomplish this far exceeds the amount of effort to simply replace the ROM with flash and replacing with flash provides much more functionality." Absolutely! But what about the boards with COB ROM, instead of TSOP packaged ROM? I don't see empty pads for a TSOP device in the board images at: http://www.amorphousmedia.net/juicebox/juicebox.htm Are the pads on the PWB, just not in this image? On the other side of the PWB? BTW, does anyone know which audio codec/dac is on board? (Sorry, I've got JTAG on the brain lately...unhappy with my Olimex wiggler clone, I've been trying to determine if there's enough non-NDA info floating around to interface and debug the ARM7TDMI-S core chips, such as the LPC21xx microcontrollers I've been playing with lately...) 02-10-2005 11:37:12

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) TekGecko Profile For all you JuiceBox hackers out there check out these new forums that have been established for discussion specific to the JuiceBox as well as free hosting for anyone working on cracking this little toy. So if you've made progress but need a place to post results, files, whatever - zip me an email. jason@geckobox.net http://juicebox.geckobox.net/forums 02-10-2005 14:21:32

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rockhammer Profile | Email I'm not sure if they are all like this, but my juicebox (PV2.2/blue/no LED) has more memory test screens than are shown on the http://www.amorphousmedia.net/juicebox/juicebox.htm webpage. Mine has the following: SD/MMC Test (two pages of info) ROM Test SDRAM Test Cartridge Test I can post screen shots if anyone cares to see them. Interestingly the Cartridge Test page show four instances of Cartridge Not Found. I wonder if this is a hold over from an early prototype with four cartridge slots? For the newbies, the test screens are accessed by holding down the play and rewind buttons during power-up. The guys over in the forum on hacking the CVS One-time-use digital cameras call the equivalent trick on the cameras "the Vulcan nerve pinch", or just "the pinch" for short. Should we adopt this phrase or come up with something different? 02-10-2005 20:24:06

Anyone want an MP3 kit for a Box? (modified 0 times) docman Profile Hi all! Just joined, this looks like a fun thing to tinker with! I just found 2 mp3 kits tonight at the walmart here, but no box in sight, doh! Would anyone with an extra juicebox be interested in trading for ther mp3 kit? (Maybe I'd throw in a few extra bucks, not sure how much the median cost has been. I got my mp3 kit for $15, so maybe someone willing to give up an extra box for the same price might step up?) Otherwise I'll happily send someone the extra kit for my cost, but I need to get the actual hardware before I can do anything :) cheers.. 02-10-2005 23:03:26

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rygo Profile i will trade a kit for an mp3 set e-mail colinfuller at charter dot net 02-11-2005 00:14:41

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email Damn, I only have one Juicebox and no Mp3 kit. Email me at gwiz1dam *** gmail.com if anyone gets any more. Just remove the 3 *'s. 02-11-2005 16:38:17

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) kwoodall Profile I have a spare MP3 kit but no Juicebox! Anyone looking to trade an extra NIB Juicebox - drop me an email! kermit AT novadesign DOT com 02-11-2005 22:30:59

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Gultig Profile Ok, so I bought the last MP3 kit from my local walmart, but someone had already helped themselves to the SD card in the package. I have a spare PQI brand 32MB SD card that I cannot get to work for me in the juicebox. It just always plays that damned intro. I've tried reformating it several times in XP and tried all combinations of mp3s I could get my hands on. Anyone have any ideas about this? I'd really like to see it work. 02-12-2005 02:28:19

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) KD5UZZ Profile Gultig, I think you need to have the SD card formated FAT12. I have NO idea how to format as FAT12 under WinXP though... -Daniel KD5UZZ www.w5yj.org 02-12-2005 02:59:29

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) 87GNX Profile Wow.... The last time I visited this thread, (mid December)nobody seemed interested in making the JuiceBox do more than it does out of the box. I just thought I would check back to see if anyone had posted anything new, and BAM!!!!, a whole new discussion area has been created. After already being pleased with the JuiceBox & MP3 kit that I paid $54 for before Xmas, (my 4 yr old son doesn't put it down often) when I saw that you guys were picking them up for around 10 bucks each I had to check Walmart myself. Came away with a solid green one (ie, not silver on the back) for $13. Sweet. Following shiett3's info, here are the specs of mine: Board Rev / Production Test Version / Rom Checksum / Serial / Amount SRAM / MP3 Version / MP3 firmware / MP3 Build / SRAM Chip / Rom Chip / Color / PVP-01 REV: 01A / Ver 2.6 / 26584D16 / 2514 EA / 2Mb / 1.0.5 / 2.0.8 / 040812232933 / StarRam 1MX16T2 / Epoxy Blob / Red-Silver (LED) VID-01 REV: 05B2 / Ver 2.6 / 26584D02 / 2454 EA / 8Mb / 1.0.5 / 2.0.8 / 040812232933 / Spectek S16004LK6TW / OKI R27V6402G / Lime Green-Lime Green Mattel must have a bunch of greasy fingered assemblers putting these things together in the factory. Both of mine had MANY distinctive fingerprints inside the units, mostly on the copper shield on back of the main board. Maybe they ate KFC for lunch or something. Anyway, I've played around with the Videosoft codecs, and got nothing regardless of how I encoded the sample videos tested. All attempts were made using 240x160 res @ 5-10fps, most with the H.264 codec. I'm pretty sure there must be some sort of loader or extra file structure on the Juiceware chips, for the fact that every one I've seen has a menu. Both units will play MP3s on FAT16 formatted SD cards as long as they're 128kbps. Also tried just about every other similar audio codecs out there, of which none showed up or played. Something that struck my interest a few weeks ago was when I read that Matrix Semiconductor also creates the memory used in the Nintendo DS and the Mattel Megaman PET. http://www.themodgods.com/2004/12/showing-nintendos-cards.htm I've stalked this BBS for awhile, getting info for hacking several other devices, and am glad to see that everyone has picked up this one to toy with. Especially since Mattel killed it so quickly. 02-12-2005 06:20:20

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) darkwillow Profile has anyone figured out how to read one of the juiceware cards by adapting the sdcard reader? if someone could read the chip we could see if there was a loader. perhaps if we could copy the loader onto an sd card with a video file of the correct 10fps h264 format (assuming that really is the right codec), then the machine might be fooled. that would be a huge sucess. the only thing i've ever wanted the box to do beyond it's normal capabilities is to play your own video files. i was about to give up hope when i first started reading this site before anyone really knew anything, but i am now certain that with all the people working on it that someone will figure out the video. it seems like we're so close. thanks to all who have contributed. 02-12-2005 06:37:22

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) gruntbug Profile Here's my Juicebox story..... I was browsing Wal-Mart with my daughter 2 days ago and saw the boxes for $13. The had avoub 20 of them - green and red. They had ONE movie - TMNT and NO MP3 kits. I didn't want to buy one til I looke online to see I they were hackable and if I could get an MP3 kit. yesterday after work I went by one of the other Wal-Marts around here and they had ONE Juice Box (green) and nothing else. Today I went to the third Wal-Mart near me and BINGO! They had ~7 Juice Boxes, 5 MP3 kits, and a few movies. I bought a blue box (8MB, no LED, won't play >128kbps MP3s) and I bought 3 MP3 kits for $15 each. A guy came up as I was still there and took all of the remaining boxes (they were $10 at this Wal-Mart). He said something like "I hid these - I guess they found them and put them back". He said Target still sold them for $50. Then he grabbed ~7 of some Lego construction kit. I got the feeling he was going to try and either sell the stuff online or try and "return" them to other stores for a profit. He looked a bit sketchy. Anyway, so now I had 1 box and 3 kits. So I went back to the first WM and bought 2 red boxes - one with LED, one without) - the boxes were $13 at this Wal-Mart). So now I have 3 boxes and 3 kits. One set is for my daughter. if anyone can hack the movie format so we can play our own movies (I'll be the best dad ever! and I'll put Family Guy on mine), I'll probably use one of the other sets. Not sure what to do with the other set. Anyway, played around with it for a bit - the movies look/sound pretty good! I'm impressed! Seems like a pretty well built little box. Wish I could help hack this thing. I'm not too good at figuring this stuff out, but I can follow directions once someone else figures it out. Maybe we should offer up a reward to anyone that gets a movie running on it? I'll offer up $5-$10 to start it! :) brian 02-12-2005 16:05:21

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) gruntbug Profile Gultig.... according to the FAQ, you put the SD into the Juicebox nad it marks it (formats it?) before you cna use it. It plays the intro thing either way. So, i guess if you have a new/different Sd, put it in the box, boot it up, then put it into your PC. Haven't tried this myself. Got to http://www.Juicebox.com and read the FAQ - that's where I got this info. brian 02-12-2005 16:24:06

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Gultig Profile Well, I got it to work with a 128MB MMC (fat16) card that I had. I think that the generic 32 SD card I have just doesn't like to be accessed in the way that the juicebox wants it to. If someone tells me a way to format the SD card for fat12 I might give it another try. 02-12-2005 22:31:03

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) eagleoz Profile Format Fat (vs FAT32) Put SD Card in Card reader. Use Explorer to find card. Right click on Card (drive). Choose Format.... Make sure to change the Format to Fat. (vs FAT32) Let the 'Juice' flow...... 02-13-2005 11:08:31

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Gultig Profile And that would format the card fat16. Tried that. :) Oh well. Guess maybe some cheap SD cards may not work in the juicebox. We'll know for sure once more people try different cards. Anyone had any success using a PQI brand SD card in the juicebox? 02-13-2005 12:18:34

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rockhammer Profile | Email Isn't 32mb the largest size disk supported under FAT12 ? 02-13-2005 14:53:16

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) anon Profile Too bad there is no back door for running code from SD card. To hack it, you can use a Jtag emulator to load your code to sdram and running it. The rom image onboard will initialised chip selects and sdram already if you dont want to init them yourself. To hack it cleanly, simply replace the OTP rom inside the box with your own. If you can modify the h/w bootstrap option, you can even use an 512KB x 8bit EEPROM which is big enough to hold your bootcode. Once your code is running, simply load any binaries from an SD card via SPI interface. PS, the pins of Uart0 is avaliable on the board, you can get a console if you wired them to an rs232. 02-14-2005 02:34:20

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) chillywilly Profile Hello, I believe you can use a program called Ranish Partition Manager to format the SD card to FAT 12. Also in doing a little bit of reading I've read that FAT-12 is the format used for a floppy disk. ChillyWilly 02-14-2005 08:29:36

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Gultig Profile Well, it's confirmed. The PQI SD card does not support spi access. Got my trusty copy of winhex out and I copied the fat12 from a 16MB card onto it, and it was still unreadable by the juicebox. I did however confirm that the Juicebox modifies any SD or MMC card inserted into it. On boot, it sets the volume id (offsets 27-2A) to 0x77 77 77 77. This is what the windows application uses to quickly identify media to be used with the juicebox. 02-14-2005 15:57:41

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email "On boot, it sets the volume id (offsets 27-2A) to 0x77 77 77 77. This is what the windows application uses to quickly identify media to be used with the juicebox." Hmm... my red and blue 8MB don't seem to do this. This explains why the software under WINE (I'm running solely Linux) didn't see the card. Neither needed to initialise my 1GB card either, and did nothing to the 32MB card. Odd. I went back to the other Wal-Mart, and they finally reduced the prices on them. Picked up a Blue 2MB for $13, a 'Winx Club' Juiceware chip for $4.50 (only one they had), and /two/ MP3 kits for $9 each. Need to find boxes for the MP3 kits, then I'll toss them on here for other hackers to buy. $12 + ship sound fair? (cost + local tax + a small kick back for my time) Some probably bad news for those wanting to play video off the SD card. The Juicebox doesn't see the Juiceware cards as MMCs in diagnostics. 'SD/MMC card not found' However, it sees it on all 4 cartridge slots. '#x Manufacturer: Matrix Memory Size: 32M byte' Then all 4 cartridge checksums are the same (198CE38C in this case) BTW, if you still have a K-Mart near by, they carry Juiceboxes (though still at the regular price) and accessories. Good selection of Juiceware cards at my local one. I didn't see MP3 kits, though (didn't look that hard, as it wouldn't be worth $35 to me). Did they release any Megas XLR chips? I see it in the Cartoon Network ad in the built-in demo, but haven't encountered one IRL, or online. 02-14-2005 18:18:00

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) j3000 Profile me again. i went back down to my girlfriend's school this past weekend and we went to ANOTHER super walmart down there (yes, they have TWO, i was shocked), and they had a pretty big supply of juiceboxes, mp3 kits, and movies. i didn't buy any, and they were i think ~$20 for boxes, ~$18 for the kits?? can't remember correctly. i personally didn't need anything more so i didn't get any, but if anyone wants any of this, maybe we can arrange something. let me know. 02-14-2005 19:54:02

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) GWIZAH Profile | Email $12 + ship sound fair? Sounds good to me. Let me know...email in profile. 02-14-2005 20:41:26

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jsmmd Profile someone please hook me up with a fair deal on a mp3 kit 02-14-2005 22:16:28

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) reactorop Profile All of this is cool but all we need is the format to put are movies in so we can play are own movies on it. how is the movies stored on the cards can we get it off the cards to see it? has anyone tryed to make a adapter for the cards to look at thim on the computer? keep up the good work on this it has a good chance to be useful. do you know why wal mart droped thim has the comp. ended thim if so can we find somone the worked on thim at the comp.to help? 02-15-2005 13:40:33

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) robotland Profile | Email I work for Walmart. The reson they are on clearance is that they where never a reguler item. they came in as a special buy made to be sold on one of the fourway displays. Like at our store they came in as a fourway display..then sold down and became a Sidekick (little wire racks on the ends of the isles). Then started to go on clearance from $59 to $39 to $15 then $9 then our manager had a half off all clearance and they $4.50 each. One Walmart i went to only recived the Mp3 kits for some reson and they were only $10.50. i got two..but after about a hour one of the SD card stopped working..so i took it back. Also on the Led and no led thing I have a blue one with a LED and it is a 8 and not a 2 memory wise. 02-15-2005 15:22:40

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) techgadgetaddict Profile Greetings all! It's been a while since I've been on here (i-Opener days) and had to start a new account. I followed this thread, thought it sounded pretty cool, bought a couple of the units (green and red, no LED, 8 meg), and have been playing around with them for a couple of days. I had hopes that we could use a standard MMC card to play our own video, but it looks like this will not be possible, so I was wondering if anyone has tried to access the contents of a juicecart? I guess my thinking is that, if we can't hack this unit to play video from an MMC, maybe we could upload our own video (once we have figured out the codec) to an existing juicecart. Any thoughts on this approach? preacher 02-18-2005 08:57:45

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Gultig Profile Not gonna happen: <<< By offering the ease of one-time programmability, Matrix 3DM is able to cut production lead times for its customers from months to days relative to Mask ROM. This allows consumer electronics manufacturers and mobile content publishers to manage their supply chains more efficiently and properly align their businesses with market demand. In October 2004, Mattel was the first to disclose that Matrix 3DM was the publishing technology chosen for the Juice Box™, a portable media player targeted at the “tween” demographic. >>> http://www.matrixsemi.com/media-resources/press-releases/11-08-2004Third.html 02-18-2005 10:32:21

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Rygo Profile can we get a consensus on which units will play mp3s encoded >128kbps? 02-19-2005 08:01:56

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Traicovn Profile I bought two juiceboxes last night. One green one, and one red and grey. Both units seem to have the same 'sample' video except that the green unit has an ashley simpson music video at the end. Both units are 8M units (no led) but the Ashley Simpson unit is V2.2 while the red and grey unit is running 2.6. The ashley simpson unit has been confirmed to run mp3s encoded at at least 256kbps, while the red and grey unit will give an error saying the mp3 is over 128kbps. The only differences I have been able to tell in the two units is that the Green unit/Ashley Simpson unit has a white unit as the unit in the directions on the back and the following letters to the left of the bar code: h3905-0971 Both however have copyright info for the ashley simpson video. Hope this can help some people. 02-21-2005 12:17:22

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) robotland Profile | Email before i buy another one and open her up..is there a way to use this as a monitor? I wanna build a portable NES and wondered if there was a way to use the screen for it by making a video in patch. 02-26-2005 04:29:02

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email Not practically. To do that would require a compatable LCD controler that takes composite video, which will be quite expensive. If you're looking for a cheap screen to use in a NESp, try finding a generic PSOne screen the size you want, or one of those "Hip Gear" PS2 controlers with little screen attached to them. 02-26-2005 15:16:01

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email Just thought of another meaning for what you said, if you ment a video In chip for the ARM7, that's also too expensive, at least from the prices I've seen on Compact Flash video-in devices. About the only practical way to use a JuiceBox as a display is via the serial interface with a new OS (JTAGed in or new ROM). It wouldn't be fast enough to do video, but it would be plenty good for a text display for tempature, fan speeds and such on a PC. Like the displays at http://crystalfontz.com 02-26-2005 15:24:23

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) cringe Profile Image of the lime-green's 8MB board http://www.newtiburon.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=13916&stc=1 02-28-2005 22:27:01

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) cringe Profile no username/pwd prompt :) http://images5.theimagehosting.com/sm8mb_green.JPG 02-28-2005 22:32:55

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) eagleoz Profile Does anyone still have a need for a JuiceBox? A couple of weeks ago I cleared out my local Walmart of their last 4 sets. My kids will use two of them and I'm willing to give up the other two (green, unopened, no LED) for the 'cause.' (either that, or I'm just going to return them). I don't have the time for eBay. I also have two MP3 SD Adapters. I'm keeping the USB/SD reader and 32meg Cards that came out of the kits but you can have the JuiceBox Adapter. My cost plus shipping? PM me if interested. Keep up the efforts. I'd love to be able to play my videos off SD on this thing. 02-28-2005 22:47:25

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) greghol Profile I would like another one to put a TSOP socket on it if it looks like this one: http://images5.theimagehosting.com/sm8mb_green.JPG You can email me at greg <dot>holdren @AT@ gmail <DOT> com I want to experiment with the uClinux release for the Juice Box. tnx, Greg 02-28-2005 23:51:42

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) greghol Profile Anyone know what happened tot the forum at http://juicebox.geckobox.net/forums ? It just dissapeared with no response now. Greg 02-28-2005 23:58:39

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) jester30 Profile I am interested in the adapters. Email me hornsbyr@hiwaayDOTnet 03-01-2005 06:11:15

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) mycroftxxx Profile Eagleoz, I am unable to find any way to contact you privately here. If you have any left, I would like one JB & mp3 adapter. Email me at mycroftxxx [4t] ev1 [d0t] net, please, and let me know how much you want pre-shipping. 03-01-2005 16:54:19

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) werejag Profile id love to get the mp3 adapter. with a copy of the sofwtare juandelacosta at hotmail dot com 03-02-2005 08:26:10

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Killer99 Profile I believe I can get several green ones for ~$15 a piece. There were 7 at a walmart where I live. Not needing anymore, I didnt get any, but if anyone wants one I can pick em up. email me at mvonbehr at yahoo dot com. 03-03-2005 11:38:12

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) eagleoz Profile Sorry, for the delay I didn't realize that there was no Private Message ability on the JuiceBox Disscussion board. I haven't been back to see the replies until today (What a goof!) I have contacted the 4 guys above in order of their replies to work out the details. I should be all out of JuiceBox 'extras' now. Good luck! 03-03-2005 21:53:27

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) TekWar Profile If anyone needs the USB Starter Kit for Juicebox, I have 3 of them I would be willing to sell. Tek 03-04-2005 09:45:33

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) techgadgetaddict Profile Hey TekWar, I'd be interested in one of those kits if you still have one. Let me know at techgadgetaddictATyahooDOTcom 03-04-2005 10:37:11

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) TekWar Profile Here is deal for someone who bought a JuiceBox for $5! Wal-Mart ran out of JuiceBox players here a long time ago, and I don't really want to eBay one if I don't have to, so... I would be willing to trade one of my USB Starter Kits for an 8M JuiceBox (any color but green!) as long as each party pays the shipping on their item. Anyone? TekWar 03-04-2005 10:55:18

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) mkriley Profile any progress on the vidio format front? 03-04-2005 13:18:37

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Seagoon Profile I bought one for a friend's kid at Christmas (the Target $50/Free MP3 kit deal). I saw them at my local Wally-world on clearance, but the boxes were all ripped and incomplete. I shopped several Wally-worlds while traveling for work before I finally found them. Picked up a Box for $13 a couple weeks ago in Oklahoma City, found the MP3 kit for $20 in North Little Rock a couple days ago. The Box is Red, 2364EA, Prod Test 2.2, MP3 1.0.2, Firm 2.0.8, Bld 040806215450. Mine will play 32k, 64k, 128k, and 192k BPS MP3s (all I had lying around). The 64kBPS was an old radio show encoded at 22kHz, so it sounded like chipmunks talking... but it played. I copied the MP3s over via my 9-in-1 USB drive. Tried it with several pic formats, but nothing worked. I guess I'll have to install their lousy s/w to look at pics. 03-06-2005 23:38:53

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) regis100 Profile I also had problems with getting the SD cards to tag correctly and problems with my juice box recognizing files I dropped onto the card. When reformatting the SD card, don't worry about FAT-12 vs. FAT-16. Just use windows to format it as FAT. The key, however, is with the cluster size/allocation unit size. Don't use the windows default; you gotta use 1024. In XP, if you use windows explorer to reformat the SD card, you can't change that cluster size. But if you use a command prompt, or if you use "Computer Management" from the control panel -> Administrative Tools, then you can specify 1024 for the allocation unit size. So, in summary, here's what you have to do to get it to work: 1. Reformat the SD card with the 1024 cluster size 2. Put the SD card in the juice box for 10 - 20 seconds in order to "tag" it. (The juice box demo will play during this time. That's ok.) You have to do this right after reformatting the card, before downloading files. 3. Use the juice box starter kit software to download mp3s and images to the card. 4. Put the card back into the juice box and away it goes! (P.S. - I actually got this info from calling the Mattel service line. They were surprisingly helpful.) 03-10-2005 07:24:51

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) benw Profile Even though it's been established that you don't have to format the sd card in fat12 to have it work, it *is* possible to pick the filesystem type when you format the card from the command line. You would use 'format device_drive_letter: /fs:fat' I know for a fact this will work in 2k and xp, I'm not sure if it will work on earlier versions of windows. 06-08-2005 21:32:18

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) DrGizmo Profile my plan for the juice box is to mount the unit on my dashboard as an mp3 player with a harddrive mounted somewhere else to store mp3s. I'd like to modify the current software for a better gui with categories, possibly visualizations, etc. 06-09-2005 15:03:21

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) Tom61 Profile | Email >dashboard as an mp3 player with a harddrive mounted somewhere else to store mp3s. I'd be very impressed if you managed this. There doesn't look to be an easy way to add an ATA interface to the JB. 06-09-2005 15:13:07

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) xmodder07 Profile | Email Can anyone burn a copy of the software cd that came with the mp3/image usb kit for the juicebox? Mine broke and I don't want to spend another 25 bucks for the software. I'd be willing to pay cost of blank cd and shipping. Thanks. Send me an email at nateha1231ATsbcglobalDOTnet thanks 06-13-2005 15:48:25

RE:Mattel JuiceBox (modified 0 times) kazymyr Profile For the older hardware revision (with a DIP soldered ROM) here is the ROM datasheet: http://www2.okisemi.com/site/productscatalog/rom/availabledocsrom/Intro-9055.html I will try to replace this ROM with a custom programmed one, or maybe a flash chip. It would be cool to replace the built-in software with customized versions, or maybe something completely different... 06-18-2005 17:34:31

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