zmodo/swann/nightowl/q-see firmware interoperability

Hi,

This is related to a thread I recently necrobumped, which has gotten kind of long (thanks to me):

viewtopic.php?f=56&t=33151&start=15

The question I have now is side discussion that I think deserves its own thread.

TL;DR - does anyone know of a cross-compatibility list for these things since they appear to be sharing boards from Raysharp?

So it seems clear that an entire class of these consumer grade DVRs are rebranded clones. Support between the respective companies behind them seems to vary, and it seems that Zmodo doesn't actively maintain the firmware for my device (SKU DVR-H9108V). I was able to dig up an image that is slightly newer than the stock, but am having trouble flashing it. I don't think it addresses my concerns anyway (web front end sends all system passwords to the ActiveX client over http when accessing the login screen, simple local packet sniffing easily retrieves them), but my main motivation is admittedly to update the firmware to reset the root password for shell access.

I notice that Swann offers a newer firmware (came across it while googling the hardware version shown in system info for my machine DM-70D/79B). The screen shots of the front end shown on Swann's upgrade page are identical to my machine's, so they clearly use the same software at some level. Has anyone had any luck cross-referencing model numbers between these clones to find an alternative firmware image from another manufacturer?

I hesitate to install the firmware I've found on Swann's site for DM-7xBD since that doesn't exactly match my hardware number:

http://www.swann.com/s/techcenter/firmware-2600

There's also a DM-7x* listed here:

http://www.swann.com/s/techcenter/firmware-1200

I suppose all these are being provided by Raysharp given the URL for the 2600 image:

http://swann.com/downloads/New_FTP/Name/Public_firmware_updates/Raysharp%20Security%20Update%20Firmware/

This one in particular looks like it would match up with mine:

DVR8-2550_Upgrade_Firmware(D9108BUD(dm-79BD)_SWANN_Mlang_V2.6.0.1-20130208_2938.zip

The 9108 designation matches the # ZMODO uses, and the 79B part matches up. I think I'm going to just give it a go since my other attempts with the Zmodo firmware don't take (using an unmodified version of the one found here that matches my SKU http://files.zmodo.com/Firmwares/DVRs/9108V/9108V%20Firmware%206-13-11/ results in detection of the file and the sytem restarting after clicking "update", but it doesn't actually flash the thing).

Can you post a picture of the DVR motherboard? There may be another way to get into it without flashing the firmware, plus it may reveal the OEM board number.

While they do use similar boards, I've tried on my Zmodo DVR to run an alternative firmware and have failed at doing so, it seems there are slight changes between brands and due to the way the DVR firmware is written, a lot of stuff is hardcoded and if there is even the simplest difference it will fail to work. I've rooted my zmodo dvr but can't seem to get RTSP to work, but I'm getting closer... all i want is RTSP so I can get rid of that stupid ActiveX ****.

Sorry to bump an older thread, but I registered just so I can hopefully revive interest in this topic. I recently purchased a Swann DVR4-1425 and was rather disappointed to learn I cannot pull the feeds into any third party application (eg. Blue Iris). My network has existing IP cams and I was hoping to use a single viewing application for all of them.

That got me interested in what might exist for "rooting" the Swann or finding an alternative firmware to play with. The exploits for gaining root access via telnet from a couple of years ago do not seem to apply to this device, however the telnet port (23) is open, along with 85 (http) and 9000 (media). The bottom label lists the device as a SWDVR-41425H HIS.

Opening the box didn't yield much in the way of useful information. It's a small mother board with the hard drive mounted directly to the bottom of the casing. No recognizable markings on the board apart from "H2MB0_V130" with a date code from November of 2013 beneath it. Link to gallery of pics is below:

http://imgur.com/a/ulobv#0