Wallclock 3.0 – 200x Microscope Edition
Every once in a while you come across a busted piece of kit that you know you make useful again. This week, it was an ACN Video Phone. For the unknowing, ACN sells ip phone/video phone service bundled to their video phone hardware. On the upside, the resale value is very low. On the downside, this means it's worthless without the monthly fees.
... Or IS IT??
First thing I needed to do was determine the features which are available to non-paying customers. Nmap showed an open sip port, and an open admin port whose password I couldn't find online. So the software hacking route was potentially open. The "screensaver" option worked, with a current calander and ip address being displayed. The "preview" option worked as well, allowing video from the internal camera, and the ethernet connectivity successfully got the date from my local NTP server. . From what I could gauge online, it appears others have tried unsuccessfully to get the external video in to work (indeed it didn't work for me either...initially). It was time for teardown. I stripped off the outer plastic casing, and began to disassemble the internal components. From a look at the back of the breadboard, it appears that the external video in and the internal camera in are both lead into the same gate.
It couldn't be as easy as shorting the camera ground could it? Turns out it could. After removing the camera and shorting its ground, the external video input began to accept an ntsc signal. I gutted all non-essential parts, folded the circuit board back in on themselves and re-attached with shorter length wires, and hooked up a 200x digital microscope to the input jack. Quite a handy little device for 15$ worth of thrift store parts and a kid's microscope. 
Here's a snap from a magazine magnified 200x, you can see the individual ink dots. Very cool.
May 24th, 2010 - 09:04
Hi Sir,
I have an ACN Iris 3000. I want to connect my digital camera by using an RCA cable. Can you help me please where to solder the RCA cable on the camera board of the acn phone? Thanks in advance
May 24th, 2010 - 09:27
Hi Jeremy,
I checked out the Iris 3k and it appears to be a newer, though similar version to the one I hacked up. Does it have a video-in jack (yellow rca)? If so, connect to there and short the original camera input line, that should do it. If not, and if they are using the same CCD assembly as before, you can take apart your video- cable and splice it directly. The CCD they are using spits out NTSC and takes in 5v + ground. The connector for mine was well labeled. Just cut the NTSC and ground line and splice them to your video cable. The “camera” or “self-view” or “mirror” mode should now output your signal. Good luck!
May 25th, 2010 - 11:24
Hi Hunter Davis,
Thanks! Mine doesn’t have a video-in jack. I tried splicing the video connector of the camera, the ribbon cable is so thin, I can’t even see the wires. I’ve removed the cable and open the phone; to see where the cable is connected, this is what I saw: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3359/4639715182_fb493492ec_o.jpg Can you help me please where solder the 2 wires? thanks in advance!
May 25th, 2010 - 11:36
Hi Jeremy,
That is a vastly different design! It’s possible that the video output format is digital (non-ntsc). Do you have access to an oscilloscope? If so the NTSC line should be quickly alternating between +0.075 V and 1.0V for the signal (with 0v blanks). Otherwise you could just start soldering ntsc lines onto each pad (while the ribbon is connected) and find which line the signal is on…. if it is actually NTSC. If you see 2 (s-vid) or 3 (rgb) lines active then you may have another video format to deal with. Hope this helps! Good luck!
May 25th, 2010 - 12:51
Hi Hunter Davis,
You’ve been very helpful, thanks for all your help. By the way you have a very cool website, I added it on my favorites. Looking forward to your new hacks. Take care and thanks again
May 25th, 2010 - 12:55
Hey Jeremy, no problem. Hope it helps some. Don’t forget to enter the Hackaway if you have not yet