What did i buy? Is this a real iPod?

[matchkamph]

Hello everyone! im new here.
i bought a Genuine Ipod Nano 2gb black from some guy in china. it was supposed to be 100% real and use itunes and all that jazz, but then i got it and turned it on and found a hourglass, what is that? the clickwheel dosnt work, i have to use the next track and previous track buttons, the middle button seems to do nothing, they are all incredibly hard to click. there is a main menu, it looks nothing like the ipod menu, ive attached a picture. ive read on the forum that you can change the firmware to make it look more like an ipod, but i dont know what one i need to pick. ive attached several pictures of the system, because frankly i cant tell. can someone tell me what it is? and what firmware i should get to make it look like an ipod menu or make it look like an ipod menu? also, the mp3 player says its 2048mb, but my computer says its 1.93 or somthing similar. is there a way to tell if it is accually 2gb? also when i use the software it came with to convert avi movies, half of the movie is cut off, is there a way to add black bars to the top or somthing similar to keep this from happening?

thanks for all the help...

[Dragar]

how much did you pay?

[matchkamph]

$100.10 im in the process of getting that back now, it was supposed to be genuine...

[PleXo]

looks fucking klass excuse my language, why doesnt my manufacture make them like that

[tadad1]

matchkamph, Sadly your firmware is the worst possible one you could get for theming. When theming menus whether it be iPod style or what ever the player must use a completely different set of images for each menu. With the firmware you have the background does not change it is tha same image for all the menu's, the only thing that changes from screen to screen are the icons. Although you can change the images in the firmware you can not change the layout and position of them.

[matchkamph]

is there a way to change the firmware?

[tadad1]

matchkamph, There are hundreds of small manufacturers of these players. They source the parts from whatever supplier offers the cheapest price at the time. The firmware is then cooked to suit the player. Components and firmware can change from batch to batch so even if you bought two identical players from different batches they may well both use different firmware.
Because of this there are literally 100's if not 1000's of variations for each firmware version and no real way of telling which firmware will suit your players components and which will not.
Loading the wrong firmware will quite easily kill your player, the Dead Player forum is full of bad firmware upgrade stories.
Changing the firmware is like a game of Russian Roulette and your chances of success are not good.

[matchkamph]

well that sucks... is there at least a way to get rid of the faggy hearts? and is there a way to see all of your music files instead of stumbleing through them randomly? also what is the chance that i got a 256 or 1 gig player instead of a 2 gig? and ive discovered that my screen resolution is 128x128. is there a program i can use to resise the movie and make it have black bars on the top or somthing? i hate clipping and distortion...

[tadad1]

matchkamph, I use VirtualDub to pre-process video prior to amv conversion there is a guide to using it HERE
You can crop, resize and adjust framerate etc.
You can download it HERE

Obviously for full screen 128x128 you need to crop a fair amount of the sides because you are going from a 4x3 ratio to a 4x4 otherwise the image will be compressed and everthing will appear tall and thin.

You can edit the images in your firmware yourself and create a new background and icons but it will still be the same layout.

You need to first extract your firmware from your player using s1fwx.
Download HERE
Guide HERE

Then you can change the images using s1res
Download HERE
Guide HERE

Then reload your firmware to your player using MP3 Player Utilities Update Tool
Download HERE
Guide HERE

[matchkamph]

ohhh goody its just like my razr, alright i can figure this out! thanks!