Radio stations Logos database updates

[MartiniB]

Database is maintained by Phonostar.de

and Škoda doesn't hide that

 

 

but one of their answer sounded similar to
. . . "Škoda's users don't have to contact to Phonostar" . . .
life hack, if you have any questions to [email protected], write them as VW user

 

updates can be downloaded from

https://www.phonostar.de/vw/en/download

https://www.phonostar.de/vw/de/download

by enter VW's head units part number

 

Mib2 (Superb Mk3 and similar)
2023.11   https://www.phonostar.de/download/vw/MQB2_Europe_v1.10.48.zip

 

Mib3 (Superb Mk3.FL and similar)
2023.12   https://www.phonostar.de/download/vw/MQB3_OI_JND_Europe_v1.31.48b.zip

 

Mib? (Enyaq and ??)
2023.11   https://www.phonostar.de/download/vw/ICAS3_LGe_Europe_v1.31.48.zip

 

update instructions:

Mib2     https://www.phonostar.de/download/vw/MQB2_Stationlogos_CustomerUpdate.pdf

Mib3     https://www.phonostar.de/download/vw/MQB3_Stationlogos_CustomerUpdate.pdf

Mib?     https://www.phonostar.de/download/vw/37W_Stationlogos_CustomerUpdate.pdf

 

from the factory mine 2023.01 Mib3 Amundsen had database v1.30.36. and 14 of 29 Riga's FM stations had none logo,

what especially annoyed, because all Mib3 and newer head units have lost option of manual upload logos,

what were possible in my previous 2016.02 Mib2H Columbus

-> https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/415291-columbus-radio-icons/

 

with new database only 7 of 29 are missing,

missing stations are equal in both tested databases (Superb Mk3.FL and Enyaq)

but last one contains more relevant logos -> solution

 

Superb Mk3.FL 2023

 

Enyaq 2022

 

 

 

Edited 12 February by MartiniB

[Bap33]

I think it's also possible from the same Skoda Website, where you can download GPS maps updates. 

[MartiniB]

17 hours ago, Bap33 said:

I think it's also possible from the same Skoda Website

Wrong, That is completely different story -

 

1.

content of these archives stopped refreshing several years ago.

i checked them regularly for my previous 2016. Superb Mk3

20160609; 20161020; 20171123; 20180509; 20181213; 20200331;  no more new releases

 

2.

they are useless for Mib3 and all newer head unit devices,

only Mib2 and Mib2H had functionality to upload logos individually for each favorite station.

example of single logo update procedure:

 

3.

upload procedure were different, for each station individually,

this thread is about update whole built in database at once

 

4.

individually uploaded by user were displayed smaller than from internal head unit database

even identical files

-> https://www.briskoda.net/forums/topic/415291-columbus-radio-icons/

 

5.

one were better -

individually upload method gave ability use whatever logo picture, even selfmade

 

Edited 6 January by MartiniB

[Bap33]

Thanks for refreshing my knowledge!  

I thought it was still uptodate.

[CJJE]

Thanks MartiniB.

 

The MIB3 (Superb etc) file loaded successfully into my Karoq's MIB3 Amundsen, and seems to have created some of the missing radio logos. (Pity I still haven't got any for Smooth or Classic FM though.)

 

This is the first time I've been able to get it to update software via the USB-C socket, so well done! 

 

Chris

Edited 6 January by CJJE

[Tell]

Good find MartiniB on mib3 I'll propagate your thread on the Seat side. See what you mean it's a bulk update. What is missing out of the UK ones that come factory installed is the commercial station Logos, like Times Radio etc. The BBC and also RTE in Ireland get transmitted over the air. Like Chris above.

 

I dont have mib3 so I can't test. I didn't get it to open in SQLite to have a look. It does seem to be saying something about encryption. If one could look inside those files then one could check the radio icons. There is a challenge for someone. I'd expect to see the graphic icons. It's that SQLite file where the UserData is the key. Mentions Encryption 1. Where the unit has the password built into the unit to open it us as "Encryption 1". That way you could do comparisons without loading it up.

[MartiniB]

15 hours ago, Tell said:

get transmitted over the air

similar, incompetent, answer i got from Czech's helpline:

Quote

thank you for email from you.

I confirm the previous information. Broadcaster  is responsible for the timeliness of the radio logs. Logs cannot be imported from this infotainment from an external source.

Thank you and best regards

most obvious messed to DAB/DAB+, because by FM's RDS standard can't be transferred any logos

 

 

15 hours ago, Tell said:

I dont have mib3 so I can't test.

use then first, Mib2 link, more over it contains also -SE- while other twos only -VW- and -SK-

 

 

and renamed stl.1vw to stl.sqlite form Mib2 archive can be opened by DB Browser (SQLite)

while other twos not, as You mentioned

 

 

[MartiniB]

17 hours ago, CJJE said:

Pity I still haven't got any for Smooth or Classic FM though.

some came by self after update, but one i had to add through Settings -> ~ Logos ~ -> . . .

before update choice list of this station were empty

 

[Tell]

Basically they are an "in-fill" file for when the logo isnt transmitted over the air, over the air being DAB, FM not having the ability. Lazy DAB broadcaster don't all transmit them not seeing it as important, cost saving etc. If they are broadcast, but change the nature of the station (it happens in the UK a lot) you get the old logo not the new station logo if the backup method is missing. That's really the back up logo file if it's not being broadcast. Those backup files that get out of date or it was never in there.

 

For mib3 people the question is whether the connected services update keeps up with the source which is presumably Polestar provider. You can abridge any delay in the update or mistakes on Vag by going directly to the Polestar files which is where you got the additional logos from.

 

The mib2 in-fill I use the traditional one at a time method.

 

https://www.seatcupra.net/forums/resources/radio-logos-mib-2-only.43/

 

Now you have the bulk update method for mib2 then the post fix method for mib2 for those still missing. It's the post fix that's missing for mib3 as they locked unauthorised unsigned imports down unless I missed something. I see there are projects but I don't think it's been cracked thus you are still locked into what Vag ordain can be shown as logos.

 

For mib3 where connected services have lapsed the Polestar file comes in handy or any mismatch / time lag in connected services up.

 

Will have a nose in the mib2 SQLite file to see whether they ever put Times Radio in. I have simple needs. That one I put in by hand. Think LBC News was another issue I put in by hand. It's all those "new" stations that come out but you have no logo for them at the time unless you upload them in mib2 using the manual import each image at a time to a favourite.

[MartiniB]

1 hour ago, Tell said:

Polestar

Phonostar

 

[Tell]

1 hour ago, MartiniB said:

Phonostar

 

Beauty of word suggestion... just as well I don't talk dirty on the keyboard 😇

 

Mind you the UK LBC News and Times Radio are still missing from the Mib2 SQL file as far as I can see.... perhaps as they don't get broadcast they never get put in the database whilst they are in

 

https://media.info/radio/stations

 

Begs the question that whoever constructed the Phonestar database logo misses out broadcasters. Seat people did produce a script to rip out (scrape) the media.info ones at one stage generating the discontinued VAG site ones for mib2. The odd ones you can do by hand as a manual task. Here lays the Mib3 issue they discontinued the user ability to back fill logos they left out via a simple png import. Seems to be Phonestar needs to scrape the media.info ones then we'd all be happy.

Edited 7 January by Tell

[CJJE]

If you clever people can open and read the update file, could the missing logos be added to it? I suspect it affects the UK stations like Classic FM, Smooth, Gold etc which have a common owner who can't be bothered to transmit the logos with the station's signal.

 

Chris

[Tell]

Afraid, the Mib3 one is protected with a password. Mib2 isn't. It might also be signed... goes on about that in the files - different from check sum. Silly old VAG wanted to protect their stuff but delivered something not finished with gaps in it. Better to have open systems.

 

Mib3 is nearly 5 years old, and hacking isn't that great at the minute. You'd have to look at when mib2 was "broken" in VAG terms against Mib3. Mib2 is fully opened up now by hobbyists, giving user flexibility.

 

On the logos they just haven't done their work, VAG / Polestar. Lacking QA in the finished product and because they were frightened of users getting into the unit via the back door, didn't build user logo import into it or user POI import. Result, you can't backfill missing logo's in the files that are supposed to be complete, which you could legit ably do in mib2.

 

I will continue till mib5 comes out or abandon VAG. See what mib4 is like when it appears this year.

 

 

Edited 7 January by Tell

[Tell]

In the meantime I think it's what MartiniB said in the post:

 

"Škoda's users don't have to contact to Phonostar" . . .
life hack, if you have any questions to [email protected], write them as VW user

 

You become a VW owner and tell phonostar of your missing radio stations. Hope they take that onboard and it gets put into a future release.

 

Whilst I'm cross posting between Seat and Skoda sites the script to get the media.info ones was here... probably needs editing now.

 

https://www.seatcupra.net/forums/threads/station-logo-downloader.465980/

 

A clever clogs could take that output file and compare with the Mib2 ones which we can assume are the same as the mib3 then tell phonostar the missing ones as a VW owner naturally 😉. Something a youngster can do in no time....

[MartiniB]

14 hours ago, Tell said:

if you have any questions to [email protected], write them as VW user

just in case, they ask for device number:

Mib2   3Q0 035 824 C Golf 2018

Mib3   3G5 035 820 Q Tiguan 2023

Mib?   10A 035 816 R  ID.4 2023

 

[Tell]

Great.

 

I reckon you search under the missing logo station in media.info and in the example I did below. Lbc-news. You give them the link to each station missing a logo. The media.info site has the station logo shown under "other" (if you go in at the right page.).

 

https://media.info/radio/stations/lbc-news

 

You list the station links off and tell them you need the logo put in to the phonestar database for the VW.

 

My write up for the mib2 manual method where you can do it yourself was here:

 

https://www.seatcupra.net/forums/resources/radio-logos-mib-2-only.43/

 

That was the old mib2 method to fill in missing logos that were not in the VW published database. Now you look the link page up to the station and say get it done to phonestar since you can't do it yourself.

[Tell]

@MartiniB did you do the nag cycle on that email address to get your radio station logos added ?. How many months did that take from when you started to when they got added in the release.

 

It's the RDS PI code I believe that the unit looks up in the SQL database and pulls out the Logo.... ditto DAB. No data entry in the SQL database, no logo.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Data_System

 

I see elsewhere on the net in mib3 once you do a manual radio logo update it then offers you the over the air one of the same. Probably a programming bug. They may have fixed that now, but something which should not surprise.

 

I see Phonestar also offers internet radio apps one being a Google TV app, standard phone apps  and broadcaster software apps. Thus it should be no surprise to them to see they have anomalies between radio stations in one service they offer as an internet stations and what is missing from the VW database they maintain for VAG. It's that correction cycle that is the key.

[MartiniB]

@Tell

I reported at ~2017 about missing logos in my Mib2H Columbus,
at ~2018.05 i got them after whole fw update by dealer

 

last story started on 2023.12
first answers were thanks for info, but their db is up to date and Škoda responds outdated db in my Mib3 Amundsen

then i made visit to VW's dealer and checked situation on Tiguan; ID.4
and noted exactly same situation.
after second report, which included table with situation on VW head units,
they send me link where to download latest Phonostar's dbs,
i forwarded info about newer dbs and update instructions to VW dealer, but still have no response

 

i din't tried new db immediately in my Škoda's head unit,

just because bad opinion with years ago found database RSDB_VW_Multi_EU_v1.10.10.7z
which contained -VW- restriction in it's metainfo file,
just weeks later i decided tryout and were positively surprised,
then i more carefully browsed whole archive, where found metainfo with -SK- too, what explains success
 

yes, PI must be important key, because all the stations where logo gone, had changed it.

but at same time, BBC World in Riga doesn't transmit any RDS, but logo is present

 

[Tell]

Thanks. Ive been told the Seat mib3 part identifier is missing from the January 2024 file, but whilst the Skoda one was missing from an earlier release as you say. I had noted moans on the net about that. So you came in after the Skoda ID went in the file and it worked.

 

Those part indentifiers you can see in the firmware update files least in mib2 which is how the guy who just said it's missing to me on the Seat side knew, probably. So it appears you have to look at the firmware, examine the radio download logo file then tell them the part number is missing. Nag 1.

 

Nag 2 is to get the missing radio logos put in.

 

I here by elect Seat people with mib3 to nag them to make that file useable.

 

It feels we might be getting somewhere.✔️

[Tell]

On 07/01/2024 at 08:58, MartiniB said:

similar, incompetent, answer i got from Czech's helpline:

most obvious messed to DAB/DAB+, because by FM's RDS standard can't be transferred any logos

 

 

use then first, Mib2 link, more over it contains also -SE- while other twos only -VW- and -SK-

 

 

and renamed stl.1vw to stl.sqlite form Mib2 archive can be opened by DB Browser (SQLite)

while other twos not, as You mentioned

 

 

An uphill struggle for Seat customers @MartiniB. Phonostar don't reckon they are responsible for Skoda 🤔.

 

Sadly we can't help you in that case. Although we provide our logo
database to the VW Group, Skoda decided to update their download package
on their own. Therefore, please contact Skoda directly.

Kind regards
Your phonostar team

 

Must mean they expect Skoda to provide the file. As for Seat looking back at old downloads they did have the 'SE' identity in atleast one of their past files, they aren't in this release.

 

Any experts on editting these files. Needs SE in place of SK for Seat in these MULTI.MNF file and MAIN.MNF

 

I'm think if a Skoda user changed the VW part to SE and it still worked in a Skoda it will pass the test. Seat people with mib3 haven't had any success yet.

 

Also this French link

 

https://forum-auto.caradisiac.com/topic/566543-leon-4-maj-données-radio-et-logos-des-stations/

 

 

They were confused about it identifying a file that isn't in the download. I reckon that might be looking at where the file arrives in the unit to do the signature check hence why you don't see that file name ?.

 

Any takers for the challenge of what is going on and whether if you edit a working file that a Skoda reads replacing the VW to SE in those files it would work on a Skoda on the import. That would test whether there is a signature check on the files being changed. Reckon that could be the element that the French Seat people were umming and arring about. There is a signature in that file but unclear what that file is. 

 

It could be that Seat mib3 people having perfected the art yet of reading off a USB-C into the unit.

 

[MartiniB]

I tested today Mib2 database in my colleague's Kodiaq Amundsen
factory loaded v1.10.18 had 4:3 aspect ratio logos,
while latest v1.10.48 1:1, looks terrible, white edges from all four sides

(last one is manually loaded 4:3)

[Tell]

2 hours ago, MartiniB said:

I tested today Mib2 database in my colleague's Kodiaq Amundsen
factory loaded v1.10.18 had 4:3 aspect ratio logos,
while latest v1.10.48 1:1, looks terrible, white edges from all four sides

(last one is manually loaded 4:3)

Think I'll stick with the ones loaded into the Mib2s (factory) we got with the supplemented graphics.

 

They probably put those boxes around them to make them stand out.

 

Feel free to try editing the VW out of the Mib3 parameter files and switch to SE, just to see whether a simple edit messes up the integrity of the files.

[MartiniB]

12 hours ago, Tell said:

Feel free to try editing the VW out of the Mib3 parameter files and switch to SE, just to see whether a simple edit messes up the integrity of the files.

test failed -

Škoda's Amundsen didn't recognise update with changed '-EU-VW-' to '-EU-SE-' in the multi.mnf and main.mnf

 

[Tell]

6 minutes ago, MartiniB said:

test failed -

Škoda's Amundsen didn't recognise update with changed '-EU-VW-' to '-EU-SE-' in the multi.mnf and main.mnf

 

Thanks. Yes that signature file must link into what it puts into the unit rather than what it's going to do or something like that. Why it has a file name in it, that's not in the import. Seeing signature files is generally bad news meaning it's locked. They must have done a good job of that.

 

Question now is whether mib3 files will be carried over into mib4 like maps, radio logos, if not the life expectancy of those to be updated is in question. Maps are probably 5 years or so last conversation but radio logos could be like the mib2 user POI import much shorter. Now you see it, now you don't as they sign off on it and pull the ability from their websites.

 

Vag pulled official user POI import very early, soon after 2020 from their website leaving unofficial add on third party apps where signature checking was not enforced. Radio logo import could disappear quickly if the mib4 file structure for them is different. They haven't made it to Seat at all yet in update form yet (4 years on), whilst Skoda is via the unofficial VW route. Feels like a crunch point is 2024/25 when mib4 surfaces and whether the existing radio logo files for mib3 can be imported. If not the mib3 logo update work by Phonostar will probably cease if it's like previous history. That will be any easy check for VW and Skoda users who have current working files for mib3 at that time.

[MartiniB]

Instead of make Mib platform more open for enthusiasts,

by add options like uploadable custom skins etc.

every new version comes with new limitations 😞