Few questions (VIP 1216)

[J]

Hi I'm new here and really like what oyu guys are doing. I want to try mod my stb but first I have some questions.
1. So far as I know if I want to do any changes to files on HDD I must instal modchip otherwise box will download new firmware and everything what I changed is going to be useless. Or is there some other way how to bypass that?
2. I was reading about FTP access into HDD in box. Does this work on VIP 1216 too or is it only for X300T?(I don't want to change my VIP 1216 for X300T becouse VIP 1216 has got bigger HDD)
3. What other changes can I do? (IPTV it's called Magio it should be same thing as T-Home only with stupider name)

[mce2222]

1. modchip is always needed. without you cannot change anything
2. ftp access is also available on vip1216 ... actually the main application of x300t and vip1216 can be exchanged... they just use different revisions of almost the same source. only the wince has different drivers due to small differences in hardware.
3. you can modify the GUI (although it is more difficult than you might think)... anything else needs modification of the tv2client. of course you can create your own applications in c++ or c#