Enable 720p Video Recording on 3GS

Users of the iPhone 3GS no doubt know about the video recording capabilities of their phone. However, whether you may know it or not, that video is not in high definition. By default, the resolution of recorded videos on the iPhone 3GS is at 640×480 . It certainly gets the job done when you need to quickly shoot a funny situation you’re in but wouldn’t it be more awesome if you could record those video in a higher resolution? Some brilliant individual found out that the iPhone 3GS actually has the capability to record high definition videos by default. It’s just that Apple decided to block off that capability. Well, that individual (or group) decided to *unlock* that capability so that you can now record your videos with the iPhone 3GS in 1080×800 resolution!

It is no longer illegal to jailbreak your iPhone as stated by the FCC. However, it is illegal to jailbreak your iPhone to get apps that you normally would have to pay to install. Also, Apple states that they do not support iPhone’s that have been jailbroken. Therefore, while it is technically legal to jailbreak your iPhone, doing so voids your warranty *if* Apple finds out about it.

Here is the original article from Redmond Pie detailing the exact procedure on how to unlock the capability on your iPhone 3GS to record in high definition. However, we are going to skip all that SSH stuff and instead opt for a easier method of gaining access to our iPhone.

First thing first, we need to download a freeware called i-FunBox. This is a file manager/explorer tool to transfer and download files to and from our iPhone. It’s really useful because we get to browse the file system of our iPhone as if it was a hard drive. We then are allowed to view the folder structure of how the iPhone is constructed. We need to do so because we need to replace a couple of files on our iPhone 3GS with a couple of different ones. i-FunBox is a self-executable so there is no installation required. Once it has been downloaded, simply connect your jailbroken iPhone 3GS to your computer and run the software. i-FunBox should immediately detect your phone.

If i-FunBox reports that your iPhone is “jailed” even though it is jailbroken (as seen in the picture below), then you will need to install the “afc2add” file from Cydia. Once it is installed and you rebooted the device, i-FunBox should then correctly detect the changes.

Now we need to download the pre-edited files needed to enable the HD recording capability. If you want to manually edit the files, then follow the instructions here. There should be four files which you need to extract.

In i-Funbox, drill to this location:

RawFileSystem/System/Library/CoreServices/SpringBoard.app/

It is best to make a copy of the original files before overwriting them with the modded files we have just downloaded.

Now, copy over the modded “N88AP.plist” file over to this location. Since there is already a file with that same file name, the modded file will overwrite it.

Next, drill down to this location:

RawFileSystem/System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/Celestial.framework/N88/

Copy the remaining three files of “AVCapture.plist”, “CameraRollValidator.plist” and “MediaValidator.plist” to this location. Once again, because there are already files by default in this location with the same file names, they will be overwritten.

Once all of the files have been transferred over, simply close out of i-FunBox and then reboot your iPhone 3GS. That should be it! Afterward, you should then be recording videos in high resolution.

Here is a sample video of the hack in action. However, I couldn’t reproduce the same results. My videos was really grainy. I’m sure it has something to do with the resolution and whatnot. Interestingly, there is a similar hack at Modmyi.com where someone alters the resolution to 960×720. However, after applying the hack, my iPhone 3GS refused to boot! Luckily, I made a backup of the original files before overwriting them. Even though my iPhone was stuck at the bootup screen, I still had access via i-FunBox. After rewriting the modded files with the original, everything is back to normal.

 

In the End…

Although I don’t believe this hack allows for true HD 720p recordings on your iPhone 3GS, it should still be a lot better than if you hadn’t applied the hack. I’m still looking into lowering the resolution from 1080×800. The video sample above looks good enough for my tastes but sadly, I can’t reproduce it. I’m not sure what is wrong.