Inside the VOOM Box!

[geekygizmo]

Well here is the prelim stuff from the inside of the VOOM Box, to begin with it is very very close to the star choice DSR500, other then the added expansion slot which turns out to be a PCMCIA footprint with a extra long slide and a riser board to connect the 8VSB module(s). Also like the DSR500 there is room on the board for another sat-tuner and also extra room for a 2nd 8VSB module. Room enough for internal harddrives but NO apparent connectors on the MB for harddrives. I suppose the PCMCIA slot could except a harddrive but at this time that kind of drive is extremely expensive I from a engineering standpoint don't think they had that in mind. Other uses for the pcmcia slot have been rumored for a upcoming mpeg4 decoder.

Here are the major chips;

MB87F2011 - ICAM Chip
XC 420061-005 GIC 1998
MD-2811-D32-V3 MSYSTEMS DISK-ON-A-CHIP
ISP1561BM PHILIPS
BCM7501KFB BROADCOM
XC2S200E XILINX SPARTAN FG456AGT0333 D2142451A FPGA

Here is also a pix of the MB, I have many more detailed pix's (16mb worth) if someone would like to donate some server space.

Hope this helps!
GG

http://www.satelliteguys.us/forum2/download.php?id=472

 

[Sean Mota]

geekygizmo,

What's the resolution of the pics? Just upload them as attachments to this thread. If they cannot be uploaded pm me so that I can upload them to the server and from there I can attach them to the thread. Just let me know. Great pic. Let's see the others.

 

[rudolpht]

Very cool. It looks like the box is going to be the basis of the PVR, but I still would guess a new unit vs retrofit. Any guestimates as to where the firewire out will go?

 

[geekygizmo]

Voom STB Pics

Tried to post the zip (16mb) but could not. No attachment option in the PM. Someone want to pm me a ftp link to drop it in.

I would post the one at a time but I think there are around 16-20.

Could someone identify this screw that the box uses to remove the Cover, Then I and others could locate the correct tool.

GG

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

You can post up to 5 per posting.

 

[Sean Mota]

geekygizmo,

you have pm...

 

[Sean Mota]

How did you get first picture (of the motherboard) without unscrewing the cover?

 

[Sean Mota]

In a few minutes, I will be posting about 16 pics provided by geekygizmo. All pertain to the inside of the VOOM receiver.

 

[Sean Mota]

Here are all the pictures to a full resolution:

• Picture 1: The OTA 8VSB Module
• Picture 2: The OTA 8VSB Module
• Picture 3: The OTA 8VSB Module
• Picture 4: Center - MB87F2011 - ICAM Chip
• Picture 5: Motherboard
• Picture 6: Motherboard
• Picture 7: Motherboard
• Picture 8: Center - uPD30541 VR5432TM 64-BIT MICROPROCESSOR NEC - Not a Motorola CPU chip!
• Picture 9: MPEG2 Decoder chip and mem - BCM7501KFB BROADCOM
• Picture 10: XC-FLASH1
• Picture 11: XC1
• Picture 12: Back of Receiver
• Picture 13: Smart Card
• Picture 14: Smart Card
• Picture 15: Diaplexer
• Picture 16: Diaplexer
• Picture 17: Diaplexer installed on the back of the STB
• Picture 18: Front of Receiver
• Picture 19: Front of Receiver
• Picture 20: Front of Receiver
• Picture 21: Modem
• Picture 22: Video Output stuff
• Picture 23: PCMCIA expansion slot
• Picture 24: Power Supply, made by Liteon
• Picture 25: Satellite Tuner
• Picture 26: Tuners
• Picture 27: PCMCIA expansion slot

If you want to download them:

• All Full resolution
• Small Resolution

 

[rudolpht]

Great!

 

[geekygizmo]

Hi all, the large pix are for people that want to follow traces and do engineering work, I have sent another file to Sean with scaled down versions. He will post the zip files and take down the large pix's. Starting with this post I will post the scaled down ones with some descriptions. Anyone that can add to this just chime in!

GG

• Motherboard 2
• Motherboard 3
• Center - MB87F2011 - ICAM Chip
• Center - uPD30541 VR5432TM 64-BIT MICROPROCESSOR NEC - Not a Motorola CPU chip!
• Lower Right, XC 420061-005 GIC 1998 - The Heart of the Digicypher system, Upper Right - MB87F2011 - ICAM Chip, Bottom Center - "Disk on a chip" Flash mem, Upper Left - uPD30541 VR5432TM 64-BIT MICROPROCESSOR NEC, Top Center - XILINX FPLD Gate Array

 

[geekygizmo]

More Pix's

• Modem Chipset
• MPEG2 Decoder chip and mem - BCM7501KFB BROADCOM
• Video Output stuff
• Power Supply, made by Liteon
• PCMCIA expansion slot - (or atleast the footprint of PCMCIA with a longer slide. I have inserted a standard card just to show it fits.

 

[geekygizmo]

Outside pix's

• Front View
• Front View with the doors open
• Top of Access Card
• Bottom of Access Card
• Back View

 

[geekygizmo]

OTA Module and Diaplexer

• 8VSB Module
• Inside of 8VSB Module - Sorry, can't remove the lid or it will mess up all the adjustments (Those pins sticking through the side)
• Ckt board side of the 8VSB Module
• Diaplexer installed on the back of the STB
• Almost Forgot! This is the broadcom BCM7501KFB BROADCOM DVI CHIP. Also just below it to the left of the MPEG Mem is a philips chip ISP1561BM

 

[geekygizmo]

Well that's it for now, sean has the zip file of the large version of these pix's it should be posted shortly for anyone that wants to really take a close up look.

Hope this helps!
GG

 

[Sean Mota]

Thanks geekygizmo for doing all this work and sharing it with us. All the full resolution images I have re-posted along with the downloadable zip files (First page of this thread...).

 

[geekygizmo]

About the Firewire, I saw nothing on the board that indicates it has support onboard but it turns out the philips chip is a USB 2.0 controller with a 480mbs top speed, perhaps fast enough for video? My only other thought is that the upcoming mpeg4 module will have firewire on it.

Hope so!

Also nothing is on the bottom of the board in case you wondering.

Has anyone played with the usb yet? Any chance of a serial adapter working which will get us into the console (if one exists). Anyone have any thoughts as to what operating system may be under the hood?

Anyone know what that Security screw is called? (See prev post)

GG

 

[geekygizmo]

Well after the last post I had to try some USB stuff.

1st - a belkin usb/serial adapter model F5U109, it came on after a soft reboot- tried to comm with it using a null cable to my laptop, it blink saying it was recieving my chars but no response from the stb. Next another soft reboot while monitoring the serial, nothing.

2nd - a 3com 3c460 usb network adapter, after a soft reboot it came on and started blinking happaly with my network, but a ip-scan and a check of my DHCP server led to no assigned ip-number. This does not mean it is not ready to comm but it could be a ip hard-set in the firmware.

Both adapters must have been in its supported hardware list or they would not have come on and init'd. This is good news, now we have to figure out what the STB wants.

Oh, I did check the menus for new entrys about the new hardware but none showed. Also this box has never been downloaded, still has firmware x10 on it.

That is it for tonight, got to hit the hay,
GG

 

[Sean Mota]

Also this box has never been downloaded, still has firmware x10 on it.

GG

That's very interested. What software version is the box running? The firmware I have is x16.

 

[geekygizmo]

Well the STB is now up to X16 on firmware and I still have the same results with the USB adapters. They come on but no-one is home.

Any ideas on comm'ing with this box?

GG