Linux + DSTV 720i Reciever (gurus please read)

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DaveBuchanan1337

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I have this old DSTV box lying around, it was rendered useless after a power surge fried the satellite card in it a bit.

I'd like to make a project out of this box, try to put like uCLinux or Real Time linux or BSD on it - if the architecture supports it. From what I can tell by looking at the PCB and Power Supply, the board looks similar to PC architecture - 8 to 12 volt rails coming in from the PSU, 8 Megabytes (4mbit * 16) of Samsung *-TC60 DRAM and 4 megabytes of hyundai non-volatile flash.

The CPU looks to be a NEC/JAPAN chip, from what I can read the model number is d61030agl / 0123KK011 (the writing is very faint due to my saliva + sharp knife method of removing the dastardly stickers on the CPU.)

Anybody know more about this than I do? Googling around hasn't returned many good answers; people seem more interested in cracking the irdeto encryption than doing much else.

Also, I'd need the documentation for the serial interface of teh board to get anything to work.

If this project is doomed, then I'll buy a micro ATX board and a small PSU, and turn the black box into a home theatre/ PVR utillity.
 
cool idea!!:D

I'll let u know if i come across anythig usefull...

I've also got an old DSTV box lying around, but i highly doubt that it'll do anything usefull considering that it was one of the first DSTV models released, made by pace, and a piece of **** to the core:p...

pB
 
Just to check, are u sure that the only thing that got fried was the sattelite demodulator (i think thats what its called:p)?? else ure going to have a very tough time getting anything done on it...

Buying a micro ATX boared and stuff will be a lot easer, but not nearly as interesting/fun as making ur DSTV decoder do something usefull for once:)

pB
 
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only thing that got fried was the sattelite demodulator
Click to expand...

erm, good question. One day, my picture started going funny, like a broken DIVX file (incidentally, I think they use mpeg4 encoding these days). My signal strength and signal to noise ratio was around 80% but the picture was still broken.

the techs who came around said it was the actual reciever part, but what do they know, eh?
 
i'm also looking for a solution to use my external hdd to connect to TV out directly. ;)
 
You could get a divx player (Avi-X) - Pinnacle is selling LG ones, Anywayz it takes a notebook hdd and is just slightly bigger than that. Has usb to connect 2 pc (removable hdd) and av outputs 2 connect 2 the tv. It plays everything divx,xvid,.dat,mpeg.... and comes with a nice little remote
 
I have a feeling that DSTV is still broadcast with MPEG2 compression....Cuz the old decoders are still able to put out the decrypted picture, and they diddnt have much processing power... but hopefully i could be very wrong here...

Do u still want to use it as a dstv decoder, but modified and with a TiVo sorta functionality, or just be true to ur geekness and have a linux box running in every room of the house:D

Getting the remote to function could be a nice challange...
 
DaveBuchanan1337 said:
(incidentally, I think they use mpeg4 encoding these days).
Click to expand...
nope...still MPEG-2 @ around 2Mbps.

And it probably wasn't the demodulator but rather the MPEG-2 decoder chip that wasn't working...that would give you broken images. If the demodulator was broken, you'd get, well, nothing really.
 
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Broken images most likely caused by faulty RAM locations...

The chip you refer to is a uPD61030

NEC's highly integrated set-top-box and digital TV solution combines a high performance and code efficient MIPS16 processor, an MPEG2 Transport Stream Demultiplexer, and MPEG A/V decoder, Graphics Engine and comprehensive peripheral support.

µPD61030 requires only the addition of memory, an appropriate 'front end' and minimal interface components to produce a fully functional, end-user product.
Click to expand...

Data Brief:
http://www.eu.necel.com/_pdf/S13614EE2V0PL00.PDF

I am looking for datasheets and will post links if I find them.
 
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man! cut myself on the serrated sharp end of the interior casing - a nice 8mm laceration on my left thumb.

computers are dangerous to extremities!
 
I am sorry to hear you cut your finger. I would recommend Betadine for that.

this is an old chip (circ. 1998)

I have scoured every available resource I have and I cannot find a datasheet nor any programmer's manuals for this device. Presumably the chip was licensed to manufacturers and therefore something along the lines of a signed NDA got you the documents.

I will keep looking in the meantime
 
I've gotta agree, BetaDine is the ****!!

Anyways, since its an obsilite decoder and not in porduction anymore, maybe giving an electronics repair shop / multichoice repair devision a call could help. There could be someone friendly u talk to and agrees to get u some documentation they have lying around...
 
brooko said:
Anyways, since its an obsilite decoder and not in porduction anymore, maybe giving an electronics repair shop / multichoice repair devision a call could help. There could be someone friendly u talk to and agrees to get u some documentation they have lying around...
Click to expand...

great ideas, I'll call anyoine around - however

I can find no linux kernel support for nec chips. I don't blame the developers, but I will keep looking.
 
The decoders I believe were manufactured by UEC
They're in Kwazulu-Natal in Mount Edgcombe.

Best is to look them up in the phone book and speak to an engineer.
 
DaveBuchanan1337 said:
I can find no linux kernel support for nec chips. I don't blame the developers, but I will keep looking.
Click to expand...

Why not start looking in the BSD direction instead of linux :cool:??

NetBSD seems to support an insane amount of different architectures, maybe we'll have a bit more luck in getting this thing to run with it... http://www.NetBSD.org and http://netbsd.org/Ports/ to see a more detailed list of supported & planned architectures...
 
I managed to get a Dstv decoder from another forumite and it works :)

Mine also has the NEC EMMA chip. I am interested in the chip because it's got a nice graphics engine and that is very useful for a number of projects I have contemplated in the recent past. Documentation, sadly, is very hard to come by for this chip! I am still struggling.
 
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