On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 6:43 PM, barry bouwsma <free_beer_for_all@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Hey kids, even *you* can take apart daddy's new toy, so get your > jewellers screwdrivers ready! > > First off is the grey plastic that covers three of the four sides > of the stick, by gently prying it up from the ends -- lift it > slightly straight out from each side and it separates cleanly > from the white box without that satisfying snap. > > Revealed are four sets of the smallest crosshead screws that > you will want to see. Remove *one* from each pair; they simply > attach to a metal plate which holds the case together, lest you, > like me, not only lose most of the screws, but the plates as well. > > Now the white box separates without effort into its two halves. > The meat of the box is still attached with two more screws to > one of those halves, and it pays to remove those screws, safely > placing them in a spot where you'll accidentally set them flying > from your workspace into your heavy shag carpet. > > At this point, you see that the device consists of two circuit > boards, connected with spacers, that look as if they should be a > socket and plug pair, but don't seem to want to act that way. > You know the sound of a snapping circuit board does wonders for > science, so I'm not sure why I couldn't convince myself of that. > > There is one `empia' chip to be seen within the nether regions > between the boards. The outer side labelled `TOP' has little > of interest -- the IR sensor and LED and other discrete > components. It also has the RF connector and tuner attached > sandwiched between the boards, but there is a metal housing > that appears to be well attached to the board, hiding its innards > from discovery. > > The part number of the Empia chip is virtually impossible to make > out with just eyeballs and a weak light, but I'd almost want to > claim it's EM2884. If there's another chip on that side, I'm > not able to see it. > it is. > On the side of the package labelled `BOT' are seen two Micronas > ships, a DRX 3926KA1, and an AVF 4910BA1. There's also an 8-pin > ACE24C32, which should be the EEPROM. The DRX series appears to > be Analog or DVB or ATSC demod/decoding, while the AVF chip > should be an analog/composite/S-video decoder. > the micronas chip is as usual very complicated to program. Anyway I'd say support will very likely be done within the next 3 months. -Markus > Now that I look more closely, it appears that the metal case > of the tuner actually consists of a top that should pop off and > is not itself soldered to the circuit board, but that first > requires separating the sandwich, and I'm too much a wuss to > have passed that point (this stick isn't cheap in comparison > with many others). The connectors holding it together mock me > and stubbornly refuse to be separated. > > If I can trust my hacking on code which I haven't bothered to > understand, claiming that the tuner is an XC5000 fails to > attach a tuner, while claiming it's an XC3028 fails to fail to > attach, but doesn't say anything more. > > Admittedly, I want it to be an XC5000 as if I've read properly, > that supports 256QAM for DVB-C, which the XC3028 does not, and > if that's true, then this stick won't be the DVB-C USB solution > I hoped for... But there may be something else there entirely. > > > Armed with this knowledge, I could think about posting initial > hacks to identify this device at plugin. > > > Say kids, wasn't that fun? Now be sure to hide all the little > pieces where daddy won't find them, including all those SMD > components you knocked off when your screwdriver slipped, and > be sure to keep it a secret, okay? And next week we're gonna > do something even *more* exciting, so get your powertools ready! > > > Yours &c. &c., > Uncle Drunkard > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > linux-dvb mailing list > linux-dvb@xxxxxxxxxxx > http://www.linuxtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linux-dvb > _______________________________________________ linux-dvb mailing list linux-dvb@xxxxxxxxxxx http://www.linuxtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linux-dvb
