QQ-Box USB DVB-S Tuner - Unknown Device?

[1ADAM12]

QQ BOX MOD PICS.

In your version of the mod, you do not have a decoupling capacitor, and the DC is still traveling inside the tuner. I haven't tried it yet and i don't have information whether it is good or bad. However, because of the high frequencies, generally it is not a good idea to mess with the tuner internals. Can you provide a better photo of the opened tuner? I haven't desoldered mine, and I want to see if I can figure out what is wrong with the layout.
10x in advance

Yes there is a decoupling cap. it is part of rf amp input. blocks the dc voltage. The F center conductor takes two paths, one to pin 2 and off to FB101 and another path through cap to Mosfet. The current carry capacity out to the h-h motor is improved by this mod due to the #18ga. wire. The pcb has an ultra thin trace and would be high resistance at 300ma. See qqboxmod1.jpg for the decoupling cap. it is just to the upper right of the cut foil trace.

DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS MOD UNLESS YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT YOUR DOING OR YOU WILL FOR SURE RUIN THE QQ BOX.

some more pics.

 

[1ADAM12]

QQ BOX SHARP TUNER

My thoughts on Sharp tuner problems:

1- The PCB RF choke printed in the tuner is ineffective.
2- First IF coming from LNBF is degraded by PCB choke.
3- Diesqc commands can interfere with onboard uP.
4- The several bypass caps hurt the RF and Diseqc signals.
5- The trace for the LNBF power and H-H motor is undersized.
6- If the mod is done losses and EMI will be reduced.

one more thing, after the foil cut and addition of wire and choke you must replace the top shield properly.
Most hobbyist don't have the skill to do this mod, my advice is, don't attempt it.

Here is an equivalent circuit-

 

[crosspaws]

I bought one of these qq box some time back. I did a lot to try to make it work (vista os). I did get it to scan one time. I sent it back for refund. If 1ADAM12 gets this thing to work and the mods needed to make it work I might give it a try. I liked the little thing and sure wish I could have made it work. Keep up the good work 1ADAM12, thanks for you efforts.

 

[1ADAM12]

Roby the robot

I bought one of these qq box some time back. I did a lot to try to make it work (vista os). I did get it to scan one time. I sent it back for refund. If 1ADAM12 gets this thing to work and the mods needed to make it work I might give it a try. I liked the little thing and sure wish I could have made it work. Keep up the good work 1ADAM12, thanks for you efforts.

Cool avatar... is that Roby the robot?

If you order another QQ Box, check out Shippenpc on ebay, good price and honest guy. If only the factory checked to see if they worked before shipping.

Thanks,
Adam

 

[crosspaws]

Yes it is Roby, I used to have DR. Smith but you know just no respect. Could not trust the man. But it looks like some modes need to made in USA to fix the defects in this unit. I have the skills to do and tools, just want to make sure it will work when Its done. Let me know if you get a completed fix for this you unit and I will order another one.

Please keep up the good work I hope this unit can be made to function.
Have a great day. Eric Walker

 

[tvboxspy]

For those of you hoping for DiSEqC 2.x support, the STV0288 DiSEqC Rx pin is unconnected in the Sharp 7395 tuner.

 

[1ADAM12]

QQ Box sans Diseqc 2.0

For those of you hoping for DiSEqC 2.x support, the STV0288 DiSEqC Rx pin is unconnected in the Sharp 7395 tuner.

DiSEqC - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/Fileiseqc.gif" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8d/Diseqc.gif"@@AMEPARAM@@en/8/8d/Diseqc.gif

 

[Nil Einne]

DM04 vs QQbox

I haven't been back for a while. I ended up getting a DM04 instead of a QQbox since it seemed obvious the internal design was different and I was hoping it was better designed then the QQbox. Reading the recent posts, was I correct? Mine is DM04B10030364 and has the Sharp tuner of course. (I think all recent ones do?)

Also thanks for the Linux drivers. Doesn't support my box yet and not that I'm using Linu or want to at the moment but nice to have the option!

BTW in case people haven't noticed the price of the QQbox and DM04 has come down in recent months. When I bought the DM04 in June it was about US$31 all up. Now it's about US$27. :-( Qqbox was about US$26, now it's US$23.

 

[tvboxspy]

Mine is DM04B10030364 and has the Sharp tuner of course. (I think all recent ones do?)

Also thanks for the Linux drivers. Doesn't support my box yet and not that I'm using Linu or want to at the moment but nice to have the option!

As far as I can make out.
DM04B100 is sharp 7395
DM04B090 is sharp 0194
DM0408 is LG

The sharp 7395 has 16mm spacing between the RF connector center holes and the Sharp 0194/LG has 22mm.

I can't get hold of a sharp 0194 to add support, but I don't think they have been made for sometime.

 

[Nil Einne]

As far as I can make out.
DM04B100 is sharp 7395
DM04B090 is sharp 0194
DM0408 is LG

The sharp 7395 has 16mm spacing between the RF connector center holes and the Sharp 0194/LG has 22mm.

I can't get hold of a sharp 0194 to add support, but I don't think they have been made for sometime.

Yeah sorry I worked out later and was meaning to clarify, found I couldn't edit my post then got distracted. Mine has the 0288 tuner (well I use 0288 drivers) which I think means 7395.

Anyway I promised some pics a long time ago. Here they are

 

[tvboxspy]

Mine has the 0288 tuner (well I use 0288 drivers) which I think means 7395.

Yes, the 7395 has the STV0288 demodulator inside.

 

[Nil Einne]

BTW I think I remember a while back someone saying they couldn't get it to work with AltDVB. I did. But you need the Star Edition III (well I don't know if you need 3 but it is/was the latest).

When you get that version you should notice there are 2 BDA drivers, Dev_Bda2Driver and Dev_BdaDriver. Dev_Bdadriver is by ALTX and is in the older AltDVB. Dev_Bda2Driver is by DioDato. Do not use the Bdadriver/ALTX as it doesn't work can't find any channels. Dev_Bda2Driver works fine for me. Even after the channels are tuned/found if you switch to BdaDriver they don't work. There's signal strength but no quality (at least I think that's what the L and Q stand for). Never worked out what the deal was.

Now if only I could get it working with MediaPortal...

 

[ravcho]

As far as I can make out.
DM04B100 is sharp 7395
DM04B090 is sharp 0194
DM0408 is LG

The sharp 7395 has 16mm spacing between the RF connector center holes and the Sharp 0194/LG has 22mm.

I can't get hold of a sharp 0194 to add support, but I don't think they have been made for sometime.

I have a DM04B090 (DM04B09050101) which has a LG tuner. IMHO the LG tuner is way better than the sharp tuner

 

[tvboxspy]

I have a DM04B090 (DM04B09050101) which has a LG tuner. IMHO the LG tuner is way better than the sharp tuner

Hmm... Looks like it is just a rolling serial number then.

I have found that the Sharp tuner is more sensitive than the LG tuner especially in a rain storm with a mini dish. The LG required a line amplifier.

 

[Nil Einne]

Driver/QQbox not resetting

Does anyone have any tips for reducing the problem of the qqbox/dm04+ not resetting? I never really used mine much so didn't have much experience. And I'm lending mine to a friend now but in my testing of their set up, I'm a bit alarmed at how many times I have a problem which I think is caused by the not resetting bug. There's one confounding factor which is the physical setup wasn't very stable so I kept pulling out the power supply which is plugged in to an adapter as they don't have ones with NZ/Aus plugs. However there's at least one instance where I'm reasonably sure this didn't happen but I seemed to have problems. I usually unplug both then replug power and USB but so far haven't made it work again without restarting.

I have a DM04+ with the Sharp tuner. I'm using MediaPortal and the drivers from the LME site on XP SP3. I think I'm going to disable EIT guide and use XMLTV so the device isn't jumping around muxes so much. Any other suggestions? Perhaps Linux would have been better but setting that up wouldn't have been easy and it's a bit late now anyway.

Thankfully no blue screens although in some ways they may be better.

 

[tvboxspy]

Only the USB needs be unplugged to reset the device. The power adapter should be powered up all the time.

The power for the LME2510 or LME2510C chip comes only from the USB port.

Sounds like the firmware is failing to download properly. The device should automatically disconnect then reconnect in warm state.

I found, that there was lots of timing issues with this from system to system.

 

[Nil Einne]

I think 1ADAM12 knows more about precisely what goes wrong.

 

[1ADAM12]

QQ Box Unknown

I think 1ADAM12 knows more about precisely what goes wrong.

Who Me???????

Almost everyone here has been helpful.....except the guy that favours the STB. He's probably right.

This device will never work reliably in Windows until the LME people fix the driver. There maybe a hardware problem in the LME2510 that cannot be overcome. Dissapointing that they don't support the LME2510. For someone here to make a fix would require reverse enginnering the chip and that is a total waste of time.

My experience is that if you unplug the USB port whilst running media software you get blue screen.

 

[Nil Einne]

Who Me???????

Almost everyone here has been helpful.....except the guy that favours the STB. He's probably right.

This device will never work reliably in Windows until the LME people fix the driver. There maybe a hardware problem in the LME2510 that cannot be overcome. Dissapointing that they don't support the LME2510. For someone here to make a fix would require reverse enginnering the chip and that is a total waste of time.

My experience is that if you unplug the USB port whilst running media software you get blue screen.

I think you also experienced the driver/hardware doesn't properly reset and so can no longer tune and you need to hard reset the device problem? You mentioned you wrote a detailed bug report to LME.

I agree it's unfortunately they are unwilling to provide decent support although sadly not surprised.

 

[tvboxspy]

Has anyone bought the DVB-S2 version of the QQBOX (or DM04) from china?

It contains a LME2510C and a Sharp BS2F7VZ7700 tuner. The tuner itself has the same case work as the Sharp 7395.

The Chinese sellers on Ebay appear to be confusing in that they show it along side the TBS model.