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[[File:1-23-09-apple-interactive-box.jpg|thumb|Apple Interactive TV (STB3)]]
 
[[File:1-23-09-apple-interactive-box.jpg|thumb|Apple Interactive TV (STB3)]]
 
[[File:02.jpg|thumb|Apple Interactive TV (STB3)]]
 
[[File:02.jpg|thumb|Apple Interactive TV (STB3)]]
 
[[File:Prototype-100505-4.png|thumb|Apple Interactive TV (STB3)]]
 
[[File:Prototype-100505-4.png|thumb|Apple Interactive TV (STB3)]]
   −
This product is also referred to as the '''Apple Set Top Box''' (or STB). Based on a [[Macintosh Quadra 605]] board but with added hardware MPEG decoder. Requires Oracle server setup as the system is designed to boot over network.
+
The Apple Interactive TV Box is also referred to as the '''Apple Set Top Box''' (or STB). Based on a [[Macintosh Quadra 605]] or [[Macintosh LC 475]] board but with added hardware MPEG decoder. The final product was intended to network boot from nCUBE super-computer hardware with Oracle Media Server over a T1/E1 network. The failure of this project is generally attributed to the high cost of deployment as the concept was a little too ahead of its time.
 +
 
 +
The STB (Set Top Box) project appears to have started around 1992-1993. The STB3 model used in test deployments is dated around 1995. The entire project was shutdown by about 1996.
    
=General Info=
 
=General Info=
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=STB1=
 
=STB1=
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 +
[[File:AppleprototypeSTB1e.jpg|200px]] [[File:Apple 3.jpg|200px]] [[File:AppleprototypeSTB1m.jpg|200px]] [[File:Settop klein.gif|200px]]
 +
 
This is an earlier "prototype" system built in a metal case. An LC 475 board was used but the LC PDS connector was modified to be on the underside of the board, as the second system board with the TV connections sat underneath. The power supply appears to be from a [[Macintosh IIsi]]. These units may have a floppy drive integrated in the case.
 
This is an earlier "prototype" system built in a metal case. An LC 475 board was used but the LC PDS connector was modified to be on the underside of the board, as the second system board with the TV connections sat underneath. The power supply appears to be from a [[Macintosh IIsi]]. These units may have a floppy drive integrated in the case.
 +
 +
===Specs===
 +
* Base system: LC 475 68LC040 25MHz, 4MB board memory
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* MPEG Decoder: C-Cube CL450
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* Display planes: 2
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* Graphics plane resolution: 640x524, 8-bit color
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* Graphics output: SCART/UHF
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* MPEG Transport Stream: proprietary framing
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* Network: G.703 @ 2.048 Mbit/s, RS232 @ 9.6 kbit/s
 +
 +
=STB2=
 +
This version of the Set Top Box is believed to be unreleased by Apple for any sort of deployment tests.
    
=STB3=
 
=STB3=
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Now is where the hardware get's interesting, as promised by the ports on the rear. First, near the RAM soldered to the mainboard is a socket which has a 64-pin Apple Flash SIMM installed, labled 'LC 475 GM', which contains 2048k of CMOS flash memory in the form of 8 (256k x 8) Intel E28F020 flash memory chips. Next to this is the Aztec power supply. Near the NCR and Zilog chips is the video decoder, a Philips SAA7188A, which is able to encode video data to NTSC, PAL, or S-video formats. On the other side of the mainboard is the MPEG decoding chip from C-Cube Microsystems, labled 'CL450-P160'. I've also seen mentioned that not only is MPEG decoding supported, but the hardware in the ITV is also said to support Quickdraw and Quicktime. There's also a retangular plastic frame which corresponds to the external expansion cover and which extends nearly to the front of the casing. At the forward part of this plastic frame is an expansion socket, somewhat like the PDS expansion slot of the LC-series Mac's, though this connector runs parallel to the front of the casing, not along the rear portion of the side panel. Also near the MPEG decoder is a XILINX XC4010-4 FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), which can be seen as a reconfigurable processor though it is unclear exactly what it's function is in this case. To the rear of the XC4010-4 is a ROM labled 'STB3 A3.1N 551AA6'.
 
Now is where the hardware get's interesting, as promised by the ports on the rear. First, near the RAM soldered to the mainboard is a socket which has a 64-pin Apple Flash SIMM installed, labled 'LC 475 GM', which contains 2048k of CMOS flash memory in the form of 8 (256k x 8) Intel E28F020 flash memory chips. Next to this is the Aztec power supply. Near the NCR and Zilog chips is the video decoder, a Philips SAA7188A, which is able to encode video data to NTSC, PAL, or S-video formats. On the other side of the mainboard is the MPEG decoding chip from C-Cube Microsystems, labled 'CL450-P160'. I've also seen mentioned that not only is MPEG decoding supported, but the hardware in the ITV is also said to support Quickdraw and Quicktime. There's also a retangular plastic frame which corresponds to the external expansion cover and which extends nearly to the front of the casing. At the forward part of this plastic frame is an expansion socket, somewhat like the PDS expansion slot of the LC-series Mac's, though this connector runs parallel to the front of the casing, not along the rear portion of the side panel. Also near the MPEG decoder is a XILINX XC4010-4 FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array), which can be seen as a reconfigurable processor though it is unclear exactly what it's function is in this case. To the rear of the XC4010-4 is a ROM labled 'STB3 A3.1N 551AA6'.
 
</pre>
 
</pre>
 +
 +
The Apple part number for the STB3 mainboard is 820-0638-01 and dated 1995.
 +
 +
===Specs===
 +
* Base system: LC 475 68LC040 25MHz, 4MB board memory
 +
* MPEG Decoder: C-Cube CL450
 +
* Display planes: 2
 +
* Graphics plane resolution: 640x524, 16-bit color
 +
* Graphics output: SCART/UHF/S-video
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* MPEG Transport Stream: MPEG2 transport stream
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* Network: G.703 @ 2.048 Mbit/s, RS422 @ 9.6 kbit/s
    
===TattleTech Output===
 
===TattleTech Output===
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Kevin STB3 is the new video controller that drives composite displays and it is associated with the driver Display_Video_Apple_GM. Normally this would be a DRVR resource in the video card for a NuBus board or it would be present in the logic board ROM. Obviously it is missing...
 
Kevin STB3 is the new video controller that drives composite displays and it is associated with the driver Display_Video_Apple_GM. Normally this would be a DRVR resource in the video card for a NuBus board or it would be present in the logic board ROM. Obviously it is missing...
 
</pre>
 
</pre>
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 +
====ROMDefs.h Hints====
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Part of what seems to be QuickTime source code, ROMDefs.h which is "NuBus card ROM Definitions" appears to make STB references:
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<pre>
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enum {
 +
...
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  displayVideoAppleGM          = 16843010L, /*Video with Apple parameters for GM card.*/
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...
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  drHwSTB3                      = 0x0002, /* Assigned by Kevin Mellander for STB-3 hardware. */
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  drHwSTB                      = drHwSTB3, /* (Both STB-3 and STB-4 share the same video hardware.) */
 +
...
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};
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</pre>
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See https://github.com/intermedialab/atrium-display/blob/master/app/AtriumDisplay/blocks/QuickTime/include/msw/ROMDefs.h
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 +
===Video Architecture Group===
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The "Video Architecture Group" mentioned in the vendor ID of the output above appears to be an internal division of Apple (as noted on the last page of http://web.media.mit.edu/~vmb/papers/tuna94.pdf). Also seeing "Xilinx" in the output potentially indicates the display adapter is controlled by that chip as mentioned in the component list below. We can also reference this interview with Nick Baker who was a member of this team at Apple:
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<pre>
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After graduating from Imperial College London in 1990 he found his way to Apple and worked on the team that tried to create a specialized video card.  He then went to 3DO where he worked on their high-end gaming system which, unfortunately, failed in the market.
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>> Nick Baker:  The Video Products Group got split up.  It was more a Video Architecture Group.  I can't remember exactly what we called ourselves.  But we were looking at more focused on pulling in video onto the motherboard.  So as you--as Apple computers came out, they had video capability being built into the motherboard.  We were speccing those chips.  We weren't necessarily doing the designs ourselves anymore.  It was working with Phillips and others to do the silicon.
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 +
>> Nick Baker:  For base band video back then it was NTSC Pal.  HD was still far off.  From that standpoint it was at least supporting uncompressed video.  It was as good as probably you needed for a while.  We put in architectures to have a parallel pixel bus so the role band would suddenly need to go through main memory, for example. And then probably the idea was to have a slot that you could addin a compression card, for example, that somebody else could do.  But if you looked back at the last 10 years, then it's been quite an explosive raise of growth there in the capabilities.
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</pre>
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As seen in the above information, the team worked with Philips for the actual board components. The section below mentions the Philips SAA-7188A-WP component on the STB3 board. Our assumption is that Philips component might be responsible for the actual video output hardware.
    
===Mainboard Components===
 
===Mainboard Components===
* '''C-Cube MPEG Decoder CL450-P160'''
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====C-Cube MPEG Decoder CL450-P160====
* '''Xilinx XC4010 -4 PQ208C X44364M''' - FPGA which we suspect does some sort of video processing as "Xilinx" also shows up in the STB display hardware properties
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MPEG decoder, also found on the [[Apple MPEG Media System]] expansion card
* '''Apple 343S0138-A''' - this chip is also present on the [[Power Macintosh 6200]] board and we suspect it is related to comm/PDS
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* '''Bt8069BKPJ''' - unknown function, possibly a video encoder as a similar chip Bt856KPJ is found on the [[Apple Pippin]] with "VIDEO ENCODER" on it
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====Xilinx XC4010 -4 PQ208C X44364M====
* '''Philips SAA 7188A WP 641472''' - encode digital YUV video data to an NTSC or PAL CVBS or S-Video signal
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FPGA which we suspect does some sort of video display work as "Xilinx" also shows up in the STB display hardware properties. This may also be used for translation between video systems and PDS.
* '''NCR 53C96 609-3400665''' - SCSI controller also found on [[Macintosh LC 475]] and [[Macintosh Quadra 605]]
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* '''Zilog Z0853008VSC Z8530 SCC''' - controller for the serial port as found in numerous Macintosh models
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====Apple 343S0138-A====
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this chip is also present on the [[Power Macintosh 6200]] board and we suspect it is related to comm/PDS
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 +
====Bt8069BKPJ====
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Brooktree Bt8069-Series Line Interface Unit (LIU). A line interface unit (LIU) is a semiconductor device that implements the T1 or E1 protocol in hardwired silicon.
 +
 
 +
====Philips SAA 7188A WP 641472====
 +
Encode digital YUV video data to an NTSC or PAL CVBS or S-Video signal. Digital Video Encoder (DENC2-M, SAA 7188A) (possible reference: Philips Semiconductors Desktop Video Data Handbook, June 1994). It is also interesting to note that a similar chip '''Philips SAA7194''' is found on the AV card for the [[Power Macintosh 6100]] which has S-video output. Prior to the SAA7194, the Quadra AV design used the DMSD chip SAA7191 and VDC chip SAA7186. The SAA7194 apparently combines these.
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 +
* [[File:SAA7188.pdf]] - full PDF spec
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* http://www.radioradar.net/en/datasheets_search/S/A/A/SAA7188_PhilipsSemiconductors.pdf.html - datasheet
 +
 
 +
====NCR 53C96 609-3400665====
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SCSI controller also found on [[Macintosh LC 475]] and [[Macintosh Quadra 605]]
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 +
====Zilog Z0853008VSC Z8530 SCC====
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Controller for the RS-422 serial port as found in numerous Macintosh models.
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 +
====VLSI 343S0164-b Apple====
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MEMCjr memory controller. Found in similar Macintosh models.
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====DSP TMXE320AV110PBM EA 52AJN1W====
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Texas Instruments. Assumed to be an audio processor.
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 +
====A4 E1 NTSC 341-0783 23/1/96====
    
===Mainboard Comparison===
 
===Mainboard Comparison===
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===Getting TV Output===
 
===Getting TV Output===
A user on 68kmla forums was able to get some initial video from an STB3 with ROM 7.0.
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The STB3 does not produce any TV output using the "final" mask ROM in North American NTSC units. A user on 68kmla forums was able to get some initial video from an STB3 with ROM 7.0 (red flash SIMM, not mask ROM).
    
[[File:Post-2085-0-79017900-1421890721.jpg|350px]] [[File:Post-2085-0-05264500-1421890729.jpg|350px]]
 
[[File:Post-2085-0-79017900-1421890721.jpg|350px]] [[File:Post-2085-0-05264500-1421890729.jpg|350px]]
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[[File:57.jpg|250px]] [[File:57 1.jpg|250px]] [[File:Post-2182-0-61195000-1422904287.jpg|250px]]
 
[[File:57.jpg|250px]] [[File:57 1.jpg|250px]] [[File:Post-2182-0-61195000-1422904287.jpg|250px]]
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This card is apparently from MicroConversions, but we're not aware of a working driver still out there. The card does slightly resemble the [[MicroConversions 2124NB II]] Macintosh [[NuBus]] card which was released in 1995 (see below).
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[[File:2124nbIIcard.jpg|500px]]
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There is also an LC PDS version of this card [[MicroConversions 1724PD]] so it is possible that the STB3 developer video card is a version of one of these cards.
    
===Software===
 
===Software===
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* '''Apple E1 Player''' - indicates version 0.1b1 in info box. When opened, says it is the STB E1/T1 Simple Player and appears to look for E1 video feed.
 
* '''Apple E1 Player''' - indicates version 0.1b1 in info box. When opened, says it is the STB E1/T1 Simple Player and appears to look for E1 video feed.
 
* '''Serial Tool'''
 
* '''Serial Tool'''
* '''TSDrvr INIT''' - indicates version A1.3 in info box
+
* '''TSDrvr INIT''' - indicates version A1.3 in info box. Notes on another site indicate this is probably a ColorSync extension.
 
* '''TSDrvr INIT - 12/13'''
 
* '''TSDrvr INIT - 12/13'''
   Line 155: Line 226:  
Business support services utilise Oracle's database software and applications and all the significant components of the system are integrated with BT's normal billing, network management and customer service systems (CSS).
 
Business support services utilise Oracle's database software and applications and all the significant components of the system are integrated with BT's normal billing, network management and customer service systems (CSS).
 
</pre>
 
</pre>
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===Capacitor Replacement===
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The STB3 logic board uses SMD capacitors known to leak electrolyte with age. These should be replaced to avoid damage to surrounding components.
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* 47uf 16v x 11
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* 10uf 16v x 17
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* 100uf 6v x 2
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* 100uf 10v x 1
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 +
The power supply will also contain leaking capacitors. As this is simply an LC based power supply, refer to the repair section of our [[Macintosh LC 475]] page for a capacitor list based on PSU vendor.
    
=Deployments=
 
=Deployments=
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File:Post-2182-0-61195000-1422904287.jpg
 
File:Post-2182-0-61195000-1422904287.jpg
 
File:Stbscreenshot.jpg
 
File:Stbscreenshot.jpg
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File:Stbscreenshot2.jpg
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File:824545040.png
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File:Morestb1.jpg
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File:Morestb2.jpg
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File:Morestb3.jpg
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File:Stbmanual.jpg
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File:Stbinside2.jpg
 +
File:Stbbottom.jpg
 
</gallery>
 
</gallery>
    
=Downloads=
 
=Downloads=
 
* [ftp://ftp.atlas.altexxa.net/software/mac/driver/settopbox/Apple_Set_Top_Box_SW.sit Apple_Set_Top_Box_SW.sit] - Archive of what appears to be specific STB driver components as mentioned in the [[#Software|Software]] section of this page.
 
* [ftp://ftp.atlas.altexxa.net/software/mac/driver/settopbox/Apple_Set_Top_Box_SW.sit Apple_Set_Top_Box_SW.sit] - Archive of what appears to be specific STB driver components as mentioned in the [[#Software|Software]] section of this page.
 +
* [ftp://ftp.atlas.altexxa.net/software/mac/driver/settopbox/1995_1mb_mask_ROM.rom 1995_1mb_mask_ROM.rom] - dump from mask ROM dated 1995
    
=External Links=
 
=External Links=
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[[Category:Apple]]
 
[[Category:Apple]]
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[[Category:68040]]