Author Topic: What is this IR-type-y board doing inside of my set-top-box?  (Read 3167 times)

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Offline CherryDTTopic starter

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Re: What is this IR-type-y board doing inside of my set-top-box?
« Reply #25 on: February 09, 2021, 04:58:04 pm »
OK, thanks for taking a look anyway!

I realized that the marking on the mystery board says PCB-L023C-VOCO-B while the main board says PCB-L023C-MAIN-C.

I guess "VOCO" could be a clue to what it is then, but I don't know what that means and Google didn't enlighten me either.
 

Offline Syntax Error

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Re: What is this IR-type-y board doing inside of my set-top-box?
« Reply #26 on: February 09, 2021, 09:43:17 pm »
@CherryDT - Sorry you had a rough introduction to the forum. There was certainly something strange happening, but all seems to be okay now. Maybe your web host had an issue with their DNS. You can post images onto the eevBlog :-+

With regard to your mystery board; I note the four LEDs have are associated with large low-value SMD resistors, which suggests a constant current control? Put another way, the EE went to a lot of trouble to ensure those four LED's produce a constant Lux. Which is what might be expected of measurement euipment.

I too wonder if this is a gesture control board. Four LEDs can be used to encode, up, down, left and right, even with a simple light sensitive diode. Can the LED's shine through the plastic front cover?

8) Or maybe it's the CIA

 

Offline CherryDTTopic starter

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Re: What is this IR-type-y board doing inside of my set-top-box?
« Reply #27 on: February 09, 2021, 10:00:47 pm »
Yes, the front looks black but it's actually reddish and semi-translucent, and IR passes through (the regular remote control signal does as well).

I have to say, I haven't heard of gesture control in such TV boxes before (and certainly the software on this one didn't make use of it) but it sounds like the most logical explanation for the moment - I just wonder why the board was included then, given that there do appear to be different hardware versions of this box from the manufacturer's side (based on the unpopulated spots and the empty "Wi-Fi" area on the board), so I guess it would have been cheaper for them not to include it if it's not even used...
 

Offline tom66

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Re: What is this IR-type-y board doing inside of my set-top-box?
« Reply #28 on: February 09, 2021, 10:52:51 pm »
Asked some friends, one thought would be to count the number of people, by estimating movement, more movement = more people.

It wouldn't then block the user,  but it would trigger an investigation at that address - if the device is being used to watch sports in a pub / bar, they want the large revenue from the owner,  not the 40 euros per month subscription.

In the UK, some pubs pay upwards of £10,000 per month to licence the sports programmes, it's a rip off.  And one supplier, was still asking for the fee to be paid during Covid lockdown.
 

Offline CherryDTTopic starter

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Re: What is this IR-type-y board doing inside of my set-top-box?
« Reply #29 on: February 09, 2021, 11:00:37 pm »
Wow. I wonder how much of that data is actually transmitted to them and logged. I find it slightly creepy to have a device in (in this case) my bedroom with the capability to record a detailed log of certain... activities.

Which makes me wonder how this is even effective - one could just put some sticky tape over the sensor. You might expect that someone would then also investigate since there is no data at all, on the other hand I don't see how they would be allowed to check anything at all (they can't just demand entry into somebody's apartment) and I actually had the box mounted in an unconventional position in which it couldn't pick up anything anyway probably...
 

Offline amyk

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Re: What is this IR-type-y board doing inside of my set-top-box?
« Reply #30 on: February 10, 2021, 01:11:30 am »
The discovery you've made is indeed disturbing.
Now I wonder what else may contain hidden surveillance devices from the factory...

As the old saying goes, "In Soviet Russia, TV watches you"? :o
 


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