Old UEC Aurora boxes

**irritant** · 02-12-15, 11:55 PM

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone still has one of the very old UEC boxes used on Aurora - the DSD 660 and 700 in particular.

I am actually looking for a proper picture/photo of one to see what they really used to look like (I can't find any on e-bay, etc.).

Many thanks!

**theslydog** · 12-12-15, 02:07 PM

Just google DSD 660 and images - there are plenty of pictures.

Go about a 1/3 down the page just after the old cassette pictures - it says Multichoice DSD 660 on it but other than that it is identical to an old UEC Aurora 660.
Remote is the same as well.

**irritant** · 13-12-15, 05:39 AM

Ah, so it does look like that. OK, I have a DSD 660 at home, because I'm from South Africa where they made them. Mine just says MultiChoice on the front.

I wanted to ask though, here is a DSD 720, did you guys ever have a box that looked like this:

**irritant** · 13-12-15, 06:12 AM

Oh yes, and there are a few more things I'd just like to find out too.

So, the typeface was the same? As this (just replace 660 with 700):

Or was it an arial type font, as the manual seems to suggest:

Oh, and then there's something else too. So, did the UEC boxes also have a 4-digit display like the MultiChoice boxes? Because the manual of the DSD700 seems to imply it has a 3-digit display, and says the startup procedure shows:

"dL" with a yellow dot

"1 ' " one with a rotating bar

"[=]" display flashes briefly

"---" three flashing bars with a red dot

"InF" Information displays while scanning

Whereas I have definitely noticed that the 4-digit boxes have a startup that looks like this:

"dL" with yellow dot

"1 ' " one with rotating bar and yellow dot

blank

"2==2"

"3==3"

"0000" display flashes briefly

"SCAn" is displayed while scanning screen appears on TV

Now, this sequence is not how it appears in the manual. Did it display the previous sequence, even though it was a 4-digit box?

Oh yes, and on the 4-digit box, searching for signal shows "----" four bars and a red dot, or even "Lnb" and a red dot, and the menu indication is "====" on a 4-digit box, whilst it was 3 by 3 bars on the 3-digit box.

As I understand it, 3-digit displays ended with this box, not so:

And the DSD645 was the first one to look like this:

**irritant** · 13-12-15, 06:22 AM

I guess I should explain I am looking very anally at the font, etc. to "see" what the box really looked like, because I of course cannot see a real one at this moment. And, I know there are always subtle differences between boxes and years.

**admin** · 16-12-15, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by AdrianR

Ah, so it does look like that. OK, I have a DSD 660 at home, because I'm from South Africa where they made them. Mine just says MultiChoice on the front.

I wanted to ask though, here is a DSD 720, did you guys ever have a box that looked like this:

Hello Adrian

Foxtel (our Pay Tv provider in Australia) used to supply UEC receivers many years ago, including the UEC 700? and 720.

Its been a long time , its hard to try and remember the models. I may have a 700/720 somewhere, I will have a look today for you though I suspect I threw it out last year.

**irritant** · 17-12-15, 06:45 PM

Thanks very much admin! That would be great!

**hoe** · 17-12-15, 07:37 PM

Aurora had the 642, then the 660/700.......

**irritant** · 17-12-15, 07:51 PM

Originally Posted by hoe

Aurora had the 642, then the 660/700.......

Ah OK.

Can you recall if the 660/700 had that 4-digit display and startup sequence like the one I showed in my previous posting?

There's a DSD 720 that I have that looks like the 660, even though the picture they give of the 720 looks like the one in the purple picture. From what I understand the Foxtel STU 720 looks like the DSD 660?

**admin** · 19-12-15, 09:45 AM

Originally Posted by AdrianR

Thanks very much admin! That would be great!

Unfortunately it seems I have thrown it.

I thought it would be easy to find a picture of a Foxtel 700 on Google, it seems not. Technology changes fast these days.

**mtv** · 19-12-15, 01:54 PM

DJMatt must have 'cornered' the market.

**gordon_s1942** · 19-12-15, 05:28 PM

Except for cosmetic reasons, why change the case of the STB when its whats inside that matters.
Just add a decal or 2, stripes, call it something fancy and the same basic design can last for years.

**irritant** · 20-12-15, 07:34 PM

Thanks guys.

Just want to ask, of the two photos, the ones with "Digital Satellite Decoder DSD XXX", which one looks like the right one? In terms of typeface/style, etc.

**DoctorParabola** · 21-12-15, 09:08 PM

Originally Posted by AdrianR

Ah, so it does look like that. OK, I have a DSD 660 at home, because I'm from South Africa where they made them. Mine just says MultiChoice on the front.

I wanted to ask though, here is a DSD 720, did you guys ever have a box that looked like this:

Does this box (DSD 660) have a hidden menu? I have been trying to find one for the UEC DSD 999 but I can't even confirm if they exist or not.

**irritant** · 21-12-15, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by DoctorParabola

Does this box (DSD 660) have a hidden menu? I have been trying to find one for the UEC DSD 999 but I can't even confirm if they exist or not.

If you can reach a menu option called "Dish Installation", that's pretty much where all the action happens. Access to this option is via a PIN-code, usually 9949 on the UECs.

The UEC only had one hidden menu as far as I know, and that's a test menu to test hardware and firmware things.

**DoctorParabola** · 26-12-15, 12:27 PM

As per special request in my other here are the of the 'Austar Active' menu structure from the UEC DSD 999. The first four images are from a Titan box that I picked up from the dump today. There are a few subtle differences, like the Irdeto boot loader screen.

I didn't think to cap the software version screens from the Titan before I put it away - just for the sake of compare/contrast to the UEC model.

Any experience in updating software via RS232? If there are no hidden menu codes for the boxes I have I may have to dig a bit deeper...

=]

**irritant** · 26-12-15, 09:09 PM

Thanks for those screenshots.

Wow, OK, menu certainly looks very different. I only really recognize the UHF black and white bar screen.

But, the options still seem to be, in a very roundabout way, the same as the UECs I know. However, it seems you have already found the dish installation screens, and there were no settings for tuning of transponders, only LNB settings and signal detection.

There are also no numbers accompanying the menu items. What I used to do to find possible hidden menu items on old UECs was to press, using the remote, numbers like "0" or one's higher than the final one of the menu items. You could maybe try that.

It seems that unfortunately this box was a true, dedicated Austar proprietary box, and it was never intended to tune to anything else.

Like you say, one could re-write it's software via the RS-232 port, but I don't know what exactly one would load onto this particular box. Are you wishing to make it behave like other UECs that have the installation options in the menu?

**DoctorParabola** · 26-12-15, 09:24 PM

Essentially, yes. To edit the transponder information to ultimately recycle them.

More work required. I am very new and have never performed an update via RS232. Can software be ripped from the flash memory of one box to be ported to another?

I will try the numbered selection and let you know how I go.

**haydent** · 07-01-24, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by irritant

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone still has one of the very old UEC boxes used on Aurora - the DSD 660 and 700 in particular.

I am actually looking for a proper picture/photo of one to see what they really used to look like (I can't find any on e-bay, etc.).

Many thanks!

Hi guys, just found a UEC DSD 660 Box with remote in the cupboard at work, does anyone want to save it from the bin ?