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Dreambox : How to
For many years, I've been into TV broadcasting via satellite. I started out with analogue TV in D2MAC format. For a couple of years now, the satellite world has been changing and switching over to digital broadcasts in the DVB-S format. The first satellite receiver (Set top Boxes, AKA demod) generation had to be rented from satellite TV channel providers. Such hardware "featured" low quality components, with very slow zapping speed, quite ugly OSDs, no digital audio output, poor reception sensibility, low quality MPEG2 decoding and a locked firmware, that only your provider could update (whenever they felt like it). A few low priced digital receivers also appeared, but they were often not (entirely) compatible with the special services satellite TV providers offered (e.g. Electronic Program Guide AKA EPG, Pay Per View AKA PPV°etc.).
The second generation of satellite receivers was equipment like the Xsat 310/410 and the Aston Xena series, which opened the door to the Of-The-Shelves Set Top Boxes (STB), independent from providers, compatible with official decryption cards. Such devices would allow you to reconfigure the position of each channel, manage favorites from your PC and even flash firmware with a serial cable.
Today, we can get the 3rd generation of settop boxes. The Dreambox is one of the popular 3rd generation boxes. Based on a powerful IBM PowerPC (not PC !) with an MPEG1/2 hardware decoder, this box is FULLY open, with an open source Linux operating system. The Dreambox not only offers high quality video and audio, but also has a variety of connections to the outside world: Ethernet, USB, PS2, Compact Flash and two Smartcard readers. The box can handle any dish configuration, an unlimited number of channels or satellites, has a very fast channel scan, allows for direct digital recording, etc. To receive encrypted channels, you need the proper decryption card from the appropriate organization and a PCMCIA CAM which supports your card. Alternatively, you can load a firmware that enables the built-in smart card readers to handle your decryption card. As the Dreambox is more a computer than a consumer electronic device, it can hang some time and it takes a bit of time to learn how to use its full potential.
1.1 Target audience of this tutorial
The goal is to provide you with a guide to have your Dreambox fully running with a first software image, and set up multiboot, allowing you to test different software combinations. This includes a working network, and channel setup (both free to air and encrypted ones).
Reading and understanding this guide you will fully control your dreambox and enjoy all its features.
A Dreambox !
Please also note there are 2 versions of the remote control; The old one with a "dream" button for the menu access, and the new one where the button is called "Menu" . Also, the red button for ESC, is named "Lame!" on the old version, and "Exit" in the new one. |
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- A Harddisk to integrate into the Dreambox : Not Mandatory. I personally have a 40 Go disk used for movie recording and timeshifting. Harddisks create more noise and use more power. You can begin without a harddisk and buy one later anyway. Be aware though that you cannot use every type of disc.
- A USB memory stick 128 Mb : Highly recommended, this allow to save settings outside the Dreambox Flash, often a bit too small, and you can put others images on it for multiboot, without having the HD spinning all the time. You can have some compatibilities issues, so prefer brand names or buy a "Dreambox Compatible" USB stick to be sure. Also be wary that several USB key have write protection turned on by default, and need to be unlocked under Windows with a special software provided by the manufacturer.
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- A Null modem serial cable is highly recommended. It
allows you to still access the Dreambox if flashing fails or if you kill
the network. |
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- A PC with a 100 mbit/s Ethernet card. You can connect your PC directly
to the Dreambox using a crossover Ethernet cable, or connect both PC and Dreambox
to a hub/switch using regular Ethernet cables.
Despite The Dreambox is really a dream machine, and to keep this guide fully obvious, there is a quality problem on dreambox production. Some boxes have trouble to work the way it is supposed to. here is a list of the main defect that CAN occurs. Please note only a small percentage is concerned and that more than 95% of the dreambox works perfectly.
- Problem with Harddrive : When you add a HD, Dreambox becomes unstable and hangs often. Also, when starting a recording, the HD goes from standby to active mode and the dreambox hangs. After every crash you need to reboot when the dreambox did not do it automatically, by pressing the 3 buttons, or even sometimes by removing the power cable.
==> This is due by a too small power supply in the dreambox and/or a too consuming hard drive. Try another HD if you can or add an external power supply for the HD. Last solution is a maintenance return to the vendor.
- The "Mosaic" Problem : Pixelisation problem every 2-3 minutes and/or black screen on every channel and very slow remote control response : This is a defect in the dreambox. Either send back the dreambox to the vendor for maintenance, or add a CAM (even an outdated old one) this solves the problem in almost 99% of cases.
- Re boot problem : When asking the dreambox to reboot, it stops with the "Dream multimedia message on front panel. Also, send the dreambox back to the vendor, or, as it is only a minor problem, use the 3 button procedure to restart and prefer "Shutdown" + Power On when you need to reboot.
- Poor Tuner sensibility : The dreambox tuner is good but need a strong signal. So be prepared to buy a new LNB with a smaller noise figure like Invacom 0,3Db, or buy a new bigger dish if you want to keep the same level compared to your old Nokia STB...
At the first boot of your Dreambox, you have to choose your language, Time Zone and then your dish configuration: Basic (one LNB/One dish), Medium (several LNB/Dishes with DiseqC switching), or complex (a motorized unit). Then you need to add at least one satellite.
This step is only necessary if your satellite dish has not been set up yet. It is a quite involved procedure specially for a motorized one, so you might want to get somebody who has already installed a satellite system before to help you, or buy an installation and mounting package from the place you got your setup from. If you think you're up to doing it by yourself, here's how.
2.2 Satellite & Channel Configuration
Now it's time to scan at least one satellite for channels. The Dreambox has an impressively fast scan, based on a XML file containing all transponders available on the chose satellite. Keep in mind that it is normal if some transponders do not have any digital channels, as several are still used for analog broadcast, or temporary feeds. Press the blue button to access next page :
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Press the blue button, then select automatic scan, then the progress screen will be shown: |  |
The best way to have an updated satellites.xml file, it to use the wonderful plug-in autosatxml 1.5.
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I suggest to use 192.168.0.24 for the Dreambox as more and more OS images have this value built-in. Set the Gateway to the IP address of your local Internet gateway (usually 192.168.0.1 if you have a router or do Internet connection sharing from your primary PC). Set the Netmask to 255.255.255.0. Note that if you use a ADSL router, you should use that address as gateway, choosing a IP address for the dreambox in the same ???.???.???.x as the router. I assume in the following that the PC is the gateway.
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If you are currently not connected to the Internet, establish a connection now and then go to the Start Menu, select run, then type “command” for windows 98 computers and “cmd” for windows 2000 & XP. Then type "ipconfig /all" to get a listing of the configuration of all your network interfaces. Note the two DNS Servers as marked in the screenshot.
Also, make sure that the IP address for your Ethernet card is in the same subnet (192.168.0.x) as the Dreambox and that other computers in your network can access the Internet. This requires either a hardware router (that's most definitely the best solution and also gives you some additional security), or an active Internet connection sharing.
If you have a computer under Windows 98, it will not be easy to share your internet connection as it is not natively supported. So either update to XP or buy a software like Wingate.
On Windows XP Pro, this is quite simple : "Start" , "Contro Panel", "Network Connections" , "Set up a home or small office network". follow instructions and you should be OK.
This will activate Internet connection sharing on the connection you specify as you internet connection, put 192.168.0.1 as PC IP adress on the network, and start a small DHCP Server service.
If you have other PC on the network, the only thing you have to do is "Obtain an address automatically" in the TCP/IP properties, in the properties part of your network connection. For the dreambox, as at his time there is still some trouble with DHCP client on images, and 1.07 based images do not support DHCP, it's better to specify yourself the IP address to 192.168.0.24.
Having done that, your Dreambox can now access the Internet and is connected to your network. This allow software update, plug-in, languages, EMU downloads, or card sharing if you have 2 dreambox. To check if everything is working properly, try pinging the Dreambox:
If pinging 192.168.0.1 (in this case your PC) does not work, your PC is not
configured properly. If you have a software firewall running, try disabling
it for a test, and make recheck your network settings. If pinging 192.168.1.24
(your Dreambox) does not work even though your Dreambox is turned on and you've
properly configured it, check the cabling.
Before going inside the dreambox, let's just have a look at the standard use of the dreambox with the remote control.
The "dream" button allows access to the dreambox menu. In fact it's mainly used for the setup operations. The small red "Lame!" button is in fact the "ESC" button, allowing to escape from menus going back in menus trees.
The remote control is able to manage your dreambox of course, but also another device, as your TV. The two large buttons under power and shift allow to choose which device you control. I mean that if you press on "TV", you can't anymore control your dreambox with your remote control.
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To access your Favorites, just press the up or down arrow on the remote, then the blue button, then navigate and then OK. To move between channels of the selected User-bouquets, just press left or right. Here's an example of a list of favorites: |
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The "OK" button, acts as supposed to confirm choice in menus, but also show up the basic EPG (Electronic Program Guide) when you are on a channel. The EPG gets information from the TV provider, through the DVB broadcast. Most channels use it, but some don't. The basic EPG gives you the name of the program in progress as the following one, with the time it's supposed to start/ends. By pressing "Info" you get the full EPG with detailled information on the current program, when filled in by the TV provider.
You can change audio when you want choose another language (if available on that channel), or when there is no sound on a channel.
A useful but quite unknown function (I just discovered it !) is the ability to swap between the current channel and the previously choosed channel, simply by pressing "0".
When it comes to recording or timeshifting, please note you need a HD. Timeshifting is when you pause the direct stream for a while, then come back and play it again with a few minutes delay compared to the direct stream. For this features, just press the "video" button once, plus the function key you want in the next second. The Yellow button is the still and timeshifting start, the green one is the play and resume one, as the "radio" button is the start recording. Plus Stop and fast forward function that you will easily find I think.
Notice that the stream is recorded directly, without any recompression and then there is no difference at all between recorded streams or direct streams.
For Timeshifting, note you can fast forward, comes backs in your movie, redo a still without stoipping the recording. Personnally, I know often do a timeshifting on the channel I want to watch, finish cooking, shower or whatever, then comes back 30 min after programm starting and watch it nicely. Where it comes magic, that the fact to be able to fast forward advertising ! You should test that !
Once the network is all set up, we will initiate a and an ftp session. Telnet is the old fashioned way to access a remote computer, but it supports commandline applications. To establish a Telnet connection, go to the start menu, select run and type "cmd" and then "telnet 192.168.0.24". When asked for a login, it's root and the password is dreambox.
To establish an FTP connection to your box, use your favorite FTP client (FlashFXP in my case) or the commandline FTP Windows provides (it's the same procedure as with telnet, but instead of "telnet 192.168.0.24" you type "ftp 192.168.0.24"). You should avoid Internet Explorer as it is not as good for FTP than for HTTP. Both login and password are the same as for telnet.
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If you use Flashfxp, there are several advantages ; Except the graphical side of the tool compared to text console, by pressing F4, you can setup a favorite ftp site, with login,password, default directory to connect. Just be carrefull with "options", "When file exists". It often happend you edit a file and upload it back to the dreambox and the file is same size or a bit bigger. Default options will make flashfxp skip the file if source and destination are same size, or resume if the destination file is smaller. And you won't get your updated file on the dreambox. So, prefer these settings for a dreambox use (not optimal for standard internet ftp transferts !) If you use another ftp client, you will probably found the same behaviour, so look for these options also. |
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Another nice thing is you can execute the "Chmod" command from Flashfxp, no need of starting a telnet session. For those who know only Windows, Unix systems, and Linux, have more attributes available on file. You find autorisations for Read, Write and Execute, that can be determined separatly for 3 groups of users : "Owner", the account who create the file, "Group" the group of the owner, and "Public" for everybody. |
Here is the detail for your information :
0 = no permissions whatsoever; this person cannot read, write, or execute the file
1 = execute only
2 = write only
3 = write and execute (1+2)
4 = read only
5 = read and execute (4+1)
6 = read and write (4+2)
7 = read and write and execute (4+2+1)
When you upload a file, default permission is 644, so the file cannot be executed. If the file has to be executed by the dreambox, you need to CHMOD 755 the file (or 777 sometimes)
You can do that by telnet and typing "chmod 755 newcamd" for example, or you can right click on the file in flashfxp and set permissions there.
3.3 Editing channel lists and favorites
It is now time to import the list of satellites and channels we have previously created. The best way to do this is using DreamboxEdit. Install this software and launch it. Then click on the FTP icon, and enter a directory to save your channels and favorites. Then click on Receive Files from Dreambox, and after a few seconds, all your channels are listed in DreamboxEdit. In the rightmost part of the window, you can create and sort your TV and radio favorites, and add channels by dragging and dropping selections from the leftmost part to the center partfrom. Sorting is available as well, by any criteria you like.
You can also using the right bouton on left part, choose to create one bouquet by satellite, what can be usefull to navigate later on the dreambox.
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To send your changes back to the Dreambox, click on the FTP icon, then click on send to Dreambox. After the upload is complete, click on reload settings on Dreambox, and all the changes will be visible on your Dreambox. You can add a shortcut button to upload and reload settings automatically. Simply Click on the "Options" button, then choose the FTP tab and tick "Enable Quick FTP buttons on mainscreen toolbar", thenc lick on "Save".
Then you will get two shortcuts on the FTP button, like this : |
If you have error when uploading, or if you cannot get on dreambox the channel you just modified, you just probably run out of space in your flash. Try delete some unnecessary stuff by ftp in /var (be cautious !) or buy a USB keys to move all the /var directory to the USB stick.
It's time now to start working with "images". I refer to a piece of software that contains the operating system and applications to watch TV, record, etc. On other equipment (Divx standalone player, other set-top-boxes, DVD burner etc. ) we speak about firmware, but in the Dreambox world, the term image is commonly used. A Dreambox image contains the Linux operating system for the hardware, and applications to watch and record TV.
You can download the latest official image from the Dreambox
manufacturer website. The most recent version as this guide is written,
is v1.08. This a new and innovative image that use the new linux kernel 2.6. As usual for new pieces of software, there are still some bugs, So I suggest you still stay a bit on version 1.07, based on linux 2.4.18. To flash the image,
you can use the dreamUp software (available from the manufacturer) using a serial
cable (safe but slow), or using the LAN (not recommended). Prefered choice will be though the lan, either manually using the root.cramfs method, or using a great piece of software : Flashwizard 3.
The manual method involves uploading the image to
the /tmp directory on your Dreambox via FTP, then rename it to root.cramfs,
then go to the setup menu of your Dreambox, select Software Update, then
manual update.
Make sure you use the proper image, or you risk turning your Dreambox
into electronic junk that has to be sent back to the manufacturer. To erase
all personal settings of the previous image in the flash memory (don't do this
when multi-booting from an USB stick), press the up button on the
Dreambox when the boot logo is on screen. A "Flash erase" message
will appear on the LCD . If your Dreambox should
freeze during the Flash Erase process, press the 3 buttons on it to reset the device, or
just remove the power cable (Not Recommended).
If you prefer to use a nice windows program that automate the process, and brings you some other nice feature like setting up a multiboot environment, you should then use Flashwizard 3
To keep this document not too fat, this part is on a separated page.
5 Example of a full installation
To keep this document not too fat, this part is on a separated page.
Dreambox is able to playback natively Mpeg1 and Mpeg2 files, and only. No hardware divx decoding, and CPu is quite short for a software decoding. Recorded movies can then be files recorded by the dreambox (.ts files) or recorded somewhere else (.mpg and .mpeg files)
If you press the up or down arrow, then press the "Text" button and you will see your TS files in "/recorded movies". Other files that you have uploaded to HDD can be found in /hdd , and you can find NFS mounted directory where you mounted it, probably in /var/mnt/nfs.
You can also access through the "dream" menu but it is longer.
If you want to edit TS files in your PC and then make it available again in the dreambox (like doing videoclip selection) , just use PVAInstrumento and mpeg2snitt as explained in the 6.3 part, then use the multiplex function of TMPGEnc (in MPEG Tools section) to get a mpg back. And then just upload to the dreambox to have the file available.
Installing the Elecard
decoder should enable you to view the .TS files in your favorite media player.
Easier, you can use VideoLAN.
VideoLAN is really easy to use, stable and has no problems reading TS files.
6.3 Playing back on DVD Player
As digital TV uses the same compression format as DVD, what is more logical than to put your TV recording on a DVD? The process involves cutting out the commercials, and author a DVD. Doom9 has written a nice guide on the subject.
You can obviously convert your recordings into any other formats. If you want to create an SVCD I suggest Doom9's DVB to SVCD guide, for DivX/XviD conversions I suggest Doom9's DVB to DivX/XviD guide.
It is possible to broadcast video over the LAN using DreamTV. It should be also possible to use VideoLAN for this purpose. A guide on this subject is forthcoming, once I manage to make it work...
6.6 Playing DivX and other formats on the Dreambox
The Dreambox hardware is not capable of handling more complex streams than MPEG-2. However, it is possible to have your PC do an on-the-fly DivX to MPEG-2 conversion and stream this to the Dreambox. This requires a powerful PC, and the quality will be sub-par as DivX to MPEG-2 conversion always results in a visible loss of quality.
The first solution came fromthe Neutrino team, who did a great image, fully different from others. You can find a guide here that explain divx streaming and show you a bit of the Neutrino image.
Now, there is just a new solution, with a Mechatron plugin. This plugin also also streaming from VLC running on the PC, on the fly conversion to mpeg2, and video displayed on the dreambox. This allow divx playing on the dreambox.
I personnaly test it on Hydra Olympic 1.08 in FLASH and it works.
It does not work on Rucannon6, neither if youuse this image as base image and put Hydra on USB/HDD.
I think this plugin needs a 1.08 kernel.
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First install VLC 0.71 from VideoLan.org . Start it, "Settings", "Preferences","Input", then "Server Port" to 8080. |
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Then creates a shorcut, right click, "proprerties". You just need to add an option that tells VLC that control will me made through http. So just add --extaintf=http. You're done on the PC side. You will need to start VLC using this shortcut everytime you want to stream to the dreambox. |
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Then, FTP the two files vlc.so and vlc.cfg to /var/tuxbox/plugin. You just now need to press the plugin button (Yellow usually) and select videolan client. All you still need to do is to press the blue button and select your start dir on the PC, F drive in my case. Please notice that you need to use the "/" and not the windows "\" for paths. Other parameters are default ones, as shown on the screen capture. Save, and browse your disk for an AVI (Divx, Xvid ..) or mpeg file. There is still a small delay on sound but it's only a beta plugin right now ! |
You can go three ways to install an addon.
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On the Rudream images, "Dream", "Setup", "External Addons", "Manager addons", then in the case of the Samba plug-in, "download plugins", then choose the right one and let the dreambox do the job. You can find similar menus in other most famous images, and as it is quite pretty simple to find. |
You can find quite lot of plugins on http://www.olmi.cz/dreambox_plugins.php and http://www.dreambox.net.au/downloads.php. Anyway, here is a list of my prefered ones. Like other things in this guide, this is only my choice, and you should test several others to do your own mind. For example I do not install games on my dreambox (Tetris,Lemmings) as I have a console and prefer modern games. But it exists and works well.
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To install it, unrar the archive and FTP files to /var. This is simply an internet radio plugin, that support shoutcast streams. You have a file /var/etc/stations.xml that contains the list of stations. You can edit it manually, download a new one, or use this small software from Hasse99 to manage it. Reduce windows feature, allows you to watch Fashion TV with the nice stream of Radio FG ( Paris DJs Radio) (http://radiofg.elliptic.fr:8000/listen.pls or other streams on http://www.radiofg.com/live/ ) |
Look and field of menus, epg and so on can be configured in the dreambox. So you can customize skins and create your own look.
Some customized skins already exists, ready to use.
You can download it from menus like plugins emu etc..
You can also found several on http://dreambox-skins.de.vu/
or on http://www.olmi.cz/dreambox_plugins.php
You should read the readme files for every installation, but mainly, you have to copy
.emsl and .info files to /var/tuxbox/config/enigma/skins and fonts folder to /var/tuxbox/config/enigma/fonts/
Once on the disk, you need to change your current skin by the new one. On Rudream, it's "Dream", "Setup", "System Settings", "OSD Settings" then blue button.
You should avoid too many skins installed as it's reported as making unstable the dreambox.
To reboot the Dreambox, press the 3 buttons on the front of your Dreambox.
When inserting a smartcard remember the chip has to be on the DOWN side.
The Dreambox can play MP3 and Ogg Vorbis audio files, and create
a slideshow from images located on the Dreambox harddisk, USB memory stick or
Compact Flash cards. These plugins are available on many images through Internet
download, directly from the Dreambox menu. If you put a CompactFlash card into
the Dreambox, it will automatically be mounted as /hdd ont he boot time, so
be careful when activating a swapfile.
If you point your web browser to the IP address of your Dreambox (http://192.168.0.24 in our case), you can change channels remotely, access EPG, do screenshot, OSD shot etc..
Well, I spent quite a bit of time writing this all down and I hope you'll find this guide useful and easy to follow. I'd like to thank people who create Dreambox images like Gutan, RUdream, MisterX, SandBox, Hybrid, BlackCannon, Hydra, NedKelly, SF team, DBF, Ahaustria, Neutrino, PeterPan and others. Thank you for making the Dreambox such a wonderful toy. Many thanks also to all EMU coders. Greetings to plugins (Special Ola to Mechatron) , addons coder, webmasters and all other people I can forget here
I'd also like to encourage you to donate to people who provide tools for the Dreambox for free.
Thanks to people of the Sat-Industry
Forums and Dreambox Net Australia
to help me getting started with the Dreambox.
Congrats to the SandBox Team, who runs a
French site & forum & created the great sandbox image.
Special thanks to Doom9 to clean up my frenglish
style and for his great reference site.
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This Guide shall not be published without my explicit authorization. |
First Written by Klona on 17/02/2004, Version 3.0 built on 21/08/2004 |
