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Project
Step-by-step guides to making
the most of your digital TV

august 2010
Dreambox remote
video streaming
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dreambox
You can watch your Dreambox or Linux sat receiver over the internet from
anywhere in the world by following these simple steps
The typical Linux-based PVR already provides – or
can easily be upgraded to provide – some nifty
networking-related functions that place it ahead of
the crowd. First of all, there’s the ‘web interface’ which – as
its name suggests – allows the box to be remotely
controlled via a standard web browser. That browser could
be running on a PC or PDA connected to your home
network – or, with appropriate setup, the internet itself.
Then there’s the ability to stream video, as received by the
tuner (i.e. the transport stream that carries the service, and
so with no quality loss) over the network. And finally there’s
the ability to act as an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server.
Basically, this means that you can transfer recordings
from your Linux PVR’s own HDD to a networked computer
for backup, conversion into DivX or DVD authoring via a
standard piece of software known as a FTP client. If your
box has multimedia ‘jukebox’ capabilities you can transfer
the files you want to play in the opposite direction, from PC
to PVR, not that such files are limited to multimedia types. If
2  What Satellite & Digital TV August 2010
you’ve set up your machine for remote access, then these Turn your Linux-based
files can be accessible from anywhere in the world via FTP – satellite receiver into a
provided the password and username are entered. Some of secure internet video
streamer so you’re never out
these ideas were explained in earlier projects that you can of touch
find online at wotsat.techradar.com/techzone/projects.
In this article, though, we’ll discuss how these
networking elements can be harnessed to provide a very
useful feature – the streaming of a TV channel over the
internet so it can be viewed from anywhere in the world
with a sufficiently fast internet connection. To do this we’ll
be using the ‘Tunisia Dreambox player and streamer 6.04’
application – we tried others like Dreamview, but had
trouble getting them to work. That will be the focus of our
second project; the first will detail the preparation needed.
Although the article refers specifically to the Dreambox,
there’s no reason why other Linux-based receivers (notably
ones running Enigma/Enigma 2) couldn’t be used here –
although some tweaks of settings may be required the
same basic principles will apply n Martin Pipe

Project 1: Preparation (a quick guide to some of the procedures outlined in the earlier articles)
Get networked! Although some of the
01 latest Linux receivers have Wi-Fi built in, we
recommend using wired Ethernet – it’s capable of
higher speeds and this is important as our third
project involves streaming a channel (typically at
a data rate of 3.5-4Mb/s) to a PC for transcoding
into an internet-friendlier form. Connect the
Ethernet port of your receiver to a spare port on
your broadband router.
This activates the bootloader. On the
04 receiver’s front panel display – if available
– the IP address (which should be identical to the
one your noted earlier) should be shown. Enter
this IP address into the web browser of the PC
you downloaded the firmware to, and at the
bottom of the screen you should see a ‘firmware
upgrade’ link. Click on this and locate the .nfi file.
Then click on ‘flash!’ to initiate the upgrade.
We’re using a Belkin router but similar
07 principles apply to other models (if you’re
struggling try portforward.com). Log in and
select the ‘virtual servers’ firewall option, and use
the first blank column. Put name of your receiver
in the ‘description’ box the (e.g. ‘Dreambox’). For
inbound port and private (outgoing) port specify
‘80’; for ‘type’, select ‘TCP’; for (private) IP address,
enter the IP address of your receiver.
Ensure that the parameters relevant to your
02 home network are correct on the receiver
(menu/setup/system/network/device setup/
adapter settings). DHCP – which does this
automatically and derives settings like the IP
address and gateway for you – is usually enabled
by default. The current settings should be shown.
Take a note of the receiver’s IP address. Next,
update your receiver to the latest firmware.
When that’s completed, restart the receiver.
05 Ensure that the web interface is active; go
to menu/plug-ins – and check that it’s listed. If
not, choose the ‘download plug-ins’ option, find it
in the list that appears and select it for
installation. It should then appear in the plug-ins
list. Click on the item, and ensure that the ‘Start
Webinterface’ option is set to ‘yes’.
Now we move to the second available
08 column. Enter the receiver’s name into the
description box; for ‘inbound (or public) port’,
enter ‘8001’; for ‘type’, select ‘TCP’; into the
(private) IP address box, enter the IP address of
your receiver; for private (or outgoing) port, enter
‘8001’. Ensure that both are enabled – usually via
a checkbox in the relevant column. Click on ‘save’
or ‘apply’.
project
Find an image compatible with your
03 receiver. For our Dreambox DM800 we
chose the Jade firmware from www.pli-images.
org. Save this to your PC and unzip it –
compatible images have an .nfi extension. Shut
down your receiver (hold down the power button
and select deep standby. Disconnect power from
the receiver. While reapplying power, hold down
the standby button on the front panel.
It’s now time to make your receiver
06 accessible over the internet. To do this,
something known as ‘port forwarding’ needs to
be set up on your home network’s gateway
router (the gadget, usually provided by ISPs, that
allows multiple wireless or wired devices to share
the same broadband connection). These devices
feature an internal security firewall, which should
by bypassed only for the relevant traffic.
If you require remote FTP access we must
09 allow these connections to access port 21.
In the next available column enter the receiver’s
name into the description box. For ‘inbound (or
public) port’, enter ‘21’; for ‘type’, select ‘TCP’; into
the (private) IP address box, enter the IP address
of your receiver; for private (or outgoing) port,
enter ‘21’. Check your changes via a checkbox in
the relevant column. Click on ‘save’ or ‘apply’.
August 2010  What Satellite & Digital TV  3
 Project 2: Set up a free account with Dynamic DNS
Other free providers include
No-IP, ChangeIP and 2myDNS
Premium features remove ads
and offer better domain names
Pick a name and domain you can
remember
This option is the basic way to
track your IP address
You shouldn’t need to look up
your external IP address
You can also use Dynamic DNS to
access your e-mail remotely
With your port forwarding set up, remote internet
connections should now be able to reach your receiver.
However, you need to know your numerical IP address, the
set of four ‘triplets’ which lie behind every website address
on the internet – and even then, that’s not as
straightforward as would first appear. It’s also useful to have
a domain name you can remember more easily than a
12-digit IP address.
To be able to access features like the web interface
01 and streaming from internet-connected devices you
could enter the IP address that your internet service
provider (ISP) assigns to you. Unfortunately, most domestic
ISPs allocate IP addresses to their subscribers ‘dynamically’.
This means that the assigned IP address could change if
your router is rebooted or the connection is dropped and
restarted – and as a result you will have no idea of what to
type into the web browser of your remote PC from one day
to the next.
Happily, there’s a solution in the form of ‘dynamic
02 domain name’ services – the one we’ll be using is
DynDNS (www.dyndns.com). This service assigns a domain
name (more memorable than numbers) to your IP address
– if it detects that your IP address has changed, then it will
automatically acquire your new address. The basic service is
free but you have to renew it every month. In addition, it
gives you a limited choice of ‘preset’ top-level domains.
Go to the site, click on the ‘create account’ option and
03 follow the instructions. It’s easy to do – indeed,
DynDNS will even detect your current IP address, sparing
you the trouble of entering it. Choose a preset domain
4  What Satellite & Digital TV August 2010
name you can remember and enter for the first part of the
domain name something equally memorable to you. Using
this service requires confirmation – you’ll be sent an e-mail
containing a link that enables you to continue registration.
Once you’ve completed the process, entering your
04 allocated domain name into a browser on a
networked home PC will take you to your wireless router’s
configuration page. But when you enter the domain into a
networked PC, you should instead see your receiver’s web
interface. To ensure that all is well before travelling, it might
be a good idea to call up a friend and ask him to try it. Of
course, anyone else can see it too, so make sure you’ve
picked a strong password.
Toolkit
n A Dreambox or similar Linux receiver
n A home network based around a router or hub – ideally connected
to the internet via broadband
n An Ethernet cable of sufficient length to connect your Linux-
powered receiver to the network
n A personal computer (Pentium 4 minimum, dual-core
recommended), also connected to your network (for streaming and
FTP)
n Dream Multimedia website (information and official firmwares for
Dreambox receivers):
www.dream-multimedia-tv.de
n Jade firmware: www.pli-images.org
n VLC Media Player: www.videolan.org
n Windows FTP client (WinSCP): winscp.net
n DynDNS: www.dyndns.com
n Dreambox player and streamer 6.04 application:
www.mfaraj57.9k.com
n Help with port forwarding and almost any other router setup
problem: www.portforward.com
 project

Project 3: Streaming to the outside world

You may be able to stream video on the local
network via the web interface (discussed with
VLC in an earlier article) but here the video
consists of the data streams as received by the
tuner. These have a data rate that’s too high to
reliably stream over the average broadband
connection so recompression is needed. Most if
not all current Dreamboxes lack the computing
power needed to recompress video in ‘real-time’.
The trick is to use a PC to accept these bit
01 streams from the Dreambox over the
network, recompress and restream them in a
broadband-friendlier form – the PC has to be
powered up for this. This is where the ‘Dreambox
player and streamer 6.04’ app (AKA ‘DPAS’) comes
in. This Windows application can be downloaded
from www.mfaraj57.9k.com. You’ll also need the
latest VLC Media Player (www.videolan.org).
Install both of these programs. Start up
02 DPAS and click on ‘settings’. From the
pull-down menu select the Dreambox model
you’re using and enter its IP address. Ensure the
port is set to ‘80’, and enter your username and
password. Click on the ‘test connection’ button –
you should get a ‘connection with Dreambox is
successful’ message.

Open up your router’s firewall/virtual
03 servers configuration page as in Project 1,
Step 7. In the next available column enter
‘Dreambox streaming’ or something similar into
the description box; for inbound and ooutgoing
ports enter ‘1234’; for ‘type’, select ‘UDP’; into the
(private) IP address box, enter the IP address of
your PC (to find this, open a Windows command-
prompt session and type ‘ipconfig /all.’)
In the next available column enter
04 ‘Dreambox streaming or something similar
into the description box; for ‘inbound (or public)
port’, enter ‘5678’; for ‘type’, select ‘UDP’; into the
(private) IP address box, enter the IP address of
your PC; for private (or outgoing) port, enter
‘5678’. Ensure that both are enabled – usually via
a checkbox in the relevant column. Click on ‘save’
or ‘apply’.
On the right-hand side of DPAS’ setting
05 window you should enter the domain
name of the DNS you set up in Project 2. Keep
the server streaming port as 1234, as specified in
Step 3. Clicking on the adjacent ‘question mark’
button brings up a port checker to allow you to
check that port 1234 is publicly accessible. You
can also check that port 80 (as specified in Project
1, Step 7) and port 5678 (step 4) are working.

Choose a channel – the

Another setting allows you to specify the
06 bit rate and thus the quality of the
streamed audio and video that can be enjoyed at
the remote end. If you have a good upload speed
the medium setting should suffice. If your upload
speed is limited, choose ‘low’. In the ‘advanced’
setting, encoding parameters can be manually
entered. Experimentation is advisable: liaising
with a friend or colleague is a good idea here!
07 left-hand side of the
DPAS program window is
dedicated to channel
selection. Click on the ‘start
restreaming’ button. VLC
Media Player should then start
and you should hear and see
the re-encoded stream – with
the same quality that will be
experienced at the remote
location. On the right-hand
side of the main program
window you’ll be given the
internet address of the stream
just beneath the source
preview window. It will be in
the form mms://<domain name>:1234. This is the entered into a web browser the default
address that you would use to initiate streaming compatible media player (usually Windows
in the remote location – note it down and pass it Media Player) will open and the stream should
to those who require access. When this address is start playing.

August 2010  What Satellite & Digital TV  5