LiveTV (Dreambox) on iPhone and iPod Touch

[DJ Overdose]

I thought I had already posted this info here ages ago! Anyway, read the old method below first for info, then read the update for simpler method.

(Original source: i-have-a-dreambox.com | Dreambox - Support | Software allgemein | LiveTV on iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch)


I'll upload my channel mp4 files at some point.


DJ OD




UPDATE.

Okay the actual process was not as complex as I assumed it would be so here's a brief guide based on what I did. I will tidy it up and sort the file pack properly when I get more time, but this is all you need to do to get it going.

1) Install that Bouquet thing on your PC. Copy the fixed exe to the program directory and the languge files too. Not sure if you need to do that, but I did.

2) Fire it up and give it the settings for your Dreambox.

3) Create a folder somewhere on your desktop or whatever and call it Dreambox

4) Set all paths to that folder in the settings of the Bouquet doo-dah.

5) Click on a bouquet (one at a time prolly best!) then click on the icon for Air Video and get it to export to your desktop folder. Box will then channel hop all the channels in the bouquet, try and make a screenshot, fail but save the MP4 files and the channels ini anyway.

6) On the same PC download the Air Video server software and install, if you haven't got itunes on that PC you'll need to d/l Bonjour from Apple. (Google it and d/l if you don't want to install all of iTunes)

7) On your iDevice download the FREE! (You can download the hacked full version from installus if you want, or buy the app - recommended in case of updates etc) version of Air Player

FYI the only difference between the FULL and teh FREE is the number of files/folders the iDevice will browse at a time, it chooses them randomly and using the little refresh icon changes them, so you can find what you are looking for eventually! LOL!

8) Now copy the fffmepegg.exe thing and the channels.ini to the Air Video install folder on your PC and run the Air Video Server.

9) Add your movies folder, and the Dreambox folder to the list of server shares in Air Video server.

10) On your iDevice fire up the app, open your server, open the video or dreambox folder click on a channel (Note the nice n/a icon... lol) and wait for it to start.

Jobs a goodun.

I will update and tweak this setup at some point and hopefully get the icons working better.

N-Joi


DJ OD


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OLD GUIDE BELOW
Not my work, and not tested just yet but seems a pretty handy app. I was using Orb before, but wasn't too impressed with the quality. Also there is a VLC player from iPhone to stream from your Dreambox, but that was also a bit ropey. Maybe this will solve the problem... Will post bad more feedback later once I have had a chance to play. Just seems like it might be a pain and a bit time consuming to configure first time round.

All files needed can be downloaded here (someone mirror this please;-)): http://rapidshare.com/files/391837340/Dream.rar

What it should work like:

YouTube - Iphone Live TV Stream mit Dreambox

YouTube - Iphone Live TV Stream mit Dreambox

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If you own an iPhone or iPod Touch and also use a Dreambox, Dbox2 or any other receiver running Enigma or Neutrino then "Air Video" is a must have.

What is it?



Air Video can stream videos to your iPhone or iPod Touch. Besides the app you must run the free of charge server for Windows or Mac. That is very nice for playing your recorded videos. But I'm sure you will like my Air Video server mod even more. I've modified latest Air Video server so that it enables you to select and play live video streams from your set top boxes (e.g. Dreambox or Dbox). A TV channel can be selected from a channel list (a list with channel logo thumbnails). Air Video server then sends a zap (channel change) command to the set top box and the stream can be played on the iPhone using live conversion. This works perfect and you can view your favorite TV channels live and in good quality wherever I am via wifi and 3G. Years ago I developed the PMP VLC player for the Sony PSP which is quite similar to Air Video and when I found Air Video I knew it is the killer app for the iPhone and iPod Touch

Installation

First install Air Video on your iPhone or iPod Touch, then install the latest server on your Windows PC or on your Mac. Details can be found on the official Air Video site http://www.inmethod.com
Links to older versions can be found in the support forum here:
Air Video Server 2.1.8-beta9 released

To install my mod perform following steps:
- download and unpack my Air Video modpack from the attachment (10MB)
- replace the ffmpeg program by the one in my modpack. On your PC replace ffmpeg.exe in the directory where you installed the Air Video server (e.g. C:\Program Files\AirVideoServer). On a Mac replace ffmpeg in directory "/Applications/Air Video Server Beta9.app/Contents/Resources/" and make sure ffmpeg has execute permissions
- copy channels.ini to your PC in the directory where you installed the Air Video server (e.g. C:\Program Files\AirVideoServer) and if you use a Mac copy it to the root directory (in "/")
- copy the LiveTV directory to your PC and add it to the shared folders in Air Video server. This directory contains the channel logo thumbnails (these are in fact 1 second duration mpeg4 files). Included are about 50 German Astra 19.2 channels
- edit channels.ini and replace the IP address 192.168.1.96 by the IP of your Dreambox or Dbox2
- (for client versions before v2.1.3): add a preset "LiveTV" in the Air Video client on the iPhone: width 480, height 272, quality e.g 70% (the quality heavily determines the average bitrate and for Internet access (3G or wifi) it should not be more than your upload speed! Via 3G I have good results when quality is set to 50%. Experiment with it and look up in the server log what actual bitrates you achieve
- (for client v2.1.3 and later): click conversion settings and then click Global Conversion Settings. The live TV stream quality depends only on the Max. Resolution settings and Quality for Offline Conversion slider. I recommend to keep the Max. Resolution settings on Automatic and only use the Quality for Offline Conversion slider to set stream quality.
- if you installed everything correctly and the server is running you can start Air Video on your iPhone, add the server and open the LiveTV - German TV folder. Select a channel from the thumnail list and press "Play with Live Conversion" and then press play from "The Beginning". If after 6-7 seconds you see a warning message press "Continue". In total after pressing "Play with Live Conversion" it takes about 25 sec before you see the picture.
- streaming sd channels works perfect for most of the sd (standard definition) channels. Some channels do not correctly multiplex the elementary streams into a ts stream and won't play, CNBC Europe is an example. Unfortunately the Ffmpeg encoder can not correctly demux hd channels and therefore hd channels only play a few seconds.
- if you stream from a Dbox2 you must first switch off "Playback" and "Sectionsd". You can do that in the Control menu via the dbox yWeb interface.
- you can get a near perfect picture quality if you select the highest quality preset in Conversion Settings.
- IMPORTANT: to ensure uninterrupted streaming make sure your set top box and the PC running Air Video Server are connected to your wlan router by ethernet cable. If you connect them by wifi or powerlink there is a high probability the stream stops playing after a few seconds.

Customisation

On the server the file called channels.ini must be added with 3 lines for each channel: thumbnail movie filename, zap url, stream url. The zap url is sent to the set top box once the user starts live playback and the stream url is the stream which is being transcoded by Air Video server.

Here is a snippet:

049-BBC-World.mp4
http://192.168.1.96/web/zap?sRef=1:0:1:2742:402:1:c00000:0:0:0:
http://192.168.1.96:8001/1:0:1:2742:402:1:c00000:0:0:0:

050-CNN-Int.mp4
http://192.168.1.96/web/zap?sRef=1:0:1:6f6a:42c:1:c00000:0:0:0:
http://192.168.1.96:8001/1:0:1:6f6a:42c:1:c00000:0:0:0:

On a Dreambox you can easily find the number part (e.g. 1:0:1:6f6a:42c:1:c00000:0:0:0: ) in the User Bouquet files, e.g. userbouquet.dbe02.tv For use with a Dbox2 with yWeb web interface the lines look like:

db2-RTL.mp4
http://192.168.1.92/control/zapto?44100012ee3
http://192.168.1.92:31339/0,0x002c,0x00a3,0x0068

The zap link can directly be found on the yWeb web interface. The stream link of the channel currently playing can be found by opening http://192.168.1.92/control/exec?Y_Live&url in your browser, the result is http://192.168.1.92:31339/0,0x002c,0x00a3,0x0068 if RTL is currently played.

You also need the thumbnail mpeg4 which must be created with an aspect ratio corresponding to the stream. The channel logos can be found here:
LYNGSAT LOGO - Satellite Broadcast Logos

Windows users can use two batch files logo.bat and logowide.bat which can create the thumbnail videos in 4:3 and 16:9 respectively.
Download a channel logo from lyngsat and resize the canvas to 176 x 99 (from 133 x 99) if you want to produce a 16:9 thumbnail.
Rename it to z1.jpg and then run logo or logowide with the channelname as parameter (e.g. logowide 048-CNBC-Europe.mp4). Note: Make sure there are no blanks or tabs in the filename !!!

UPDATE: kokutus2000 released "Bouquet Editor Suite" which can automatically create thumbnails and the channels.ini file. You can find his tool (In the download pack above).

The same method can easily be applied to live streams from capture boards, webcams, surveillance cams and many other set top boxes.

- Attached are ffmpeg versions which you should use with Air Video Server 2.2.5-beta2 and later. The ffmpeg in the original modpack is for server versions until 2.2.5-beta1
- Personally I use client version 2.1.0 on iPhone and 2.2.5-beta2 on server (I use bot Mac and Windows in parallel)

More info


Hi, This looks like the solution I have been seeking for some time.
I managed to get a channel working from the channel list you create,by changing it a little >>

058-Sky-Action.mp4
http://192.168.1.177/cgi-bin/zapTo?path=1:0:1:9:2:85:c00000:0:0:0:
http://192.168.1.177:31344

I have enigma1 and had to use firebug to figure out my url for zapping, I also use 31344 to stream (this streams whatever is showing at the time, which is fine because the zap is done before it is shown).

I cant seem to get a new channel that I have added to the list to work. I created the thumbnail file but it doesnt play at all.

This is the channel info for the new channel:

071-SkySportsOne.mp4
http://192.168.1.177/cgi-bin/zapTo?path=1:0:1:1332:77:2:11a0000:0:0:0:
http://192.168.1.177:31344

DJ OD
________
UNIQUE GLASS PIPES

[eggtastico]

Thats Excellent, Thanks.

My Slingbox packed in a little while ago.
Now I can back to watching tv in work