Recording/Streaming/3rdParty > Recording/Playback

Recording/Playback

Using Your Dbox and PC to Record & Playback

(Written by Celtic67)

This Tutorial explains how you can record to your PC with using a 3rd Party Software and then again Playback these recordings or any other Files on your Dbox via the Movieplayer / Moviebrowser

This tutorial will tell you how to configure your Dbox to record to your PC and

play back your recorded video, as well as most other video (DivX, etc). It

assumes that you have your Dbox networked to your PC (can FTP, Telnet,

etc), running a Neutrino image and that you are running Windows on your PC.

Tools you’ll need:

VLC 0.x.x from http://www.videolan.org/

You might need an older Version (0.7.2) as some of the latest don’t work well with the Dbox.

In the Windows download section, you’ll need to scroll down to the mirrors for older version

than the latest.

Dbox Winserver 0.4.2

Recording to the PC

On the PC

•	Create a directory on the PC to store your recordings

•	Install Dbox Winserver (known as Winserver from here on)

•	Add a shortcut to dboxwinsvr.exe (wherever you installed it) to your Startup directory in the Start menu

•	Run Winserver (dboxwinsvr.exe)

•	Click the Settings tab and enter your Dbox IP, the port should already be 4000. Set the output directory to the directory you created above

•	Click the Generally tab and remove the tick from Windows after recording unless you want it to perform the action in the dropdown box once it’s finished

•	Select Use UDRec (GGrab may work better for you)

•	Click the UDRec tab and select Record only 1 Stream under Audio and Record as MPEG-Streams under Stream File

•	Select Multiplex MPEG Streams after recording. UDRec createsseparate files for the video and audio, which is good for burning to DVD.

To show up in the list for the Dbox Movieplayer, you need themmuxed as one file.

Keep an eye on your hard drive space though, as you effectively have 2 copies, the muxed and the demuxed. If you can get GGrab to work for you, you can have it only create the mpg file

•	Click Save.

You should have an icon in your systray that looks like a standard pause symbol. Winserver is now waiting for a stream On the Dbox

•	Press the Dbox button on your remote

•	Go to Settings, then Recording

•	Set the Recording Device to Server

•	Enter the IP address of your PC (it has to be a static IP)

The port should be 4000

Set Switch to SPTS mode to Off

Select Activate Changes, then Back,

then Save Settings Now

•	Press Home to go back to watching TV

You’re ready to record. Press the Blue button to get the Features

menu, then Red to start recording. You can press Home to watch the

channel as normal. To end recording, press Blue again for Features,

then Red.

You can also set timed recordings, as long as your PC is left on and

running Winserver

While recording, the icon on the PC systray should show a flashing red

circle (Also on some Images the Time on the LCDof the Box flashes)

Recordings should appear in the directory you created. You’ll have a

directory with the date, time, and channel name. Inside that you’ll have

files with the program name. The mpg can be watched directly. The

mpv & mp2 are ready to be burnt to DVD or deleted if you don’t need

them. The txt contains the program description. The log is selfexplanatory

Playback on the Dbox

PC Side

•	Install VLC (should be a self-installing exe)

•	Create a directory to store your recording (ie d:\dbox)

•	Edit the properties for the entry in your Start menu for VLC media player. Delete any parameters and replace them with --extraintf=http so the shortcut reads something like "C:\ProgramFiles\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" --extraintf=http

•	If your PC boots straight to Windows or you’re happy to login before VLC starts up, copy the VLC media player shortcut to your Startup directory in the Start menu.

•	Start VLC. No need to change any settings, the above step lets the Dbox control it all through a web interface Test that the VLC web interface is available by looking at http://127.0.0.1:8080/

On the Dbox

•	Press [Dbox], go to Settings, then Movieplayer

•	Set Streamingserver to On

•

•	Enter your PC IP address of the PC where VLC is installed, leave the port as 8080

•	If you want to playback DVDs, enter your PC’s DVD drive letter Enter the directory name that you created (ie d:\dbox) in File directory (VLC)

•	Change the MPEG video codec to MPEG2 (not sure if that matters)

•	Select Back then Save Settings Now

•	Press Home to return to watching TV

PLAYBACK

To play back your recordings, press Dbox then select Movieplayer,

then File via VLC.

This should take you to browse the directory that you

set up on your PC.

Standard file types, such as mpg and avi will show

up.

Select one to start watching. You should get a message that it’s

connecting to the server, followed by a message that it’s buffering, then

the playback should begin

You should be able to drop other video files into that directory on the PC and

play them back. Give it a try.

Troubleshooting

Some recording don’t play back in the correct aspect ratio

In the Dbox Video settings, select the correct aspect ratio for your TV,

rather than rely on autodetect

The recordings or playback stutter

Some people have reported that the PC network card needs to be set

to 10 Half Duplex