WinDR (WinDreamRemote) for Windows - watch and control your dreambox remotely (Enigma1 and 2)

WinDR (WinDreamRemote) for Windows - watch and control your dreambox remotely (Enigma1 and 2)

UPDATE (22/04/2012): No more deadlines. The reason is that I am busy with other projects. I might implement other features in future. You can download from my web-site. For existing users, you just need to replace the old executable with the new one. This version is exactly the same as the previous one.

06/10/2010 - I have attached a "step-by-step"-guide for setting up WinDR - in particular what regards streaming. It is in English but you can use Google Translation-tools to translate it to another language.

Edit: 10/07/2010 - I added a video on YouTube where you can see WinDR in action. I did this because I have received questions from people wondering about video-quality and speed using WinDR remotely. In this video I am using a bitrate of 250 and my ADSL upload speed at home is approximately 350kb/s. As you can see, the video-quality is very good.

Here is the YouTube-link:

WinDR on YouTube

First of all, I don't speak German so I am writing this in English. If this application will be of interest, then perhaps someone can translate what I am writing now into German otherwise use, for instance, Google-translate.

This is an application that will let you control and watch (through streaming) your Dreambox or any other enigma 1/2 based receiver anywhere (LocalLan and/or outside your home using Internet). It has been tested and is working on DM500, DM7000, DM7020, DM800, DM8000 and other compatible decoders running Enigma-images such as IPBox350. I am using SifTeam but other images works as well.

This project started initially as an application for Windows Mobile-devices, called WMDreamRemote (WMDR) and was published on XDA and received great feedback. I had a lot of requests for porting it to Windows so I decided to do so - it was just a matter of recompiling the code for Windows. It could be useful for watching the upcoming Football World Championships in the office or simply to watch your Dreambox while being on holiday.

The idea of WinDR is actually for usage outside your home network but of course, you can use it within your LocalLAN as well although, I admit, there are other programmes for watching your Dreambox in your LocalLAN with more features than what WinDR currently implements/offers.

For now, I have only done a quick and rude porting so the interface is optimized for devices but nevertheless it works great on my PC at the office. I have tried it at various airport-terminals (hooking it up to WIFI) and even on a laptop with 3G in the forest and it works like a charm. Over the next months, I will probably rewrite the code and make a real Windows-application out of it and adding many features but as I said, it already works nicely once you have set it up.

Current Features:

-Streaming
-Remote Control
-Bouquets-/Channels-lists from where you can:
1) change channel
2) view EPG
3) set timers
-Controlling the receiver (Shutdown, Reboot etc)
-Supports set-up of multiple profiles (e.g. At work, home, bedroom)
-Supports set-up of multiple streaming-profiles (Local LAN, WLAN, mobile)

Known issues:
-is not compatible yet with old WebIf (1st generation) of Enigma2
-there might be some problems with certain characters not appearing correctly (please report if you have this problem)
-setting up box-profiles is not fool-proof and sometimes creates some problems (will be fixed in a future version)

Features to implement in upcoming versions (not necessarily in this order):

- A lof of stuff. Probably a complete re-write of the code and definitely the interface
Other things:
- support for other receivers - requests I have received are for D-box2 and IPBox HD (non Enigma)
- Https (SSL) support. (tested and working)
- watching recorded movies in streaming
- user (your) ideas
- etc........

Requirements:
-Net Framework
-an Enigma-based receiver such as the Dreambox, IPBox etc..
-for streaming, please see second post below
-VLC version 1.05 or earlier

Installation:

Note: I have not made any setup-file yet.
Note2: For WMDreamRemote-users, you can use your existing box- and streaming-profiles.

1) download the zip-file attached to this post and extract the files on your computer.
2) Copy the files into a directory of your choice. All files must be in the same directory.
3) Run WinDreamRemote.exe. The first time, you will get a message saying "No connection....".
4) Choose Preferences/Profiles from the main-screen. Then select Box-Profiles. You can modify an existing box-profile or ADD a new
profile inserting your data. Put the flag on default for the profile you use the most.
5) Then click Save Profile.
6) Go ahead if you wish to add other profiles.
7) You may delete my dummy-profile "home" (only after having added your own though) using the Del-button. NOTE: It's important that there is always one box-profile present (with Default selected)
otherwise there might be unexpected errors
8. On the main-screen, you can now use the remote-control by selecting its button
9) You may also see a bouquet/channel list by clicking on its button. However, the first time the list will be empty. Therefore,
10). Go back to Preferences/Profiles, Box-Profiles and select the profile you want to use. Now select the
button named "Create Bouquets for this profile". This will take a minute or two. It will download your bouquets and channels from your Dreambox. Do the same for each Profile you create.
11) Now you can scroll your bouquets ad channels.
12) Set up streaming-profiles (3 dummy profiles are provided for Local-LAN, WLAN and mobile) - see second post for more information. Please note that when using a streaming-profile for usage outside your LocalLAN, the LocalLAN-flag must be disabled.

There might be some unhandled error-messages occasionally. They are mostly due to connection-problems. Just click on continue and retry unless you have indeed a permanent error with your connection.

I must also express my sincerest thanks to my beta-tester ajocius for:
-giving me access to Enigma2,
-his superb beta-testing,
-sharing his knowledge about streaming

I have attached as a preview a sample image (although of bad quality) of the device-version (WMDR) although WinDR is nearly identical

PS1) I meant to release it at a later stage (when being more like a Windows-application) but many people asked for it now, so here it is.

Please try it out and then get back to me with your impressions, ideas, feedback, bugs and let me know if I should continue working on it.

Rgds,
moster67
(aka tilleke)

STREAMING

Streaming works great for me, especially at home (in my Local LAN) but also at work (using WIFI) and even in the forest on a laptop with a mobile-connection (3G) although the quality degrades.
I hope and believe it will work for you as well. The result could depend on a lot of factors:

-For WLAN or mobile: upload/download speed of your Broadband (normally upload-speeds are slower than download-speeds (ADSL)
-Your computer acting as VLC-server
-not finding the right configuration in stream-profiles settings
-etc

What you need:

1) VLC (Videolan). Just Google for it and install it on your computer which will act as the VLC-server. I have only tested streaming using VLC running on Windows but it should work on VLC-servers using Linux and MAC as well. If it doesn't, please let me know. I have only tested version 1.0.5 of VLC so I am unable to say if previous versions will work.

UPDATE (22/06/2010) - I just tested the new version of VLC no. 1.1.0 and it seems like WinDR is not compatibile with the latest version of VLC. So if you want to use WinDR, please ensure to use VLC 1.0.5 or earlier until I have resolved this issue.

2) You need a media-player on your computer (where WinDR is installed) for watching the stream. I would suggest using VLC but perhaps MPlayer works as well (I haven't tried). In any case, future versions will most likley have VLC integrated in WinDreamRemote. When you click on Stream in WinDR, an ASX-files will be created and therefore you should associate ASX-files (extension) to VLC (or MPLayer) so the stream will start automatically. This association will not be necessary in the next releases since WinDR will launch VLC automatically with correct parameters.

3) For certain Video-codecs such as H264, the computer acting as VLC-server should be rather modern and fast (not too old/slow).

4) and of course WinDR

How to set up everything:

1) install VLC on your computer which will act as the VLC (streaming)-server. Then under the menu, select "View" in the English version (not sure since I have it in Italian) and then select "Add Interface" and finally you select "Add Telnet-interface". If you haven't changed anything, the default password for Telnet is admin and the port in use is 4212. That's it. VLC must be running to get streaming working. There are options to install VLC as a Windows Service or you can create a bat-file to be executed upon launch of your VLC-server. I guess similar options are availabe on Linux and MAC as well.

2) Within your LocalLAN, no portforwarding should be needed. However if you are going to use and watch your Dreambox (streaming) outside your Local-LAN, you must ensure that you have set up port-forwarding correctly in your router. You must ensure that the WebIf can be accessed. You must ensure also that port 4212 (for Telnet) is opened and forwarded to the VLC-server. The same goes also for the streaming-port on the VLC-server which the Mediaplayer on the client needs to access to receive the stream. So, basically you need to set up port-forwarding for one port for accessing the WebIf of your Dreambox and two ports for accessing your VLC-server.

Here is some quick information about VLC and streaming:

3) A typical VLC-command to get streaming going is as follows:

vlc.exe" -vvv http://192.168.1.130:31339/0,0025,0384,0385,0295 --sout #transcode{vcodec=MP4V,vb=384,scale=0,5,acodec=mp3,ab=64,channels=1,deinterlace}:Duplicate{dst=std{access=HTTP,mux=ASF,dst=192.168.1.12:8085}}

Here are some explanations:

- the part "vlc.exe" is handled by WinDR using Telnet. You don't need to anything except for filling in information regarding the IP-address of your VLC-server, its password and which port to use.

- the part

http://192.168.1.130:31339/0,0025,0384,0385,0295

is your dreambox-ip, the port used for streaming and some channel-parameters. These parameters are handled automatically by WinDR and do not require your attention

- the part

#transcode{vcodec=MP4V,vb=384,scale=0,5,acodec=mp3,ab=64,channels=1,deinterlace}:Duplicate{dst=std{access=HTTP,mux=ASF,dst=

is the one you have to insert in WinDR and which you need to experiment with to get the best picture/quality/fluidity according to your connection-speed. WinDR is pre-installed with 3 examples which are working great in my office and my ADSL at home with an upload speed of 400-512kb (varies). You can use those as an example and then modify them according to your needs and speed.

- the part

192.168.1.12:8085

is the IP of your VLC-server and the port which VLC (or any other ASX-associated media-player ) on the client should connect to in order to get the stream. You fill in this information in the stream-profiles.

With this information, you can set up your streaming-profiles in WinDR. In the streaming-profiles, you will find an additional setting called "VLC Sleep Delay". You can leave it at 200ms as its default-value. This parameter is used by WinDR when "talking to" VLC via Telnet. If the connection is very slow, you can increase this value but normally, even on Mobile-connections, the value of 200ms is OK.

Above information should get you going.

If you have problems with streaming, look at the points mentioned above. Most problems with WinDR are networking-issues and rarely due to WinDR (hopefully).

Good luck!

TIPS AND TRICKS:
..................

TROUBLESHOOTING:

- Make sure that streaming actually works in your LocalLAN between your Dreambox and VLC (without using WinDR) and that you can watch the streams on your computer. You can test this by using the web-interface of your Dreambox or you can search internet for instructions. If you have problems (can't see anything at all, bad quality, buffering-problems etc), then the problem itself lies with the source and there is no way streaming will work in a satisfying way. For instance, it has been reported that cheap (clones of) DM500 might have problems with streaming.

I will try to write a better Guide when I get some free time.

Good luck!

Well, to me it seems like IHAD was the best place even if I am running SifTeam Hope to see a Gemini for IPBox350 in the future...

Quote

Originally posted by maxl
thanks for supporting your Application in IHAD too

I have never heard of it before you mentioned it nor have I tried it. Why should it be the same? Do you mean it has the same interface? It's probably another software doing the same stuff as mine. There are probably numerous software out there with similar features as WinDR.

Quote

Originally posted by Bib
Hi, is "StreamMeNG" the same or what is the difference?

As you wish...however, please remember that this thread is about WinDreamRemote so please let us discuss only WinDR here and not other software. If you see features in other software which you would like to see implemented in WinDR, then you can of course suggest it.

Quote

Originally posted by Bib
I haven´t tested StreamMeNG yet. I will test both programs soon and report back.

Hi,

I didn't know that WMP worked. Good to know. Thanks.

However, it's better that you use VLC. Thus, you must associate the file-extension ASX with VLC so when WinDR launches the ASX-file, VLC will open it automatically. I don't remember where to change it. Have a look at the settings/preferences in VLC. Another option could be: in the folder of WinDR, you should find a file with ASX-extension. Right-click it with your mouse and there should be a voice "Open With". Select VLC from the list and flag the option that this extension should always be opened with VLC.

I hope this resolves your problem.

EDIT/PS:
Next version will be able to open VLC without the ASX-file. Current behaviour is because the mobile-version needed it.

Quote

Originally posted by redking
only a question,
by default during streaming it open WMP, is it possible to open VLC for play the streaming ?
the problem is that WMP with LOCAL profile works perfect, but with WLAN and MOBILE shows a codecs error (VLC works).

Hi, I sent you a reply on XDA

Quote

Originally posted by The Satman
Hi,

I downloaded the WM version and installed it on my HTC Jasjar WM5. I can connect both over WLAN and external, and can shift channels. Got problem with streaming. Started VLC first, clicked on Telnet interface.

In an attempt to analyse the issue, I downloaded the Windows version. Same here. I can connect and shift channels. I start VLC, and choose Telnet interface.

My setup in WinDR:

Profile:
Default with IP 192.168.11.52, port 80, user: root, password: dreambox

Streaming profile: for my wireless network
Def.prof: yes Loc LAN yes
VLC IP LOC 192.168.11.4
VLC IP ext 192.168.11.4
VLC DST Port 1234
VLC Telnet port 4212
VLC Telnet Pw admin
VLC Sleep Delay 200

Then I start the telnet interface, and assume I don't need to define other settings in VLC, or on my dreambox. I shift channel from WinDR. Then I click Stream.

In VLC I see that in the status line it says !. WMDM.asx, but it disapears after a few seconds, and picture comes up. A message shows : Your input can't be opened:
VLC is unable to open the MRL 'http://192.168.11.4:1234'. Check the log for details. But no log is written.

Any Idea what is happening?

Regards,

The Satman

Display More

Hi all,

I just tested the new version of VLC no. 1.1.0 and it seems like WinDR is not compatibile with the latest version of VLC

You will likely get a mesage saying that WinDR cannot connect to the VLC-server. The issue is present both in LocalLAN and remotely.

Note: if you are running WinDR on the same computer which is acting as the VLC-server (and in LocalLAN), you can resolve it by ensuring that in the streaming-profile you are using for LocalLAN that the fields VLC IP (LOC) and VLC IP (ext) are compiled with 127.0.0.1 and not the actual IP-address of the VLC-server.

So for the time being, you need to continue using VLC 1.0.5 or earlier ones.

Anyway, I am now going on holiday for two weeks so I will not be able to work on this issue until I get back.

Hi,

I replaced the expired version with a new one which will last some more weeks until I find some time to code again. For existing users, you just need to replace the old executable (WinDreamRemote.exe) with the new one and WinDR should load with your current settings.

This version is exactly the same as the previous one - only the expiry-date has changed.

Rgds,
tilleke

I added a video on YouTube where you can see WinDR in action. I did this because I have received questions from people wondering about video-quality and speed using WinDR remotely. In this video I am using a bitrate of 250 and my ADSL upload speed at home is approximately 350kb/s.

Here is the YouTube-link:
WinDR on YouTube

As you can see, the video-quality is very good.

If requested, I could publish a quick video-tutorial to get you starting.

rgds,
tilleke