VLC HowTo/Use with Dreambox

I have spent some time now to figure out how to get Video on Demand to work on my dreambox. I have a DreamBox DM500S running the Gemini Image (Gemini Project), and this howto is based on that, however I believe the procedure will be similar on other DB's running the Gemini image as well...

Sources I have used:

http://digsat.net/wbb2/thread.php?threadid=36965&hilight=vlc
http://forum.videolan.org

First we need to get a plugin called VLC FrontEnd installed on the dreambox, it might already be there; check under blue panel - plugins. If it is not there, install it by doing the following.

<todo install vlc frontend>

Now, the front end is installed and almost ready to use. We still have nothing that can feed the frontend, so first we must create an xml file for the frontend to use:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="/XSLMPSettings.xsl"?>
<vlc>
<server ip="192.168.1.10" webif-port="8080" stream-port="9090" user="admin" pass="admin" />
<config startdir="c:/movies" cddrive="d:" />
<codec mpeg1="mpgv" mpeg2="mp2v" audio="mpga" />
<setup name="SVCD" ext="NONE" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="0" Videocodec="mpeg2" Videosize="352x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="0" />
<setup name="VCD" ext="NONE" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="0" Videocodec="mpeg1" Videosize="352x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="0" />
<setup name="DVD" ext="NONE" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="0" Videocodec="mp2v" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="1" />
<setup name="File" ext="MPG" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="1" Videocodec="mp2v" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="1" />
<setup name="File" ext="MPEG" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="1" Videocodec="mp2v" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="1" />
<setup name="File" ext="M2P" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="0" Videocodec="mpgv" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="0" />
<setup name="File" ext="MPV" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="0" Videocodec="mpgv" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="0" />
<setup name="File" ext="DAT" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="0" Videocodec="mpgv" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="0" />
<setup name="File" ext="AVI" Videorate="2048" fps="25" Videotranscode="1" Videocodec="mp2v" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="1" />
<setup name="File" ext="ASF" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="1" Videocodec="mpgv" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="1" />
<setup name="File" ext="TS" Videorate="1000" fps="25" Videotranscode="0" Videocodec="mp2v" Videosize="704x576" Audiorate="192" Audiotranscode="0" />
</vlc>

Use a unix compatible editor, like UltraEdit, edit lines 4 and 5. The server ip to fit the IP-address of the backend PC. Startdir and cddrive to fit correspondingly the movie folder and the cddrive on the backend pc. Save it to a file called movieplayer_My_Server.xml to your dreambox's /var/etc folder. (save the file locally and FTP it to your dreambox, log in to your dreambox with default username root and password dreambox, or set up UltraEdit to save directly using FTP; your choice).

Now that the xml file has been made and transferred to the dreambox it is time to set up the backend VLC to feed the frontend.

VLC for Windows:
Start VLC on the PC.
Select File - Open Network Stream (Ctrl-N)
Click Advanced Options
- check Stream/Save and click Settings
- check HTTP
- check Video codec and select mp2v from the dropdown list.
- check Audio codec and select mpga from the dropdown list.
- click Ok
- click Ok

Now, activate the WebInterface (WEBIF) by selecting Settings - Add Interface - Web Interface from the VLC menu.

VLC for Linux (ubuntu):
First, install vlc by running this command:

apt-get install vlc

This will in general install a ****load of stuff, codecs and other things needed. As I learnt, it is also required to install something called the avahi-daemon. This is done by running this command:

apt-get install avahi-daemon

If you are having trouble finding these packages, you might want to run:

apt-get update

Now that all this has been installed, you need to launch VLC using the following command-line:

vlc -d -I http --sout="#transcode{vcodec=mp2v,vb=1024,scale=1,acodec=mpga,ab=192,channels=2}:duplicate{dst=std{access=http,mux=ts,dst=:9090}}"

This specifies that the web interface is to be used, together with some transcoding stuff ;-)

At the time of writing this, I am still trying to tune the vlc backend a bit. It is currently using 50%+ cpu when streaming...

Now it is time to start the VLC frontend on the dreambox and set it up to use the correct xml file. Start VLC frontend plugin by starting blue panel (blue button on the remote) and selecting Plugins. VLC Frontend will show up as a plugin, select it and press Ok.

VLC frontend is now started, select settings (blue button).
In the dropdown list, select the xml file you created earlier, movieplayer_My_Server.xml.
Then select Switch.
You will now be told to restart VLC Frontend; do this by using the exit button until you are back at the plugins page.
Now start VLC Frontend again.
Use the red button (File).
You will now be able to see the movie files that is in the folder specified as startdir in the xml file.
Select the file you'd like to watch and press Ok.
Then wait for the buffering to complete, sit back and enjoy the movie...