The Ultimate Idiot Guide! For Idiots, by Idiots!Answers,Questions,Tips & Tricks,RTFM!

**T_G** · 12-06-2004

Now it's beyond doubt, this IS the ultimate Idiot Guide!

more than 100,000 active Idiots can't be wrong!

I am glad to say that the list of contributers is growing all the time, our latest hero is HB13Dish who shows that you can have an even stranger name as MHKU but still find interesting features for the Dreambox.

Here they are, our dedicated team of experts, our couragious Knights of the Idiot Order, who put the dream into the box:

Gameboy, Rolf, BGonastick, Chuckles, Costas, Red Devil, PCD, DCG, MHKU HB13Dish and Lovelyperson.

This guide is constantly upgraded, so you should really read it every time before posting a "Newbie" question. Because if you don't a

will be thrown at you faster than a TV cabo key change.

Please do not post questions or remarks on this thread, I want to keep this one as information only. Questions and remarks, suggestions and mistake corrections etc are warmly welcomed, but please start them in new threads.

Safety Notes and useless statistics:
1)A few users who have contributed to the guide have ended up being mods.
2) Some contributers have become members of the "Order" - marked by special badges.
3) Many are still idiots.
5) A few still watch TV.
6) One is a mamster.

Disclaimer Note: All the advice here is from our own personal experience with Dreamboxes. Use this advice at your own risk. No animals were harmed, but 5 mamsters died recently when their wheel got stuck.

Click here for Index

Also, IF reading the idiot guide did one or all of the following:

1) Saved your Saturday because you managed to watch your football team
2) Made you eXXXtremely "happy" after watching those special channels
3) Managed to keep you from smashing the f***g box because you thought it is dead - which it wasn't...
4) Made you feel like a Hackerdude because you managed to install a cam
5) Made you a couch potato because now you have 5000 channels on 15 satellites

then why don't you go and buy yourself a nice satellites.co.uk shirt or hat and help support this forum that gave you all this orgasmatic pleasure, eh?

Click here for the satellites.co.uk forum shop

**T_G** · 12-06-2004

Dream Link Page

If you encounter a dead link or have any other links problems please PM me.
Any sites found by fellow dreamers to be worth adding, let me know.

GENERAL IDIOT WARNING: The web is full of sites with malicious codes, viruses, diallers, popups etc. Especially hacker sites and other "specialist" sites are infested with little surprises. Keep your wits about you when surfing or downloading stuff! The links posted are from sites that I have found myself searching for information, or was recommeded by other members etc., there is no guarantee they are "clean".

Manufacturer Site
http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de

Links To Dreambox Sites

Read these first

http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/DigiTV/dbox-howto.htm
This is a very detailed user manual for the DM 7000. It touches setup of the dish, setup of the search function and also setting up the connection between box and puter. It has some information that can be used for the 56xx boxes as well.

http://www.klona.4t.com/ This site has a nicely structured manual for the 7000 boxin English and French. Some features such as the satellite and network configuration are very nicely presented (screenshots), and are good info for all DM's.

www.i-have-a-dreambox.com
German site with own images and lots of utilities in the Database section. A source of good information. If you go there say hello from me and make sure they know you are from satellites.co.uk!!

Latest Keys from Satandream
This site has a fairly up to date key bundle which will sort out most of the cams used in a dreambox. For Gemini images they have the bundle in a tar.gz2 format for blue button manual installation. You will need to register though - but worth it.

Other than that - there is a quick and easy satankeyupdater plugin somewhere in this forum - search and ye will find

Latest Multivision Keys
Should be included in the link above

update - Multivision is no longer available - the channels closed down in May 2008!

Other useful Links

From pajek.net: A useful guide for the Dreambox 500, but has a useful section that explains how to manually insert new channels to your channel list that applies to all Dreamboxes.

http://www.winrar-rog.com/edownload/winrar.html - this is where you can download the Winrar utility. You will need this to unpack a lot of stuff I am going to be posting here for the dreambox.

http://www.dreambox.net.au/firmware.php Good download source of new images.

http://linuxdevices.com/articles/AT7482684956.html This is an article that describes the complete workings of the DM7000. It uses 7 + letter words, very interesting technical abbreviation and quotes from the programmer of the thing. If you have a dreambox soul, you got to read it! Was found by Gamboy

http://tinyurl.com/4m745
Gameboy's proven to be a busy squirrel diggin out those useful links. This site is a fairly complete guide to Dreamboxing, with FAQ, a dummies section and much more. Actually, I am going to go there now and not even finish this senten

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 12-06-2004

The Dreambox manufacturer provides a utility to load images onto the Dreambox. See
http://www.dream-multimedia-tv.de/

If for some reason you haven't got an operating system, or the LAN does not work (if the image is corrupt the LAN won't work), the only way to restore the box is to load up a new (working image) onto the box using a Null Modem Cable through the Com 1 or 3 sockets of your computer. To do this there are a few simple steps:

1) Disconnect ALL the cables, wires, LAN cables, connectors etc from the Box
2) Disconnect the box from the mains (They fail to mention this in the instructions…)
3) Say a little prayer (and don't forget to mention me)
4) Connect the Null Modem Cable to the box and your Com1 or Com 3 socket.
5) Open up the DreamUp utility and choose your connection COM1, COM 3
6) Press "Connect". When the Status shows: “connection prepared-now switch on the dreambox” do just that. Don’t forget to put the mains plug in the socket and switch to “on” (Hey, after all this is the Idiot Guide

)
7) If all is ok, you will see the progress/job bar turn blue.

After the connection has been established you can either flash, backup or erase. Be patient as it takes a while and is much slower than LAN. But it works every time if you follow the instructions.

Big Idiot Tip: Do not upload images that were made for the Dreambox 7000 onto the DM 5620 or the other way round. I tried

. It does not work…

Additional Idiot Tip: Do not press any button on the remote or the box whenever you are flashing/updating/erasing etc. other than asked.

After you finished updating your software you need to exit the DreamUp, remove the Null Modem Cable from the box, disconnect from the mains and wait 30 seconds. Then restart, and when just started press the "channel up"
button for a long time, until the last flashing "9" of the "9999" in the display has stopped. If you are connected to a TV with the Scart you will know when to stop pressing when you see the language selection menu (at least my 5620 does that). Also, you may want to consider letting go of the button after more than 3 hours or if your finger turned bloodless white.

Addition: There have been images such as Terminator that do not want to be flash erased. This is usually explained in the read me that comes with the image. If you do flash erase after all, you get a funny version of the image it was based on. How do I know???

7020 users: See posts further on in the guide for instructions

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**T_G** · 12-06-2004

When flashing a new image onto the dreambox most of the times you will need to perform a flash erase. This will erase all your satellites, programs etc, and can be a bummer if you had spent lots of time scanning all those sats with your motor. So, to update you would need a program like Dreamboxedit. You can download it from http://dreambox.happyllama.com/. There are language addons etc there as well.

Once downloaded, you will need to extract the file using the "Winrar" program (see links page).
I suggest to unpack the DreamBoxEdit into a directory with the same name, and leave it there. If you move it after you have activated it once you will have to first unregister it from your system. I tried. It sucks

.

When the program is activated, you will need to get the settings from your dreambox. Press the FTP button, and you get the FTP menu. (see screenshot1)
Fill in the IP of your box, choose a directory where you want to put the backup and press "Receive files from Dreambox" . You will be asked if you want to overwrite existing files, and when finishhed you will see all your channels in the windows. (see screenshot2)

You can delete, add & change channels, and create new folders etc. Once you are finished playing around with them you will need to upload it to your dreambox. For this press FTP again, then "Send Files to Dreambox", and wait until it is finished, a menu will pop up teling you to reload settings. (see screenshot 3). Do as you are told, wait until you see:"Second of two steps completed.Reload command ready" All the changes/backup files are in your box. You can do this while the box is on, at least with mine it works ok.

There is an addition to this subject which tells how and where to download channels from the internet and stuff them into the dreambox can be seen here.

Not to forget: Thanks to Llama for this great prog. It is free, but if you use it go to their site and sign the guestbook as he requests!

TG

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 12-06-2004

(See notes on bottom as well)

OK, here is a useful utility to upload keys onto your dreambox. This one almost explains itself, so try iy out. You need need to enter a site from where to pick up the stuff, so use something like http://byksat.kabel1.cz/dreambox/SoftCam.Key

Unpack the utility into a directory first, and only then use it. Dont move it afterwards or you will have to re register the program in your system files. I know. I tried

Happy Dreaming!!

Many thanks to Schaedelmeister of the I-have-a-dreambox.com site

Note/update 2007: This utility will only function with a working link. At the moment there are better and easier ways to load up keys such as Gemini image blue button, the Florikey updater or the satandream key updater utility.
Click here for Index

**T_G** · 12-06-2004

This nice utility is what I use to upload and flash my dreambox. You can choose the menu language, and it is very important to follow the instructions that are showing while it uploads. Before starting, make sure all your cables and connections are good, nothing loose and do not pull on the lan cable while uploading an image....Failure to do so will mean you have to upload an image again using the Null Modem Cable. Trust me. I tried

.

The first step ufter unpacking the zip file and installation is to connect to the Dreambox. You will have to enter the IP of your box. (Screenshot 1) and then press either quick flash or save mode (I would sugggest save mode, and laterr when more familiar with the thing try the quick)

So you press "Save Mode" and then "Connect". You will get a "Welcome" message (screenshot 2). Obviously if your DB is a different type one the message will be slightly different.

Then you press "Send Login" and after that "Send Password". You don't have to put any password or similar, they seem to be already in the program. You will then get the "BusyBox" message (Screenshot 3).

After that you are ready to load up an iamge. Press "Send File, and a up pops a pop up where you can choose the image file. This needs to be an *.img file and not a zipped file. (screenshot 4).

The file will then be loaded onto your Dreambox.

The next steps are "Erase". When you press this, a warning message appears. Press ok, and you have started the road of no return. There is a status report on the bottom left corner of the window.

When the erase is finished, you will get a message that the flash is erased , and that you can continue to program. Press the "Flash Box" and pray.
When everything is finished, you get the "Congratulation" Message

BIG IDIOT GUIDE WARNING: When you are told not to touch any buttons on the remote or the box, do not ignore it. I sacrified myself for the forum

and pressed a button on the remote while erasing or flashing, the result was that I had to use the Null Modem Cable for a new flash. The erase and flash do take their time, sometimes 5 minutes. Be patient. Remember: Impatience = Null Modem

Finally:
Usually flashing an image requires to reset the box by pressing on the "Channel Up " button after restart, but that depends if it is a flash update or new image.

If all went well, you will have your new image ready to go. If you have saved your settings and keys, you can import them and get ready to Dream!!

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 19-06-2004

Once the Dreambox is connected to the computer with the LAN cable, you can actually use your web browser to connect to your dreambox. Just type in your IP address, and you will get a menu asking for user and password. (Screenshot 1). User = root, password = dreambox

Once in there you can play around with switching the channels via computer, checking out the EPG (see screenshot 2) or restarting/rebooting etc your Dreambox from the "Control" menu (screenshot 3).

One other feature which really makes it worthwhile is shown in screenshot 4. Warning: The sample text shown may only be used with extreme caution or serious damage to your Computer/Dreambox/Lovelife may occur

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 20-06-2004

This one is a very interesting subject, and I am not 100 % sure I got it all sussed out. But I did managed to record some FTA channels. At this stage I haven't found a way to record non FTA channels (I use my PC based card for this...)

The two methods I have found are either with Tuxvision, and the other using the ggrab program. To start with lets have a look at the Windows based method.

First you need a program called Tuxvision, you can perform a google search for it or maybe go to
http://www.dbox2.info/download.php?viewpage=2&catid=5

After downloading and installing the program you need to open up the options and put in the IP of your box, login & password of your box. (screenshot 1).

Then you need to choose a destination where you want the files to go, this is done by clicking the "Destination" button on the bottom left corner.

Pressing the recording button will start to put a file in your destination folder. It does seem the program does take some time, so be a bit patient. You can then watch it using a program like windows media player. There are some settings there that I am not sure about, I hope that some of the more experienced users here will tell me more about this.

If the ngrab settings in the expert settings of your dreambox are set with the correct IP address, you can start recording using the blue button of the remote, then plugins/start ngrab recording provided the tuxvision prog is up and running on your computer.

More to follow on this subject!
TG

Added on 12/5/2005: Since this post was written there have been a few developments. There is a method of recording and playback from DB to PC and back using a Gemini image. For this click right here.

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 22-06-2004

Here are some screenshots of my 5620 Dreambox as seen when connected with an FTP program. I can currently see (for educational purposes only of course) all of the stuff that I am aware of that is possible to watch at this moment. Might help someone who wonders where to put the keys in (might also confuse another

)

The image shown in this post is an old one based on the Hydra Dreambox 56xx 1.05 (Dianne) image with enigma 20040509, upgraded by the mighty Consistor to version 0590_hydra56xx_dianne_1105_fixed_1106.

Since this was posted a lot of new images have come and go, but the principle remains the same.

The EMU's on it are: Radegast, Newcam, SCAM (which is what I am using most of the time), dccam, FreexTV (not active at the moment), Camd3_1 and camd3_2.

Screenshots show the var/scce, var/keys and var/etc

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 19-07-2004

Here are some pictures for those who always wonder but never had the courage to actually deflour the (still under warranty) Dreambox and rip off the warranty warning sticker.
So in an act of unselfish sacrifice & courage I went and
.........................................
ahem......................................
yeeees...................................
well......
I went to the German "I-have-a-Dreambox.com" site and shamelessly copied the pictures of the guts of one poor 5620 that were posted there by the black belted Dreambox master, creator of images, the fierce & fearless equipment dissector, famous Dreambox site Admin, the one and only Schaedelmeister!

Click here for Index

**rolfw** · 02-09-2004

Providing that you are familiar with using the FTP software, this is pretty straightforward.

ftp the new versions of the files as follows:

S*ca2 to var/keys

keylist to var/scce

Click on properties for each file when uploaded and change attributes to 755

The latest key files can be found here:

_http://67.43.4.157/attachment.php?attachmentid=22653

Note by TG: As this thread is getting older this link might not be active anymore. However if one goes to the links section in this forum one might find lots of sites where keys can be found.
Also, many of the new versions of newcamd have the keys in var/tuxbox/scce

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 03-10-2004

Lesson number 192.168.0.5 or How to Network???

Just a few pointers to those having problems: After your image has been installed you might want to put on new settings etc. For this you would need to go to the expert setup, choose communication. There you have various options. The screenshot shows a working network configuration. My computer is connected directly to the Dreambox (no router in between).
I have set my computer to be 192.168.0.1, and the box I always use 192.168.0.5 Why? don't know, just seemed to be a good Idea. So every time I put in a new image these settings have to be re-entered.
Idiot Guide Trick: To make things easier when setting it up, provided your computer is on and the LAN connected: Go to the communication menu, and instead of entering all the IP stuff just tick the DHCP box and the "Enable Network", save the changes by pressing the green button, exit all the menus. Then go back to the communication menu, and all you need to do is untick the DHCP box, and change the last number of the IP. Save it and finished!

On the computer side: Sardo Sardo made a valid point in a recent message: "...in modem connection right mouse clik-property-advanced in internet connection sharing press ok in allow other network user to connect trough this computer's internet connection.I had the same problem but now it's ok." Can't argue with that!!

To back everything up I have added some screenshots of the network stuff modem configurations. Unfortunately my computer speaks only German, but I hope you might still get some benefit out of it.

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 04-10-2004

Those dreamers with motorised dishes will find that it is sometimes fairly difficult to use the automatic search function with images other than original, and generally to find the satellites using the #Go TO XX" function. In these cases the only option is to manually move the dish and store the positions. Not really a big deal, especially if the dish is aligned correctly and you know that it worked before.

It is generally easy to find the "strong" satellites, more of a problem with the one's where you are positioned at the edge of the footprint.

Therfore I have started to compile a list of the strongest transponders and channels, so when you move the motor make sure to set the transponder frequency to one of those in the list.

Once the list is complete I will get the settings for those posted as a file so all you need to do is dreamboxedit them.

A list of strong transponders is already posted here: Strongest / Reference Transponders

Another little tip that might help if you got problems finding some weak sats, or if your dish is not aligned 100%: Go to a strong sat, for instance 13 east. Then go to the motor setup, and move the dish manually to another strong sat such as 19 east. The trick is to move the sat with single steps on the remote, while counting them. Once you reached 19 east you will have an idea how many single steps it takes to move 6 degrees. You can use that to get find the approximate position of other sats now.

Happy motoring

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 24-10-2004

Idiot Lesson 13/B Settings, stations and frequencies

This is as an extension to lesson 13 (see above)

I have found this site (courtesy of Uhuwald of the IHAD Site):
h**p://www.sat-info-page.de/cgi-bin/loader.cgi?settings

You can generate your settings list and then add/compare them to the existing ones on your box using Dreamboxedit.

Once there you put in the details the pulldown menus ask you to provide. Here is a small translation:
Empfänger = Receiver

Satellitenauswahl: put in the sats you would like the settings list for
Größe der Schüssel: Size of dish (put in the largest to get most stations)
Then you can choose to show pay tv or just FTA, and also if you want the PayTV stations to be marked with a $.
Sender vorsortieren: Options to get the stations pre-sorted using the following parameters:
Sprache = Language
Anbieter = Provider
Sendername = Channel name
Screenshot shows a possible search.
Rest should be straight forward, try it out.

Also on this site, if you click on "Sendersuche" you can search for the stations and get the frequencies etc. (see screenshot)

And finally, you can use the satfinder page to search for the motor settings for a specific sat (or also for non motorised dishes). See screenshot.
If you put in your latitude/longitude it calculates the positions.

All in all a very useful site...

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 26-10-2004

Originally Posted by toto99

OK I know I'm a newbe but I read the ID10T's guide and found nothing about
Dreambox and X-Cam or Matrix Cam emultors

Danke

Well, you might have read it but you must have missed this sentence:

"Please do not post questions or remarks on this thread, I want to keep this one as information only."

Please post your question in a new thread and you will be getting an answer there.

Click here for Index

**T_G** · 03-11-2004

Originally Posted by albaniasat

My tips (from my experience)

Just wanted to add as an advice to ground the DM 5620s while in use as it prevents many of unexpected boot problems that 5620s might have.Also searching for channels without receiving a signal might block the receiver.

P.s.I hope T_G will agree with me, if not I will delete this post.

Dear Albaniasat
Thanks for the information, grounding electrical components can never be a wrong thing. I will add this advice somewhere in the manual, but still I would have preferred you'd read my request first: The Ultimate Idiot Guide! For Idiots, by Idiots!Answers,Questions,Tips & Tricks,RTFM!

or at the beginning of the guide and posted your advice in a new thread and not here....
TG

Click here for Index

26-11-2004	#17
T_G The Consumate Dreamer Join Date: 01-01-2000 Location: Somewhere where the Sauer is Kraut and the Wurst is Brat Posts: 4585 Thanks: 59