Couple of Questions to Dreambox Owners

damhy

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Thinking about a dreambox again(DM-7000S) after talking myself out of it, in a thread the other week. I have a couple of questions that I'm hoping someone will know the answers to.

1) Is the dreambox HDTV compatible for HDTV TV's?
2) Can it take a HDTV channel and shrink it down to run on a normal TV?
3) I read somewhere you can run edonkey(overnet) on the dreambox, does anyone know anything about it? How does it affect watching TV, can it run in the background and let you watch TV at the same time?
4) Can you use it for checking emails, I have a lan in my house running the broadband through a router, so the connection shouldnt be a problem.
5) Similar line of thought really, can you run Gaim or something similar to use MSN chat on your TV?
6) When you do things like check emails and use chat software, do you lose the satpicture or can you make it smaller, like say you could with a skystar2 card on windows?
7) Does anyone know where I can find screenshots of the dreambox menus/interfaces, since it would be nice to see a little of how it operates, especially if it shows things like email/gaim running.

Thanks
 

BGonaSTICK

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damhy said:
Thinking about a dreambox again(DM-7000S) after talking myself out of it, in a thread the other week. I have a couple of questions that I'm hoping someone will know the answers to.

1) Is the dreambox HDTV compatible for HDTV TV's?
2) Can it take a HDTV channel and shrink it down to run on a normal TV?
3) I read somewhere you can run edonkey(overnet) on the dreambox, does anyone know anything about it? How does it affect watching TV, can it run in the background and let you watch TV at the same time?
4) Can you use it for checking emails, I have a lan in my house running the broadband through a router, so the connection shouldnt be a problem.
5) Similar line of thought really, can you run Gaim or something similar to use MSN chat on your TV?
6) When you do things like check emails and use chat software, do you lose the satpicture or can you make it smaller, like say you could with a skystar2 card on windows?
7) Does anyone know where I can find screenshots of the dreambox menus/interfaces, since it would be nice to see a little of how it operates, especially if it shows things like email/gaim running.

Thanks
Well, I'll have a go at some of this. Not 100% sure on HDTV on the Dreambox. Read something somewhere that suggested that the hardware was capable, but that the firmware wasn't (yet). Don't know how true that is, but HDTV would be very nice. Couldn't get Euro 1080 to clear, but didn't try too hard.

As for all your add-on questions, personally I would never run anything else on my Dreambox, as much of it is flakey unstable rubbish, and I can't see the point when I have more PC's than I can shake a stick at, and what I really want is for my Dreambox to do sat-tv and not fall over every five minutes!

There's a whole bunch of junk here :- _http://www.olmi.cz/dreambox_plugins.php

As for pics, have a look at T_G's idiot guide. Quite a few in there. Also, check out klona's how-to.

His excellent guide (with some pics) is here :- _http://www.dreambox.net.au/%7Eklona/guide_eng/dbox-howto.htm

STICK
 

damhy

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BGonaSTICK said:
As for all your add-on questions, personally I would never run anything else on my Dreambox, as much of it is flakey unstable rubbish, and I can't see the point when I have more PC's than I can shake a stick at, and what I really want is for my Dreambox to do sat-tv and not fall over every five minutes!
I understand fully what you are saying here, its just I was thinking about getting a fanless PC to run as a silent server, maybe putting the SkyStar2 in it, so that it would effectively be a windows dreambox. This option is somewhat more costly and I doubt anywhere near as good as a satellite receiver than the dreambox which is a dedicated satellite receiver but with the ability to do some desktop computer type things.

I too have many PCs, but I dont like leaving them on when nobody is in to call the firebrigade if they were ever to catch alight. Just I would have liked to run some server applications on a computer that's never going to be shutdown. I would feel a lot more confident about leaving a satellite receiver on constantly!

Though at the same time a satellite receiver that cannot show you satellite things because it is clogged down running non satellite applications is somewhat defeating the object.

P.S. Thanks for the links, i'm just about to go and have a read through.
 

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damhy said:
I dont like leaving them on when nobody is in to call the firebrigade if they were ever to catch alight.

You don't need to leave the PC on for the DreamBox to work. You only need it if you using it to connect to the Internet to update or to FTP, Telnet from one to the other.

The DreamBox does have a webbrowser addon but as you say this adds another layer to complexity of this amazing bit of kit. I wouldn't use it.

The 7000 with HDD fitted can get hot - if that's a worry.

The HDTV questions is still being debated on several sites with IBM PowerPC chip and video cards being compared. The box may be able to handle this in future releases - again I would get one expecting it to work with the present 7000s.
 

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gameboy said:
The 7000 with HDD fitted can get hot - if that's a worry./QUOTE]

I dont want my house to burn down. As for the PC I was referring to using services like appache on it. I would feel safer leaving a satellite receiver on running appache, rather than a computer. Plus I'm assuming the dreambox is virtually silent, whereas a pc will have 2 or more fans running in it. Take my current computer which has 5, so much so that its annoying to use the TV out on it to watch the TV.

Its interesting to see that people arent really interested in running any apps like this on the dreambox, I think thats the beauty of it, otherwise it gives you nothing over any other satellite receiver. The potential is there, why not use it?

Damien
 

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Not wishing to p!ss on your parade, but I think you'll find the answer to your own question fairly soon after chucking a load of add-ons on.

64M max memory, processor speed, bus speeds, power consumption/supply issues, heat etc, etc.

Personally, I have a PIII 1 GHz SFF HP PC with a single silent fan running as a server 24/7, with all the bits on it that you're talking about. Walk up, sit down, IE6 browser, email, FTP, chat, IRC, firewall, AVirus, XBOX router, Dreambox connection. Runs far cooler than my Dreambox. Auto power off on the monitor, uses naff-all power. Can even dial in remotely if I choose. About £100.

I don't disagree with the logic of what you're saying. On paper, it would be a superb idea, but (especially with all the poorly written 'ahem' plugins and poor code QC) the reality is somewhat different.

Now looking back over my post, it does seem a bit harsh on the poor old DB, but you get the idea!

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Hi Folks,

I agree with you 'stick. The DB is a great satellite receiver with endless possibilities in the sat reception areas. However it's a slow processor, with very little memory that would make a very poor Linux PC. Use the DB for what it's best at - sat reception/ decr***ion and a PC for what it's best at.
I considered the skystar option before I got the dreambox (a bloke I work with has one) but I decided I didn't want to run a PC every time I wanted to play sat TV.
The DB is great!! (But only as a sat RX)

73 & Happy Easter.
 

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Thanks for your comments, it deeply upsets me that my ambitions for a dreambox are not recommended. I know what you are saying, I love the idea of a dreambox and all its flexabilities, but at the same time, buying one achieves me nothing.

Apart from the PVR/Timeshift I'll be gaining nothing, which is why I needed some extra incentive to go the full hog. The machine has so much potential and I feel it needs to be used!

I'm a bit confused though as to how the dreambox works. If I have a hard drive in it, and I can get access to it via telnet, am I not able to just install some random linux command line apps or are you bound to these tailor made plugins.
 

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You can do whatever you want. It's a Linux OS, so If you know what you're doing (I Don't) then fill your boots. Do some testing, and find us some decent working apps!

Don't let our ranting put you off. If you want to make it work, then go for it. It has a good second hand value, and won't go out of date very quickly, so you've not got that much to lose.
 

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BGonaSTICK said:
so you've not got that much to lose.
We'll see when i ruin the images and stuff poking around with the system and end up sending it to a specialist to repair the box. But at least you are giving me something encouraging now :) .

I think that I should just get it and then I can ask questions about doing the repairs rather than hypothetical questions related to a dreambox I dont have. I'm not actually a friend of linux, but I am reasonably good with computers and programming, so it does give me a new platform to play around with.
 

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I've been a programmer for nearly 30 years, and IMHO Linux is a bag 'o sh!te but like everything, it has it's uses. I like to fiddle about to understand the logic, but programming wise I would touch it with a $h!Hy stick. Anything that runs on a microprocessor is bound to be as robust as Jordans' virginity. There you go. You've set me off good an' proper now...:)

For the money, the Dreambox is worth it even as an ornament.
 

damhy

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HA HA HA HA HA!

Seems you love linux as much as I do, uni was a joke for me, doing computer science all the geeky linux loving lecturers were trying to make it difficult to complete the course with out logging in to their beloved unix box every day. I was glad to leave.

I think i said this somewhere else, but Open-Source is the computing equivalent of communism, a nice idea but doesn't wuite work in practise.

Anyway linux on some embedded system does mean that we get the potential of an infinite amount of flexibilty, even if its highly difficult.
 
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