Guide - How to Record from your Dreambox to your PC Hard Disk using Ngrab

[billnot]

More than welcome ;)
To be honest, I have an hard disk installed in my DB , however, I just like playing with all the different solutions and alternatives.
And this is what makes it fun for me

I'm exactly the same - my Dreambox has two functions. The more conventional one of watching satellite stations (including being able to use my Sky UK NDS card) and "playtime" - pushing the boundaries and seeing what can be done.

I also have a HDD - an old 40Gb, which works OK. However, I am concerned about how hot it gets, and I don't think it will last forever, which is why I'm also using my PC for recording.

 

[billnot]

I tried it, and it works partly?
It does tell me it was successful, but when I go look into the folder there is nothing in there: no recordings???
Has this to do with the mounting of your pc-hd? If so, how you do this?

Cheers.

I'm going to assume that your PC is 192.168.1.2; that you have created a share called dbox and that you have created a user on the PC with the name dream.

You'll need an empty directory on the Dreambox to mount the share on. I created /media/shares, and then /media/shares/dbox. That's just my personal preference; you can mount it where you like as long as you know where it is and it is an empty directory.

Just substitute your actual values for my example ones.

There are two ways to mount the share on the Dreambox - in a Telnet session, or permanently by editing /etc/fstab.

To mount it in a Telnet session, the command, using the values above, is

mount -t cifs -o user=dream //192.168.1.2/dbox /media/shares/dbox

No news is good news. If you don't get an error message, it has worked. Change to /media/shares/dbox, and the contents of the shared PC directory should be displayed.

Better still is a boot time mount using /etc/fstab.

If you are happy using vi (unlike me - I prefer joe which isn't included in Gemini!) you can edit this directly in the Telnet session. Otherwise, FTP it to your PC, edit it in your favorite text editor and FTP it back.

I have experimented with fstab for the last few weeks; this version is simpler than that which I posted here before, and works just as well.

Add the following line to /etc/fstab (all one line, of course)

//192.168.1.2/dbox /media/shares/dbox cifs user=dream 0 0

Now the share will be mounted at boot time (as long as your PC is turned on).

Since the execution of fstab on the Dreambox is silent, you'll need to test whether it works manually. From a Telnet session, give the command
mount
This will give you a list of your current mounts
now give the command
mount -a
No news is good news, but if anything can't mount, you'll get an error message. This is how I determined just how lean I could make the line in fstab.

Hope you understand this, and good luck.

 

[entouch]

Will try it later on.

However, have some Q's:

Quote: "I'm going to assume that your PC is 192.168.1.2; that you have created a share called dbox and that you have created a user on the PC with the name dream."


Where you need to create this share, and do you mean to create an user in the userlist of windows self. Or is this user created in the share or???

Thanks.
enotuch

 

[billnot]

You create the share on your PC. I'm going to assume you're using Windows XP.

Right click on the start menu, select Explore, and navigate to the directory you wish to share (i.e. the one you want the Dreambox to use for recording). Right click it and select Properties. One of the tabs is Sharing. Tick "share this folder on te network" and also tick "allow network users to share my files".

To create a new user, go into the Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Local Users and Groups. Then create the new user Dream. If you're following my instructions for /etc/fstab, don't give this user a password.

If you don't want the user to show at boot time, you'll need to modify a registry entry, but maybe that's a step too far at the moment


That's the basics; if you want to know more you'll need to read up on Windows shares and users for yourself - it will be well worth it.

 

[Saeed Khan]

wheer i can free download ngrab on my pc.

 

[mhku]

There are a few download links mentioned here:

http://www.satellites.co.uk/satellite/dreambox500/134835-ngrab.html

I don't know whether they are still active.

 

[raogm2001]

thank's i ill try.

 

[dragon_clubiste]

I must connect my HDD with a com port?

 

[dragon_clubiste]

But How to know the Dbox Ip adress ?

 

[raogm2001]

thanking you

 

[raogm2001]

can any one please help me , iam geting a error masseage as soon as i click VideoLanClient........./var/tuxbox/plugins/vlc.so:undefind symbol:_ZNDecoder5FlushEv.

 

[PCD]

This may have something to do with the image. Should probably be ok with another (newer) image.

 

[Clinton]

Great tutorial Thanks, can you tell me if I can mount my hdd in my pc and play files from it using ngrab?

 

[scudno1]

high can someone confirm if this will work on dm500.

 

[clooak]

Thanks! Been looking for this

 

[cheetah24]

First thanks for the info file how to record to computer.

But I followed everything as you described it and my dreambox cannot find my download folder. I had made the same as yours named record.

I get the error as "Record failed due to inaccessible storage"

Can it be because of passwords. I remember long ago my password was changed by a technician and I don't remember that anymore. The person is gone also so I cannot ask him anymore.

I remember he wanted to mount and that never worked. Also I cannot see TV on my computer.

I really hope you can help me as I am searching already for long time how to record to my computer.

Thanks.