Revision [3824]
This is an old revision of Webif made by jonc on 2010-01-24 02:38:08.
Howto use the world wide web interface (webif) built into my DM box
The main Webif page for E1 boxes only
works with all PC's and operating systems including the new Windows7
DM7025 and DM800 users click hereEvery DM box has a built in world wide web server or webif as it is also known as, which allows you do to;
Change the channels on your set top box (also known as Zap)
Change the bouquets on your set top box (also known as Zap)
Change the network provider on your set top box (also known as Zap)
Change satellites you are watching on your set top box (also known as Zap)
Change the volume on your set top box
Setup your set top box as a Media Center client
Watch your set top box on your PC via the Web-X-TV link on your computer
Listen to your set top box on your PC via the APid option
Setup recordings on your set top box and change the recording timer functions
Mount network devices or computers to your DM box
Tune your dish with the Zoom and Satfinder options, with wifi to a notebook by the dish (only if you have wifi)
... and so much more.
In short the webif provides you with complete control of your DM box from a web browser like Firefox3 and from your PDA.
Known Issue: IE7 does not function as it should in the WEBIF so please use Firefox3 where possible
Support the PLi® team and get a cup of coffee.
Howto do it (a very simple process)
click on the links to learn more
- You need to know the IP address of your DM Box. Most important: Your DM box needs to be connected to your LAN for it to work
- Open your web browser (on your computer) to the IP address of your DM box.
In this example below we will use the IP address of http://192.168.1.201 and this world wide web site in your DM box will appear.
on the MAC it will look something like this
What are some of these settings?
click on the links to learn more
At the top of the screen we see
- The current channel playing on your set top box
- The Now: EPG
- The Next EPG
- A sliding bar where you can set the volume.
Then we will see;
- A link to the WEB-X-TV where you can watch TV on your computer
- 4 drop down menus Box Control | Channel Info | Shutdown | About PLi® (where you find direct www links to this wiki)
- Any hard disk information if you have one installed (No hard disk will show as N/A N/A)
Then at the top of the main screen you will see this line where it shows;
- What menu you are currently on in this example the main Zap menu (default)
- The all important SNR signal
- The all important AGC signal
- The all important BER signal (should as close to 0 (zero) as possible)
- If you see two green dots (sync & lock) then you have connected to the channel you selected
- The vpid option is another option to stream video and audio from your set top box to your computer
- The apid option is another option to stream audio only from your set top box to your computer
- The zoom option, will allow you to tune your dish with a wifi notebook if you have one
The ZAP options
change TV, Radio, movies and more
From this ZAP menu you can;
- Change TV channels
- Change Radio Channels
- See what data channels are on the satellite you are using
- See what movies are on your hard disk (if you have one)
- See the inside file structure of your DM box
- Set up the stream / movieplayer plugin
Simply click on the Box Control tab, and then the ZAP option.
If you select the TV option as shown below you can then further select
- All services (every TV channel off every satellite loaded in your box)
- Satellites - select the satellite you want to watch TV from
- Providers - gives a lists of the TV channels providers in your set top box
- Bouquets - select a bouquet you have set up to watch TV
then simply click on the TV channel name to change the TV channel on your set top box. A really cool feature.
If you select the Radio option as shown below you can then further select
- All services (every Radio channel off every satellite loaded in your box)
- Satellites - select the satellite you want to listen to the Radio from
- Providers - gives a lists of the Radio channels providers in your set top box
- Bouquets - select a bouquet you have set up to listen to the radio
then simply click on the Radio channel name to change the Radio channel on your set top box. A really cool feature.
If you have a hard disk installed in your DM box you can also look at the movies you have recorded and;
- Delete any movie
- Download any movie to your computer
- use VLC to watch any movie (under 2gb in size) on your computer
- Recover bad movies
Or if you are just curious to how the structure of your DM box is, you can look at it via the root option
The Timer edit options
Setup a TV or radio channel to be recorded in the future
With this option you can tell your DM to either change channel to another TV or radio programme or tell it to record a TV or radio programme at any given time.
Please see the Timer section for more details on how to use this feature
The set top box control options
Send messages to your TV and much more
When you click on the Box Control and then the Control Tools drop down menu, a new menu will appear on the left hand side of you webif screen.
With these options you can;
- Send a text message to your TV screen (like a SMS, but better)
- Use the Satfinder to tune your dish
- Use a web based remote control unit to control your DM box
To use the Message2TV function simply click on Message2TV and a screen like the one shown below will appear.
Simply type in a message and it will be sent to your TV.
To use the Satfinder option click here to learn more about it.
The Remote Control option offers so much and if you ever destroy your RCU you can always use this one or the one in the PDA web interface. This web based remote control unit is the same as the Remote Control units listed here, along with all the same functions and features.
Not only can you fully control your DM box, but you can also make screen dumps (exactly what we use here for this PLi® Wiki) and save them to your computer for future use.
Why would you want a remote control unit like this?
- So you can use it of you damage your normal remote
- So you can access a remote site via the web and make changes with this remote
- So you can show your family how things work
The set top box configurations options
Setup my remote mounts and much more
Here we can set up our remote mounts of other network devices and also various misc settings.
You can see all the details in full about how to use the Mount Manager options here. This is a very handy tool for DM500 users, who want to use their computer as their hard disk.
Although you can configure most of your settings in the Settings menu this allows you to have quick and easy access to the set top box and do it from one screen.
The Screenshot option is just that. It allows you make screen shoots of your set top box and save them on your computer for use in other applications.
The channel information options
See everything thing there is to know about a channel
This is a very powerful option, that allows you learn about the channel you are watching on your TV at the moment, or one you have selected with the ZAP option above.
You can;
- See the EPG from the channel you have selected at the moment
- Select the Video settings for the TV channel you are watching
- Select the Audio settings for the TV channel you are watching
- See all the technical Stream details for the TV channel you are watching
- See any Teletext pages that is on the TV channel you are watching
- Capture the video for the TV channel you are watching and watch it on your computer
- Capture the audio for the TV channel you are watching and watch it on your computer
When you click on the channel EPG the screen below will appear along with all the EPG that is available for the channel you have selected.
The Video Channel settings will allow you select any sub settings relating to the video.
The Audio Channel settings will allow you select any sub settings relating to the Audio being played out on your TV at the moment.
The Stream info option, will allow you to see the following details
The Teletext option is a hidden GEM inside the PLi software. If the TV channel has teletext you will be able to watch a gold mine of data pages via your web interface as this example below shows.
The Audio and Video Capture options can be found in this streaming howto as it is the same as selecting the APID and VPID options on the top right hand side of very webif screen.
and also here
The About options
Learn much more with all the real-time links
The about menu has so much to offer everyone.
- Turn the real-time PLi® News Ticker on and off
- Learn about this release via the release notes link
- Learn about the PLi® Team
- Learn more about your set top box
- See real time links to this PLi® Wiki
- See real time links to other forums that provide DM help
- See real time links to other software to help you
Tip: What is the best web browser to use with this Webif? Firefox3 is the best on all computer platforms, although others do work, but not as well.
Tip: You can port forward this Webif to the Internet, see your modem / routers user manual on how to forward port 80 to the WAN
Tip: The Webif is only as good as your LAN! If your LAN is mis-configured then expect problems with some of the Webif features!
Known Issues: On some Linux distributions Firefox does not always like our news ticker, but you can disable this feature on the drop down menu above.
Known Issues: IE7 does not function as it should in the WEBIF so please use Firefox3 where possible.
Links related to your world wide web interface in this wiki
- Streaming my DM box to my PC
- How to use Web-X-TV
- How to use my PDA / Mobile Phone on my DM box
- How to stream my DM box over the internet
- How to use the Zoom and satfind functions
- How to mount any disk drive to my DM box
There are other webif commands that you can manually send to your DM box and are listed here
Back to the PLi® Wiki Home Page : E1 Howtos : DM500 : DM500+ : DM56xx : DM600 : DM7000 : DM7020 : DM7025 : DM800
