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Record TV using NGrab, an idiot's guide (made by idiots, for idiots)

| Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Dreambox and Dreambox-like-device users will probably have tried NFS already, but NGrab offers a more robust stream capturing alternative.

What you will need:
  1. A Dreambox (or a poor imitation)
  2. NGrab
  3. A PC to install it on
  4. Some disk space

I'm assuming for this part that you have added your Dreambox to your home network

Browse to the following location on your Dreambox menu:
Setup > Expert Setup > Ngrab Streaming Setup
  • for "Srv IP address" enter the IP of the PC where you will be setting up NGrab
  • then click on detect MAC address

Install NGrab on your PC, anywhere you like. You can download NGrab (for Windows) from here
You can run it as a normal program, or start it as a service (I can't be bothered running it as a service). To configure NGrab, start the program (or service), then right click its icon in your system tray


From there, go to:
  • "Einstellungen", "dBox Einstellungen" and enter the IP address of your Dreambox
  • make sure the port matches the port settings in Ngrab Streaming Setup on the Dreambox
  • in "Dateisystem Einstellung", browse to the folder where you want to store your recordings
  • Click OK when done

There are many other options you can play about with, but this is the bare minimum you need to get your first TV stream down on disk.

Finally, browse your EPG on your Dreambox, choose a program you want to record, hit menu, Timer, and add a timed event. Set the event type to NGrab, hit OK and off you go.

Recordings will cost you about 1GB per 40 minutes of recording.
The default format is m2p, but you can change that. I record directly onto an 8GB flash drive, so I can take it with me.
I have yet to detect a single flaw in the recordings I've made, and I don't have the latest hardware by any means.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

What about a linux version? I noticed that Ggrab (version for linux) haven't been updated since 2003.

pchelptech said...

@Nickeluli
I think the version of NGrab I have is well over 2 years old anyway, and it does the job.

There seems to be a newer version of ggrab here:
http://www.freshports.org/multimedia/ggrab

Anonymous said...

NGrab software doesn't work for me
get 429 error can't create Active-X

So, no go

pchelptech said...

@ Anonymous Coward:
Have you tried any of these tips?
http://www.satmoz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48515

I think this issue can happen with a lot of tools on Vista, especially with VB DOA applications.

Another option for you could be DreamStreamer and xmediagrabber:
http://www.austech.info/dreambox/7099-how-stream-dreambox-pc-properly-no-hassles.html

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