You want to use your Dreambox as Jukebox? Me too! I use a DM800 with the latest Newnigma2 image (v3.0) – but this should probably work on other distros as well. I use MPD as media player.
First, add the unstable feed:
1 2 3 | root@dm800:/tmp/mpd# cat /etc/opkg/official-feed.conf src/gz official http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800 #src/gz official http://feed.newnigma2.to/stable/dm800/3.0 |
Then update the local opkg cache:
1 2 3 4 5 | root@dm800:/tmp/mpd# opkg update Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/Packages.gz Inflating http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/Packages.gz Updated list of available packages in /var/lib/opkg/official ... |
Now install the MPD package:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 | root@dm800:/tmp/mpd# opkg install mpd Installing mpd (0.15.9-r0) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/mpd_0.15.9-r0_mipsel.ipk libavutil49: unsatisfied recommendation for mplayer libavcodec52: unsatisfied recommendation for mplayer libavformat52: unsatisfied recommendation for mplayer Installing libavahi-glib1 (0.6.25-r1) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libavahi-glib1_0.6.25-r1_mipsel.ipk Installing libfaad0 (2.0-r2) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libfaad0_2.0-r2_mipsel.ipk Installing libsqlite3-0 (3.6.20-r0) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libsqlite3-0_3.6.20-r0_mipsel.ipk Installing libavformat52 (1:0.5-r5) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libavformat52_0.5-r5_mipsel.ipk Installing libavcodec52 (1:0.5-r5) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libavcodec52_0.5-r5_mipsel.ipk Installing libavutil49 (1:0.5-r5) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libavutil49_0.5-r5_mipsel.ipk Installing libfaac0 (1.24-r0) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libfaac0_1.24-r0_mipsel.ipk Installing libgsm1 (1.0.12-r1) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libgsm1_1.0.12-r1_mipsel.ipk Installing libmp3lame0 (3.98.2-r0) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libmp3lame0_3.98.2-r0_mipsel.ipk Installing libschroedinger-1.0-0 (1.0.5-r3) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libschroedinger-1.0-0_1.0.5-r3_mipsel.ipk Installing libtheora0 (1.1.1-r3.0) to flash... Downloading http://feed.newnigma2.to/unstable/dm800/libtheora0_1.1.1-r3.0_mipsel.ipk Configuring libtheora0 Configuring libavformat52 Configuring libmp3lame0 Configuring libavutil49 Configuring libgsm1 Configuring mpd Adding system startup for /etc/init.d/mpd. Starting music player daemon: mpdlog: problem opening log file "/var/lib/mpd/mpd.log" (config line 33) for writing Aborted . Configuring libsqlite3-0 Configuring libavcodec52 Configuring libavahi-glib1 Configuring libschroedinger-1.0-0 Configuring libfaac0 Configuring libfaad0 root@dm800:/tmp/mpd# |
Now fix some missing directories:
1 2 | root@dm800:/tmp/mpd# mkdir /var/lib/mpd root@dm800:/tmp/mpd# mkdir /var/lib/mpd/playlists |
This is my mpd.conf:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 | root@dm800:/tmp/mpd# cat /etc/mpd.conf # Required files and directories ############################################## music_directory "/hdd/mp3/" playlist_directory "/var/lib/mpd/playlists" db_file "/var/lib/mpd/mpd.db" log_file "/var/lib/mpd/mpd.log" error_file "/var/lib/mpd/mpd.error" # Optional files ############################################################## pid_file "/var/lib/mpd/mpd.pid" state_file "/var/lib/mpd/mpdstate" # General music daemon options ################################################ bind_to_address "any" port "6600" # Zeroconf / Avahi Service Discovery ########################################## zeroconf_enabled "yes" zeroconf_name "Music Player" # Audio Output ################################################################ audio_output { type "alsa" name "alsa" } # Character Encoding ########################################################## filesystem_charset "UTF-8" |
Edit /etc/init.d/mpd and fix the restart option:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 | ... restart|force-reload) echo -n "Restarting music player daemon: mpd" start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --exec /usr/bin/mpd sleep 2 start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --exec /usr/bin/mpd echo "." ... |
Restart MPD now:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 | root@dm800:~# /etc/init.d/mpd restart Restarting music player daemon: mpdlisten: binding to any address listen: binding to socket address [::]:6600 listen: binding to socket address 0.0.0.0:6600 path: path_set_fs_charset: fs charset is: UTF-8 database: reading DB daemon: opening pid file daemon: daemonized! daemon: writing pid file . |
If you run into some troubles, you may start MPD in debug mode:
1 2 3 4 5 | root@dm800:/tmp/mpd# mpd --no-daemon -v --create-db config: loading file /etc/mpd.conf listen: binding to any address listen: binding to socket address [::]:6600 ... |
Now you need to use an MPD client to connect to your MPD server, for example Theremin for MacOS or MPoD for iPhone. Check out the MPD client wiki for more clients. Add some songs to your playlist and press play!
Now the unsolved problems:
- If the dreambox is powered off (Stby) – no sound is played
- If the dreambox is powered on, the sound is mixed with current channel
- No mpc client on the dreambox
Dr. Best wrote a simple plugin called WebStartStopService to stop the current tv output. But this didn’t work very good on my dreambox.
I’m open to suggestions…




Hi there, I have mpd running on my Dreambox and I really like it. But I am also looking or a Standby solution. According my oppinion is that exactly the way mpd will be used mostly because there will bi no TV sound or similar. Could you find a solution in the meanwhile? Thanks Don Antonio
… If the dreambox is powered off (Stby) – no sound is played… !