Dune Box Override Information

Background

The Dune HD TV 102 (colloquially 'Dune Box') is a IPTV/VOD/OTT media player that has the ability to be controlled using a simple 'IP Control' feature. The feature allows a user to send HTTP commands to the player. Commands can be used to request various tasks such as:

• Start playback of the given media content
• Control the playback
• Set the behaviour at the end of media playback
• Report current player status
• Stop playback

By running the command in a web browser's URL bar (or other HTTP submission) we can control the behaviour of the Dune Box.

Playback Override

A simple web-application was written with two key functions:

• Load a specified stream
• Allow the stream to be ended manually and the playback set to black

Choosing which Dune Box

The application allows control of both the NAfW and Scottish Parl Dune Boxes. This was done using a select with the id location.

<select id="location">
<option value="http://192.168.1.89">Wales Box</option>
<option value="http://192.168.1.64">Scotland Box</option>
</select>

Choosing what type of stream to input

The application requests the user choose what type of stream identifier they've submitted. This is a selection betwen Welsh GUID a Welsh Webpage URL and a Full Stream URL.

    <select class="form-control col-2" id="streamURLType">
        <option value="welshGUID">Welsh GUID</option>
        <option value="webpage">Welsh Webpage URL (http://www.senedd.tv/Meeting/Live/c13aa8....)</option>
        <option value="full">Full Stream URL (protocol://server.com/stream.m3u8)</option>
    </select>

Entering a Welsh GUID

An example Welsh GUID would be: c13aa84d-6fe1-4d65-86b5-2573be798ef9

Entering a Welsh Webpage URL

An example Welsh GUID would be: www.senedd.tv/Meeting/Live/c13aa84d-6fe1-4d65-86b5-2573be798ef9

Entering a custom stream

The application requests a cusom stream URL that the Dune Box will attempt to play. This was done using a HTML input with the id streamUrl. Please see Dune Support for a list of formats and protocols supported by the Dune Boxes.

 <input class="..." id="streamUrl" type="url">

An example URL would be: http://nafw-live.hls.adaptive.level3.net/d/933736c8-8d1f-4f08-bf53-3efe2cfaf030/interpretation/interpretation.isml/interpretation.m3u8

Starting a stream

The button to start a stream on the Dune Box is a simple HTML link, styled as a button, that fires the loadStream function.

<a class="..." href="#" role="button" onclick="loadStream();return false;">Start stream</a> 

The loadStream JavaScript function collects the parts of the HTTP command (pretty much just building a URL) and then to run the command opens a new browser window with that command as the address.

function loadStream() {
    var location = document.getElementById("location").value;
    var playMediaUrl = "/cgi-bin/do?cmd=start_file_playback&media_url=";
    var streamUrl = document.getElementById("streamUrl").value;
    var fullUrl = location+playMediaUrl+streamUrl;
    window.open(fullUrl);    
}

The location variable pulls the correct IP address of the selected dune box such as http://192.168.1.89. The variable playMediaUrl is the specific portion of the command which tells the Dune Box to start playback of the media URL that we'll pass in the variable streamUrl which is set by the user. The full command will be something like:

http://192.168.1.89/cgi-bin/do?cmd=start_file_playback&media_url=http://nafw-live.hls.adaptive.level3.net/d/933736c8-8d1f-4f08-bf53-3efe2cfaf030/interpretation/interpretation.isml/interpretation.m3u8

Setting the box to show a black screen

The button to make the Dune Box end a current stream and set output to black is a simple HTML link, styled as a button, that fires the blackScreen function.

The blackScreen JavaScript function HTTP command (pretty much just a URL) and then to run the command opens a new browser window with that command as the address.

function blackScreen() {
    var blackScreenUrl = "/cgi-bin/do?cmd=black_screen";
    var location = document.getElementById("location").value;
    window.open(location+blackScreenUrl);    
}

The location variable pulls the correct IP address of the selected dune box such as http://192.168.1.89. The full command will be something like: http://192.168.1.89/cgi-bin/do?cmd=black_screen which will set the NAfW Dune Box to output black.