ZapperPro

New features in ZapperPro 1.1

• "Exit" button added again
• "Zap" button removed
• Background tap does no longer send "Exit" command
• WOL support (experimental)

New features in ZapperPro 1.0

If you just want to know what the new features are, read here:

• new interface design with shortcut buttons at the screen edges
• new volume slider
• no BACK button any more (yes, correct!) instead hitting the background of the app means "BACK"

Functions and Setup

Setup of the VDR

First requirement is that you have a running VDR software with access to either the local WIFI in your living room or connected to the internet. Be aware that remote controlling via the internet may work but it will be slower and is a possible security risk (allow SVDRP connections to the internet and some weirdo can delete all your recordings...not good!)

Secondly, you need to enable SVDRP connects from the IP of your iPhone.

• edit /etc/vdr/svdrphosts.conf (could also be located in other places depending on distribution and installation of VDR)
• add your iPhones IP range as allowed remote control hosts
• now connect your iPhone to your local WIFI network
• note down either the hostname or the IP of your VDR box

ZapperPro Setup for remote controlling

ZapperPro's settings page can be found in the "Settings" application of your iPhone. This is standard behaviour and I will not implement a "Settings" button in the program itself (it is pointless).

For remote control, there is one single parameter that is to be set, it is called "hostname".

Enter the hostname of your VDR host or if the iPhone cannot look it up, use it's IP address.

If controlling via the internet, you would e.g. use your DynDNS-Hostname here if you have dynamically assigned IP addresses from your provider.

ZapperPro Setup for Wake-on-LAN

Wake-on-LAN allows you to wake your VDR box from sleep remotely if it supports Wake-on-LAN.

The problem here is, that the Ethernet card of your VDR box will be up, but the protocols based on Ethernet (TCP/IP, UDP) will not be available.

This means in your local network, you cannot simply use the hostname or IP address to wake the device (it may work if your iPhone has the Ethernet address still in it's ARP cache, but generally, it does not work so simple).

But there is the solution: Use "broadcast" (configurable in the settings page) to send the wake command to all Ethernet cards in your network.

If you have a router to the internet who allows to receive a UDP packet on a specific port and send it as broadcast to the local net, you can even ewake your VDR box via the internet. Then you need the hostname or IP you would use for remote controlling ("hostname" setting) and the configurable port and you must DISABLE broadcast. Your router needs also proper configuration.

You generally also need the MAC address of the VDR box you want to wake. You can enter "ifconfig" on the box to find it, it is a 12-digit hex number with digits grouped in pairs divieded by "-" or ":".

WOL in the local network

Settings required:

• hostname (for remote control, IP or hostname)
• MAC (entered as nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn or nn-nn-nn-nn-nn-nn)
• broadcast YES

WOL over Internet

Settings required:

• hostname (e.g. DynDNS hostname or IP)
• MAC (entered as nn:nn:nn:nn:nn:nn or nn-nn-nn-nn-nn-nn)
• broadcast NO