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KiSS DP-558 PC-Link replacement for Linux: kissd

(As usual, all norwegian non-Linux fan can just press “Generell” in the Categories list to avoid all this Linux stuff…)

  • I’ve got a KiSS DP-558 DVD recorder.
  • I’m a Linux user.
  • I want to use the PC-Link software, i.e. to be able to play media content remotely from my laptop or PC.

This is possible with kissd.

Here’s a small how-to:

  1. Download kissd from http://popies.net/kissd/ (as of writing, version 0.9 is the latest)
  2. Build a .rpm (as root): ‘rpmbuild -tb kissd-0.9.tar.bz2‘
  3. Install: ‘rpm -Uvh kissd-0.9.i386.rpm‘
  4. Edit /etc/kissd.conf according to 
    # kissd config file
audiopath   = /home/media/audio
videopath   = /home/media/video
picturepath = /home/media/photo
kmlurl      = http://tinystocks.com/k/kiss.php
# end of file

    Be sure to make those directories and put some sane content there…
    For per-user config use ~/.kissd.conf and check out ‘man kissd‘

  5. Start the deamon: ‘service kissd start‘.
  6. On the KiSS DP558 search for the PC-Link client, and use it.

Most probably that won’t work, because iptables blocks the port kissd uses (I think it is port 8888). You will see a “Could not find any PC-Link servers!” on the KiSS player.

The solution:

  • As root, edit ‘/etc/sysconfig/iptables‘ and add the following line just before the first ‘-A‘ line (it must be the first rule): 
    -A INPUT -s XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX -j ACCEPT

    where XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the IP address of your KiSS player.

  • Restart iptables with ‘service iptables restart‘.

Now it will work - at least it did for me :)
As usual, thanks goes to Terje R.

Update:
For a more robust solution, start system-config-securitylevel as root (i.e. the firewall configurator in Fedora, might be something else for other distros) and add this line under “other ports”:

8000:udp, 8000:tcp, 8888:udp

This way things will work also if your KiSS player changes IP address… ;) Thanks, Baziel.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 at 21:50:39 and is filed under GNU/Linux [in English]. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

12 Responses to “KiSS DP-558 PC-Link replacement for Linux: kissd”

  1. Martin Says:
    December 18th, 2005 at 11:42:41

    My experience so far:
    It seems kissd is not able to play .ogg files (the player hangs), but it does support playing .vob files (no searching).

    There is another Linux PC-Link program out there called kissntel, available here. This server does support .ogg files, but does not support .vob files…

  2. t Says:
    January 4th, 2006 at 17:00:39

    Cool, the vob/ogg confusion was a funny one.
    See you on monday.

  3. Martin Says:
    January 5th, 2006 at 20:40:49

    Hi “t” (is that your new alias..?) Actually, on monday I will be located in Lancaster toghether with Dani and JP ;)

  4. t Says:
    January 6th, 2006 at 09:13:54

    O, happy trip!

  5. Baziel Says:
    January 12th, 2006 at 17:37:29

    I got good results unfirewalling tcp port 8000 iso 8888.

  6. ROberto Says:
    March 7th, 2006 at 20:26:48

    Does this device allow you to play .iso DVD files? I have a ton of DVDs stored as .iso’s and need a networked DVD to play them.

  7. Martin Says:
    March 7th, 2006 at 22:15:02

    Roberto: I haven’t got any dvd iso images at the moment to test with, but you could always mount the image and play the .vob file (I think). I’ll try to download a dvd iso and test is soon.

    By the way - the new kissd 0.10 plays .ogg files just fine :)

  8. Jo Says:
    March 9th, 2006 at 00:48:54

    hello there.
    could anyone please help me with kissd? i own a dp-558 and the kissd is installed on a opened buffalo linkstation2. the dp-558 menu lists all folders mentioned in the config file, but the player isn’t able to play any of the files (wrong codec). doesn’t matter if the file’s a mp3, avi, mpg etc…
    i’m not that skilled in linux, but when i type in “top” in the ssh session on the linkstation to see all processes, it says that kissd is sleeping…
    i would be VERY thankful for any advice!
    thanks in advance!!!

  9. Martin Says:
    March 9th, 2006 at 22:14:10

    Jo: Why not ask the author? :)

    You might want to check whether you have activated the wrappers in kissd.conf - if so, the scripts must be executable. Try to disable them first.

  10. Martin Says:
    July 23rd, 2006 at 18:45:25

    I had some problems starting the kiss daemon after a recent yum update, but found out how to solve it. From my notes:
    * Problem: kissd won’t start:

    # service kissd restart
    Shutting down kissd: [FAILED]
    Starting kissd: [ OK ]

    Works:

    # kissd -d

    Doesn’t work:

    # kissd -dk

    Reason:

    # kissd -kv

    Using config file /etc/kissd.conf
    starting kissd…
    bind: Address already in use
    This is because “-k” is for the kml page.
    Solution 1:
    Get rid of CLOSE_WAIT:

    # netstat -an |grep CLOSE_WAIT

    Read output, then

    # fuser -n tcp ,,

    Read the last PID, find the process:

    # ps aux|grep [PID]

    Kill that pid:

    # kill [PID]

    (See also 'rpcinfo -p')

    Solution 2 (if kissd won’t start at all):

    # fuser -n tcp 8000
    8000/tcp: 2099
    # ps aux|grep 2099
    ...
    nasd
    # man nasd
    # service nasd stop
    # service kissd start
    # service nasd start

    You might considering this (untested):

    # mv /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S99kissd /etc/rc.d/rc5.d/S87kissd

  11. Martin Says:
    November 19th, 2006 at 22:41:38

    Time to check out kissdx. From the web page:
    The kissdx enhancements are:
    * Playback of the files in a VIDEO_TS folder as if it was a DVD
    * Playback of DVD ISO images
    * Arbitrary character set translation between server and player
    * Wild-card search for subtitle files, relaxing the strict subtitle file naming rules normally imposed by by KiSS players
    * Scaling of pictures to better fit TV screen, improve performance, and to avoid display problems with some files
    * Caching of scaled pictures to speed up the display of pictures that have already been displayed once
    * Pre-caching of the next picture to be displayed to speed up sequential browsing / slideshow
    * Configuration changes are recognised without the need for a restart

  12. Ole Says:
    December 4th, 2006 at 15:28:48

    Hi,
    a bit OT but nevertheless a general issue for Norwegian users of this player.
    NRK do provide a few TV programs for streaming. By using -dumpstream with mplayer the wmv files can be saved and viewed on the PC. After buying this KiSS box I would like to view these programs on the TV.

    Have anyone figured out how to transcode the MS formatted NRK videos to mpeg2 or 4 or divx that the KiSS box will play ?

    Ole

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