Alternative to G-MScreen in Windows

Question

I am looking for G-MScreen windows alternative to achieve this goal, with the following features:

• Can let me watch channels from STB on my windows laptop, preferably windows 7.
• Can allow me to search/switch STB channels from windows PC, over same wifi connection.

G-MScreen works nice on my mobile but i'm not an avid mobile user and would like if there is a similar alternative for windows, which will be actually better to watch channels on a bigger screen and control them more easily. The following are some details for G-MScreen app.

G-MScreen is a client app for STB (Set Top Box), it works with STB through internet. (CRYPTODROID and Cryptobox). It allows to watch channels from STB on mobile device over same wifi connection. And it allows to Search/Switch STB channels as well as edit channels, move, rename, delete, lock, set favorite, sort etc and it works like virtual remote control. It can also check channels EPG (Electronic Program Guide) and change the setting of STB like sleep timer, parental control, password, screen lock/unlock, power on/off, factory default. It works with my Starsat SR-2000HD hyper dish tv receiver and other STB's.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=mktvsmart.screen&hl=en

iOS: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/g-mscreen-multiple-screen/id921933799

Answer 1

A workaround solution to watch GM-Screen compatible STB (set top box) content on a Windows PC ** Only tested on SuperMax SM2425 STB, the details may be different for other STB models (eg. stream names) **

Requirements

1. A recent version of VLC installed your PC
2. GM-Screen and VLC apps installed on your Phone
3. PC, Phone and STB (set top box) on the same local area network

Steps on STB

1. Join the local area network (or wifi) and take note of the STB ip address (eg. 192.168.0.101)

Steps on Phone

1. Login to your STB via GM-Screen app (you should see a list of channels when you do).
2. Press the "..." button in the menu at the bottom of the screen (shows additional menu items).
3. Press "My Setting", it is the last item so scroll sideways if it is hidden.
4. Select "Player setting" (shows list of video apps, with "Built-in player" on top).
5. Choose VLC and go back to the channel list.
6. Press "..." beside the channel name (shows submenu below channel name, with Play item).
7. Press "Play" and wait until it starts playing in VLC.
8. Press the screen to show the controls, find the channel stream name near the top center.
9. Take note of the channel stream name (should be similar to "player.4655194" with different number).

Steps on PC

1. Go to your desktop or any folder on your PC and right click an empty space to get a context menu.
2. Select/Hover over the "New" menu item (submenu should appear), then select "Shortcut" near the top (shows a prompt to enter location).
3. Type or paste the following including quotes: "C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\vlc.exe" "http://192.168.0.101:8085/player.4655194" --deinterlace=-1
4. Optional: If you have a different installation directory for vlc, replace the first part (eg. "Program Files (x86)" is only on 64-bit windows).
5. Optional: You can also have different options for vlc instead of "--deinterlace=-1", or remove it entirely.
6. Replace "192.168.0.101" with the STB ip address and "player.4655194" with the channel stream name you noted in previous steps.
7. Select "Next" button (shows a prompt for shortcut name) and enter the channel name (The shortcut should be created).
8. Double click the shortcut to run VLC (The channel video stream should play on your PC).

Notes

1. It is possible to change the "Player setting" in GM-Screen back to "Built-in player" once you have noted the channel stream name.
2. You must start playing the channel stream on your phone in GM-Screen before you can play it via the shortcut on your PC.
3. There is a different stream name for each channel, so you must have a shortcut for each channel.
4. You can only change channels on your phone in GM-Screen, and must use a shortcut on the PC everytime the channel changes.
5. If somebody else uses the remote of the STB to change channels, the stream stops and you have to use a shortcut to see the changed channel on your PC.
6. This workaround was tested with a SuperMax SM2425 STB, VLC (2.2.1) on Windows 10, and the latest versions of VLC (2.0.6) and GM-Screen (1.0.2744) for android in March 2017.

Obviously this is not an ideal use case scenario and everyone would prefer to use a PC app, but this is as far as I got with it.