slingbox

[Guest Neezer]

Hi,

 

I am thinking about getting this:

http://us.slingmedia.com/page/slingboxtuner.html

 

I plan on using it to connect to my sattellite at my parents house in wisconsin. that way I can watch the local football games, the packers, and also some more local college football as well. I have a few questions.

 

Will it work with satellite instead of cable tv?

 

Will I be able to change the channel from my laptop?

 

Will this interrupt my parents from watching tv?

 

 

For now those are my only questions, but from your responses, I might have more.

[soundx98]

I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Love to hear some user experiences as well.

 

EDIT:

Looks like they have a "community forum" and some good info on their FAQ to start.

Looks like it will do what you want it to.

http://www.slingcommunity.com/article/10609/?page=2

[momoceio]

You would need the Slingbox AV to watch a Satellite feed.

 

http://us.slingmedia.com/page/slingboxav.html

 

You can change the channel from your laptop

 

If there is only one satellite receiver box at your parents house, then yes it will interrupt what they are watching. If you want to watch something other than what they are watching then you'll need a second satellite box.

[soundx98]

way to go momoceio

short, sweet, and to the point.

[ReelFiles]

I was looking at those things myself, thanks for the links guys. I'll have to do some reading now

[HITandRUN]

Pretty interesting! Go to check it out as well!

[ReelFiles]

There is a guy that has a hack/tweak page for slingbox

http://www.butkus.co.uk/static/projects/slingbox.php

 

This is a pretty cool page as well; How to Setup Notebook Media Button Customization for Slingbox Control

http://www.slingcommunity.com/article/1186...ingbox-Control/

 

Record Video Streams from SlingBox™ Devices

http://www.applian.com/at-large-recorder/index.php

and the thread about it here

http://www.slingcommunity.com/forum/thread...eleased/?page=1

 

Here's Netgear's answer to that, seems pretty cool

http://netgear.com/Products/Entertainment/...diaPlayers.aspx

[momoceio]

I don't think I would use any other brand...Slingbox has the audio/video compression down pat. It works really well with lower bandwidths...I happen to have a 1meg up at home so I get a pretty nice stream at work

[ReelFiles]

I just gave that Netgear one as a reference, I also think slingbox has it going on. Maybe I can convince my wife to let me set one up for x-mas.

[politbureau]

Slingbox Pro is quite possibly the coolest and most useful AV device I have ever used. I bought one and paired it with my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD PVR box which we use here in Canada on the Rogers network. I can now watch, control, record and stream SD & HD content from my work PC, laptop, Palm, etc. Frankly I would never think of purchasing a digital box/satellite system without one of these. The Pro model, BTW, is only useful if you are planning on streaming HD content or controlling more than 1 device.

 

My watching habits since purchasing this thing have gone from 75/25 in favour of live broadcast over recorded content, to roughly 30/70 in the other direction. I now watch more of what I want, when I want, where I want.

 

Still, it's an expensive proposition - if you're like me and want HD content in Canada, you've got to shell out for all the bits and bobs before you can even get started. Here's the lowdown on what I have and what you should expect to pay:

 

Scientific Atlanta 8300HD HD-PVR $599

Slingbox Pro $199

Slingbox HD-Connect $49.99 (Component HD Cable Breakout Box)

External HDD $250

Total investment is $1100

 

This is a huge investment, and unless you can find a deal of some variety (I got my PVR on sale for 1/2 price and the slingbox off ebay with the cable for $175), it's out of reach for many consumers.

 

As an aside, to anyone interested in using the Slingbox with a Scientific Atlanta PVR, I highly reccomend increasing the storage capacity... I promise you'll be recording WAY more content than you used to I built an inexpensive external eSATA box with a 750GB Seagate 7200.10 drive for roughly CDN$250. Definitely worth the expense, as now I can record roughly an extra 50 hours of HD or 500 hours of SD content.

 

Peace

[HITandRUN]

Slingbox Pro is quite possibly the coolest and most useful AV device I have ever used. I bought one and paired it with my Scientific Atlanta 8300HD PVR box which we use here in Canada on the Rogers network. I can now watch, control, record and stream SD & HD content from my work PC, laptop, Palm, etc. Frankly I would never think of purchasing a digital box/satellite system without one of these. The Pro model, BTW, is only useful if you are planning on streaming HD content or controlling more than 1 device.

 

My watching habits since purchasing this thing have gone from 75/25 in favour of live broadcast over recorded content, to roughly 30/70 in the other direction. I now watch more of what I want, when I want, where I want.

 

Still, it's an expensive proposition - if you're like me and want HD content in Canada, you've got to shell out for all the bits and bobs before you can even get started. Here's the lowdown on what I have and what you should expect to pay:

 

Scientific Atlanta 8300HD HD-PVR $599

Slingbox Pro $199

Slingbox HD-Connect $49.99 (Component HD Cable Breakout Box)

External HDD $250

Total investment is $1100

 

This is a huge investment, and unless you can find a deal of some variety (I got my PVR on sale for 1/2 price and the slingbox off ebay with the cable for $175), it's out of reach for many consumers.

 

As an aside, to anyone interested in using the Slingbox with a Scientific Atlanta PVR, I highly reccomend increasing the storage capacity... I promise you'll be recording WAY more content than you used to I built an inexpensive external eSATA box with a 750GB Seagate 7200.10 drive for roughly CDN$250. Definitely worth the expense, as now I can record roughly an extra 50 hours of HD or 500 hours of SD content.

 

Peace

 

 

 

DITTO! Sounds like a great deal! This is going to be my next project! Right now I'm fighting with this thing and trying to get it to run on the crappy butt ASUS mobo (HTPC)! Once again I'm disgusted by ASUS and their products! :mad:

[momoceio]

Well, I haven't seen the video feed the Pro model gives but I just don't see how you can possibly get a HD quality stream if it's being compressed and streamed over the internet...especially considering most home users have very limited upload bandwidth.