# Anyone have a Slingbox?



## crawford (Oct 8, 2005)

I'm going to be doing a lot of traveling for work in the near future and am considering purchasing a slingbox to watch recorded content from my SA8300. My main router is not near the TV, but I do have an Airport Express nearby that is connected to the network via WDS. Does anyone have one? Care to post your experiences (ease of setup, bandwidth issues, etc)?

Thanks.


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## T-hill (May 18, 2005)

Dude, I can not say enough great things about the Slingbox! I don't know where I'd be without it! You don't understand how boring Jerusalem is on a Saturday for a non-religious Jew, and the Slingbox has been my saviour!!!

Setup is very easy. Even better, it can detect your router, and configure your Slingbox and your router specially to work together (note: if you change routers, you need to run the setup wizard again, or else the Slingbox won't work! Don't worry: All the fields you fill out the first time stay the same, to make it easier). My TV and router are next to eachother, so I can't speak on the wireless connection. It might be easier just to get the wireless bridge from Sling or other companies (Dell has a compatible model listed if you search their site for Slingbox).

Now, I'm never home when I watch (obviously) so I don't know how the rest of the house enjoys having me watching TV, but no one complains so it can't be that bad. Unless it's my computer's restriction, I get good video quality on my 14" screen as big as I can go (with remote control on screen) at a maximum of ~490kbps and clear sound. I can't top 491 kbps, but my roommate in July was getting over 500 sharing a wireless connection with me, so I assume it was just Rogers' restriction (he's hooked up to an American TV). Either way, anything above 250 kbps is good enough video and audio for me, and even as little as 75 kbps, while not clear video with a tinny sound, is acceptable enough to get by.

Only annoyance I have is that when you press a button on the remote, it slows the signal right down, so watching something on OnDemand (and if you have a PVR, controlling that) can get slightly annoying. Like if you rewind, remember there's a 7 second buffer on average, so you might overshoot your intended spot by 14 seconds. On the plus side, it gives your computer more time to buffer so you can watch stuff without much signal loss.

Anymore questions, feel free to ask. I can not say enough good things or sing enough praises about my Slingbox! I've hooked up with the rec hockey league in Israel, and they're all completely jealous of me that I get Leaf games! Some are even considering arranging their own Slingboxes back home in North America! Fellow students here are jealous too! Get it, get it, GET IT!!!


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## crawford (Oct 8, 2005)

That's great input, thanks.
Are you streaming HD or SD content?


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

I have a Slingbox Pro, that I just started using. I've got it connected to a 8000HD Rogers DVR (I think it's the 8000HD, I'm pretty sure it's not the 8300) and then wire-connected to a Linksys WRT54G wireless router. I wanted to watch TV where-ever I was in the house. It works great from my desktops. I've had the odd glitch from my iBook upstairs picking up the router, but not connecting to the slingbox, not sure what the problem is. I left the DVR on and moved the router once, which seemed to work, so it may be the wireless router location. Doesn't seem to be the sharpest picture, but I have some testing to do. I haven't tested HD content too much yet, that may make a difference too.

Unlike the other guy, I've seen ~2000-3000Kbps on my desktops and about ~800-1600Kbps on my iBook. This is internally, within my home network.

The DVR functions seem to work fine, although, like the other guy says, there is a delay. But I've gotten used to it.


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## T-hill (May 18, 2005)

crawford said:


> That's great input, thanks.
> Are you streaming HD or SD content?


SD. I don't try HD very often. Maybe I should start, except 500 kbps probably won't do much good for me with HD. Note, I'm also only plugged in with S-Video, and don't have HD cables hooked up to the Slingbox.


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

T-hill said:


> SD. I don't try HD very often. Maybe I should start, except 500 kbps probably won't do much good for me with HD. Note, I'm also only plugged in with S-Video, and don't have HD cables hooked up to the Slingbox.


Oh, I'm connected with component cables to the Sling HD cable to the Slingbox Pro, so it's a matter of just going to a HD channel. I think I did it once or twice.


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## crawford (Oct 8, 2005)

Thanks for all of the replies. 

I'd like to pick up a Slingbox Solo, but it seems that they're not yet available in stores around here. Has anyone seen one? May have to make a cross-border trip.


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## marrmoo (Jul 24, 2003)

crawford said:


> Thanks for all of the replies.
> 
> I'd like to pick up a Slingbox Solo, but it seems that they're not yet available in stores around here. Has anyone seen one? May have to make a cross-border trip.


Not sure if this is waht your looking for but it might be be.
Currently on sale through Dell 10 days of.

http://accessories.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=ca&l=en&s=dhs&cs=cadhs1&sku=A0973858 Deals


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## crawford (Oct 8, 2005)

Thanks marrmoo.

That's not what I'm looking for, but I'll be sure to keep my eye on Dell's website. I recall that they had the original Slingbox AV as part of a past Days of Deals promotion (which is back on again).


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## richb (Feb 6, 2004)

I have a few questions also...are there any limitations with Slingbox? 
How mac clients can the Slingbox stream to at the same time? 
Or can it stream only to one mac at a time? 
Do you have register your macs to the slingbox (i.e. MAC address) or can any mac with the Slingbox viewer and login access watch the TV programming?

Thanks in advance.


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## T-hill (May 18, 2005)

richb said:


> I have a few questions also...are there any limitations with Slingbox?
> How mac clients can the Slingbox stream to at the same time?
> Or can it stream only to one mac at a time?
> Do you have register your macs to the slingbox (i.e. MAC address) or can any mac with the Slingbox viewer and login access watch the TV programming?
> ...


Only one computer can connect to a Slingbox at a time. Trust me, we hockey fans have tried here...

Your Slingbox has a unique ID number. You type that ID number into the Slingbox software. Also, you set 2 passwords, an admin password and a user password. You can log into your Slingbox with either, but you must have one of the right passwords. As long as you have the Slingbox ID and password, and no one else is logged in, you can access it. (You can bypass the whole finder ID thing if you know your IP address... that Slingbox ID is about 36 random characters I believe).


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## gmark2000 (Jun 4, 2003)

I just set up my Slingbox tuner. Wow! Awesome! Too bad you can't record the stream.


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## Macified (Sep 18, 2003)

Try using a screen grabbing utility. The current crop of screen capture software can manage 30fps with sound synch so you could record what you watch. Screencast is a new, inexpensive screen recorder that looks promising but I haven't tried it out.


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