Slingbox question

[996GT2]

I was thinking of getting a slingbox for my DVR at home so that I wouldn't have to pay for cable in my on-campus apartment next year. My house is in Indiana, but I am at school here in Maryland. I believe we have a Dish 622 DVR at home (it has 2 tuners and can output 2 separate streams to 2 different TVs). I have high-speed cable internet at home and plan to get high-speed cable here. Download speeds should be ~10 Mbit/s and upload should be 1-5 Mbit/s.

Questions:

1) Would a Slingbox allow my parents to watch TV back home at the same time I watch TV here?

2) Would the quality be decent with a high-speed cable internet connection?

3) If my parents were recording a show and watching another show (thereby using both tuners on the DVR), I wouldn't be able to stream over the Slingbox, right?

4) Would the Slingbox be able to control all the functions of the DVR?

Thanks in advance

 

[mshan]

1) unless your tuner box has multiple tuners, you and them would have to watch same channel at same time.

Something like Slingbox Solo has component pass through input / outputs.

There is an IR blaster cable you tape to front of your tuner box and you can check Slingbox website to see codes to control that device.

My parents only 512 MB upload and picture is watchable; 1 - 1.5 upload should be pretty good, but I think Slingbox recommends 1.5 or above (I forgot).

 

[roguerower]

I used slingbox for the exact same thing. One of my roommates had a spare box and a tv in a room they didn't really use. They had Verizon FiOS and we had Verizon DSL. Worked well and was a hell of a lot nicer than having to pay for shitty cable service.

1. No. You or your parents watch tv, not both at the same time.

2. Quality is decent, but definitely noticeable if your connection slows.

3. Don't think so.

4. Dunno.

 

[mikeford]

I used a Slingbox HD for just over a year, and it was nice to be able to watch stuff on a PC or laptop instead of the main system, then it stopped working one day and so far none of the repair (out of warranty) issues look worth the money.

Instead of the slingbox, I would spend the money on Netflix, or find a closer source of free cable you can tap into with less clunky technology.