Slingbox

[roguerower]

My roommates and I are shopping around for our internet/cable connection for the upcoming school year. We're looking at having to shell out $100 because a company controls the access to the complex we live in.

One of my roommates suggested getting slingbox and using that instead of cable tv. He said that it runs off of an existing internet connection. We will be going with Verizon's fastest HSI (7mbps is what they claim) but I have no idea what slingbox is/does. Can anyone enlighten me?

 

[sivart]

http://www.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox

 

[mshan]

Only one person can use a particular Slingbox at a time.

My parents have Time Warner Cable in NY, and their Triple Play option allows two analog outputs, in addition to dedicated digital output via stb.

I got a Slingbox Tuner and just watch that over the internet when there is something in particular I want to see on cable. Otherwise, I just use OTA HDTV or delayed video clips on whatever website originally broadcast program.

 

[roguerower]

Originally posted by: sivart
http://www.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox

Thanks...because I never thought to try and search for it. Anything other pearls you'd like to shed on the thread?

 

[abaez]

Slingbox = Allows you to pipe your cable to any computer. Essentially you connect to the slingbox and you can watch TV. I have one connected to my parent's cable at their house and watch TV that way. Only thing is that I had to connect it to a separate cable box instead of the main one connected to the main TV, because when I changed the channel it changed what was being seen on the main TV too. But like mshan said only one person can be connected to a slingbox at one time.

 

[CallMeJoe]

Some folks calls it a Sling Box, I calls it a Kaiser Box...

 

[JackBurton]

I have a Slingbox Solo and a Sony LocationFree. I actually like the LocationFree device better. I can watch TV on my laptop at home, when I'm away, and I can also watch TV using my PSP when I'm away from home too. I love it.

 

[roguerower]

I talked with my roommates last night and we came up with the following plan:

Buy a slingbox and a slingcatcher (bout $350 combined). Put the slingbox in one of our regular homes attached to an unused coax hookup close to the router. Install the slingcatcher in our apartment next to our router and tv. Have the slingbox set up to transmit to the slingcatcher which is connected directly to the TV. We (the apt) will have the fastest verizon service offered (7mbps like I said).

Sound like a viable plan? We can buy the equipment and then resell it when we're done for a $75 loss rather than paying for cable and losing 600-800 bucks. We're not big TV watchers, but we'd like to be able to watch games/shows in decent quality.

 

[mshan]

Wherever the slingbox is located will need at least decent upload speed to get a not too blocky picture (I think Slingbox recommends 512 upload speeds at a minimum, but says optimal upload speed is much higher - I think they said 1.5 or more?).

My parents have 512 upload speed, and I get a data rate of around 450 here. Picture is watchable, but is rather blocky, especially if you go full screen.

I would also make sure you have an active signal on hat unused coax line before splurging for Slingbox hardware. My parents main set top box from Time Warner has both component and hdmi outputs, but only one output can be active at a time (tried to run hdmi to tv and component to Slingbox, but only get signal on one. Most Slingboxes have pass through function).

Even though my Slingbox tuner is very dated (only has analog coax input on it), I like it because tuner box is always on and probably doesn't consume much power. Analog coax from Time Warner is non-widescreen, but it works fine for my limited needs.