Slingbox TV - Anyone Tried it?

[bstreep]

OK, we're about to give up on local TV in Corpus Christi.

I'm thinking of putting in a good wifi antenna on the boat, and a Slingbox Pro HD at home. Then, at the pier or at anchor, can I get content from home? The Admiral would sure be happy to see her Florida Gators Football this fall...

Thoughts?

[Bash]

...I don't think it's realistic to anticipate a championship season for the Gators.

[Ex-Calif]

The few people I know using slingbox love it. I have seen it on 300-500 mps and there is slight drop out at times. You need good bandwidth for sure but 500 mps is OK.

[drew.ward]

I've used a sling setup and loved it.

You do need a good bandwidth connection at the source with a nice upload rate. That usually means you have to subscribe to one of the higher cable DSL setups. ADSL service through the phone companies usually have really low upload rates.

On the viewing end though it works surprisingly well with even a crappy connection. The speed of your connection and the available bandwidth does affect the resolution and size of the picture, but even when it's at its worst, it's still viewable.

I used the original setup and have heard that the newer hardware is quite a bit more efficient.

One thing I would recommend would be to get the setup (either sling or sat/cable box) with a DVR. The reason being that time differences become a problem and since life outside the US doesn't revolve around prime time tv, it's not so easy to catch your shows. There's nothing more annoying that getting a great sling connection and finding the only thing on is an infomercial about the new 6 burner George Foreman grill!

[S/V Illusion]

Have been using Slingbox for a couple of years. Won't reiterate what others have said, all of which is true, other than to praise the utility of it to keep the Admiral happy and watch some great sports shows I wouldn't otherwise be able to see. A simple cable connection from the laptop allow direct feed to the flat panel TV making it virtually seemless viewing.

[bstreep]

SWEET. Thanks for the replies. We have high speed cable at home and a DVR.

[speciald@ocens.]

I use Slingbox with Slingcatcher on the boat connected to a 32 in flat screen and do watch the Gators and Jags games. I've used this setup in the islands but need a fast connection. Of course, I have a home network with cable modem and basic cable service that costs less per year than I was paying for one Jaguars Club seat.

[Tspringer]

So does this work over a wireless wifi connection???

Hmmmmmmm perhaps I could convince my parents to attach a slingbox setup to one of the TVs in their home. Then we could watch cable TV from that when in an anchorage that has a decent wifi signal?

Is this realistic?



Terry

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Tspringer

So does this work over a wireless wifi connection???

Yes. Quite well, so long as the connection is running 500 mps or better.

[Hyprdrv]

Curmudgeon,
I believe you ment 500Kps not Mps.
Terry,
The issue with from your parents house is if they are watching something on the cable box that's what you watch. I've just completed hooking up mine a few weeks ago and it's fantastic. I couldn't get anything at the dock but now I get everything that is on my home box. The main issue is the bit rate and what you can find in a marina WIFI. Most phone services or data sevices have 2 plans. 1 is 560MB ($30)and the other is 5G($60). Now 5G sounds like a lot until you start doing the math. The rate for most connections is 500Kbs, that's 1/2meg per second so for every hour of streaming your talking about 500x60x60=1.8 GIG. Oops there goes the cheaper plan. So the 5G plan is worth roughly 3 hours of video or as my wife looks at it about 1 baseball game a month. Now here is were it gets expensive. Most providers will charge about .05 cents per meg of downloads after that. Check my math but I believe that's about $50 per G in added charges over the plan per hour. What if you get a signal at 1400Kbs? I did last week. Then there is the "unlimited" service. A friend of mine had that until the "Provider company" saw how much he was using and cancelled the service. Turns out the fine print allows them to do that. It's still a great box and if anyone has a good plan I would love to know.

Steve

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by Hyprdrv

Curmudgeon,

The issue with from your parents house is if they are watching something on the cable box that's what you watch.

If you split the cable prior to the box, it obviates this problem as long as you buy the SlingPro or whatever they now call the version which has a tuner.

[Daddy's Dream]

Sony makes one too. They call it Location free.

Here's the link: Location Free

Anyone know how it compares to Slingbox?

[bstreep]

Originally Posted by Daddy's Dream

Sony makes one too. They call it Location free.

Here's the link: Location Free

Anyone know how it compares to Slingbox?

As this project stretches the limits on so many fronts, I've decided that the Sony product, which everyone says "works, but not like a SlingBox", is not part of the solution.

While I'm somewhat of a cheapskate, I want this to work. I'm planning on using it with an IslandTime antenna, mounted on our radar arch.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by bstreep

I'm thinking of putting in a good wifi antenna on the boat, and a Slingbox Pro HD at home. Then, at the pier or at anchor, can I get content from home?

Bill!

Chuck those thoughts out and buy a fishing line and a box of beer. Notice I didn't say 'bait'.
Now sit on the end of the dock, or on the boat and dangle the line over whilst drinking a beer from the box. Talk to all people that walk/dinghy past.

Now thats life!!!!!!!!!


Mark

[Daddy's Dream]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Bill!

Chuck those thoughts out and buy a fishing line and a box of beer. Notice I didn't say 'bait'.
Now sit on the end of the dock, or on the boat and dangle the line over whilst drinking a beer from the box. Talk to all people that walk/dinghy past.

Now thats life!!!!!!!!!


Mark

I couldn't agree more. I'm trying to get out of a cave not give myself more reasons to hide in one. But on nasty days it would be nice.