Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bulsajo]

I'm having trouble finding the answers to some questions and I'm hoping somebody here either has a Slingbox or has looked into buying one and has the answers to the following:

It gets physically hooked up to a coax cable. Q1: If I hook it up to a line with a tv already attached, do the two interfere in any way with each other? In other words, can I use the slingbox pulling a station off of the internet (as it is meant to be used) while at the same time my wife (or other s.o. as the case may be) is watching an entirely different tv station on the tv the slingbox is connected to?

Q2: Assuming the answer to Q1 is 'yes', is there a limit to how many people can access the slingbox via the internet? I'm guessing 'yes, only one' is probably the answer but I'd like to know before-hand. One stream would make this a somewhat useful tool, where as two or even three different tv channels streaming woud make this a 'must-have' piece of hardware.

Q3: the Slingbox has to physically connect to a router? or does it have wireless capability? or can it take advantage of a wireless antenna like the USB ones that are now all over the place?

Here's the deal: I want to buy one and install it at my mom's house on one of her tv's (because she has a better cable package and I'm a cheap s.o.b.), but I want to make sure that it won't interefe with her regular tv use. On top of that I know my brother-in-law will- when he hears about it- want to use it from time to time too. I have no problems with that, but I forsee a time when I will have to make a long distance call to Florida or Winnipeg just to say- "get off the slingbox, I want to watch BSG/Lost/Oprah!" [yes that last one was for you, BBE]

So anyone have any Slingbox experiences?
I know the product itself has been the subject of past threads but I have yet to hear of anyone actually buying one (they're about $250 or so?).

[Bulsajo]

Just found answers to my questions:

"With my PC running the SlingPlayer, I tried to launch and watch with my laptop, denied. The TV can play what I watch on my PC, but I cannot watch two different channels with the one TiVo, or any output device for that matter. This is basically a remote viewer and controller that runs on your PC."

Given that I could buy a cable splitter and some sort of hardware with a tuner (old vcr or tv would do fine), I could set up a line dedicated to the slingbox which would not interfere with Mom's tv viewing with little difficulty, but the one stream limitation coupled with the less-than-standard-tv quality mean that I'm going to hold off until the next level of innovation kicks in (whatever and whenever that may be).

[Bulsajo]

Hmmm, this looks promising:

http://orb.com/

Not exactly the same as slingbox, but has the potential to be better... and it's free.

[splok]

I checked into getting one a little while ago (I haven't picked one up yet, but I think I will within the month), and as I recall:

It has a built in tuner that can be controlled remotely and will suffice if you only want simple tuner functions (although this isn't spelled out as explicitly as I would have liked on their official site, so I'm definately going to verify it before my purchase). If you want other functions such as Tivo or whatever, you'll definately need additional hardware.

Only one client can be connected to the Slingbox at once.

It does not have wireless ability included. You can get a wireless unit to attach to it, but I'm not sure what the cost would be. You could also get a wireless router just for your Slingbox, which considering the prices of these lately is probably the cheapest bet. Alternatively, Slingbox sells units that will route your network traffic over your house's electrical lines. I think these were $80 or $100.

[Bulsajo]

Thanks for the info. I already installed a wireless router in mom's BF's basement office so if I buy one (verdict still out on that) I think I'l just split off the tv coax in that room.

Now I'm going to see if any store in the area has a demo on display- I want to see the quality before making a final decision...
This was the sticking point of the tv tuner I recently bought; fine for casual watching or converting my vhs tapes to digital (I think, still playing around with that), but not so hot for full screen viewing or recording shows.

[the_beaver]

How much bandwidth does sling box use?

I'm thinking about getting it at my sister's place, but my brother-in-law doesn't want his connection to slow down too much.

[mindmetoo]

[hostness]

Deleted

[Bulsajo]

Brilliant idea. But it's one I'm going to keep hidden from my wife or we'll be fighting non-stop over whose turn it is to use the laptop...