Slingbox

by **gowhitesox99** » Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:24 pm

anyone have one? How is it, easy to setup, good quality... ??

by **cavalierlwt** » Tue Mar 28, 2006 1:01 pm

I've seen good reviews of it, don't know anyone who has it. You definitely need decent upload speed though.

by **Destructor** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:13 pm

what is it?

by **gowhitesox99** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 2:42 pm

http://www.slingmedia.com/

by **Chin_Sack** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:05 pm

Seen this thing on TV a few times now. The idea seems sound.

by **cavalierlwt** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 5:38 pm

You can do a limited, poor man's version if you have a capture card in your home PC. Microsoft puts out a free encoder called Windows Media 9 encoder, and this can handle streaming a live video feed. I used to mess around with it, just for the novelty of it, I'd stream out a feed of HBO then watch it at work using Videolan or the older Media Player. Unfortunately I have crappy upload speed (384 Kbs). I think things start getting good at 768K and great with anything 1Mbs and over. There's ways to rig things so that you can change the channel too, depending on your cable box or capture card (if using basic cable). The slingbox takes care of all that for you though.

by **JimmyTango** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:14 pm

Originally posted by gowhitesox99
anyone have one? How is it, easy to setup, good quality... ??

How is it?

Pointless.

For the cost of the damn thing you can buy a TV the same size as your monitor and just put it next to your computer.

by **MAN-AT-ARMS** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:14 pm

I've come across quite a few people with these things. I've heard they work pretty well, as long as you are on the LAN with the slingbox. Over the internet, forget it.

I'm told watching over the internet is terrible unless you make the window with the video feed super small.

I don't have one, this is just what I've been told by the people I've talked to with them.

by **Destructor** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 6:55 pm

sounds interesting....wouldn't care for it myself though. with dvr or tivo, i can just record and watch anything i want later. and not being able to afford dvr or tivo or cable for that matter, i just download everything i like to watch from the net.

by **cavalierlwt** » Wed Mar 29, 2006 9:18 pm

It's purpose is to take a video feed from your home and stream it securely to the internet. So, if you're a road warrior, you can use the internet (maybe you're staying at a hotel with broadband access) to access this video feed coming from your home. So, you can watch your own cable while on the road.

by **cartboy519** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 12:10 am

Yeah i think i have seen that advertised before. Looks like a cool gadget, but unless you are away alot what is the point?

by **Lord ZOG** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 8:53 am

I've attempted to install one at a client's of mine. They wanted it to work across a wireless signal all the way across their huge house so their son could watch TV from his college dorm.

Needless to say CompUSA had yet another return piled up in a post-Christmas heap within a week.

It's a useless , niche market, off-the-wall tchotchke. The only people buying them are people who have no clue about reality or real world networking.

by **JimmyTango** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:13 pm

Originally posted by cavalierlwt
It's purpose is to take a video feed from your home and stream it securely to the internet. So, if you're a road warrior, you can use the internet (maybe you're staying at a hotel with broadband access) to access this video feed coming from your home. So, you can watch your own cable while on the road.

Or, without buying the slingbox, you could turn on the tv at the hotel.

by **cavalierlwt** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 1:21 pm

I used to have job that had me on the road 3 weeks per month, honestly I would think it's easier to just deal with whatever pay channels are available via the hotel's cable. Some people use the Slingbox to monitor home securty systems, but to me that's just a niche use type of thing. When I did the 'poor man's version' using a PC and Windows Media Encoder, it was pretty much just a Stupid Human trick, see what it was like to watch HBO at work. I suppose that why Slingbox isn't the hottest thing going. Besides, I would think most people don't have the upload speed to make it viable anyway.

by **Rotoman** » Thu Mar 30, 2006 4:06 pm

Originally posted by JimmyTango
Or, without buying the slingbox, you could turn on the tv at the hotel.

And instead of being able to watch the Vikings play, because I'm in Arizona on a business trip I'm stuck watching the Cardinals. No thanks! The creators made it to get their regional professional baseball games while on the road.

That being said, I wouldn't buy one. As previously stated it seems like a niche market thing to me. Plus there's no high def version yet.

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