SlingBox

Create a Post
FrameMakers

FrameMakers

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Mar 20, 2001
Posts
7,395
Loc
Powell, OH
I now have to work every other Saturdays. It is now College Football season and I am a HUGE OSU Buckeye fan. I can't get any signal at the shop and commercial cable is to expensive.

What to do, what to do...

Enter SlingBox. I hooked it up to my computer & cable at home and now I won't miss another game.

Here is the ultimate screenshot :)

ScreenShot.jpg
 
My kid's have that. We were in NY with them this weekend and my son-in-law was watching the Tigers on his laptop slinged from my daughter TV here in Ohio. My daughter and son-in-law are going to be living in Guatemala, as missionaries and he set this up before he left. Pretty neat.

PS. It might be a little un-nerving for overnight guests at my daughters here in Ohio. I guess the son-in-law can control that TV, in the guest room, from anywhere via his computer.
 
It really is a great gadget. I can second the recommendation. I just installed one recently so I can watch the Indians should they make the playoffs and the Browns games when I work on Sundays. It's also great to catch up on the news while I eat lunch.
 
PaulSF said:
Details, please!!!!!!
Click to expand...

It simply takes the feed from your cable line, satellite, or TiVo and streams it over the internet to you. It's great for when you're away and want to watch tv, but for those left at home your bandwidth takes a little hit. You can change channels or control a TiVo from your remote computer.
 
http://us.slingmedia.com/page/home

I got mine at Circuit City for $129.95. Wal-mart has the same one for $97 but it is online only and I needed it for tomorrows game against Washington.

GO BUCKS !!!
 
FrameMakers said:
http://us.slingmedia.com/page/home

I got mine at Circuit City for $129.95. Wal-mart has the same one for $97 but it is online only and I needed it for tomorrows game against Washington.

GO BUCKS !!!
Click to expand...

Well, given the extraordinary suckitude of Michigan this season, I think I might have to muddle through with my VCR...and then not watching the lowlights on videotape.

It's a very cool idea, though.
 
Best part is how quick and easy the setup of the product is.

GO BUCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Here is the best SlingBox story ever. I got my SlingBox in December of 2005 because I was going to be living in Copenhagen, Denmark for 6 weeks in January and February 2006. So, while flying from Seattle to Copenhagen, I watched the Rose Bowl LIVE on my laptop aboard an SAS flight. It was totally worth the $20 Internet fee for the 9 hour flight. Everyone in my section kept stopping by my seat to check the score. The funny thing was an hour after the game ended, the captain announced the score. Of course, we already saw that great ending.

So, while in Copenhagen I could still watch US TV in my apartment and my Seattle phone number rang there too, via my Packet8 VoIP line. It was like I was still in Seattle, except for the snow on the ground.
 
I have some questions and some second hand info

I have never installed a Sling Box and as such know very little about them. However when last working the WYES PBS art auction we got a call from a former staff member displaced by Katrina in Michigan. They were bidding on an item in the auction that was on air.

We were wondering if they were in town and were told no they were viewing the auction on their sling box connection in Michigan. Not even the production staff knew of this marvel.

After some Internet browsing we learned that you needed a TV source and the Roussells ( the staff memebers) told us they paid $150 a year fee. That is the extent of what little I know. What I don't know is how they got local Programing from a New Orleans PBS program all the way up in Micigan? I can't imagine that any provider up there carries a N.O. PBS station. So can you opt to have selected non-carried stations included ?

Also someone said you took control of the host TV system at the Computer when useing the Sling box. Does that mean that the in house viewing becomes a slave to the PC controls? And does the installation fee I was told sound correct? If so and I can choose selected stations like the auction carrier ,that is quiet a deal IMO, especially when you want to view things not carried by even the Satellite provider.

My wife recently lost a soap ( Passions) to Direct TV. It is only carried to Direct TV Users. Not any other Satellite or cable network gets the broadcasting and i was told that even a Computer hook up required that you have DIRECT TV as a source to view it on your PC through a Sling Box I assume.

BUDDY
 
No Buddy, there are no fees for the SlingBox. There are fees for your cable and internet (DUH) but not from SlingBox. My system is for analog cable, there are systems if your cable uses a "box" or is digital. That is what you have heard when they say taking over your tv because the SlingBox is changing the channel on the "box".

As to seleted stations. You will get everything you get at home, Nothing more, nothing less.

All the SlingBox is doing is converting your cable signal to a streaming video signal and sending it to you. It is not a service provider like Time Warner or Insight. Also only 1 person can be connected to each SlingBox. This is because of Copyrights.
 
Analog cable is at the very end of its life and has been turned off already in most markets. I suspect most markets will have it turned off completely by year end, because satellite companies are adding 150 more HD channels this fall.

Cable companies can fit about 4 HDTV channels in the bandwith of one analog channel, and cable companies are at full bandwith capacity now. The only way they can compete with providers such as DirecTV and DishNetwork is to turn off the old analog signal, and add additional HDTV channels. Cable TV will require a box in the remaining areas where it doesnt yet, and will no longer work with the tuner built into the TV. (Digital standard or digital high definition) Digital standard will probably go away next and be downsampled from the HD signal, for folks with older tv's.

This solves another problem for them too: analog black boxes It also forces you to rent the equipment from them for every tv/room where you want the ability to change channels, and increases their profit as a result.

That's my understanding, in any case.

Mike
 
See the SlingBox in action here: http://us.slingmedia.com/page/slingboxinaction.html.

To clarify how it works, I set up my Slingbox to my Comcast cable box and left the thing on for the 6 weeks I was in Denmark. I controled the SlingBox via my laptop on the plane and in my apartment.

I got a new HD TV recently which has a slot for a cable card, so I no longer use the Comcast cable box with my TV, it is just connected to my SlingBox. Recently, though my Window Mobile PDA phone, I watched some TV on a plane while stranded on the runway for an hour. The SlingBox is awesome!
 
OK I miss spoke and misunderstood

I said fee per year when what I should have said was a one time installation or purchase fee of appx.$150. However if I am understanding correctly I can only receive the channels that are supplied by my Cable/Satellite provider to the home. Which still begs the question "How did our friend receive and view something as local as a PBS station in the New Orleans area when just getting Local channels is difficult with most Cable/Satellite providers I am familiar with. So is there a way to do a sort of PPV selection of what you wish to view?

Otherwise How did our friends ever view WYES ( the PBS station for N.O.) anywhere in Michigan?Much less have it FWD to their PC via their Sling BOX service? Which is what they told us they were doing and I know they were watching and calling from a Michigan Phone exchange since we have caller ID and use it to verify all calls.
BUDDY
 
BUDDY said:
However if I am understanding correctly I can only receive the channels that are supplied by my Cable/Satellite provider to the home.
Click to expand...

Correct. SlingBox just "streams" video from your house, or any house that the SlingBox is located at. For example, I have a friend living here is Seattle who is from Florida. His parents still live there, so he set up a SlingBox at their house so he can watch Florida Gator football here in Seattle.

BUDDY said:
Which still begs the question "How did our friend receive and view something as local as a PBS station in the New Orleans area when just getting Local channels is difficult with most Cable/Satellite providers I am familiar with. So is there a way to do a sort of PPV selection of what you wish to view?
Click to expand...

If you have the access info, you can hook up to anyone's SlingBox. So they must have connected to someone else's SlingBox. Do you want to watch some Seattle TV? You could hook up to mine. :)
 
I see said the Blind man

Now I think I understand better. Our friends either have the Sling box setup at their old home or a friend or family's and that transfers the braodcast to them . Not that they are watching their own cable recption . why would they bother since they could receive it normally.

I told y'all I was slow. But they do get more coverage than they would from even the best Cable or Satellite don't they and for a one time fee.

BUDDY
 
BUDDY said:
I told y'all I was slow. But they do get more coverage than they would from even the best Cable or Satellite don't they and for a one time fee.
Click to expand...

The "one-time" fee buys the SlingBox hardware. The SlingBox then has to be connected to someone's cable or satellite and broadband Internet connection, so there still are monthly fees involved. The SlingBox just allows you to watch your TV away from you house (via computer or cellular phone), OR if you have a friend in another market with a SlingBox, you can login to it and watch TV from outside your market.
 
Create a Post
Back
Top