Just got the slingbox. (my thoughts) - Motorola Q Forum

bpaul24 · 02-26-2007, 04:05 PM

Hey, all I just got the slingbox and hooked it up yesterday. Just wanted to share my thoughts. First of all I elected to get the slingbox AV instead of the Pro and save myself some money.
The actual slingbox hardware was alot smaller than I thought it would be. It is just a small little box, but it is great for saving space.
I had an extra direct tv box so I set it up in my office near the singbox and router. This way I will have a box soley for my slingbox and won't have to worry about others trying to watch TV at home when I am trying to watch it remotely.
It was a little more involved to set it up than I had anticipated. My firewall on my computer was giving me all kinds of problems. I had to go in and configure it to allow the slingbox program to run through all my security settings. (There is documentation on the slingbox website to help walk you through this.) After I did that the rest was simple. I installed slingmedia on to my PC that is hooked to my network. The program then installs the software and configures your router for you, or you can do it manually. Thats about it. I then hit the slingmedia icon on my desktop and up pops the interface. I clicked watch my slingbox and the feed from my sattelite instantly popped up. It took a minute or two to optimize. I was pretty amazed at how well the picture and audio were. I tried a few stations and they all came in good. I noticed there are some configurations to optimize if you are watching high action, like sporting events. But I watched part of a basketball game and it was not bad. It was choppy a bit at first but them seemed to catch up after optimizing.
I then loaded slingmedia on to my Q from the slingmedia website. This took about two minutes, and then I was watching TV on my Q. I had seen the demos, but the picture and sound were even better than I had anicipated. It does get choppy at first and when you change channels, but then it seems to work very good. I am very impressed with slingbox so far.
I have yet to see what this does to my battery and data usage but I will be monitoring it closely.

ZATZAi · 02-26-2007, 06:12 PM

If Orb is any indication it will swallow your battery alive, don't be surprised if the Q gets a little warm to the touch after a while of use, and I hope you got an unlimited data plan. ;)

So, does your slingbox have to be hooked up to a PC to do the transcoding, or could you just plug it into the router directly and not even have it attached to a PC and still watch stuff on your Q? Are you streaming with Windows Media or TCPMP-Beta/Free or Core Player?

bpaul24 · 02-26-2007, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZATZAi

If Orb is any indication it will swallow your battery alive, don't be surprised if the Q gets a little warm to the touch after a while of use, and I hope you got an unlimited data plan. ;)

So, does your slingbox have to be hooked up to a PC to do the transcoding, or could you just plug it into the router directly and not even have it attached to a PC and still watch stuff on your Q? Are you streaming with Windows Media or TCPMP-Beta/Free or Core Player?

Yes, I have the unlimited data plan. My satellite box is hooked up to the slingbox and the slingbox is hooked up to my router. Thats it, no connection from my slingbox directly to my PC. Slingbox uses a media program called slingplayer. I don't use Windows Media or TCPMP at all.

Thanks I will lookout for the temperature rise on the Q.

troutseth · 02-27-2007, 12:00 AM

I knew you would love it! I picked it over Orb because I do not have a home PC just a laptop. So buying a computer (even a cheap one) was more expensive than the Sling.

It will eat through your battery, but hey . . . you are watching TV on your phone.

bpaul24 · 02-27-2007, 01:22 AM

Yes it is so sweet. Having March Madness right in my pocket is going to be awesome. I probably will end up getting a second battery. Thanks for the info Troutseth.

ggee6688 · 02-27-2007, 03:59 AM

I love it other than the horrible batterly life. Luckily, I can just hook it up to any usb device and its good to charge while watching it. It does get a little warm also

Duke4062 · 03-03-2007, 09:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bpaul24

Hey, all I just got the slingbox and hooked it up yesterday. Just wanted to share my thoughts. First of all I elected to get the slingbox AV instead of the Pro and save myself some money.
The actual slingbox hardware was alot smaller than I thought it would be. It is just a small little box, but it is great for saving space.
I had an extra direct tv box so I set it up in my office near the singbox and router. This way I will have a box soley for my slingbox and won't have to worry about others trying to watch TV at home when I am trying to watch it remotely.
It was a little more involved to set it up than I had anticipated. My firewall on my computer was giving me all kinds of problems. I had to go in and configure it to allow the slingbox program to run through all my security settings. (There is documentation on the slingbox website to help walk you through this.) After I did that the rest was simple. I installed slingmedia on to my PC that is hooked to my network. The program then installs the software and configures your router for you, or you can do it manually. Thats about it. I then hit the slingmedia icon on my desktop and up pops the interface. I clicked watch my slingbox and the feed from my sattelite instantly popped up. It took a minute or two to optimize. I was pretty amazed at how well the picture and audio were. I tried a few stations and they all came in good. I noticed there are some configurations to optimize if you are watching high action, like sporting events. But I watched part of a basketball game and it was not bad. It was choppy a bit at first but them seemed to catch up after optimizing.
I then loaded slingmedia on to my Q from the slingmedia website. This took about two minutes, and then I was watching TV on my Q. I had seen the demos, but the picture and sound were even better than I had anicipated. It does get choppy at first and when you change channels, but then it seems to work very good. I am very impressed with slingbox so far.
I have yet to see what this does to my battery and data usage but I will be monitoring it closely.

I've been wanting to get a slingbox I'm just paranoid I'll have Installation problems and such(cofigure firewall?).

bpaul24 · 03-03-2007, 10:02 PM

If you do have installation problems there is pretty good directions online. You could also call technical support. I would not let that stop you. It is worth it in my opinion.

Duke4062 · 03-04-2007, 04:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bpaul24

If you do have installation problems there is pretty good directions online. You could also call technical support. I would not let that stop you. It is worth it in my opinion.

So what was your total investment? hardware/software? and can I run slingplayer software on my macbook? I have windows xp bootcamped on there for Q syncing but it is unreliable and I'd rather install slingplayer on the mac hard drive.

bpaul24 · 03-04-2007, 09:25 PM

I spent $150 for the slingbox AV. Then $30 for the slingmedia software. I have an extra satellite box for my slingbox that runs $5 a month. Thats it.

I am pretty sure that the slingmedia player is now available for MAC.
Check their website.