Advanced Slingbox Questions

[P0stalTek]

I've heard alot of folks say that the Pocket Slingbox player software works great on the Q, so I purchased the Slingbox Pro today. I don't forsee any real problem here.

My question is whether the reduced latency that the Q gets (understandably through cell towers) cause any problems with the Slingbox feed?

Also, and this is the main question, can you use the Q as a modem on a laptop and watch the Slingbox fairly laglessly?

(If I get no responses, I guess I'll figure it out and post back here to let any curious minds know my results)

Cheers!

[chris]

Originally Posted by P0stalTek

I've heard alot of folks say that the Pocket Slingbox player software works great on the Q, so I purchased the Slingbox Pro today. I don't forsee any real problem here.

My question is whether the reduced latency that the Q gets (understandably through cell towers) cause any problems with the Slingbox feed?

Also, and this is the main question, can you use the Q as a modem on a laptop and watch the Slingbox fairly laglessly?

(If I get no responses, I guess I'll figure it out and post back here to let any curious minds know my results)

Cheers!

I haven't used my Moto Q w/ my Slingbox recently, but never had any issues. I found it to be better than any of the streaming TV services available. Plus, it was my TV.

I never used as a modem, so cannot help with that question. I have used my laptop for Slingbox and had some issues -- might have been due to the connection at the hotel. I'd venture to guess that it would be difficult to use the Moto Q as a modem and use your laptop for Slingbox. I could be wrong. Either way, you'll love the Slingbox. It's a great piece of equipment.

BTW, I just got the Q9h and plan on getting back in the Sling of things.

-Chris

[P0stalTek]

I tried it out. It seems very choppy using the Q as a modem. I suppose I'll have to wait until I get back into my house (being repaired after a fire) so I can go back to my high speed. Thanks for the info.

For the record, it seems a bit on the choppy side on the Q as well. I'll give it a couple more tries at different times of the day. Last night when I first hooked it up via the Q with my laptop, it ran pretty good actually, only lagging when you view guide or change channels. But today I haven't been able to watch more than a minute worth without serious buffering issues.

Oh well, more testing in the near future ;)

EDIT: Speedtest.net says I'm getting 1032kbps download, 56kbps upload, with a 897 ping. I wish I knew what the acceptable rates are for the Slingbox, but I suspect the upload is the problem. This is using the Q as a modem on my laptop.

[P0stalTek]

After a week of extensive testing, this is what I've figured out about using the Q as a modem to watch Slingbox remotely.

I used my two machines as guages. I have a desktop that is extremely powerful (6000+ dual core, 3gb memory, geforce 8800gts, etc) and using the Q as a modem tethered to it, I was able to watch the Slingbox without much distortion or disconnects. I left it connected overnight even, and it was still on in the morning. Overall, very good experience here. The only downside I saw at all was that pushing the player from full screen to widescreen caused some issues, but that would be solved with higher bandwidth I'm sure.

I also used my laptop as a test. My laptop is significantly weaker. Just a 32mb onboard video card and only 1gb of memory. Also, the laptop has vista where the desktop uses XP. The laptop will also connect to the slingbox using the Q as a modem, however:

-You frequently get distortion, almost like you are watching TV underwater.
-Disconnects are much more frequent.
-Excessive lag when trying to look at the guide or change channels.


Under both of these tests, there is quite a bit of lag when switching channels or viewing the guide, so I highly recommend setting up channel favorites if you intend to do alot of mobile viewing.

The good: Mobile viewing is very possible using a decently powered laptop with the Q tethered as a modem

The bad: A budget laptop leaves a bit to be desired when trying to view the slingbox with the Q tethered as a modem


I hope this helps anyone else messing around with the Slingbox (and if you aren't, what are you waiting for??)

Cheers!

EDIT:
I am tethering via USB with the included Modem Link software that is shipped with atleast the Alltel version of the Moto Q (WM5). I think it's standard across the board though.

I activate the Modem Link and then create a dialer on the machine you wish to connect with. Set up a Dial-Up connection. For phone number, use #777 and leave username and password blank. For modem it should be using something along the lines of "Smartphone Wireless Modem" or something. It will connect with a speed of around 240kbps.

I'll be glad to answer any other questions you may have if this doesn't cover it.

[chris]

Cool. Thanks for the write-up. Very informative.

-Chris

[P0stalTek]

It's been about a week, and I had the good fortune of picking up a slightly better laptop so I was able to do more testing.

This laptop weighs in with Turion64x2 1.9ghz, 2gb memory, ATI x1200 video, and Windows Vista Premium. My previous conclusions were supported. With this laptop, I am able to get very good performance out of Slingplayer with the Q tethered as a modem.

Little to no distortion and very little of the previously experienced "jumpyness". This is a very viable option for travelling and such. Being able to access your DVR and Cable TV from the middle of the woods has a certain allure to it for me.

Anyways, good luck to any of you out there who try this.

Cheers!

P.S. As an aside, I found that Netflix instant movies are also possible with the Q tethered to a laptop, however, be prepared to allow for some buffering time (usually about 30 seconds at the beginning, and another 10 minutes about 5 minutes into the movie, then it's good until the end).