sidicks Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 I've been thinking about getting one of these devices, available from Amazon for about £160 (Slingbox Pro), or a basic Slingbox Solo for £110. Does anyone have any experience of either model / recomendations / comments / issues etc? Thanks Sidicks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 I've got a Slingbox Solo. I bought it because I work abroad a lot and was getting bored of crap foreign TV. Any specific questions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidicks Posted August 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 (edited) I assume that it works well and is reliable? Anything is does particularly well or particularly badly? Can you clarify how I need to set this up, as currently my main PC is not linked to my Sky HD box. I'm also a bit confused by the various versions of Slingbox, and wonder whether I'm better off picking up a used Slingbox classic for say £50 on e-bay rather than spending £160 on the new pro version? Thanks Sidicks Edited August 11, 2009 by sidicks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 It works very well and so far I've had no problems at all. I did previously have a Slingbox classic which died a couple of weeks out of the warranty period and Sling replaced it with the Slingbox Solo FOC which was nice! As far as the connections go, the Slingbox has an ethernet port on it and you then connect the Sky HD box to the Slingbox using one of the numerous supplied leads (I think mine is using S-Video). Then you plug the IR transmitters into the Slingbox and position them under the Sky box so that the IR being transmitted will control the Sky box. I use mine both for watching TV at home at when I'm abroad. The software is clever enough to know how much bandwidth is available and will adjust the image quality accordingly so when I'm working in the office upstairs it'll use loads of bandwidth but when I'm in a hotel somewhere it'll use less. End result is a lower quality picture but I'm yet to find a situation where it isn't watchable - even using a 3G card is fine. One small thing to get used to is the way it buffers the video stream to cope with small network issues. The downside of that is that when you press a button on the remote control on the Slingplayer software it takes 5-6 seconds before you see the action happen. So say you push the menu button on the remote, it'll take a few seconds before the menu appears on screen. The only time that's really an issue is when you're fast forwarding adverts at 30x and press the play button too late. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidicks Posted August 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Thanks - If I get the Pro version, I think I can connect my Sky HD box to the Slingbox via an HDMI cable. Presumably the ethernet cable needs to go to the PC? In my case this is in a totally different room - I wonder if I could connect it to my laptop instead, which is linked to my wireless network?? Confused.... :confused: sidicks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 So you watch live TV on sky or anything you happened to have recorded on the hard drive? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Thanks - If I get the Pro version, I think I can connect my Sky HD box to the Slingbox via an HDMI cable. If that's the only difference then save the £50 and get the Solo. You're going to be watching a compressed video stream so there would be bugger all difference if the input was HDMI or S-Video. Well, certainly not £50 difference. Presumably the ethernet cable needs to go to the PC? In my case this is in a totally different room - I wonder if I could connect it to my laptop instead, which is linked to my wireless network?? The ethernet cable needs to go onto your network, normally into the back of your router so that your PC can communicate with the Slingbox. If the router is elsewhere in the house then you may need to look at running cables. Wireless is an option but the Solo (don't know about the Pro) doesn't have a wireless adapter built in so you'd need to look at using a wireless bridge (sometimes called wireless gaming adapters) or wireless access point setup as a bridge (so it bridges the wireless network and gives an ethernet port to connect the Slingbox to). Another option are homeplugs (basically ethernet over the mains ring). You plug one small box into a mains socket near your PC and the other near your Slingbox. Both boxes have an ethernet port on so you plug them in and away you go. In my experience they're pretty good, they'll never give the performance they claim but for a Slingbox it's a non issue. Downside is that they're a bit pricy. Wireless bridging was a pain in the arse when I last tried - it would work fine then the wireless would drop and I'd have to power cycle the AP and bridge to get it working. That setup lasted 12 hours before I put some homeplugs in. I've since run an ethernet cable from the office to the back of the TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 So you watch live TV on sky or anything you happened to have recorded on the hard drive? Either. The Slingbox just transmits what the Sky box outputs. So if you're watching Sky One on your TV downstairs and fire up the Slingbox you'll also be watching Sky One on your PC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidicks Posted August 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 If that's the only difference then save the £50 and get the Solo. You're going to be watching a compressed video stream so there would be bugger all difference if the input was HDMI or S-Video. Well, certainly not £50 difference. The point being that I am already using the component output and the coaxial output so the HDMI outpt is the only one available. I do have a Sonos sytem connected to my wireless network, so could potentially connect the Slingbox to this using an ethernet cable. Sidicks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidicks Posted August 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Looking at the Slingbox Pro, I could potentially connect up my Sky HD box, Sky+ box and DVD player, allowing to access these 3 sources on my laptop! Assuming it all works ok... Sidicks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Bear in mind that you only get 2 IR blasters with it so unless you can get them into a position where they can control all 3 devices it might not work too well. You mentioned that you've got a Sonos system connected to your wireless network - I don't think this will help you. The Slingbox doesn't itself have a wireless adapter so it can't hook into a wireless network. I just noticed that the Pro doesn't have an HDMI port. The port that looks like HDMI is actually for a Slingbox Pro HD connect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidicks Posted August 11, 2009 Author Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 Bear in mind that you only get 2 IR blasters with it so unless you can get them into a position where they can control all 3 devices it might not work too well. I guess I can use the 2 IR connectors to control Sky+ and Sky HD. I am unlikely to want to watch a DVD when I am not in the house, so I can simple set the appropriate DVD running and watch it on the laptop without being able to control it. You mentioned that you've got a Sonos system connected to your wireless network - I don't think this will help you. The Slingbox doesn't itself have a wireless adapter so it can't hook into a wireless network. I was hoping to connect the Slingbox to the Sonos box with an ethernet cable with the Sonos itself connected to the router wirelessly - i wonder if this would work....?! I just noticed that the Pro doesn't have an HDMI port. The port that looks like HDMI is actually for a Slingbox Pro HD connect. Oh, I didn;t look that closely, I just saw HDMI... Sidicks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
burble Posted August 11, 2009 Report Share Posted August 11, 2009 I was hoping to connect the Slingbox to the Sonos box with an ethernet cable with the Sonos itself connected to the router wirelessly - i wonder if this would work....?! Not going to work. For that to work the Sonos would need to go IP routing and stuff which it won't. The ethernet port on the Sonos is designed for connecting the Sonos to the network, not something else to the network. Oh, I didn;t look that closely, I just saw HDMI... It took me a while of looking at it to realise because the port looks like an HDMI port. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forresthills Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 I've been thinking about getting one of these devices, available from Amazon for about £160 (Slingbox Pro), or a basic Slingbox Solo for £110.Does anyone have any experience of either model / recomendations / comments / issues etc? Thanks Sidicks It's a tenner cheap at The Carphone Warehouse...but again it's not the HD Connect version...just the Pro. Slingbox Pro - The Carphone Warehouse I'm very tempted by this too, especially with the iPhone app. Has anyone used it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forresthills Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Scrub that....I've just noticed the one on Amazon for £160 comes with the HD connect lead. Box Contains Slingbox PRO AC Adapter (100-240V 50-60Hz) Quick Start Guide Ethernet Cable Remote Control IR Cable Composite AV Cable Stereo Audio Cable S-Video Cable Aerial Cable ...............Slingbox HD Connect.............. SCART to RCA adapter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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