can someone explain what a slingbox is

[fkntotalkaos]

1) What is a Slingbox? http://www.slingbox.com/
2) I have a friend that works for comcast, can I use a slingbox at his house and get TV on my mac mini with an extra receiver?
3) How good is the service?

 

[spinnerlys]

1. http://www.slingbox.com/go/slingbox?displayVideo=true, they had it "hidden" on the front page under the title "what is a slingbox?", so it wasn't easy to find.

 

[cmaier]

You hook a slingbox up to a video source (a cable or satellite box, usually, though it also works with bluray players, etc). The slingbox has an IR flasher that also hooks to the video source. Then you connect the slingbox to the internet.

Then from your mac you can run the slingplayer software and view the output of the video source. You can use an on-screen remote control to change channels, etc.

I have several, and they work fine. I also gave my father one so I can watch his TV (in NY) from my laptop in California (useful for watching blacked-out sports games).

 

[fkntotalkaos]

You hook a slingbox up to a video source (a cable or satellite box, usually, though it also works with bluray players, etc). The slingbox has an IR flasher that also hooks to the video source. Then you connect the slingbox to the internet.

Then from your mac you can run the slingplayer software and view the output of the video source. You can use an on-screen remote control to change channels, etc.

I have several, and they work fine. I also gave my father one so I can watch his TV (in NY) from my laptop in California (useful for watching blacked-out sports games).

So if I hook one of these to a Comcast cable TV box with remote and internet, I can have HDTV input to my mac mini or MBP with anyplace that has wifi? IMHO the eye TV is horrible for cable box inputs. Hows the quality? ESPN 360 is choppy for me. Is there a way you can post a screen shot?

 

[cmaier]

So if I hook one of these to a Comcast cable TV box with remote and internet, I can have HDTV input to my mac mini or MBP with anyplace that has wifi? IMHO the eye TV is horrible for cable box inputs. Hows the quality? ESPN 360 is choppy for me. Is there a way you can post a screen shot?

Quality is excellent if you have enough upstream bandwidth (I have DSL, so sadly I get somewhat crappy picture). Inside my house, where it doesn't have to go out on the DSL, the picture is HD quality (from the boxes that support HD - my older boxes didn't support HD)

 

[fkntotalkaos]

Quality is excellent if you have enough upstream bandwidth (I have DSL, so sadly I get somewhat crappy picture). Inside my house, where it doesn't have to go out on the DSL, the picture is HD quality (from the boxes that support HD - my older boxes didn't support HD)

ok the upstream will be the best Comcast has because my frat brother is a EE for them and does a lot of conference video calls from home with presentations. He is going to upgrade his cable service.

My house, not so great, I have DSL non VIOS 3MB

 

[cmaier]

ok the upstream will be the best Comcast has because my frat brother is a EE for them and does a lot of conference video calls from home with presentations. He is going to upgrade his cable service.

My house, not so great, I have DSL non VIOS 3MB

Streaming from him to you will look very good.

 

[robert786]

Hello Friend. Actually if you wants to know the exact specification of slingbox then you have go know abouts its technical working.A Slingbox can redirect one of its inputs to a single computer located on a local network or remotely, when using a broadband Internet connection, anywhere in the world. To avoid copyright infringement, only one user can access the stream from a Slingbox at a time. This way of accessing content is known as placeshifting.A Slingbox connects a TV source (via coaxial cable, composite cables, component cables, or S-video cable) to an existing Internet connection. Digital video recorders and cable or satellite set top boxes can be controlled through a separate infrared (IR) cable that lets users change channels from the remote location. Software on a user's computer or mobile device connects to the Slingbox and provides the user interface for viewing the video stream and changing channels. Onscreen virtual remote controls are provided for controlling almost all connected devices. Note that all control inputs are done in the SlingPlayer window via computer mouse. There is no provision for use of hardware IR remote control units while watching SlingPlayer even if the PC has an IR receiver.