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So in order to view my Slingbox my TV had to be on or I had to unplug the HDMI cable everytime I left the house. Ordered the Slingbox Solo and Slinglink from Amazon and hooked everything up. Slingbox wasn't allowing me to do internet viewing, but after I changed my router's Firewall settings it works great now. With the TV off I could not view Slingbox on my computer because of HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection). The only hassle in the whole thing was spending extra money to buy an additonal cable.Also good news.AT&T is finally letting iPhone users watch Slingbox over 3G. On the side of my router is an IP address to go to and change the settings.
The solution was to purchase component cables (green, red, blue) to hook up my TV and cable box. A few things.if you cannot watch Slingbox from a different connection then your home, you may need to change the Firewall settings on your router. Not ideal. Once there it saw my Slingbox connected and asked if I wanted to allow. Check your router to see if there's an IP address and a way to change Firewall settings.Another issue that bummed me out.your TV cannot be connected your cable box (in my case, could be different in yours) through an HDMI cable. The Slingbox is hooked up to a 32" 720p HDTV and cable box in the spare room so the loss of quality wasn't terrible, or even noticable.
The app costs $29.99, but I went ahead and bought it because the update will be free once available and I don't want to risk the change of the price going up.
The device works perfectly. I received the Sling Box Solo in mid December. Set-up took approximately 20 minutes. I've already watched TV remotely, via a netbook, in Korea, Germany, and while on board a WiFi equipped Delta flight.Those of you who are either technically challenged or do not understand basic networking principles should stay away. Most persons who have difficulty with the set-up and use of this device are, for the most part, not savvy enough to troubleshoot the product, if required.
I mean, how many people have copper Ethernet at their TV location. You pump video/audio into the back of it and it can encode out a single stream across the network. I should have read the Tech Spec's a little closer. I originally bought the SlingBox so my son who is in England could watch some American TV once and a while if he wanted to see whats going on back home.
Nothing too fantastic about the product, but it does what it says it will do. It works as advertised. I opted for a TrendNet LAN gaming adapter (Ethernet to WiFi bridging device) to connect to my wireless router. The port number is usually blocked by the company Firewall defaults. Not exactly groundbreaking.
After a little tweaking and 50 bucks I got it to work fine. So the little box doesn't get much of a workout. Kind of disappointed for the money. He has had occasional problems connecting which require me to reset the box every week or two. There isn't a tuner in it so you need to check your available source devices that you plan to use.
It's lame unused USB port could be used for a cheaper optional USB-to-WiFi solution, instead of the additional costly adapters they want to sell you. And no, it hasn't been any of the other components in the connection path (wireless router, TrendNet, internet service) It has always been a SlingBox reset that fixes it.Oh, another thing; if you think (like I did or was hoping) that you can watch TV at work in a window on your desktop, think again. You might want to go with a cheaper approach like Orb.
This is a really well-thought-out device with some of the best-designed support tools I've seen. Once you have these essential items, the SlingPlayer application makes the set up easy.
With Slingbox and fast wireless internet, I can watch everywhere. I pay a lot for my TV services and wanted to maximize where I can view them.
Then, you need a router that supports port-mapping (allows your network to be configured to allow you to hit the device via the internet). Some things to note: the Slingbox itself must be connected to your network via ethernet OR you have to purchase a "SlingLink" box to extend your home wireless network.
It does not have built-in wireless capability, so you'll need a long CAT-5 or CAT-6 cable to connect your Slingbox to your network. Even if you have to do a manual configuration, by going to the SlingBox Setup Assistant and the product support web site, it will walk you through the steps and get you going.
I'm really glad I went for it and look forward to testing it on the road.
AVOID SLINGBOX AT ALL COSTS> it worked only 4 of the first 90 days we had it. it really is a crappy product and they have no tech support at all". after 90 days, they had the audacity to start calling telling us to pay up immediately, or we'd lose our tech support.
"we need to do an update.30 minutes on hold. when we returned it, the sales person said "yeah.this happens alot. each call to "tech support" in costa rica ended the same way.
ps.if you travel, and something goes wrong, you're toast. still didn't work, then "we're sorry we don't have an answer for you". the four days it did work, they weren't the reason.
half the time. AVOID SLINGBOX at all cost.
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