Sorry if this topic has been discussed at length before, but I couldn't find any threads in a quick search.

I'm about to be shipped to Australia for the next year, and I still want to be able to watch American TV. I'll be living on a camp site that should have decent internet access, so I figure I should get a Slingbox and hook it up to my parents' Uverse cable box.

I have a few questions:

For those of you that have any experience with a Slingbox, do you have any recommendations of which model to buy?

I assume I can access the DVR and Live TV over there. Uverse has 4 tuners, so am I right to believe my parents could be watching something, recording 2 shows, and I could watch something either live or on the DVR all at the same time?

Is it even worth it to get this these days? Or would I be better off just watching my shows streaming online from various websites? I guess the main problem is I still want to be able to watch sports even with the delay, so do I need this to watch Aggie football? Are there other options for sports?

Thanks for your help. Any feedback is appreciated.

Oh and I plan to bring a laptop as well as a tablet to watch with. Is there any issue with connecting either of these to the slingbox feed?

I have a Slingbox Pro HD along with U-verse (had Directv for about a year before that with the Slingbox).

I think it is absolutely worth it - you're talking about a 1 time fee (to buy the thing) and then you can watch all the TV you want without paying monthly (though you could always pitch in on your parent's bill).

quote:

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I assume I can access the DVR and Live TV over there. Uverse has 4 tuners, so am I right to believe my parents could be watching something, recording 2 shows, and I could watch something either live or on the DVR all at the same time?

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You need to realize that the slingbox is essentially just a pass through between the box and the TV. Instead of

U-verse box -> (component/hdmi) -> TV

You get this:

U-verse box -> (component) -> Slingbox -> (component) -> TV

So while the U-verse box has multiple tuners, there is only one output at a time. The slingbox doesn't give you access to those other streams, since they're simply there for recording internally and aren't output to the TV.

In short, if you have 1 u-verse box, you'll have to watch whatever is on there. In fact, if you are watching Slingbox and changing channels or watching recorded shows, whoever is sitting at the real TV will see the exact same thing as you (and they'll see the channel change when you tell it to, or the recording fast forward or pause when you tell it to, for instance).

Yes you can watch Live and recorded shows - it actually downloads an image of the U-verse remote on the laptop/ipad/iphone/android you're using to watch from and lets you do whatever the remote can do. It also has some shortcuts for more common features so you don't always have to pull up the "virtual" remote.

One thing to verify is your parent's internet connection speed. Don't worry so much about download speed (the speeds everyone lists) - try and determine their upstream/upload speed. On U-verse, I believe most of them are 1.5, but some of the lower packages are just 1, I believe. If you wanted to stream HD quality stuff, you would probably need a faster speed, but my u-verse (with 1.5 mbps up) allows me to stream SD quality (you choose this from whatever device you are using to watch, so it isn't like you have to change the u-verse settings) with little to no issues.

I use it mainly for watching stuff when I'm in the house but either in a room without TV or want to be with the family and they're already watching something else. Over Thanksgiving it came in handy cause we were at my wife's grandfather's house and his DishNetwork was going on the fritz, but only on certain channels. My wife's uncle is a huge BU fan and the BU-Tech game was on a channel that wasn't working, so he streamed the whole thing on my iPad though my slingbox and it worked great, even with the cruddy 1-1.5mbps connection we had there.

In short, I think it is HIGHLY worth it - and again, I have the Slingbox Pro-HD - the newer ones may be even better.

As JDCAG said if you go this route you would want to connect the sling box to one of the client boxes in the house and not the main one your parents would use. Some even have gone so far as to buy a dedicated box just for slingbox because when you are connected you take over that box's video so if your parents were watching on that box and you took over you would fight for control.

That said I am a big fan of my slingbox (but I have the version builtin with the dish hopper). The quality is really good for me and works much better than I thought it would.

Thanks for the help.

It sounds like I should get an extra uverse box for my parents house that I can have dedicated to my sling box to avoid any conflict. My parents upload speeds should be fine because my dad runs an online business out of the house so we have premium internet.

This definitely sounds like a great product that I NEED.

Yeah - I'd throw your parents $10 a month to get a 2nd receiver and you'll be set.

jagouar1,

I came across your post and just wanted to let you know we hope you enjoy all the cool features of the Hopper receiver! Please let me know if you have any questions as I'm always here to assist! Thank you.

I've had a Slingbox Solo for over a year. Love it. Works very well. The iPhone app is definitely worth the price as well.

I have had it for about 5 years. Definitely worth it.

Upgraded from a solo to the new generation 350. Wow what a difference.

Slingbox = good times!

Good info. I've been thinking about this as well.

Quick question. My Internet connection is in the office, but the TV is in the living room. Would I need another DirecTV box installed in the office? That would be a dedicated slingbox receiver.

Thanks!

You can decide how to configure, but the sling box needs to be hooked up to the tv and the network. You can either use wireless, add a new connection next to the tv or get a 2nd receiver.

I had the Slingbox Solo, but now I have the new Slingbox 350. It's awesome!!! Especially for a college student who has a limited amount of cable channels and no HD channels.

I would recommend the Slingbox 350. It's cheaper than the 500 and the streaming is in HD. The 350 only takes component HD. No HDMI. U-Verse boxes should allow component connections. I have U-Verse so it works. It's neat when you have the actual U-Verse remote displayed on your computer or iPad. For the one time price, it beats those extra streaming services like Watch ESPN which is not supported by AT&T.

Just remember that the 350 only allows one person to stream at a time.

I took this screenshot on my Mac when watching Johnny win the Heisman today.


btw... I've tested Slingbox overseas... it works!

opps, that was a little too big

I think I've tested it in Australia, New Zealand, or American Samoa. I can't remember witch one, but it should work. The DVR helps when you are on the other side of the world.