So I finally broke down and bought a brand spanking new SlingBox. The nice shiny red one arrived while I was at work (yes the spouse was asking, ok, what is in the box this time) and I got anxious to get home. I was leaving a 3 days and wanted it live and running.
- First, I ran a new dedicated network line to the wall where it sits with the TiVo Series 2. Each has their own ethernet port in the wall to make life easy.
- Second, I punched down the new line and hooked it to the switch and we are alive!
- Third, I loaded it into the SlingPLayer on all the necessary laptops and computers around the house, to test it on wireless and wired. No issue at all
- Fourth, I configured it for the TiVo and played around, set the IP address and port for the firewall and hoped for the best.
- Fifth, tests from work the next day shows a lovely 650 kbps stream so all is well on the firewall and routing
- Sixth, I scared the spouse when I did not know she was in the room with the tv and I started switching channels and playing recorded shows on the TiVo. Ha
So there you have the ease in which I was live. I then took it on the road this week to a hotel wireless broadband connection about 4 states away. Awesome quality, great picture and the ability to control multiple devices with it makes this a no-brainer of a great purchase. Coupled with the TiVo, when I travel international I never have to worry about finding things to watch, missing favorite shows (the few there are, but that is another posting).
If you are like me, you want easy to implement and amazing function. While I was not happy with the strength of the casing, the style is cool. The spouse was shocked to see it was plastic, but I assured her no one was going to sit on it. I did't like the need to buy a custom HDMI connection when you can get real ones online so cheap, but that is a nuance you deal with.
Controlling more than one device is a dream, but how do you remotely turn them all on and off, like the DVD player? I have not searched for that feature yet, but if anyone knows to save me some looking...
