Nice review NA9D!
SlingCatcher Hands on Review - SlingPlayer for TV (Page 5 of 5)
Categories: SlingCatcher
Slinky Button and main menu:
Pressing the "Slinky" or SlingLogo button always takes you back to the main menu. If you are streaming when you go back to the main menu, the image continues in the upper left hand corner. Pressing the "slinky" button again returns you to your Slingbox.
 If while in the main menu, you click on your Slingbox name, you are presented with a menu given you the choice to return to your video or disconnect from the Slingbox:
Clip and Sling button: There is a small button on the remote that at this time serves no purpose. It looks like a pair of scissors. My assumption is that this shall be used at the time that "Clip and Sling" functionality is built into the SlingCatcher.
So why do I need one?
If you have a Slingbox in your home and use it for streaming to your Mac/PC/Phone while out and about, you may wonder if you need a SlingCatcher. What would be your need to view your Slingbox in your home? That same exact thought had crossed my mind. It makes no sense to purchase a box that streams the content of the box sitting next to it when you can watch all that content directly on your TV in the first place! So will this little gem of a box have a prominent place in your AV center? I'm thinking most likely not. But that doesn't mean it's not useful at home.
If you are like me, you may have cable TV service. Because of the cost of renting HD cable boxes, I've chosen to rent just one and that box is in my AC setup along with my plasma, AV receiver, TivoHD, Vudu, Slingboxes, etc. This is all in my family room in the lower level of my house. But upstairs, in the living room, we have a TV but no cable box. We simply have a ReplayTV DVR and analog cable. We can easily watch ReplayTV content in our living room from our other Replays, but we can't watch live digital or HD cable channels, any content on our TivoHD or my AppleTV. That Catcher solves all this. I can now watch any of my content in my Family Room in my living room thanks to the Catcher. This is something I'd never thought of until I began playing with the box. Given its ease of portability, one could easily move the Catcher from room to room as needed.
Additional uses would be when visiting a friend's house, traveling out of town in a hotel room, etc. Configuration for viewing in a hotel room is beyond the scope of this article, but look for one coming to SlingCommunity soon...
Learn More About SlingCatcher
SlingCatcher Hands on Review - MyMedia
Tags
:
slingcatcherslingplayer for tv
October 10, 2008 11:08 AM
Good review NA9D.
Slingbox ProHD Slinging DirecTV HR23 and OTA HD via Comcast HSI using AirLink Powerline adapters; Slingbox Pro and Classic Slinging and D* HR21/D12 via Sunddenlink HSI, using Linksys Gaming adapter. 2 Slingcatchers set up to use Slings.
October 10, 2008 3:10 PM
What if your in the uk we don;t have slingplayer 2.0 yet. Can It still be set up using the finder id service which I like better anyway
Moderator
- member since: 07/06/2006
- rank: 3 of 41887
-
location:
Algonquin, United States
- 9 articles authored
- 37 forum threads started
- 3680 comments
October 11, 2008 9:41 AM
You don't need SP2.0 to set up a Sling Account. You can set it up at Sling and then I think you can log into it from your SlingCatcher and all your LAN boxes will be added to your account. Beyond that, I think you can manually enter Slingbox information on the website but I'm not 100% sure.
Slinging w/ Catcher, ProHD, Pro, Solo, AV, and a Classic. Two TivoHDs, Roku Photobridge and a Roku Soundbridge, AppleTV, and Vudu.www.na9d.net Follow me on Twitter
October 11, 2008 10:37 AM
NA9D- what ti recommend using for ripping DVD collection for later use on the catcher?
Moderator
- member since: 07/06/2006
- rank: 3 of 41887
-
location:
Algonquin, United States
- 9 articles authored
- 37 forum threads started
- 3680 comments
October 11, 2008 6:17 PM
I use a Mac almost exclusively. For the Mac, the program I use is MacTheRipper.
For Windows, maybe someone else can chime in as I have no idea.
Itay2 said:
NA9D- what ti recommend using for ripping DVD collection for later use on the catcher?
I use a Mac almost exclusively. For the Mac, the program I use is MacTheRipper.
For Windows, maybe someone else can chime in as I have no idea.
Slinging w/ Catcher, ProHD, Pro, Solo, AV, and a Classic. Two TivoHDs, Roku Photobridge and a Roku Soundbridge, AppleTV, and Vudu.www.na9d.net Follow me on Twitter
October 12, 2008 2:11 AM
Forgive me for being kind of stupid, but say you are using the slingcatcher with a slingbox remotely and you turn off the slingcatcher, does that turn off the cable box automatically when you disconnect from the slingbox?
Also, would you happen to know if the remote is programmable for say teletext functionality if you are streaming from a U.K slingbox solo to a slingbox U.S version and would like to access this feature using the remote?
Thanks
Moderator
- member since: 07/06/2006
- rank: 3 of 41887
-
location:
Algonquin, United States
- 9 articles authored
- 37 forum threads started
- 3680 comments
October 12, 2008 7:50 AM
Turning off the SlingCatcher and/or disconnecting does nothing to the cable box on the other end.
As for the teletext - I have no idea what that is. The remote commands are all determined by a pre-loaded IR code database that is loaded into the Catcher. When the Catcher receives an IR command, it determines what the corresponding code is and sends that to the SlingBox to send out the IR blaster. If you can do what you want in SlingPlayer, you should be able to do it from the Catcher.
Slinging w/ Catcher, ProHD, Pro, Solo, AV, and a Classic. Two TivoHDs, Roku Photobridge and a Roku Soundbridge, AppleTV, and Vudu.www.na9d.net Follow me on Twitter
October 12, 2008 4:32 PM
NA9D said: Turning off the SlingCatcher and/or disconnecting does nothing to the cable box on the other end. As for the teletext - I have no idea what that is. The remote commands are all determined by a pre-loaded IR code database that is loaded into the Catcher. When the Catcher receives an IR command, it determines what the corresponding code is and sends that to the SlingBox to send out the IR blaster. If you can do what you want in SlingPlayer, you should be able to do it from the Catcher.
Thanks for that. Reason I asked is I'm wanting to set the slingcatcher up for some elderly parents and the less they have to do, the easier it will be for me to teach them how to use it.I understand the virtual remote will turn the cable box off through the slingbox and then you can turn off the slingcatcher, but I was just curious if there was an automated process that might make it easier on less than tech savy or forgetful people.
As for teletext, just in case someone asks you in the future, and if you really are interested at all,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teletext
Anyway, thanks for the advice. Good article and I know I'll be a slingcatcher owner sometime in the near future.
LTM
Member
- member since: 10/13/2008
- rank: 54 of 41887
-
location:
Washington DC, United States
- 46 comments
October 13, 2008 1:23 PM
I have encountered a potential problem with the Sling Catcher. It is having difficulty pulling up the full internet speed when accessing a slingbox remotely. While my slingplayer on my laptop can get to 650kbps quite easily, the slingcatcher takes a while to get to this speed. BUT the real problem is when you tell the slingcatcher to change the tv channel on the slingbox, the internet speed plummets to around 250kbps and does not recover. You can only get it back up by telling the SlingCatcher to disconnect then reconenct to the slingbox. I am not sure whether this is just my unit or whether there is an issue with the device. I have as it happens a second unit arriving (mail order that I could not cancel before I got mine from Best Buy last Thursday but will return). So I will try that out to identify if it's a problems with SLingCatchers in general. Is anyone else having this problem?
SlingBox Classic (in UK - connected to Virgin V+ DVR) => SlingCatcher (US)
October 16, 2008 9:53 PM
'HD streaming from the Pro-HD is not supported. This is planned for a future release at some point.'
I just found this out the hard-way after buying a Pro-HD for this specific reason. Does anyone know if/when this feature is slated for release and are they planning to include it in this model or in a future upgraded model (ie Slingcatcher HD)
October 17, 2008 12:57 PM
The only reason I buying a slingcatcher is because I working and living in Brazil And TV here kinda Sucks, right now I have Slingbox media, I using my cousing Direct tv from NY city, I tired of watching TV on my labtop, my slingcatcher is in the mail, I afraid the picture won be that good, How everybody picture with slingcatcher?
October 21, 2008 10:14 AM
Do I have to have the slingcatcher and slingplayer on the same network for initial config. Or can I just set up the slingplayer in one location, then order the slingcatcher later and use it with the slingplayer I had sent up prior in a totally different location?
Thanks much for the info!
October 21, 2008 10:31 AM
The PQ quality on my Sligcatcher streamed from my PRO-HD is actually very good. I'd say it's better than a standard SD feed and close to or better than DVD (480p) quality on a 42" LCD.
I've only used it on my LAN with an average 2700kbps speed. I'm expecting it to fall off a lot with a slower upload speed.
October 25, 2008 8:06 PM
I use an old desktop computer hooked up to a 42 LCD TV (it has monitor cable capabilities). I see no need for a SlingCatcher until it can buffer up recorded program(s) so I don't have to deal with the delays over the internet for control commands (Japan to US)
December 3, 2008 10:52 AM
I think I know the answer to this, but what I'm wondering is can two people watch recorded shows at the same time? For example, I have a DirecTV DVR downstairs and would connect a Slingbox to it. Then, if I put a Slingcatcher upstairs and connect it to the bedroom TV, can two people watch different recorded shows at the same time? I'm guessing you can't, but want to confirm. That is really the feature I need. Any ideas on how to get there? Thanks!
RSS
