One of the most common questions I've seen asked in the SlingCommunity Forums goes a little something like this...

"I have a [insert brand] cable/satellite box [insert model] and we just bought a Slingbox. How do we hook it up so we can both watch a different dish/cable channel at the same time?

Or

"How do I connect the Slingbox to my cable/satellite box's second tuner?"

There's clearly a great deal of confusion when it comes to Slingbox and set-top boxes, and it's high time it was clearly addressed.

Let's clearly identify the issue here... set-top boxes. Satellite and cable customers with digital packages need them to watch TV, while others rely on TiVo or some other third-party device to make TV watching convenient. Toss a Slingbox into the mix, and you end up battling family members for control. You want to watch the local news over the Slingbox, but your spouse wants to watch a movie on HBO. Just imagine you and your spouse (or your roommate, kid, parent, or whatever) sitting on the couch in front of the TV, and each of you have a remote to the cable box. How frustrating (or dangerous depending on who you're up against) would that be?

Fortunately, there are ways to keep the peace in a Slingbox household. First it's important to understand how Slingbox and set-top boxes go together, and what limitations arise.

Slingbox is not a box... it's a TV!

In order to understand how Slingbox fits in and interacts with the rest of your home theater gear, it's important to think about the Slingbox in the right way. The problem is the Slingbox's tiny stature, particularly since (in a way) it does the job of the largest component in your living room - your TV!

Sure, Slingbox doesn't have a screen built in like your other TV, but that's what Slingbox is all about. It uses whatever display happens to be in front of your eyes as it's screen, which lets you watch TV wherever you happen to be.

From here out, ignore the Slingbox's relatively small size and box-like nature, and start thinking of it as a second big-screen TV in your living room sitting side-by-side with your other one.

You can't have TV without a tuner 

One of the single most confusing aspects to television, at least for those who'd rather watch TV than understand how it works, is the concept of the "television tuner." Hit the Wikipedia if you want a technical definition, but to put it simply, you wouldn't get TV via broadcast, cable, or satellite without one. Unless you solely rely on the Internet to bring you TV, you're using a tuner to watch TV. 

A television tuner can come in many forms, so depending on how you get TV, the tuner you use could be integrated right into your television, or be part of a set-top box of some sort. For example, if you receive TV from a satellite TV provider, you'll have a satellite box connected to your display that contains a tuner for receiving and converting the RF signals sent to your dish into picture and sound.  If you have cable service, you might have a cable box that handles tuning your cable stations (common for digital cable subscribers), but you may also use the tuner built in to your television. The point is, you have one.

Understanding devices with multiple tuners

One important thing to remember about a TV tuner, is that they can only "tune" in one thing at a time. That can be limiting for things like DVRs, where you may want to record one thing while you watch another. So, it's common to find manufacturers stuffing two or more tuners into a single device to allow for these advanced features.

While DVR/set-top hybrids contain several tuners, they are designed to connect to one TV at a time. The second tuner is there as a backup in case the first is busy, which means you can watch something else while another records or record two things at once.

What you cannot do, however, is watch two shows from the box at the same time.

That said, there is always room for exception. Some satellite receivers, for example, in the market were designed specifically to drive more than one TV. These are rare, but they do exist. We'll cover these in more detail a little later on.

Cable Chaos

If you're a satellite subscriber, things are pretty straightforward; you have a satellite tuner for every TV you wish to operate independently. For most, this means a satellite box in the living room, and perhaps one or more in various bedrooms. 

Cable subscribers, on the other hand, often use a cable box in conjuntion with integrated tuners in a TV or other device. While these tuners won't have access to the digital tier or premium programming your cable service offers (that's what the box is for), it does often allow you to watch the basic channels if the DVR happens to be recording two things at once.

Hooking up two TVs (Slingbox and a TV) to one set-top box

Remember above we said Slingbox should be thought of as a TV in regards to its function. So, in a sense, we're connecting two TVs to the same set-top box. Also remember that regardless of the number of tuners in your set-top box, it will only output video from one at a time. So, it doesn't matter if we're connecting two, three, or forty television sets...they're all going to display the same image. 

Take the Dish Network 311 for example. Notice it only has outputs for one TV, like the vast majority of set-top boxes, DVRs, and other home theater components:

If you happen to have one of those mystical boxes that supports multiple displays (the Dish Network DUO 322 for example), it is possible to connect a Slingbox and regular television, and watch different things at the same time. Notice how it sports outputs for multiple televisions.

 

It's important to remember that the Slingbox will need to be placed on the tuner capable of being controlled via IR (often TV1). This may limit your video output options for your other televisionto RF or composite video only, depending on the specific set-top box.

Five ways to avoid remote control duels with family members

Whether you've already purchased a Slingbox and now find yourself flipping the channel on an unsuspecting spouse, or are thinking about getting a Slingbox of your very own, there are ways you can avoid constant battles for set-top box domination.

1. Purchase the right Slingbox - If you're a cable subscriber, I highly recommend the Slingbox PRO-HD over the SOLO because of the PRO-HD's built in QAM cable tuner. In the event a family member is watching something on the cable box, the built-in tuner lets you tune in the basic channels independently of the cable box. It may be a smaller selection of channels, but in a pinch, it's better than nothing. 


2. Choose a less frequently used set-top box for the Slingbox - You're more likely to find yourself in a set-top war if you put the Slingbox on the most popular cable or satellite box in the house. If you've got a box sitting off in a spare bedroom that's rarely used, put your Slingbox there.
   
   Of course, the most popular set-top box is also often a DVR, so choosing a plain old set-top in another room won't let you watch your recorded shows while outside of the house. If that's the case, try number three.


3. Add another set-top box - Treat the Slingbox like a first-class device and give it it's own cable or satellite box. While you're add it, put it on the same TV that DVR is hooked up to! Even if you already have a DVR on that TV, adding a second simple box can add a little bit of flexibility for the whole family. For example, the kids can be watching cartoons live from the simple box, while you watch something recorded from the DVR. A Slingbox PRO or Slingbox PRO-HD can connect to both sources at the same time, letting you choose which you want to watch while viewing remotely. 


4. Add a second Slingbox - If you can't add another cable or satellite box to the mix, try adding a second Slingbox to another source in the house. This is particularly useful when both you and others in your family enjoy using Slingbox while out and about.


5. Be the boss - Got more than one TV in the house? Nothing says, "I'm the boss" more than telling your family to take a hike and find another TV to watch. It's not like you have that choice if you're out on the road, right? ;-)

How does your family work around or deal with the battle for control? Post your suggestions below.