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June 18, 2006 12:47 AM

Categories: Sling Media Product Feedback

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GraemeG

Member
Joined: 06/17/2006

Hi

I have some questions re my new Slingbox and just wanted to ask these here (in case the support team don't answer them lol)

1. Why am I unable to toggle between Analogue and Digital from the Coax/RF Video Input selection Menu?

2. Why aren't the Freeview (DVB-T) channels presented in a vertical list (in the remote) making channels easier to access?

3. Why aren't remote controls available from a dropdown menu instead of having just one locked to the video source?

4. Why am I unable to learn from a remote or use CCF or PCF files (Pronto Remote files) to create new remotes?

5. Why doesn't the Slingbox utilise the 100mb/s LAN speed, struggling to reach 2mbps on LAN streaming?

6. Why is the bitstream indicator (and sometimes the video) influenced by mouse movement when the pointer is over the player?

7. Why does the control mode stay on when operating a remote command when the SlingStream Optimizer is off?

8. Why is the video influenced so dramatically when a remote command is issued, even over a LAN stream.

9. Are you considering the use of H.264 which IMO is better than the current WMP streaming?

Thanks for any replies :)

Discussion:    Comments 1-10 of 10 | Latest Comment

JeremyT Avatar
Member
June 18, 2006 1:14 PM

Wow, I think that's the most questions in one post ever!

1) The Coax input is only meant to be in one mode at a time.  You can repeat the AV setup steps if you plan to go back and forth, although I am not quite sure why you need to do this?

2) Interesting idea. You can set up favorites to do this feature in the meantime.

3) Not sure I understand.

4) You are, but its through third-party technologies.  Here's an article on it: http://www.slingcommunity.com/article/10580/

5) The Slingbox can only encode video up to 2Mbps at present.  Please know this is an improvement from our last software update, which peaked at 1.5Mbps (and when we launched it, it was only 1Mbps).  We are always trying to improve it.

6) It isn't.  What are you seeing happen?

7) The Control Mode indicator lights up to let you know the command is still 'in process'

8) To reduce latency (if you have a 7 second video buffer and push 'pause', you want it to occur ASAP, not in 7 seconds).  Here's an article a user wrote on it: http://www.slingcommunity.com/article/10027/

9) It's being considered, but the quality differences are still 'up for grabs' so to speak - hard to 'prove' which one is better.  Don't forget this is an embedded system, not a full 2GHz PC, doing the encoding.

Best,
Jeremy

Generic Member Avatar
Member
June 18, 2006 3:30 PM

Hi Thanks for the reply
Let me explain.

I use my slingbox with my scart switch. Connected to this are 4 devices.
I have Sky, Cable, an AD3000 satellite receiver & CCTV connected to the scart switch.
When using the slingbox I would like to be able to switch between remotes so I can control each device. My scart switch automatically selects the 'last on' item which means I can view more than one device simply by turning that device on.

My scart switch is also remote controlled, which enables me to override the 'last on' source and view my backdoor CCTV.
In order to achieve this, the SlingPlayer would have to allow a choice of remotes for 1 video source.
I cannot understand the logic behind restricting people to 1 remote in the multi box environment we all live with nowadays..

As for being able to program a new remote, even if I did add my BTECH BT945 scart switch remote to the SlingPlayer, I wouldn't be able to control the Sky, Cable or AD3000 receiver.

As for the tuner request, the reason I asked is because many people will no doubt have RF based CCTV (which I do) meaning access to the analogue is required to view it.
On the other hand, many would prefer the DVB-T tuner for watching television when the composite/s-video input is being used..
The SlingPlayer is way too restrictive and impairs the performance of the hardware.

As for the command mode, I meant that the control mode stays on forever until manually disabled. You cannot use the SlingRemote at all with the Stream Optimizer off.

As for the bitstream indicator (and sometimes the video stability) being influenced by the mouse pointer, this has happened on both my main PC's and my Tablet all running XP Pro and XP Tablet edition.
Simply moving the mouse pointer over the SlingPlayer makes the bitstream indicator jump about like crazy, rapidly changing speed.
On the Tablet, which has slightly less performance than my main PC's, the video stability is influenced also.
As the bitstream indicator is linked to this 'anomaly' on all my PC's, I doubt it's purely down to the performance of the graphics card in the Tablet.

I REALLY hope SlingPlayer will support multiple remotes soon, without it, it's a major disadvantage to an otherwise great product...
Ta :)

JeremyT Avatar
Member
June 19, 2006 12:01 AM

Ok, I gotcha.  New numbering system below:

1) Re: multiple remotes - this is a good idea, and is something we've discussed before internally.  Hopefully it'll make it to the product feature list down the road.

2) Re: usage of the coaxial input - I understand now and will bring the idea to the team.

3) Re: control mode - this should not be happening.  Are you manually turning control mode on and leaving it on? 

4) Re: mouse pointer - yes, QA is now aware of this bug and are looking into it

Thanks!
Jeremy

Generic Member Avatar
Member
June 19, 2006 6:52 AM

Hi
Thanks for the encouraging news.
Making fixes and feature upgrades can only increase your reputation :)
/me counts the days until multiple remotes appears. Until then I'm stuck :(

As for the control mode. It functions thus:
Stream Optimizer OFF (incl. Fast Start):
Press any keyboard shortcut or remote button and the control mode will remain on until disabled by the user.

Stream Optimizer ON (incl. Fast Start):
Works as desgined, even though the IR command should not occupy the same port :)
(why not use the port above for communication re settings/IR etc and leave the main port for streaming...?)

I'm not the only one on this forum that has remarked on the tuner modes..
I think perhaps the option for "analogue" or "digital" or "analogue & digital" could result in the tuner searching each UHF channel for either or in one sweep. The usual tick box editing is fine, resulting in a nice vertical list of channels as opposed to a numeric entry remote..
As for the "external box" idea on the tuner, what were you thinking :)
Once you get the "choose your remotes" feature added, you won't need this option, which restricts the user to one UHF channel.
Once the user has sweeped the entire UHF range for whatever they want, they simply select the remote they need from the pre-selected list of preferred remotes.

So, what would make the Slingbox truly great....:
1. Multiple Remotes - being able to select ALL the remotes required.
2. Easier creation of custom remotes.
3. Analogue & Digital tuning combined option with channel list.
4. Seperate port for communication/IR leaving the streaming port unmolested.
5. The ability to use more video codecs making it more PC friendly.

That should keep you busy :))
Only joking..But if you ever need a beta tester for some of the more radical suggestions, email me :)

Thanks :D

JeremyT Avatar
Member
June 19, 2006 10:44 AM

Graeme, Can you please let me know exactly which firmware/software you have, and if you have UK or US/Can box (I am assuming UK, but want confirmation). Thanks Jeremy

Generic Member Avatar
Member
June 19, 2006 11:48 AM

Hi
I have a UK slingbox running firmware v1.0.10 - hardware v.143.0 - IR Blaster v4.

SlingPlayer v 1.2.0.157

Generic Member Avatar
Member
June 19, 2006 1:22 PM

JeremyT (Sling Media) said: 9) It's being considered, but the quality differences are still 'up for grabs' so to speak - hard to 'prove' which one is better.  Don't forget this is an embedded system, not a full 2GHz PC, doing the encoding. Best,
Jeremy

Jeremy, please view these images I snapped....Left side=Sling, right side= winamp nullsoft NSV H264 codec:

http://home.comcast.net/~armitage17/compare3.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~armitage17/compare2.jpg
http://home.comcast.net/~armitage17/compare1.jpg

To my eyes, the H264 video is much better.

raleman Avatar
Member
June 19, 2006 1:57 PM

I agree, H.264 does look better

At the same time, like Jeremy says, this isn’t a 2Ghz PC.  Given a strong enough CPU and/or a big enough buffer you can make anything look good at 300k.  When I encode videos for my website, I use 256k and encode with real player.  It looks great, but guess what… takes a long long time to encode.  Real time is tricky.  A dedicated computer is a more expensive but higher quality solution.

Regarding IR problems, I think one great feature would be IR Pass-through.  It would be great to have an usb ir receiver that passes your ir signals as-is to the slingbox so that we can use original or universal remotes.I already use a remote that maps to the slingplayer keys and I’m pretty happy.

One other feature I would like to mention would be widescreen zoom.  For example, when I connect my hidef box to the slingbox via s-video, the hidef shows are letterboxed.  I would like to be able to zoom in, which would crop the black lines, look better on my widescreen laptop, and give the slingbox less to “concentrate” on since it does not need to encode black bars, and therefore more bandwidth can be used where there is picture.  Did that make sense?

Carl Avatar
Member
June 19, 2006 5:31 PM

The desire for multiple remotes on a given input has been posted before in one or more threads.  I too would very much like to see that capability added to the slingplayer software. That's about on an equal par with a Palm based player. For me, those are the two most important things that Sling could possibly pursue (but I could live without multiple remotes on a Palm player).

Carl

Generic Member Avatar
Member
July 7, 2006 7:48 PM

I agree with Carl.  The number one new feature above all else is multiple remote support.  This is the biggest crutch of this device.  Virtually all the people that are buying this device have more than one device they would like to control.  Virtually everyone who buys this type of device will have OTA TV or Cable via coax and potentially Cable TV/Satellite TV/DVD Player on the composite/s-video connector. 

Another thing that needs to be fixed is remotes that can be used with the coax connector should not be limited to TV/Cable only.  Many devices have RF modulators in them. (Satellite receivers, some DVD players, FTA receivers, etc.)  A good example would be the Sony Sat-B2 DirecTV receiver.  It has a built-in RF modulator that can be used at the same time as the composite/S-Video ouputs.  This allows the RF-Modulator connector to be hooked up to the in house coax cablling and the Slingbox while also connecting the composite/s-video connectors to go to the TV/VCR/PVR/Etc.  This then leaves the composite/s-video connector on the Slingbox free for another device.

Why would someone want this?  A good example would be the wife or kids want to watch a DVD in the family room and you want to watch the Sat receiver while in a hotel room 500 miles away on a business trip at the same time.

Multiple remote support is a must have option.  Please make it your top priority.

Discussion:    Back to Top | Comments 1-10 of 10 | Latest Comment

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