TPearson said: So I just got this Slingbox AV, and I need a couple questions answered.

Say I am hooking it up to a tv for my downstairs. Can I watch one channel on my laptop, and then something else on the physical tv?

Also, do I have to have a cable box? Or can I hook up the sling directly to my tv?

No, whatever  you are watching on the Slingbox from the TV downstairs will be the same as displayed on the TV itself - if you change channels on the TV, you will see that changed channel on the Slingbox, and if you control the channels from the Slingplayer, the TV watcher will see the changed channel as well. 

You must hook the Slingbox to a video input of somekind - since you have the AV, that could be the video-out of the TV, or a Tivo, or a cable box.  The Slingbox has a video passthru, so a typical install would be to connect from a cable box (allowing you to view the Slingbox without the TV needing to be on), and then passthru to the TV.  If you connect directly to the video-out of the TV, then the TV will need to be powered on to have a video signal sent to the Slingbox (and I don't know what kind of remote control support there is for TVs in the Slingplayer).