Quick Slingbox question

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May 26, 2006 | 1:32 pm

#31

RichMSN

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Quote:

Originally Posted by PTravel

Yes, it actually works, within the limits of what it is.

When I travel, I set up a wireless router in the hotel room, so that I can use my laptop anywhere. My connection is wireless router to hotel wired-ethernet to my home router/gateway (via DSL) to a hub to the Slingbox. In most locations I get reasonable, but sub-broadcast quality. The Slingbox folks have developed software specifically tailored for the application, and it works pretty well. The video is buffered, sometimes by as much as 7-seconds, so freezes and drop-outs are rare. It does, however, make controlling the Tivo a little more difficult. As with any temporal compression video codec (like mpeg2, which is used for DVD), the more motion in the picture, the more data most be sent and the more likely that video quality will suffer somewhat. I find it is more than adquate for my daily fix of the Colbert Report and the Daily Show. If I was watching a heavily visual show (Lost, for example), I'd probably go to ABC's website and use their Flash download. Overall, I like my Slingbox a lot, and find that I use it quite a bit when I'm on the road, particularly if my wife is with me.

I purchase a lot of sports subscriptions from DirecTV and I was sick of having to watch 3-day-old Flyers games when returning from a business trip AND having to listen to just the radio feed while traveling. Now I watch the games live.

I do a lot of networking and the setup of this thing was NOT trivial. For the person having problems, do what you can and then call the tech support line and they'll walk you through it. Easier than banging your head off the wall -- I do that for my day job.

May 26, 2006 | 1:32 pm

#32

PTravel

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Quote:

Originally Posted by auh2o

I can't seem to use Sling when connected at work or via VPN. I have Cisco VPN software and I use an address in the Automatic Proxy Confuguration URL in my browsers (when connected at work only).

Suggestions?

Thanks.

Use a different client than Cisco. The Cisco VPN client seizes control and blocks all network activity except that which is authorized by the Cisco VPN server. My firm uses it for accessing the office from outside and I hate it -- I can't even print to a network printer at home when I'm using it.

For accessing my home VPN, I use the Greenbow VPN client, which I've found to be very robust and reliable.

May 26, 2006 | 1:33 pm

#33

DrDaveEXPLT

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Quote:

Originally Posted by auh2o

They must have port 5001 blocked. Or the port you configured. You could try other ports on your sling config..

May 26, 2006 | 1:35 pm

#34

PTravel

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Quote:

Originally Posted by RichMSN

For the person having problems, do what you can and then call the tech support line and they'll walk you through it. Easier than banging your head off the wall -- I do that for my day job.

I'm surprised you found it difficult. I admit to being pretty computer-saavy, but I found set-up a breeze. The only part that is a little arcane is setting up port-forwarding on your router. However, most home routers come with step-by-step instructions for doing this.

May 27, 2006 | 6:08 pm

#35

Pat89339

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The firewall on my company's office servers block all the alternate ports I've tried so far, so I've just given up watching anything from there.

May 27, 2006 | 6:22 pm

#36

DrDaveEXPLT

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Pat89339

The firewall on my company's office servers block all the alternate ports I've tried so far, so I've just given up watching anything from there.

The port blocking is the hardest part to get working with Slinbox, took me a while because of the VoIP and routers at home..

Aug 23, 2006 | 6:50 pm

#37

LAChargers

Join Date: May 2005

Location: MNL

Posts: 666

Setup Help?

I can watch mine in the network but not remotely. I bought it because I am leaving internationally tomorrow but can't set it up.

I have a Netgear router WGT624 and the website walks me through the setup.

The settings for the slingbox are:

Service/application: Slingbox
IP Address: 192.168.0.237
Start Port: 5001
End Port: 5001
Enable TCP

I turned on uPnP on my router and it says it can detect automatically.

Any help is appreciated.

Thank you...

Aug 23, 2006 | 6:52 pm

#38

ScottC

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Quote:

Originally Posted by LAChargers

The IP is the IP locally, not the remote IP. First try connecting to the remote IP (go to www.whatismyip.com ) or try connecting using the FinderID instead of the IP.

Aug 23, 2006 | 6:57 pm

#39

LAChargers

Join Date: May 2005

Location: MNL

Posts: 666

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottC

The IP is the IP locally, not the remote IP. First try connecting to the remote IP (go to www.whatismyip.com ) or try connecting using the FinderID instead of the IP.

Thanks for the quick help. How do I connect using the finder ID?

I found my IP address--where do I put that?

Thanks again.

Aug 23, 2006 | 7:07 pm

#40

ScottC

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1) Open the Slingplayer and select "add new slingbox". Then first try using the FinderID method, enter an alias and enter the Finder ID of the box. Then try to connect.

2) If 1 fails, edit the connection you made and try the "direct connection" by entering the IP you found for your connection.

Aug 23, 2006 | 7:08 pm

#41

ScottC

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How to find your FinderID: http://portal.knowledgebase.net/al/6...081BQUdOxkcVn2

Aug 23, 2006 | 7:11 pm

#42

LAChargers

Join Date: May 2005

Location: MNL

Posts: 666

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottC

Sorry for all of the questions. I tried changing the IP address from the 192.168.0.237 to the IP address I found. Now I can't connect anymore... I might have changed it wrong. Any way to reset it?

Edited to add: I reset the box and was able to set it up. I can't setup the remote viewing part and when I try to connect using the finder ID or IP address I still can't view it. I'm assuming that it is because I didn't set it up for remote viewing...

Last edited by LAChargers; Aug 23, 2006 at 7:28 pm

Aug 23, 2006 | 7:18 pm

#43

ScottC

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Quote:

Originally Posted by LAChargers

Sorry for all of the questions. I tried changing the IP address from the 192.168.0.237 to the IP address I found. Now I can't connect anymore... I might have changed it wrong. Any way to reset it?

Where did you change it? On the Slingbox? Sounds like you'll have to reset the box; If you changed the IP of the box to your ISP's IP address then press the button on the back of the Slingbox and try the setup again, the IP on the Slingbox will always be your LOCAL IP address, which it receives from your router, but you'll use your WAN or ISP's IP address to connect to that IP from outside your home network.

Aug 23, 2006 | 7:37 pm

#44

LAChargers

Join Date: May 2005

Location: MNL

Posts: 666

ScottC,

I appreciate all of your help and I feel like an idiot. The error message I get says:

The connection attempt failed. Make sure the slingbox you are trying to watch is on, set up for remote viewing, and not blocked by firewall/NAT settings.

Error 0x8007274C