Mini Review: It works. Got $300 burning a hole in your pocket? Get it.
I just finished installing a TV in the kitchen and really did not feel like tearing up the walls to get a coax cable connection installed. The TV is hooked to an old Mac Mini which we previously used with a monitor to view iTunes content, etc. Now that it’s hooked to a proper HD LCD TV, it was crying out for some real live TV content. Slingbox seemed like an obvious choice.
I looked all over the web for a definitive statement on Slingbox and FiOS TV compatibility before buying a SlingBox Pro HD at Frys the other day. Arrgh. Nothing but a confusing mass of conflicting and outdated information.
Of course, curiosity soon got the better of me and I bought one anyway. It’s installed and running now and it all works pretty great. Luckily for me Sling released a bunch of mac related updates right before Christmas. Of course, finding out any of this from Sling’s really horrible support site was useless.
So, here you go:
- FiOS TV boxes are fully supported and you get a near exact replica of the remote onscreen. You use the remote to work the cable box just as you normally would. You can watch recorded programs, schedule new ones and even buy and view on-demand titles with ease.
- The onscreen program guide is accurate and lists all available channels.
- The picture quality of the HD streaming really exceeded my expectations.
- Setting up the router was a bit of a chore. I could not get the port forwarding working on the default port (5001) but changing it to another unused port solved the problem immediately. I saw some references on the web that Verizon is blocking the port. That seems unreasonable to me, but anyhow specifying a different port fixed the problem right up. Don’t bother trying to use the automated router setup with the current version of the software (This is as of 12/30/2009)
- Mac OSX HD Streaming is working through the SlingPlayer client on a local network. It also works shockingly well through their web interface at http://watch.slingbox.com. There is a beta version of the firefox plugin available that finally supports Snow Leopard.
This seems like an obvious feature, but the #1 missing feature seems to be an option to blank the local TV screen while content is being streamed. Is it buried in there somewhere?
Let me know if anyone out there want’s more detailed info on the setup. I’ll be happy to oblige.
Thanks for the post, I just ordered FIOS today, My concern was will the slingbox that I got for Xmas be as easy to setup as it was with Cablevision? I am also running Leopard and the auto setup was as easy as can be, now i’m nervous with you saying that that auto setup won’t work as easy with FIOS. My old setup was cable modem connected to my airport extreme with the slingbox hard wired to the airport, should I be worried ? FIOS is being installed thursday and not sure what the setup is with them, is there modem and router or is it all one unit? I also I went vary looking this up and all you find are postings from years ago, I can’t believe somehow I got here but i’m sure glad I did!
Hi John – I know it’s so frustrating trying to find any info on this out there. The FiOS router I have is all one box. For whatever reason, I had no luck with remote viewing using the default port 5001. I set up a new “SlingBox” service in the Firewall section of the router and set up the NAT to port-forward on port 6001 TCP and UPD. When I re-ran the Slingbox setup and went into manual mode and told it to use port 6001 it started working perfectly!
Ping me back if you have problems and want some screenshots of the router setup.
Enjoy it! FiOS really rocks. You will not be sorry.
Thanks so much for the quick response,FIOS is being installed thursday so I guess i’ll know more then. When I did the setup with Cablevision on Xmas day the slingbox took care of the whole setup so Im assuming that this won’t be the case with the fios router which when I asked them they said it was a Actiontek Model #: MI424WR router that is used in the New York City area, I will let you know how it goes and my question is should I do the auto install or configure it Manually?
Yup – Same router I have. Certainly does no harm to try the automatic way first! I’d be curious to know if it works for you as well.
I’m crossing my fingers and i”ll let you know if the auto install worked , thanks again.
I’m glad to report that FIOS is up and running and my slingbox worked like a charm the setup assistant did what it had to do setting up the port forwarding automatically, Thanks for all your help…
Great!
I have an HD slingplayer that I watch on my mac and the picture is terrible. i cannot seem to get a good picture. How are you guys getting such clear pictures? I upgraded my slingplayer software on my mac to 1.0.10.272 which I believe is the latest update. But cannot get a good pic. it looks like a horrible digital pic. Is it just me? I have the stream optimize automatically and the pic size and the internet access set to auto. Do I need to change that? If so what do i change it to?
Seems like maybe your upstream link on your internet connection is not fast enough. What connection speed does it show in the lower right portion of the window?
Wish I had your luck, using Fios and a Slingbox HD and can’t get out of my Fios Router. Tried their website, no luck. Sure wish these things just worked out of the box, setting up router seems like a foreign language class.
On the slingbox website it says the minimum recommended Mac requirements for HD streaming are a 2.8 GHz core 2 duo with 2GB ram. I’m considering getting the Macmini with a 2.53GHz core 2 duo and 4 GB ram. Are you streaming HD video to your Macmini with good results? That is what it seems like from your post, but I just wanted to confirm that. If you are getting good results, what are the specs on the Macmini you are streaming HD content from the slingbox to? Thanks!
-Alex
Also a little more clarification on my previous post, I want to stream the HD slingbox content from my Verizon FIOS HD content (I have Series 3 HD tivo receiving the FIOS signals) to the MacMini (using either the slingbox web interface or using the slingsoftware on the MacMini), so the HD content would all be on the local network (I have everything running through ethernet at home).
HD streaming out of the house isn’t that important, as I’d be watching on my iPhone or a computer on the road. I think I have the upstream bandwith as my fios is 25 down and 5 up.
I’m actually excited to try streaming the HD Tivo box content because I have Netflix on my TIVO. So I’d be receiving the downstream from Netflix, running it through the Slingbox and then streaming it out to my iPhone on the road. I’m planning on getting an iPad and seeing how that solution works as well. Kind of a work around until Netflix decides to deliver a streaming app on the iPhone/iPod/iPad platform.
@Mark – what’s the model number on your router? If it’s the same, maybe I can send some screen shots with the port forwarding setup.
@Alex – I don’t have any complaints about the video quality. The only issue I’ve seen is that sometimes the video and audio get just a little bit out of sync. That only happens rarely though, and when it does I can fix it by pausing the video for a few seconds.
My mac mini is very old. I think it’s the very first model that came out with the intel chip in it so it’s 4/5 years old I guess. It has 2 Gb of RAM and get’s the network through a wireless g network in the house.
Yeah – It would be great if Sling releases a version of the mobile player designed specifically for the iPad’s increased resolution!
Can I ignore the 2.8 GHz requirement for Intel Macs and still get HD streaming with a 2.53 GHz mac mini, all other factors aside?
Bob – I have that same speed mini and I am satisfied. Occasionally the sound gets ever so slightly out of sync with this video, and I suspect that’s CPU related, but quickly pausing and restarting the video seems to solve it. So, it’s somewhat less than ideal but still OK for me and the kids. YMMV!
I recently tried installing a PRO-HD on my FIOS network. It has the same router as you mentioned that you have. Even though I have my PC and the box hooked up to adjacent LAN connections, the set-up program can’t see any box, even though the router shows it and the lights on the PRO-HD are correct. I’ve shut down all firewalls (router & PC) but nothing helps. Even swapped for another box. Nothing. What should I be looking for in the router or PC. I’m stumped and frustrated. Really want to get this to work.
Quick question on HD quality. I am thinking of hooking up a Slingbox PRO HD to my father’s Verizon FIOS and watching it remotely on a new iMac 27″. My download speed is 7mbps and his upload over FIOS is 5mbps. Will this be sufficient for true HD viewing?
My reasoning is that I can eliminate my $46/mo cable bill and watch Patriots football in Chicago for $10/mo (cost of an additional HD cable box from Verizon). No more junky Dish network through my building and no need for Sunday Ticket. In fact, the Slingbox will pay for itself within a year of purchase.
What kind of issues should I expect if I implement this plan?
Thanks!
Hopefully you response before christmas
I have FIOS and I’m reading I cannot hook up FIOS because of a limitation on FIOS’s end. Something to due with inability to watch my channels. Do you understand my issue as vague as it is? I want to use the PRO-HD but it doesn’t have HDMI which is upsetting. YOur comments?
Hi,
Thank you very much for this post. I just installed a new slingbox and I had to change my verizon router settings in order to get it to work. I would never have been able to complete this if I had not found this blog.
Regards
Sean O’Leary
I know these posts are a year, old but I am hoping someone will respond as I desperately need help. I have Verizon Fios and I installed a Slingbox. I had no problem getting it installed, but the onscreen remote does not work. The only thing I am able to do is control the volume and mute controls. I cannot change the channels. The cable box is Motorola QIP6200 and I chose that model # and the remote looks just like the one I have. I tried all of the model numbers listed for the Motorola cable box and all of the codes but nothing worked. I have been on the internet for hours trying to get help and can’t find any.
Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me.
Sorry I missed your question. One thing I have noticed about the slingbox is that watching football is sort of unsatisfying. The compression algorithm seems to have problems rendering fast moving video smoothly. Did you do your plan? How were the results?