For those of you who use your iOS device and AppleTV to watch your SlingBox, what do you think? Are there any devices that seem to work better? Would you say the backgrounding works well? Thanks! 
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Looking for opinions on streaming SlingBox to AppleTV
- Thread starter lukewarm74
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Mixed bag, but love slingbox
I have a slingbox PRO-HD & a slingbox 350 at separate locations. I've used both the iphone 5 slingbox app and the ipad air slingbox app to airplay both streams to my atv3.
Specifically to your question, backgrounding is seamless. Multiple times, I airplayed World Cup games this summer from my ipad, while simultaneously reading, looking up stats, etc. From both the iphone and the ipad, the picture is very crisp. Buffering is an issue, but that has more to do with network speeds, up & down.
However, the model of the slingbox you use, will affect your airplay capabilities. I have no problems with the 350 stream being airplayed from either the iphone or ipad. The PRO-HD stream is another story. The iphone stretches the screen horizontally(takes a 16:9 image and stretches it even more) and the ipad squishes the screen horizontally (takes a 16:9 image and makes it 4:3).
It kinda drives me nuts having to use multiple remotes/devices to control what I'm watching on my tv, so I don't really use airplay for slingbox. My understanding is that slingplayer for roku operates similarly (ie you need an iphone or ipad in conjunction with the app). So I looked for other connected solutions.
Currently I'm using WDTV Live because it has a slingplayer app built in, no airplay necessary. This allows me to use one remote, Harmony Ultimate, to navigate through the slingplayer app while still controlling the tv, receiver, etc. without picking up another remote/device. I can also program favorite channels on the touchscreen, negating the need to navigate clumsily through the cable providers program guide.
Boxee Box was great as well for streaming, but it had a Wifi/RF remote (can't remember which), which doesn't work with my universal remote. It was definitely the best streamer I've used though.
I've looked into this stuff a ton (probably too much)
I have a slingbox PRO-HD & a slingbox 350 at separate locations. I've used both the iphone 5 slingbox app and the ipad air slingbox app to airplay both streams to my atv3.
Specifically to your question, backgrounding is seamless. Multiple times, I airplayed World Cup games this summer from my ipad, while simultaneously reading, looking up stats, etc. From both the iphone and the ipad, the picture is very crisp. Buffering is an issue, but that has more to do with network speeds, up & down.
However, the model of the slingbox you use, will affect your airplay capabilities. I have no problems with the 350 stream being airplayed from either the iphone or ipad. The PRO-HD stream is another story. The iphone stretches the screen horizontally(takes a 16:9 image and stretches it even more) and the ipad squishes the screen horizontally (takes a 16:9 image and makes it 4:3).
It kinda drives me nuts having to use multiple remotes/devices to control what I'm watching on my tv, so I don't really use airplay for slingbox. My understanding is that slingplayer for roku operates similarly (ie you need an iphone or ipad in conjunction with the app). So I looked for other connected solutions.
Currently I'm using WDTV Live because it has a slingplayer app built in, no airplay necessary. This allows me to use one remote, Harmony Ultimate, to navigate through the slingplayer app while still controlling the tv, receiver, etc. without picking up another remote/device. I can also program favorite channels on the touchscreen, negating the need to navigate clumsily through the cable providers program guide.
Boxee Box was great as well for streaming, but it had a Wifi/RF remote (can't remember which), which doesn't work with my universal remote. It was definitely the best streamer I've used though.
I've looked into this stuff a ton (probably too much)
Thank you for such a detailed response! I honestly didn't even know Western Digital had such a product, but it looks awesome! Thanks!
They kind of buried the information, but there's actually a few boxes which are or were supported:
Boxee Box (1st Gen)
WDTV Live (I have the one released spring 2014)
WDTV Hub
WDTV Play
Netgear NeoTV
Sony Internet Player with Google TV (NSZ-GS7 GTV)
AppleTV via airplay
Roku via smartphone app
Chromecast via handoff
I don't want to hype the WDTV Live too much. I only use it for Slingbox. It's pretty worthless otherwise and it takes a long time to boot up.
Do you have a slingbox already or are you looking into getting one?
Boxee Box (1st Gen)
WDTV Live (I have the one released spring 2014)
WDTV Hub
WDTV Play
Netgear NeoTV
Sony Internet Player with Google TV (NSZ-GS7 GTV)
AppleTV via airplay
Roku via smartphone app
Chromecast via handoff
I don't want to hype the WDTV Live too much. I only use it for Slingbox. It's pretty worthless otherwise and it takes a long time to boot up.
Do you have a slingbox already or are you looking into getting one?
I have a SlingBox 350 hooked up to a TiVo Roamio that we've been using for awhile. It works very well, but we've been watching it using a desktop computer hooked up to a TV. Unfortunately I recently converted it into a Hackintosh and the HDMI Audio isn't working properly, so I've been fumbling for another solution (other than booting into Windows
).What seems nice about the WDTV Live is the ability to control SlingBox from the remote, but I'm not too familiar with the iOS Slingbox app's controls. If they aren't bad, maybe just streaming to an AppleTV wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. At least one of those can do some other things. Although from the looks of this forum, the 3rd generation AppleTV looks like a nightmare.