Slingbox and AppleTV2

[phr0ze]

Anyone get apple TV 2 to be a slingbox client/player?

How? Everything in google is atleast a year old and not concrete.

Thanks

[posnera]

Originally Posted by phr0ze

Anyone get apple TV 2 to be a slingbox client/player?

How? Everything in google is atleast a year old and not concrete.

Thanks

Airplay from iphone/ipad. I don't know of any other way. The aspect ratio is off (going to 720p Panasonic TV). Choosing zoom from the TV makes the picture fit the screen.

[zhenya]

We use Airplay for our Slingbox to an ATV and it works fine. Excellent picture quality and no hiccups. No aspect ratio issues either as long as we choose the HD broadcast. Biggest issue is that Slingbox does not allow you to put the app in the background, so it ties up a device. Barely drains the battery though.

[TallManNY]

Originally Posted by zhenya

We use Airplay for our Slingbox to an ATV and it works fine. Excellent picture quality and no hiccups. No aspect ratio issues either as long as we choose the HD broadcast. Biggest issue is that Slingbox does not allow you to put the app in the background, so it ties up a device. Barely drains the battery though.

Hmm, I've been wondering about doing something like this. I currently don't get cable. Mainly it is because I don't want to run cable wire through my house so I can get from one side where the wire comes in (which I have for internet) to other side of house where I watch TV (actually it is a projector, but same thing).

Anyway, I've been thinking of having cable company come over, put in a cable box, then attach it to a slingbox, and never actually directly attach a TV to the thing. It would all sit on a shelf in a corner. Then I was thinking I could airplay to my AppleTV or to other floors in the house.

Do you think that would work?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by TallManNY

Hmm, I've been wondering about doing something like this. I currently don't get cable. Mainly it is because I don't want to run cable wire through my house so I can get from one side where the wire comes in (which I have for internet) to other side of house where I watch TV (actually it is a projector, but same thing).

Anyway, I've been thinking of having cable company come over, put in a cable box, then attach it to a slingbox, and never actually directly attach a TV to the thing. It would all sit on a shelf in a corner. Then I was thinking I could airplay to my AppleTV or to other floors in the house.

Do you think that would work?

It will work, as it's essentially what we are doing (except we just use it to repeat a single cable box to other rooms in the house). As the only solution, it will not be completely seamless - you have to tie up a device to host the airplay connection and changing channels is slow. I often have to turn off airplay, use the slingbox guide to change the channel, then restart the airplay connection. The Slingbox guide is excellent on the iPad, but kind of crummy on an iPhone. The big problem on the iPad is that if you are browsing, and click on a show to change the channel, it kicks you back to the very beginning of the channel list every time, so it makes channel surfing difficult.

[TallManNY]

Originally Posted by zhenya

It will work, as it's essentially what we are doing (except we just use it to repeat a single cable box to other rooms in the house). As the only solution, it will not be completely seamless - you have to tie up a device to host the airplay connection and changing channels is slow. I often have to turn off airplay, use the slingbox guide to change the channel, then restart the airplay connection. The Slingbox guide is excellent on the iPad, but kind of crummy on an iPhone. The big problem on the iPad is that if you are browsing, and click on a show to change the channel, it kicks you back to the very beginning of the channel list every time, so it makes channel surfing difficult.

Thanks for the info. I wonder if one of my older iPod touches would work for the Airplay. That would negate concerns about tying up a device. I'd be doing this pretty much solely for live sports that get blacked out on streaming services and I don't think there would be a ton of channel surfing. But once I had TV again, I'd probably end up watching it and doing that channel surfing and then watching some crap.

I know you have to buy the apps, do you have to buy the iPhone App and iPad App individually?

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by TallManNY

Thanks for the info. I wonder if one of my older iPod touches would work for the Airplay. That would negate concerns about tying up a device. I'd be doing this pretty much solely for live sports that get blacked out on streaming services and I don't think there would be a ton of channel surfing. But once I had TV again, I'd probably end up watching it and doing that channel surfing and then watching some crap.

I know you have to buy the apps, do you have to buy the iPhone App and iPad App individually?

You do have to buy the apps individually. Hopefully they are still on sale for $15/each rather than $30/ea. That and the fact that they are very slow to update the apps (when they should be very quick for that price) are my only real complaints.

[phr0ze]

Thanks. It sucks that so many hoops need to be jumped through. I was hoping for a XBMC plugin. But I guess this is easy enough.

[TallManNY]

Originally Posted by zhenya

You do have to buy the apps individually. Hopefully they are still on sale for $15/each rather than $30/ea. That and the fact that they are very slow to update the apps (when they should be very quick for that price) are my only real complaints.

Thanks for the tips. I had cable installed this Saturday. Cable box is in corner. Slingbox showed up a few hours later and I plugged that in and got it to work pretty easily. Now the cable box can sit in a corner next to my routers, and I can sling TV to other floors through iOS devices and AppleTVs. I tested it a bit and it worked fine.

One thing that I find really neat but I'm not sure how it is doing it is that the SlingBox is controlling the Settop box. I didn't not have to plug in that IRC controller thing and the only connection between the Slingbox and the Settop box are the composite cables and the audio cables. I would have thought those were output only. But I guess they are sending a controlling signal back to settop box.

I've still got some other stuff to mess with, but so far solution looks good. As said, too bad I need a solution at all since just putting the TV shows on the internet directly (in my case, Live Sports) would have negated my need for all these devices. But if this ends up working, I don't mind the cost.

Next, I want to see if I can set up my computer to DVR stuff.

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by TallManNY

Thanks for the tips. I had cable installed this Saturday. Cable box is in corner. Slingbox showed up a few hours later and I plugged that in and got it to work pretty easily. Now the cable box can sit in a corner next to my routers, and I can sling TV to other floors through iOS devices and AppleTVs. I tested it a bit and it worked fine.

One thing that I find really neat but I'm not sure how it is doing it is that the SlingBox is controlling the Settop box. I didn't not have to plug in that IRC controller thing and the only connection between the Slingbox and the Settop box are the composite cables and the audio cables. I would have thought those were output only. But I guess they are sending a controlling signal back to settop box.

I've still got some other stuff to mess with, but so far solution looks good. As said, too bad I need a solution at all since just putting the TV shows on the internet directly (in my case, Live Sports) would have negated my need for all these devices. But if this ends up working, I don't mind the cost.

Next, I want to see if I can set up my computer to DVR stuff.

Glad that it is working out for you. The Slingbox is able to control the set-top box because it has a powerful IR blaster on the front of it. It's sending the signals same as the remote would.

[TallManNY]

Originally Posted by zhenya

Glad that it is working out for you. The Slingbox is able to control the set-top box because it has a powerful IR blaster on the front of it. It's sending the signals same as the remote would.

Oh fascinating. It isn't even pointing at the settop box, but it is sitting right next to it. I guess being close is all it needs. But I will keep that in mind when I move it around as the whole setup needs to be put on a cabinet, or shelves, or something nice and tucked away.

[genes2010]

Originally Posted by zhenya

We use Airplay for our Slingbox to an ATV and it works fine. Excellent picture quality and no hiccups. No aspect ratio issues either as long as we choose the HD broadcast. Biggest issue is that Slingbox does not allow you to put the app in the background, so it ties up a device. Barely drains the battery though.

What version of the ATV do you have? I'm using an iPad 3 and ATV 2. When I try AirPlay from my Slingplayer, I can only get sound on my ATV, and the picture remains on the iPad. Is there some hacked version I need? Thanks

[zhenya]

Originally Posted by genes2010

What version of the ATV do you have? I'm using an iPad 3 and ATV 2. When I try AirPlay from my Slingplayer, I can only get sound on my ATV, and the picture remains on the iPad. Is there some hacked version I need? Thanks

We have both ATV 2 and 3's and both an ipad 1 and 4.

[TallManNY]

Originally Posted by genes2010

What version of the ATV do you have? I'm using an iPad 3 and ATV 2. When I try AirPlay from my Slingplayer, I can only get sound on my ATV, and the picture remains on the iPad. Is there some hacked version I need? Thanks

I have ATV 2 and 3s and also have used iPad 3 and iPhone 5 to airplay to the ATVs. There was one time where i was getting a really bad connection on my iphone and it reverted to just sending the audio through. I guess it figured that was good enough (and in some ways it was). But that was just one experience. I have fast internet at home (30 and 5) so that should help me get the slingbox to throw the video onto the internet. And downloading should be no problem for any broadband connection.