Options for streaming from cable box to iPad within home network, not outside?

[ninethirty]

Title kind of says it all. My wife and I have a Comcast cable box in our bedroom, but we really don't want a TV in there. Instead my wife just wants to be able to watch TV while she's in bed. You can stream live TV through comcast, but we're worried that doing this all the time, and with all the Netflix we use, that we'll use too much of our data plan. So, I'm wondering, is it possible to get a slingbox type thing that streams within our home network only?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Richdmoore]

I think you hit the nail on the head, my brother used a sling box for years to stream in his house to iPads, computers, etc. It is hd quality inside the network, and sd outside I believe. I am almost positive it does not use data if you are streaming in your own network, but check the slingbox forums to make sure.

The slingbox app for ios is a little pricy, but it is what it is.

I use an eyetv hd setup the same way, and as a dvr. This is only an option if you have a Mac computer to dedicate to it however.

 

[ftaok]

but we're worried that doing this all the time, and with all the Netflix we use, that we'll use too much of our data plan.

Just curious, what is the limit of your broadband data plan? I don't think I've ever had to worry that I'd hit the cap on my FiOS.

Added - I did some research on this a few years ago, but didn't pull the trigger. In addition to Slingbox, there are some other options.

The first one is called Vulkano Monsoon (or something like that). The second option is the PinnacleHauppauge Broadway. I'm not sure if either of those are still current.

 

[zhenya]

We have a Slingbox, had a Vulkano (it was garbage) and can also stream live TV from Time Warner. If the live TV option isn't working for you, the only solution worth considering is Slingbox which works pretty well, but its ultimately still a hack. Quality is pretty good, it's just that navigation can be quite slow. They have finally updated their apps and they have gotten a lot better in the last year. You can finally stream to an Apple TV via Airplay and put the app in the background for instance.

The benefits to a Slingbox is you get full access to all channels and everything you have recorded on the cable box, and can do that both at home and remotely. The disadvantage is that it ties up the tuner in your cable box so nobody else can watch anything.

I would honestly try to live with the Comcast live stream for a while and see how much data you use. Frankly they shouldn't even be counting that against your cap as it's all local to the Comcast network, but this is Comcast we are talking about here...Even if you do occasionally go over, you could afford a lot of overage charges for the price of a Slingbox and the apps.