Sunday, October 29, 2006

Slingzilla!


The newly deployed 1.84Tb server I've built over the past few weeks has been augmented by:
  • Tivo Series 2 running the Galleon open source app (adds many media-server capabilities to the default Tivo app)
  • Slingbox Av. Used to route Server and Tivo contents to wherever I want said contents. Even streaming over a reasonably poorly performing wireless network the audio and video resolution from the Slingbox is amazing. The fact that I can now access all my music, videos and images stored on the server from wherever I can get internet access is most pleasing.

5 comments:

Abulsme said...

Does this setup work to view your Slingbox at a certain corporate location where we both spend our days? I tried once a few months ago to connect to a friend's SlingBox just to see if it would work, and it seemed like the corporate firewall was blocking it. It wasn't my Slingbox, so I couldn't play with port forwarding and the like. I haven't been in a huge hurry to get a Slingbox because they didn't have Mac support yet. They do now, so I'm thinking about it again. But it would be nice to know if it would work at work.

Uh... not that I would EVER watch TV during work time... no not ever. Really. Uh... did I say I worked with you... uh... never mind... I have some work to do now.

:-)

Seriously, even aside from the use above, I would use it instantly to be able to watch my Tivo from the computer in my office from home rather than setting up another TV in that room and using a wireless video transmitter or whatnot.

Colin Bodell said...

So the main use I have for it is to watch shows from other rooms where I don't have a TV (The kids chase me out of the living room all the time (unless it's sponge bob squarepants -- then I *never* leave!).

I haven't tried it from the office (yet). Can't load the Slingbox client on my company laptop for well understood reasons. Will ahve to bring in my laptop from home to try it.

It is *awesome*. Galleon went on with no problems and really expands the Tivo Series 2 capabilities.

Abulsme said...

Tested the Mac Sling client at home last night against my friend's Slingbox in Florida. It worked great. I may just have to get one soon for within house slinging.

I can confirm that at least in the default Slingbox configuration the work firewalls don't let you connect to a remote Slingbox. I am guessing they try to communicate on a prohibited port.

Colin Bodell said...

Yeah. Our network is locked up tighter than a gnat's chuff in a sandstorm...

Glad the Mac version is working well. I found that if I have a web cam on my PC with the viewer expanded I can see what's going by slinging back to my Tivo running galleon (then again I could just stream the cam to the internet directly. This way has a much better "see what *I* can do factor :-)

Anonymous said...

Emmm...Interesting setup. I use Xbox Media Center to recieve all digital content to my living room - including DVDs, (both compressed, and ISO's), MP3s, Recorded TV shows (using a dedicated media server and snapstreams Beyond TV software)from a central NAS system. I combine it with various PC laptop setups for viewing in other rooms, although I could just use other Xbox's. Everything is license free, except the beyond TV software which cost $40, and the monthly subscription for the Comcast digital cable box which is used to generate the input for the Media Servers video capture devices.

Not sure about slingbox, but this setup gives me full screen, close to DVD quality viewing, on a high performing wireless network.

Cheers,
Chris.