HD Quality with Sling Adapter

Toggle sidebar
D

DocPit

Active SatelliteGuys Member
Original poster
Jul 8, 2011
20
0
Midwest
We just moved to a new place and had Dish installed. We have a 722k with a Sling. The installer showed me a U-shaped row of lights on the Sling and said that as the required software downloaded, more lights would turn on. This could take as long as 24 hours.

Our broadband router is in another room. I thought he would make a wireless connection, but he actually neglected to make any connection. So, no lights were lit. I made a connection using a PLC adapter, and the first light turned on. But no other lights ever came on.

I can watch live TV (including local channels over satellite) on my PC. The Dell 1645 laptop has an excellent monitor. My broadband is fast (25.5/4.5). However, the picture quality for HD programming over the Sling is just acceptable, even just slightly pixelated. Certainly, nothing approaching anyone's idea of HD. I'm wondering if the Sling is not fully functioning.

Also, because my subscription includes local channels via satellite, I never installed an MT2 module. If that were installed and hooked up to an antenna, would that improve reception of local channels? Would it conflict in any way with the local-via-satellite that comes with the subscription.

As you can tell, I don't have a clue. Any info would be much appreciated.
 
Which model Sling do you have?

Yes, the MT2 module is necessary to add OTA channels to your 722k. Many people think the quality of the HD OTA is better than it is over satellite. I think you will be pleased with that, assuming you can get good reception via antenna. It does not conflict with the same channels as you are getting via satellite. In fact, it will bring in some channels in HD that Dish doesn't have in HD, as well as all the subchannels. Dish doesn't carry those either. All these OTA channels will show up in the guide highlighted in yellow. Their channel numbers will also be different, e.g. 4-1, 4-2, etc, rather than 4-0 for the satellite version.
 
I'm surprised to hear that anyone even uses the sling box. We have fast internet, but trying to stream anything from that box (if it even works) is such a frustrating experience that we shortly stopped even attempting to use it shortly after we bought it.
 
mentsmin said:
I'm surprised to hear that anyone even uses the sling box. We have fast internet, but trying to stream anything from that box (if it even works) is such a frustrating experience that we shortly stopped even attempting to use it shortly after we bought it.
Click to expand...

The Sling Box and Sling Adapter are separate pieces of technology. The Sling Adapter is only available through Dish Network while the Sling Box and Sling Box pro are available through Sling Media. The Sling Adapter was designed only to work with our ViP722/ViP722k and the Sling Box's are designed to connect to any set top box.
 
mentsmin said:
I'm surprised to hear that anyone even uses the sling box. We have fast internet, but trying to stream anything from that box (if it even works) is such a frustrating experience that we shortly stopped even attempting to use it shortly after we bought it.
Click to expand...

Both my sling box pro HD and my sling adapter work great here. The biggest question in terms of signal quality is the speed of the connection I am using on the download side of things. 3G is fine for viewing sling content on my phone, but is shaky for anything with a bigger screen. But if I have a wifi connection or a hardwired LAN connection, video quality is excellent on larger screens.

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys
 
The bottleneck for BOTH SlingBox and Sling Adapter is your IP's UPLOAD speed.

Typical internet upload speeds are 0.5 to 0.75MBPS which are about 1/3 of the speed you need for HD uploads.

You have to pay big bucks for upload speeds that are hefty enough for SlingBox and Sling Adapter to work to the outside world.

The picture may look good on an iPhone, maybe even on the iPad (doubtful), but if you have a larger laptop or PC monitor you can definitely see the poor picture quality that results from limited upload speeds.

Picture quality within your home network will probably be very good because your network is much faster than your IP upload.
 
Before I pull the trigger, I want to verify that I can use a USB 2.0 hub to connect the Sling Adapter and an External HDD to my 722K. The USB port on the front of the receiver would not be my first choice for making a permanent connection.

Also, what's the word on the GoogleTV app for playing Sling streams? With the 40" Sony Google sets under $700, that seems like a heck of a cool setup to access TV2 from the 722K!
 
There are mixed results on using a self powered USB 2.0 hub with 722k, some work some do not and since many are generic, it is difficult to get a handle on a brand that works.

Do a search in technical discussions for "hub".
 
mentsmin said:
I'm surprised to hear that anyone even uses the sling box. We have fast internet, but trying to stream anything from that box (if it even works) is such a frustrating experience that we shortly stopped even attempting to use it shortly after we bought it.
Click to expand...

Well I have to say you are just plain wrong. If that's your experience something was done wrong. I routinely watch Tampa news in Ct using the slingbox, with excellent results.
 
Jim5506 said:
There are mixed results on using a self powered USB 2.0 hub with 722k, some work some do not and since many are generic, it is difficult to get a handle on a brand that works.

Do a search in technical discussions for "hub".
Click to expand...

I have a 722. Generic powered hub works fine except it does not like the sling adapter. I have the following: SA, EHD,usb wifi, usb fan. The only way the usb hub I have will work with these devices and my 722 is to plug the SA into usb port on the 722 and the hub with the remainder of the devices into the other port on the 722. Im not wild about the usb cord in the front withe open door, but is there a choice? Im thinking the people who designed these things weren't very forward thinking as to what might be available down the road to plug in...yes they did provide ethernet and usb ports, but couldn't there have been a couple more at minamal or no additional cost?

Ross

Sent from my DROIDX using SatelliteGuys
 
Ross,

I have the same setup and I have to use my Sling alone on one of the USB ports. Works fine with that setup. I can't tell you why unless the USB hub is not transmitting the correct information. ??
 
I was away for a while and couldn't get back to this.

The Sling model I have is SB 700-100.

I don't follow you when you say "Yes, the MT2 module is necessary to add OTA channels to your 722k." I do not have an MT2 module installed but I do get local stations.
 
DocPit said:
I don't follow you when you say "Yes, the MT2 module is necessary to add OTA channels to your 722k." I do not have an MT2 module installed but I do get local stations.
Click to expand...

What is meant is locals via an over the air antenna, not the Dish feed. There often will be sub channels that are not carried by Dish. Such as Create on PBS.
 
Thanks for the feedback regarding the USB hubs. I decided to go with a different option: I found a right-angle USB cable (USB Right Angle Extension) that has a female connection (extension cable) so I could route the cable through the opening on the bottom of the access door.

The connector is just the right size and the cable is thin enough that there is no issue with the door closing, so the final result is nice and clean.
 

Attachments

  • image-530076695.png
    image-530076695.png
    271.9 KB · Views: 278
  • image-3723537652.png
    image-3723537652.png
    244.9 KB · Views: 261
Last edited:
Regarding the picture quality using the Sling Adapter (getting back to the thread's title) I think it depends on the target device and location.

I'm attaching a couple of screen grabs using my iPhone 4 of some live satellite TV. If you look at the one grab with the controls, you can see the bit rate is 1944 Kbps. If I run the Dish Online viewer, I get over 8000 Kbps over my local LAN and the picture looks great.

Leaving home and sitting in one of the local Starbucks, the rate drops to 470 Kbps and the picture quality suffers, but is still watchable. I don't see much difference between SD and HD when on the road, it's all SD as far as I can tell.

The one thing that gets me, though, is the lag when trying to control the ViP 722k using the Dish Remote app. Since nothing happens when you press a control, you have this "did I really press it?" moment that lasts for a couple of seconds, so you might press it again, and then both presses seem to register.

So, the Sling Adapter works as advertised, with certain limitations. The Remote App does use up the iPhone's battery when watching TV, so I haven't tried watching an entire one hour program yet. But it is definitely cool when you pull out your phone and show someone Dish Network coming from your house over the Interwebs.
 

Attachments

  • image-3692220686.png
    image-3692220686.png
    137.3 KB · Views: 246
  • image-1490472231.png
    image-1490472231.png
    168.6 KB · Views: 222
Okay, here are the screen captures from a remote location to show the change in quality with the lower bit rate. (Sorry about the orientation. I'll fix it on post...)

I notice that the Sling Adapter/Remote App seems to cut off the bottom of the screen.
 

Attachments

  • image-1574105912.png
    image-1574105912.png
    151 KB · Views: 223
  • image-2953581580.png
    image-2953581580.png
    148.3 KB · Views: 226
  • image-3345848014.png
    image-3345848014.png
    135.8 KB · Views: 210
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Total: 0, Members: 0, Guests: 0)

Who Read This Thread (Total Members: 1)

Latest posts

Share this page

Share this page
Top