SatelliteGuys First Look Review - DISH Sling Adapter

Looks like I got a new version of the Sling Player IE plug-in this morning. It kept telling me my Internet connection was so bad I should try again later. That error message would not go away until I rebooted my 722. It plays perfectly on BestHD for a few minutes, but then starts stuttering badly. This could be due to my far-below-spec Windows 7 HTPC (Atom/Ion) going off and doing something else. It does the same darn thing streaming Netflix. Don't these two facilities use different video technology under the hood? I think the Sling Adapter is doing flash video, while Netflix is using MS Silverlight. Maybe the Ion hardware is overheating.
 
I've had the Sling Adapter for about a month now and I really like it. One cool use I thought for it would be to listen to the sirius audio channels in another room via computer but when I go to those channels the streaming level drops way down and it won't play. Sometimes saying no video feed. Just curious why this is?
 
I get the same thing but the streaming immediately drops below 100 kbps and the audio drops out all the time. Not the end of the world but would be nice if it worked.
 
Does T-Mobile Specifically Block Access From DISH Remote Access?

I have a T-Mobile Garminfone and the T-Mobile Unlimited Data Plan. When I first added Dish Remote Access I was able to view video just fine. More recently I get "Connection failed. Please make sure your phone and Slingbox are connected to the Internet." I will then switch to wifi and it works fine. Other video applications work on the Garminfone via 3G just fine, like You Tube, for example.
 
What is the current status for the iPhone client for the sling adapter with the 722k?

Is it still really buggy or should I order a SA?

TIA
 
performance barely tolerable

Newbie to this forum, sling adapter on a 722k for just over 30 days, not impressed with several key things.

first I run dual network at home, one wireless network is for my "connecteds", these would be things like Wii, A/V receiver with Inet, Bluray, & Dish 722k's. The second network is primary to my gateway router, for laptops & wireless computers.

I was glad to see that the streaming data didn't leave my network so that I'm not sitting waiting for data to go from the back room, up (out) to Dish and back to me ... but ...

  • I was not happy to see ... some sort of back channel communication that did signal back to dish/sling, and whilst it did this, it would effect playback, anything from stutter to video slowing and then suddenly playing catch up (audio with the respected video would *not* show the same catch-up that video did)
  • Was also not happy to see that I couldn't reliably stream audio only stations.

    I liken THAT experience to having a kid sitting at a recordplayer, letting the music play for a bit (under 30 seconds on avg) normally then that kid starts putting pressure on the record .... slowing its spin some, then easing up so the record spins back up again.. and then the kid does it again and again and again.. playing with all sorts of slow down and speed up tricks ...

  • still not happy with the bandwidth used on *any* setting of the SD/HD options of the plugin, both under IE8 and FF3.x and that may lead to the biggest lie in print with the SlingAdapter.
    • 150k or better? when tuning in an "audio only" station like the sirius channels, I've seen the k's go below 90 ... and in that instance the audio is effected like I describe above with the kid and his finger on the record
    • 600k or higher? for SD ... try it nails my network at anywhere from 1.8 meg to 7meg!
    • 3M or higher -- yeah.. on the lowest quality setting in house, I still see the network pushing 3 to 7 megs on average, even their own "Streaming at ..." figures show that no matter what setting in the web player, that the sling box will take any bandwidth it can get.

      Even from outside my home (Good/Better/Best) ... as a test I streamed for 15 minutes, and never saw the stream go below 2 meg except as it jittered/stuttered/played catch-up.
Does it allow external access to DVR/Live TV? Sure ... but at no time have I seen this thing work flawlessly within a data range they suggest. Its like "because the bandwidth is there", its going to use what it can, rather than conform to a limit ... and given near limitless bandwidth, why they wouldn't it be able to stream perfectly?

If I hadn't put the "connecteds" on a separate network, I could only imagine how negative the experience would've been. I was actually running the connecteds on a G based network, and have subsequently upgraded to N (G -> 54M / N -> 300M) because the performance needed it. Yet... streaming video to my bluray ... I have no problems there.. and that's for data coming from Youtube, or from inside my network via DLNA, with quality that easily rivals the "better" setting.

What I believe this comes down to, the intensive data manipulation (encryption/encryption) is still too much for the boxes, they are underpowered, or their firmware/software is still wholly inadequate.

Reason for getting Sling -> a family member works on a govt contract and travels frequently ... needed for access to DVR'd items that arent' available in hotel rooms.

As my subject line says.. if I were to rate this, it would be performance barely tolerable. Not acceptable, but tolerated. I don't have the tools needed to be able to break this thing open, recode for them, but for the amount of money and time Dish and Sling should have in this, the performance thus far is abysmal.

Sling Adapter performance is about on par with my opinion of the 722k. My 625's were damned near bullet proof (aside from failing hard drives). Dish could do better.
 
iPhone app not working now (though it did work to start)

worked great initially, but now it won't let me watch recordings on my 722K. i tell it to play a recording, but it will only show live tv. annoyed and just about ready to send it back.
 
Mine does too. Apparently that's not frequent enough because it definitely gets wedged with Sling Adapter use and poops out, and a reboot fixes it. Usually the rest of the receiver soldiers on even if the Sling Adapter becomes unusable.
 
Dish Remote4 Access Via T-Mobile

Is anybody here able to use Dish Remote Access via the T-Mobile network? Dish Remote Access works great for me via wifi and other applications work great on 3G, but it seems like T-Mobile is blocking access to Dish Remote Access on their data network.
 
I too am having issues on tmobiles network when trying to remote view with my sling adapter. Works on wifi but not on 3g, tried resetting everything but still nogo
 
I've only got three requests for the Sling adapter:

1. stability. it's ok most of the time but if the receiver is busy with other stuff, sometimes it will crap out

2. ability to put the receiver in single mode and just have the sling adapter send me TV1. I'm the only one in my house and don't use sling at home, it's mainly for on the go. I'd love to have the DVR in single mode for PIP and have it work more like my old DirecTV DVR in terms of recordings being split across the different TV outputs

3. ability to use the desktop Sling apps. I think it's compatible with the Windows native client, but I haven't messed with it. I have a Mac and when I *do* watch it at home, it's a huge pain to go through the website. I'd much rather use the native apps instead of having to deal with the website.
 
Just got my sling adapter about a week ago. Everything works great except for remote access on my laptop. I have a Windows Vista machine, and run IE8. I can watch TV, and watch something from my DVR, and the Video will stream perfectly. However, it locks up the rest of the page in the process and doesnt allow me to pause, change channels, or do anything else. Also my cursor goes away.

Anyone else having this same issue?
 
Just got my sling adapter about a week ago. Everything works great except for remote access on my laptop. I have a Windows Vista machine, and run IE8. I can watch TV, and watch something from my DVR, and the Video will stream perfectly. However, it locks up the rest of the page in the process and doesnt allow me to pause, change channels, or do anything else. Also my cursor goes away.

Anyone else having this same issue?

I have been using my Vista OS laptop running the sling interface on Firefox without any issues. The fast forward - rewind - skip are a little slow to respond but will work.
 
Just got my sling adapter about a week ago. Everything works great except for remote access on my laptop. I have a Windows Vista machine, and run IE8. I can watch TV, and watch something from my DVR, and the Video will stream perfectly. However, it locks up the rest of the page in the process and doesnt allow me to pause, change channels, or do anything else. Also my cursor goes away.
Anyone else having this same issue?
Aside from the complaints I have with the Sling .. I don't have this problem .. like "thamac" says, slow/sluggish, but working.

Also you should try Firefox to see if you can get it to work there.

My PC has modest specs for a pc from 3 ~ 4 years ago .. AMD X2 processor (@ 1.8 GHz) with 2 Gigs ram, on WinXP, w/Nvidia based 8500GT video card (not an onboard type, which might also make differences for some).
 

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