Sling Player vs. Sling Box

[dendavis]

I have a Sling Player, which I got from DISH when they first became available. Used it originally with my 722K, then hooked it up to the Hopper when I changed to the H/J family. Have used it while traveling, thru an iPad hooked up to an HDTV. But when I used it, I had poor Internet speed, both upstream and downstream. I have goosed the upload speed at home, and will be getting cable Internet, with an advertised 50 mbps download speed, at our other location.

Now that I have hopefully corrected the speed issues, I am hoping I will be able to access my home DVR while at my other location. My question has to do with how much difference in performance there is from the Sling Player to the more expensive, and apparently more comprehensive, in terms of features, Sling Box. Without starting a war between S__Player and S__Box. And I would also appreciate any input as to the role of the streaming media player, viz., the Western Digital units, in the setup.

Thanks!

 

[darrengs]

Well Sling Player is actually the client side software for connecting to slingbox. What you have from Dish is a sling adapter, which in your case gives the Hopper sling capability.

In my opinion the Hopper with sling or a Hopper with a sling adapter is superior then an actual slingbox because of it's true integration. When you connect to your sling adapter, if you watch live TV the Hopper will give you a free tuner if possible and you will not interrupt someone watching live TV on the Hopper, you also have full control of the DVR without interrupting someone watching TV on the Hopper, and you can watch recorded programs without interruption of someone watching on the Hopper/Joeys.

On the other hand if you hook up an actual Slingbox then it is connected to the Hopper's video output, and therefore anything you are doing via the slingbox is what the TV hooked up to the Hopper will actually see.

 

[Tampa8]

It's the upload speed that matters from the location you are trying to watch from. It's the download speed that matters at the location you are at watching.

I can't tell you the difference if any in how the speed is used between the two. I can tell you the newer Slingboxes (Pro -HD, Solo, 350 and 500) are very noticeably better than the old ones. So improvements have been made, I just don't knlow where the Slingplayer falls into that.
As for features, way more but it does use one of the tuners. If speed is the only thing you are looking for you may not need the features.

 

[osu1991]

Sling Adapter vs Sling Box

I think I gave you my thoughts in your other thread. I use the sling adapter to watch on phone or tablet and I use the Slingbox with WDTV Live and Live Hubs to watch on TV's at other homes. I think you can use an ipad and an appletv with airplay too, but I don't have either to confirm that.

I prefer using the wdtv box with the slingbox 350 on tv's at other homes, then I don't have to mess with a long hdmi cable running on the floor between tablet and tv and also having to use the tablet as the remote, so the tablet screen is on all the time, which is a little distracting. You have an ipad, so adding an appletv and mirroring via airplay might be a good solution for you. As for speed I see no difference when between the two. I haven't checked, I may get a little faster connection via the wdtv box since it is hard wired to the router and the tablet is connecting and streaming via wifi.

 

[Tampa8]

Agree 100%. I should have mentioned the WD Live APP. I use it with my HD-PRO models for both locals OTA and Satellite. Overall an easy way to watch on the TV. And like the Roku the box is so small you can take it to other places. (Unlike the Roku it has a real Sling app)

 

[dangue]

I have both a Hopper with Sling and a sling box Pro HD. The one huge plus with the Slingbox is that you get a virtual remote that allows you to control the box as if you were in the room. Which means that you can use things like autohop for prime time network DVRed shows (something that I haven't found a way to do via the HwS). Less fiddling with skip on a remote connection makes more a much more enjoyable experience (in my opinion).

Sent from my iPhone using SatelliteGuys

 

[dendavis]

I appreciate all the insight, thanks.

 

[jeremybe]

Question on that - I have the hopper with Sling, but the DishAnywhere App doesn't allow for Airplay video - only sound - By having the Slingbox - I can use airplay correct?? Can I just hook up the sling to one of the Joey's?