**Sling Transfers -- how does it work?**

[AngryStamen]

A few questions about how "Sling Transfers" works:


1) When you "prepare" a TV show/movie for mobile, I assume that it (obviously) takes up more space on the Hopper's hard drive. But, do they quarantine these transcodes so that they do not affect the partition that is reserved for all of my DVR recordings? Or does it, in fact, reduce the amount of shows I can record on the DVR?


2) Any reason why you can only transfer a show/movie once to your iPad? I only have a 16 GB iPad, so if I'm going on a trip, I'll wipe the iPad, and only install "Sling Transfers," along with a couple other apps. Sometimes I don't happen to watch one or more of the movies/TV shows on the iPad, and I then restore my iPad from my backup. Then, when I go on my next trip, I'm not able to transfer those movies/shows that I had transferred the first time.


Any input on these? Thanks!!

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

1) Yes it takes room on the hard drive.

2) You could I guess, but your iPad needs to talk to the Hopper with Sling once every 30 days or those recordings won't play.

 

[theoak]

You might want to play with this a little with a show that is not important to you.

You can only transfer a program once.

If you transfer a program to your iPad ... but do not end up watching it ... and then go ahead with a restore to your "normal" iPad (versus say your "lite" or "travel" install) - hence the restore does NOT have all your programming transferred ... you may not be able to transfer that program again. Hence, you may lose the ability to transfer the program ever again; unless of course, the program came on again.

 

[lucky86]

The transfer limitation only applies to premium content.

 

[Rangers484]

I don't have an iPad but I do have a tablet. Looking forward to transfers to my tablet.

How does the transfer work? Wireless, connected to a USB port on the Hopper or Bluetooth?

 

[lucky86]

They transfer over your wifi network.

 

[AngryStamen]

The transfer limitation only applies to premium content.

Ah, thanks for this! That makes sense, because it was always happening with movies that I had DVR'd and those were from HBO, Cinemax, Starz, etc. So, can I assume that I can transfer, delete, and re-transfer the same movie or TV episode that was DVR'd from the big networks (CBS/ABC/NBC/FOX) as well as basic cable networks (FX/USA/TNT, etc.)?

Thanks again for the info!

 

[lucky86]

Yes, that content doesn't delete from the internal drive.

 

[WIrving]

A few questions about how "Sling Transfers" works:


1) When you "prepare" a TV show/movie for mobile, I assume that it (obviously) takes up more space on the Hopper's hard drive. But, do they quarantine these transcodes so that they do not affect the partition that is reserved for all of my DVR recordings? Or does it, in fact, reduce the amount of shows I can record on the DVR?


2) Any reason why you can only transfer a show/movie once to your iPad? I only have a 16 GB iPad, so if I'm going on a trip, I'll wipe the iPad, and only install "Sling Transfers," along with a couple other apps. Sometimes I don't happen to watch one or more of the movies/TV shows on the iPad, and I then restore my iPad from my backup. Then, when I go on my next trip, I'm not able to transfer those movies/shows that I had transferred the first time.


Any input on these? Thanks!!

I realize this is a very old thread, but I just got a Hopper with Sling; as far as I can tell, no one has really answered the key question posed here - are the transcoded programs stored in some hidden/inaccessible area of the Hopper's disk, and therefore do NOT affect the space available for recording programs?

If the answer is 'yes', then are there any reasons NOT to tell it to simply always prepare all recordings for mobile? Like, the space set aside for 'prepared' programs can fill up, and we can't manage it? Can you 'un-prepare' a recording for mobile? Or does the 'prepared' version go away only when I delete the corresponding recording in 'My DVR'?

If the answer to the above question is 'no', then I can see a big cost in telling Hopper to always prepare recordings - you're going to use a LOT more of you available space.

 

[dare2be]

Scott answered that question in post#2. No.

 

[WIrving]

QUOTE="dare2be, post: 3664544, member: 168604"]Scott answered that question in post#2. No.[/QUOTE]
Actually, the original post was:

A few questions about how "Sling Transfers" works:
1) When you "prepare" a TV show/movie for mobile, I assume that it (obviously) takes up more space on the Hopper's hard drive. But, do they quarantine these transcodes so that they do not affect the partition that is reserved for all of my DVR recordings? Or does it, in fact, reduce the amount of shows I can record on the DVR?
..omitted...

And Scott's reply was:

1) Yes it takes room on the hard drive.

Note that Scott didn't specify where on the hard drive - in the regular, 'My recordings' space (leaving room for fewer recordings), or in some hidden partition that doesn't affect the 'My recordings' space. And, if it is in some separate partition, how is that space managed?

I guess I took Scott's reply to be a generic "yep it's on the Hopper's disk somewhere", not a "yep, it goes in the space used for 'My recordings'".

 

[dare2be]

I guess I over-interpreted it to mean it takes up space on the user partition, but I can see where it could be interpreted either way.

 

[ChadT41]

Yes, it takes up customers location, but is inaccessible via remote. Basically just makes a copy of the program(preparing it) and then transfers that copy to the mobile device.

 

[WIrving]

Yes, it takes up customers location, but is inaccessible via remote. Basically just makes a copy of the program(preparing it) and then transfers that copy to the mobile device.

Thanks for the clarification!