Video Sender?

[phlatwound]

Got any recommendations for a video sender?

Wanting to wirelessly send A/V to a tv in another room, from my microHD. About 30 feet and through 2 walls.

Most of the stuff I would watch is not HD anyway so SD composite connections are fine, but I can go HDMI also.

The "receiver" tv is a Smart tv, with ethernet input also (if there is a way to do this via my home network, wired or wireless).

My wireless router sits very close to the receiver television and it is 2.4 GHz.

I see a wide range of price on these things, the cheaper the better, don't need any frills. My Mom has an X10 that I set up for her at least 10 years ago to throw her DirecTV from the living room to the bedroom. It works but seems like it was a cluster to setup originally.

 

[. Raine]

Not wireless, but if you have an OTA setup you could use a agile modulator and have the MicroHD output as a RF TV channel that you can tune as a channel on the TV. I do this here with a few Channel Plus modulators.

The Channel Plus modulators are expensive but I have seen cheap agile modulators on Amazon, I don't know how good the cheap ones are. I have the output of two of our satellite receivers and our security system DVR modulated onto TV channels so we can watch them on any TV in our house.

 

[Magic Static]

I have a SlingBox but not sure if they have software for a smart TV. I'll have to look into that

 

[phlatwound]

Not wireless, but if you have an OTA setup you could use a agile modulator and have the MicroHD output as a RF TV channel that you can tune as a channel on the TV. I do this here with a few Channel Plus modulators.

The Channel Plus modulators are expensive but I have seen cheap agile modulators on Amazon, I don't know how good the cheap ones are. I have the output of two of our satellite receivers and our security system DVR modulated onto TV channels so we can watch them on any TV in our house.

Thanks for the idea and I would consider a wired setup up as a last resort, it would be doable in our house but more of a PITA than I want to tackle if I can come up a wireless solution.

 

[phlatwound]

I have a SlingBox but not sure if they have software for a smart TV. I'll have to look into that

I have heard of SlingBoxes of course but don't have a clue what they are all about (them and a lot of other neat video toys).

Will do some research and try to edjumicate myself, thanks Mr. Magic.

Here is the general type of device I have been seeing online that I was considering:

PAT-630 5.8GHz AV Wireless Transmitter Receiver Sender

Amazon product ASIN B00E953OJQ

 

[Magic Static]

Well SlingPlayer runs on my Android phone. I don't have a Smart TV yet. Been thinking about an upgrade to 4K though

 

[Magic Static]

I have an older SlingBox HD Pro. It has a built in ATSC tuner. I found I use that feature often. Nice to be able to access the GSP micro HD with a Sling Player app. The remote is supported unlike 99% of FTA boxes.

 

[harshness]

PAT-630 5.8GHz AV Wireless Transmitter Receiver Sender

I'm betting you would soon regret restricting yourself to NTSC composite video -- especially on a HD television.

Have you given thought to how you're going to control the receiver remotely? Most of the wireless solutions (be they composite, RF or HDMI) don't support IR so you may also be looking at a separate wireless IR transmitter.

I chose an HDMI solution that uses Ethernet cable as it provides a way to send IR signals back to the receiver and there's never any question of interference or having to worry about whether or not the signal can penetrate your walls.

Slingboxes are neat in that you can use them both in-house and away from home and they provide a way to control the receiver.

 

[StanDarsh]

I used a CAT5 to run a monitor into the sanctuary from security DVR..... I hooked up 2 monitors, 1 monitor was right at the DVR, the other monitor, in sanctuary, was 150' away. I got bought a modulator type setup that used CAT5 between the 2 boxes...then VGA from the box to monitor on each end. Works great and has fine tune adjustments... So if you can use CAT5, it's a great option. The part that I used was about $40.

 

[phlatwound]

I'm betting you would soon regret restricting yourself to NTSC composite video -- especially on a HD television.

Have you given thought to how you're going to control the receiver remotely? Most of the wireless solutions (be they composite, RF or HDMI) don't support IR so you may also be looking at a separate wireless IR transmitter.

I chose an HDMI solution that uses Ethernet cable as it provides a way to send IR signals back to the receiver and there's never any question of interference or having to worry about whether or not the signal can penetrate your walls.

Slingboxes are neat in that you can use them both in-house and away from home and they provide a way to control the receiver.

I really don't think NTSC SD would be a big drawback to me, the majority of the FTA content that I would be viewing from my sat receiver is SD anyway.

And I don't mind going to the other room to change channels, most of the time I just put it on one channel and leave it for a viewing session.

I still don't understand what Slingboxes do (or how they might be used for my situation) but it sounds like they may be an option.

 

[phlatwound]

I used a CAT5 to run a monitor into the sanctuary from security DVR..... I hooked up 2 monitors, 1 monitor was right at the DVR, the other monitor, in sanctuary, was 150' away. I got bought a modulator type setup that used CAT5 between the 2 boxes...then VGA from the box to monitor on each end. Works great and has fine tune adjustments... So if you can use CAT5, it's a great option. The part that I used was about $40.

Sounds like a nice setup but definitely want to go wireless if possible, thanks.

 

[Magic Static]

Slingboxes convert video sources to IP which you can access from anywhere in the world you have an internet connection. Work real well over your LAN.
I have the micro HD and WD Hub connected to mine. So I have access to my video library, local channels and FTA from anywhere.

 

[phlatwound]

Slingboxes convert video sources to IP which you can access from anywhere in the world you have an internet connection. Work real well over your LAN.
I have the micro HD and WD Hub connected to mine. So I have access to my video library, local channels and FTA from anywhere.

So if SlingPlayer will run on my Smart tv (Vizio E241i-A1w) SlingBox will do what I am looking for? From what I can tell from trolling the Web, the only smart tvs with Sling built in are some Samsungs and LGs. But there seems to be talk of using a Roku (or other similar device) to get around that. If it seems that I am pretty ignorant of how this stuff works it's because...I am.

We are presently on 1.5m DSL, but the phone company is upgrading our lines and we will have a minimum of 10m down within a few months. We are able to watch Netflix with little or no buffering but not sure how much bandwidth the Sling setup would need to do what I am trying to do here.

 

[Magic Static]

The Sling box needs 1mb upload speed. You probably have ADSL which is not as fast up as down. Echostar bought Slingbox and they started SlingTV which is not the same thing.

 

[phlatwound]

Ah yes, SlingTV, that is what they were talking about, I should have picked up on that. We tried that for the free trial period once, it wouldn't work on our skinny connection, constant buffering. It amazes me how well Netflix works here, lots of people have told me that it is unusable on a 1.5m down connection but that has not been our experience.

And you are correct, we only have 256k max up.

Back to looking at wireless senders...

 

[Magic Static]

But if you run into a SlingBox cheap you still could use it for what you want. It doesn't need a fast internet connection to work on your LAN.

 

[phlatwound]

Of course, it would just need the 1m upload speed if I was wanting to access it from a remote location.

So...am I back to needing to have the SlingPlayer app on my Vizio to make this deal happen? That is the part that I still don't get.

 

[osu1991]

Slingbox is pretty reliable.
You can use a Roku or chromecast with the Slingplayer app. You use your phone or tablet to control the slingbox and the video is displayed on the tv via the roku or chromecast app.

You can also use an Amazon FireTv stick or mediabox with the slingplayer for connected devices app. Those apps use the actual AFTv or media devices remote to control the slingbox instead of the phone/tablet.

A laptop can also be connected to the tv and access the slingbox via the windows slingbox app.

I have a slingbox 350 connected to my TiVo mini (and formerly my Dish 722) via component cables. I have the same setups at both homes in Oklahoma and Las Vegas.

I can connect to the receivers at either home via my Roku’s, Firetv stick and laptop from anywhere. While outside the home you need a decent home upload to send the video around the world. When at home you stay on your internal network. It works well. I used to use a wdtv box with slingplayer app but that got flaky as the wdtv boxes have aged.

I now use a laptop connected to a 65in 4K in our Las Vegas living room to watch our cable tv sub and dvr from Oklahoma. I use a Roku and AFTv to watch the slingbox in Las Vegas and those locals in Oklahoma.

I also use it to watch my cable sub while at the lake cabin too. I used to use it in the house to watch Dish in HD in my office, but when I moved a couple years ago I switched to cable and have the TiVo mini and slingbox in my office so I no longer use the slingbox within the house.

 

[phlatwound]

Nice setup osu, way beyond my requirements or capabilities (at least till our ISP completes it's bandwidth upgrades) but amazing what can be done with the Sling devices.

Does it matter what Sling device I get if all I want to do is watch the output of my FTA receiver in another room using my home network? Don't need to view from remote locations, HDMI or ATSC tuner.

Looks like a new Slingbox 120 can be had for $25 and used Sling Solos (SB260 and SB300) run $20-$50 shipped...and prices go up from there for other models.

If I understand correctly I would need another Roku (Roku being preferred since we already have one at the tv in the room where the FTA receiver is and are familiar with them) at the Vizio in the room I want to send the video to.

And the reason we need the Roku is we can't install SlingPlayer on the Vizio?

 

[osu1991]

Roku is needed to receive the sling signal and a smart phone or tablet to control it. Roku only receives and displays the signal. It can’t initiate the session or control the slingbox.

As far as I know there isn’t a slingplayer app for vizio tv’s. Maybe if the tv was running Android.

Slingbox and slingplayer for roku FAQ
Slingbox.com - Frequently asked questions about SlingPlayer for Roku

Looks like to use with Roku requires a slingbox 500, M1/M2, 350, Pro-HD or Solo.