Slingbox/cable

Posted February 13th, 2008 at 04:41 PM by redstatewannabe
in

totally personal question - but I know there are some technology "geeks" (and I mean that in the kindest of ways) that may be able to help me.

I want to get a Slingbox so I can watch TV anywhere in my home with my new laptop.  My initial plan is just to get the old Slingbox Tuner version, which connects to the coax cable.  It won't interfere with my kids watching on the digital box, and would be convenient to the home network connection.

Here's my question - will the pending conversion from analog to digital broadcasting have any effect (or is it affect?) on the Slingbox tuning whatever comes thru my cable?

Any wisdom would be appreciated.  Thanks.

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Arvid's picture
On February 13th, 2008 at 05:07 PM, Arvid said:

At this stage of the equipment-buying game, if the Slingbox was to be affected by the digital conversion, it's required to carry a sticker that says so. If you're buying used/older equipment, odds are not high that it will have the built-in digital tuner, however you can just put a converter in-line or not be cheap and pony up for one with the digital tuner :)

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"Another Anon with a worthless opinion" - Run4cvrlib on 2/2/08

"I guess I have little tolerance for people who just attack people just to do it and give no justification." - Run4cvrlib on 2/2/08

redstatewannabe's picture
On February 13th, 2008 at 05:23 PM, redstatewannabe said:

yeah, I'm cheap, that's why I am asking the question.

Please help me understand.   TV's without digital tuners will not be able to watch tv thru cable, without getting the digital converter, when this conversion is thru?  I thought it was just the over-the-air stuff that had to go digital?

Arvid's picture
On February 13th, 2008 at 05:38 PM, Arvid said:

As I understand it, this only affects broadcast stations only, not cable TV stations. Sattelite is digital by default. So when you are watching WCIA through Insight/Comcast after the cut-off date, the digital signal will be received at their antenna, and converted to analog before it is piped to you. Assuming, of course, that they don't choose to go all-digital, which is their prerogative to do at any time but unlikely, at least not without a rate restructuring that benefits them.

Bottom line: you are either going to pay for a digital tuner now when the price is higher and be set, or pay for it later when the price is lower, but you'll also have the added bonus of owning a slingbox that doesn't work anymore without an in-line converter. Either way, you're probably sinking about the same amount of money; it's a matter of do you want to spend that today or some currently undefined point in the future beyond 2/17/2009.

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"Another Anon with a worthless opinion" - Run4cvrlib on 2/2/08

"I guess I have little tolerance for people who just attack people just to do it and give no justification." - Run4cvrlib on 2/2/08

redstatewannabe's picture
On February 13th, 2008 at 05:48 PM, redstatewannabe said:

I just read somewhere that the cable companies are going to be forced to carry an analog version of the broadcast networks for at least a few year.

thanks for the info - I am leaning toward being cheap now, and dealing with the issues later.

On February 14th, 2008 at 10:37 AM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

RSW You are correct. The cable companies are required to convert the digital signals to analogue for the first few years, so the Slingbox Tuner should work for you for awhile. Check out newegg.com and buy.com for pretty good deals, with no sales tax and sometimes free shipping.

redstatewannabe's picture
On February 14th, 2008 at 10:57 AM, redstatewannabe said:

thanks

Politicalchemy's picture
On February 14th, 2008 at 12:26 PM, Politicalchemy said:

RSWB:

I'll answer questions for you if I can, but I have some convenient advantages in my current setup:  The Slingbox is connected to the digitial cable box/DVR in my son's room, so there's no conflict with any viewing on the main AV system.  My son is in Europe for the semester, and he has been regularly accessing the Slingbox from there.

But during testing after I set it up, it worked pretty flawlessly both from my desktop PC and a laptop in different parts of the house going through the wireless LAN.  If this is your main reason for wanting one, you should find the bandwidth to be excellent.  I don't recommend hitting the HD channels, however.

Finally, as one who has designed some user interfaces, the Slingbox setup process and interface are both excellent.

redstatewannabe's picture
On February 14th, 2008 at 12:49 PM, redstatewannabe said:

thanks for that info.   It looks like a pretty sweet product.

I do have a dual tuner cable box, so I can go that route if necessary.  I have sent an email to Mediacom to ask them how long it will be transmitting the analog signal.  They promise 24 hour response, but I won't be holding my breath.

On February 15th, 2008 at 09:31 PM, cheapengineer (not verified) said:

Cable and Dish/Direct have no mandate to go to digital in Feb '09 - they only way you'd be in trouble then is if you got all your programming via antenna (rabbit ears).

Cheap

On February 16th, 2008 at 07:34 PM, Anonymous (not verified) said:

True, there is no mandate for cable to go digital in 2/09, but they are required to continue to provide analogue signals for a few years after 2/09 after all OTA signals are digital.  As for satellite, both companies are already all digital and their current set up converts their digital signal to analogue for TVs which don't have an NTSC tuner.  They are required to continue to provide the converted analogue signal as well for a few years after 2/09.