Peter's Blog

The novelty of the Slingbox hasn't worn off after five days:

• TV anywhere there is wifi
• TV on pocketpc (hp rx1950) around the house: watch in bed without waking wife/baby
• useable on wireless laptop where picture shows in a sidebar while I surf
• Remotely control PVR (albeit painfully sluggishly: there is a lag in the video stream so when you do something you have to wait to see the effect)
• Playback is pretty smooth, not crystal clear but watchable

It's the dog playing a piano thing, you just gasp that it does it at all, you don't really listen to the music.

The DVB tuner in the slingbox isn't as sensitive as the one in the humax PVR 9200T. The PVR receives all channels fine whereas the Slingbox struggles on the BBC channels where the signal is weaker, only 45% or so. I have the same problem with a cheapo Digimax freeview tuner that I bought in Tesco. Still, the Slingbox's tuner is only useful to me when the PVR locks up and it hasn't done that since I upgraded the firmware to 1.0.6 (fingers crossed).

I haven't blogged for weeks but I've now done something so cool I cannot keep quiet about it. I've solved my mobile TV-watching problems. I have been trying for ages to build a reliable PVR system using the Hauppauge Nova-T USB and had given up because of the flaky software that is around.

My solution: Humax PVR-9200T Dual Tuner 160G PVR plus a SlingBox.

Humax PVR-9200T bullet list:

• easy to set up
• sensitive tv tuner, finds all channels where Nova-T struggled to find any.
• channel changing speed none too bad
• can do picture in picture
• can schedule recordings from the EPG
• can download recordings to PC using USB port
• can upload MP3s to play on it a-la juke box.
• can upload jpegs to look at on it
• can upgrade the firmware using an RS232 port, not via USB. Have to borrow cable from work.

Summary: good player

UPDATE: player locks up regularly when left on Channel 4. This seems to be a common gripe, something to do with the digital teletext for Big Brother. Will try updating firmware and using a better aerial booster.

UPDATE2: upgraded firmware over-the-air. Box ran overnight for the first time.

The Slingbox takes the output of the PVR and broadcasts it over a network. I can watch TV on laptops or my pocketpc both at home and anywhere I can get an internet connection. The Slingbox has two notable limitations:

1. the Sling Player software won't record the video stream
2. only one client can watch the output at one time

These seem to be anti-piracy measures: I cannot put up a feed where anyone on the internet can watch channel 4.

SlingBox Bullet List:

• easy to set up
• PC Software only downloadable: no CD in the box?
• software is nice, slick and well designed.
• SlingBox has IR transmitters to control your PVR (or DVD Player, TV tuner or whatever your source is). This makes control sluggish and it doesn't support everything the PVR can do (e.g. turn on picture-in-picture).
• have to pay extra $30 for pocket pc version of the software: what a rip.
• the uk version includes a DVB-T tuner (i.e. freeview) but it's not as sensitive as the Humax (which found all the local channels) and the control of it is pretty basic: no EPG!!

Summary: it is good but over-priced

Hooking two consumer devices together has solved my problems: within two hours it was all working. It is not the cheapest solution but it is cheaper than a dedicated media PC would be. By cancelling my sky+ subscription the PVR will pay for itself.