Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receiver?

[Yesfan70]

If so, I got questions. I browsed around Dish's sight and read the links to articles, but still am foggy on their "TV Everywhere" approach

1) It uses a USB connection, so:
a) Do all Dish receivers have the USB jack in the front? My 722 has the jack in the front.
b) how do you also keep an external USB drive connected?
c) how does having dual or single for the tuner mode effect the use of a Sling box? The downstairs box is connected to 2 TVS, while the upstairs box has both tuners connected to a single TV.

2) Will a Sling box allow me to stream video to another TV, that's not connected to one of my two boxes? In other words, does each TV have to be connected to a Dish tuner?

3) Since the Slingbox also needs a Dish receiver connected to a broadband network, can a WiFi enabled TV suffice if it's also connected, or does that display still need an attached tuner?

4) Is "TV Everywhere" limited to the amount of tuners and/or Slingboxes attached to the network?

5) for mobile and PCs, if either of those has a HDMI output (my EVO phone does), can I get a pretty decent image if that device is connected to a TV's HDMI input?

6) If I decide to upgrade to the 922, could I archive my DVR content from my current boxes to an external HDD, then plug the HDD in the new 922 to watch that content? I'm able to do this between both my 722 boxes.


The understanding I have is, you 'give up' one of the tuners in a dual box if you use a Slingbox. If I have a dual tuner downstairs and one upstairs (each with a Sling box attached) then I can have, in each room, at least one extra tuner.

Something I would like to be able to do eventually is have the ability to stream live TV/DVR content from both boxes to any room in the house with a display, including outside to my deck. What I'm worried about is having to add a Sling box and/or tuner for each of those rooms.


Thanks for shedding any light on this.

 

[yromj]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

If so, I got questions. I browsed around Dish's sight and read the links to articles, but still am foggy on their "TV Everywhere" approach

1) It uses a USB connection, so:
a) Do all Dish receivers have the USB jack in the front? My 722 has the jack in the front.
b) how do you also keep an external USB drive connected?

I am using a 922 so I'm not sure about the answers to those. I would think a USB switch would work, but again I don't know for sure.

c) how does having dual or single for the tuner mode effect the use of a Sling box? The downstairs box is connected to 2 TVS, while the upstairs box has both tuners connected to a single TV.

The sling box will take control of one of the tuners (tuner 2 I believe). On my 922 a message appears on the screen telling you that someone has logged in remotely and is using the other tuner. I bet it works very similarly for the slingbox on the 722.

2) Will a Sling box allow me to stream video to another TV, that's not connected to one of my two boxes? In other words, does each TV have to be connected to a Dish tuner?

In theory yes. In practice no. The reason is that no TV I'm aware of can access Dish's site and do everything necessary to view the content. I'm anxiously awaiting the day this becomes possible, though. Then all we'll need to do is run power and ethernet to our TVs. That day isn't here yet, though.

3) Since the Slingbox also needs a Dish receiver connected to a broadband network, can a WiFi enabled TV suffice if it's also connected, or does that display still need an attached tuner?

The slingbox must connect directly to the Dish receiver. That's the only place all of the information is available. The only information available at the TV is the pixel and sound data. The slingbox sends much more than that and must be able to access all the channel and DVR data to sling that out to the WWW.

4) Is "TV Everywhere" limited to the amount of tuners and/or Slingboxes attached to the network?

You can only view the information from the Dish receiver or receivers which have slingboxes directly connected to them.

5) for mobile and PCs, if either of those has a HDMI output (my EVO phone does), can I get a pretty decent image if that device is connected to a TV's HDMI input?

The quality is going to depend on the UPSTREAM speed of your Internet connection. Most residential connections are assymetrical meaning that they have different speeds for downstream (information coming into your house) vs. upstream (information leaving your house). The little I've played w/ my 922 has shown me that if I were in a hotel room w/ a laptop I'd be happy w/ the PQ. If I wanted to put it on a TV and watch a pristing picture I would be disappointed.

6) If I decide to upgrade to the 922, could I archive my DVR content from my current boxes to an external HDD, then plug the HDD in the new 922 to watch that content? I'm able to do this between both my 722 boxes.

I'm going to look into a related matter over the next few days. I have some shows DVR'd on my 722 that I want to move to my 922. I was in hopes that I could transfer them over the network, but no go. I am now going to verify that if I add the HDD usage to both boxes (for a total of $80 I think) that I can move shows between them. I'll post back when I find out anything.

The understanding I have is, you 'give up' one of the tuners in a dual box if you use a Slingbox. If I have a dual tuner downstairs and one upstairs (each with a Sling box attached) then I can have, in each room, at least one extra tuner.

You give up the extra tuner when the sling box is in use. Otherwise, the boxes work as ususal.

Something I would like to be able to do eventually is have the ability to stream live TV/DVR content from both boxes to any room in the house with a display, including outside to my deck. What I'm worried about is having to add a Sling box and/or tuner for each of those rooms.

Streaming the video like that isn't really an option yet due to bandwidth. What would be going on in that instance is each slingbox pushing a/v data to your router, then onto the web, then back to your router, finally to the computer viewing the a/v data. Imagine how much data is going through your network at that point.

I hope this helps a little.

John

 

[Yesfan70]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

.......I'm going to look into a related matter over the next few days. I have some shows DVR'd on my 722 that I want to move to my 922. I was in hopes that I could transfer them over the network, but no go. I am now going to verify that if I add the HDD usage to both boxes (for a total of $80 I think) that I can move shows between them. I'll post back when I find out anything.

If I remember correctly, I think I only paid the $40 activation fee once for both my 722 boxes. I don't think you would have to pay another $40 for a second box. I seriously don't remember paying the fee twice. I think the fee is for each added eHDD, not for each Dish tuner an eHDD will be plugged into.

I hope this helps a little.

John

Yes it does. I really appreciate the help. Thanks John.



I think what I might do is call Dish about switching out my 722 boxes for the 922s. This will give me the Slingbox built in, more HDD space, and plus should free up the USB port for my eHDD since I wouldn't have to use an external Slingbox. If I have to pay the activation fee again, then I'll just go with the adapters.

Maybe for the spare rooms without a tuner, I can use a HDMI matrix switch from one or both boxes. I'd at least like to add TV to the back office/bedroom and my back deck for football season.

One question I forgot about. You mentioned with "TV everywhere" how the Slingbox is uploading content to Dish's sight, then download to the desired display as a potential bandwidth issue if a house has too many Slingbox setups (that's how I took that reply). If that's the case, then I guess I could assume I could go over my allowed bandwidth from AT&T, which would be much lower than Uverse customers since I don't have Uverse.


If I'm right, then I might as well "tough it out" until Uverse comes to my neighborhood. :angry-tappingfoot:

 

[yromj]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

Yeah, you got the jist of what I was saying about the bandwidth. It will be very very nice we can just have out TVs pull the content from the tuners/DVRs via our LANs.

Have you seen my system thread in the systems section? I describe how I'm sharing my 722's HDMI output in two rooms w/ a Yamaha RX-V867 and could not be happier with that setup.

John

 

[Yesfan70]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

Yeah, you got the jist of what I was saying about the bandwidth. It will be very very nice we can just have out TVs pull the content from the tuners/DVRs via our LANs.

Have you seen my system thread in the systems section? I describe how I'm sharing my 722's HDMI output in two rooms w/ a Yamaha RX-V867 and could not be happier with that setup.

John

Honestly, I just glanced over to see the pictures (very nice!). I'll go back over it again.


Again, I appreciate the help John. Thanks bud! :handgestures-thumbup:

 

[Yesfan70]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

Bump.

I just got through chatting with Dish Network. I contacted them for two issues:

1) receiver upgrade. I like those new 922 receivers. They have about twice the hard drive space compared to my 722 receivers, plus they have a built in slingbox for streaming video to a second zone or laptop. The biggest issue I had was the external hard drive I'm currently using. Would I be able to use this USB drive with the new receivers and not lose any DVR contacted I transferred from the 722 receivers? The answer was "yes", so I should be able to archive all my shows from the 722 to the USB drive and then transfer those shows to the new 922 receivers.

The new receivers are going through an update for the Blockbuster Movie Pass (I think), so they are not currently available. One of the things they are working on is being able to feed 3-4 TVs from one box. This I like a lot, but wonder if it's a lot like Direc's whole house setup which is a master HD/DVR box streaming to other set top boxes through out the house. I also asked about ESPN 3D and other 3D networks and they said it is in the works, but they don't know when they will be added to their platform.

2) The other issue was my local NBC network. It is no longer available due to negotiation strains. I asked about another NBC network as DirecTV (years ago) sent in waivers and I was able to get east and west coast feeds (NY, Atlanta, San Fran, and LA) of my locals. They directed me to a site where I could send in the waivers. They also gave me a $10 credit applied to my bill for losing NBC.

I still may look to another provider. I think I may try an outdoor antenna to see if I can receive my locals first. If I can, then great. The whole house DVR from Uverse and Direc looks promising, but how many tuners do you get with those systems? I imagine it's just a dual tuner DVR box with several non DVR boxes daisy chained to each other for streaming through out the house. I'm hoping the revamped 922 will give me what I want. I would rather have a 3-4 tuner box than a dual tuner split to many zones.

Fingers crossed, especially for NBC as they will carry the Super Bowl and the wild card games more than likely.

 

[Towen7]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

The whole house DVR from Uverse and Direc looks promising, but how many tuners do you get with those systems?

Don't know about Direct. Uverse is an Internet product where the channel you're watching/recording are streamed. You get upto 4 live streams with upto 3 of those being HD. The system supports upto 8 set-top boxes. All 8 boxes can access the 4 live streams in addition to what's on the he DVR.

 

[mzpro5]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

They are installing the DTV whole home system at Mom's today. 3 TV's.

I'll give a report on it later this evening.

 

[yromj]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

Just a quick note, but I wouldn't transfer the shows off the HDD onto the new box. I would leave them on the HDD so if anything happens to the box, your shows are still OK. Also, you need to clarify how the slingbox works. The device you stream to has to have a browser in it (ala a laptop or PC) or be able to run the Dish app (ala iPhone/Pad, Droid phone/tablet). For example, I can't stream my 922's content to any of my blu-ray players or TVs even though they're connected to the same network.

John

 

[Yesfan70]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

Just a quick note, but I wouldn't transfer the shows off the HDD onto the new box. I would leave them on the HDD so if anything happens to the box, your shows are still OK. Also, you need to clarify how the slingbox works. The device you stream to has to have a browser in it (ala a laptop or PC) or be able to run the Dish app (ala iPhone/Pad, Droid phone/tablet). For example, I can't stream my 922's content to any of my blu-ray players or TVs even though they're connected to the same network.

John

Sorry for being vague. I know about having to have the sling box (and Dish app) for mobile devices. I had the assumption I could also stream content from one 922 (or 722 with slingbox) to a second 922 receiver. Can you not do that between the Dish receivers? I figured you couldn't with network connected TVS and Blurays players (though that would be a great idea).

Watching DVR content from my external drive is possible, but the video hangs up a lot when doing it that way. I think that's because of the USB 2.0 connection.

They are installing the DTV whole home system at Mom's today. 3 TV's.

I'll give a report on it later this evening.

That would be awesome, please do that. Thanks!

..Don't know about Direct. Uverse is an Internet product where the channel you're watching/recording are streamed. You get upto 4 live streams with upto 3 of those being HD. The system supports upto 8 set-top boxes. All 8 boxes can access the 4 live streams in addition to what's on the he DVR.

.

So, if I'm understanding this, you can have up to 8 boxes, but it's still 4 streams for each of those 8 boxes? In other words, 8 boxes doesn't equal 8 streams.

 

[Towen7]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

[!

..Don't know about Direct. Uverse is an Internet product where the channel you're watching/recording are streamed. You get upto 4 live streams with upto 3 of those being HD. The system supports upto 8 set-top boxes. All 8 boxes can access the 4 live streams in addition to what's on the he DVR.

.

So, if I'm understanding this, you can have up to 8 boxes, but it's still 4 streams for each of those 8 boxes? In other words, 8 boxes doesn't equal 8 streams.

Correct. Upto 4 live streams at a time regardless of the number of boxes. If any boxes are on the same channel thats one stream. So if you have eight boxes and seven are watching Monday Night Football the eighth can watch something else.

 

[Yesfan70]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

That makes Uverse that much more enticing.


Now if only it were available.......................

 

[yromj]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

...I had the assumption I could also stream content from one 922 (or 722 with slingbox) to a second 922 receiver. Can you not do that between the Dish receivers?

Nope you can't stream between DVRs. I had hoped you could but you can't. My guess is that they don't want to mess with the myriad of support issues that would result from bandwidth limitations w/in the house.

John

 

[Yesfan70]

Re: Dish customers: Anyone using the Slingbox or 922 receive

Well that sucks. Looks like Uverse will be a bigger advantage in that area than I thought.