American TV???

[Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Abacha

Longhorn - moving from Louisiana in Jan, did you try the slingbox and did it work?

I haven't yet, its sitting back in Houston waiting on my friend to hook it up for me, things have been crazy there as well as here. As soon as I get it working I will let you know though.

A couple things I have found out since I have been here:

1. Pal vs. NTSC - Doesn't matter what your tv is for Du, their cable box is multi format, that only matter for the DVD's here but multi format dvd players are cheap or if you do like I did and hook up a computer you can get software that takes care of that problem

2. Don't subscribe to Du if you can get slingbox working, only thing I watch for 400 dhs a month is CNN, CNBC and Fox movies, the rest of the channels pretty much suck and the arabic subtitles at the bottom of the screen irritate the hell out of me. There are more american shows available but what you get for the price isn't worth it.

3. When you live in Dubai you really don't have a lot of time to sit in front of the tv...most of your free time is spent in traffic

email me when you get to town and I will help you out as much as I can

[Abacha]

Thanks Longhorn, that's what I'm thinking with the slingbox - paying the obligatory $100/mo for Tivo/cable in the US instead of over there and then beaming all my stuff (read: sports!) over the internet and into my laptop (then television) to watch when I so choose. I love my Tivo/slingbox set-up now, and if it works over there as well then hopefully my expat days of watching Bowl Games and the World Series at 2am in the morning off of MSNBC are over!

I'm new to the site but expect I'll be an active participant, glad I found it and I'll keep in touch, landing mid-Jan. Thanks for the traffic tip, my commute is 30km and I'm told that'll take anywhere from 25 to 90 minutes depending on traffic. Mad indeed!

[Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Abacha

Thanks Longhorn, that's what I'm thinking with the slingbox - paying the obligatory $100/mo for Tivo/cable in the US instead of over there and then beaming all my stuff (read: sports!) over the internet and into my laptop (then television) to watch when I so choose. I love my Tivo/slingbox set-up now, and if it works over there as well then hopefully my expat days of watching Bowl Games and the World Series at 2am in the morning off of MSNBC are over!

I'm new to the site but expect I'll be an active participant, glad I found it and I'll keep in touch, landing mid-Jan. Thanks for the traffic tip, my commute is 30km and I'm told that'll take anywhere from 25 to 90 minutes depending on traffic. Mad indeed!

speaking of traffic...took me 2 hours 12 minutes from Jebel ali to the marina tonight...had to drop off a co-worker in the springs first but still...damn!

[tommygun_00]

Originally Posted by Longhorn

speaking of traffic...took me 2 hours 12 minutes from Jebel ali to the marina tonight...had to drop off a co-worker in the springs first but still...damn!

Longhorn...

Any updates on the Slingbox working? Looking to bring it with us in a month. Want to hook my laptop up to the flatscreen TV via RGB. wondered how this looks on the TV?

Thanks for any advice.

[stevieboy1980]

a slingbox via a laptop to a decent size TV is really bad..

You need the sling catcher for it to be any good...

p.s uk soaps are shown like 2 months delay to the UK!

[Abacha]

Longhorn - we were chatting a few months back, I'm in Dubai now and finally got my Slingbox connected, today in fact. Watching the Braves play the 'stros as we speak on ESPN and it's awesome. All the other channels work perfectly as well, watched a bit of Price Is Right this morning, a movie on AMC (Gregory Peck in MacArthur), the DirectTV football package looks like it'll work fine as well and I'm so excited. I had the unit sent to my brother in Virginia by Amazon, he's a techie so set-up was easy, he put it in one of his spare bedrooms that no one really uses (except me) so I'm not bothering him at all. Bought the Slingbox Solo for about $140. On this side I went to the website, downloaded the software, logged in and I was off, very easy. It works exactly as I expected, better even. My bro has DirectTV and I can either use a virtual remote that is exactly like the DirectTV remote or I can use the guide selector provided by Slingbox (or both at the same time, one on the left the other on the right as the Slingbox one is easier to navigate as the channel guide is downloaded on this side vs. the virtual remote which sends the command over the internet to Virginia which involves a slight delay, about 1-2 seconds between when you push a button and when it shows up on that side). Audio is perfect but the video isn't the greatest because of the slow internet speeds on this side but it's really not an issue, just like watching a good quality youtube video. No delays whatsoever, just smooth streaming as it has an optimization feature, if you happened to have a fast connection you can improve the video up to the top setting which is billed HD quality, the best we seem to do is 320 x 240, there are two lower and 3 higher including that HD quality. What I'm watching now is fine, I tried the manual settings to try the higher video settings and it was very clear, like a VCD, but it wasn't smooth so I switched back to the automatic optimization. I'm watching it on my laptop and it is fine in full screen mode but I can see how it wouldn't be so great on a big TV given the slow internet speeds and video quality issues around that but there must be a way this, perhaps with the Slingcatcher as someone suggested, you can also get a more full feature Slingbox and connect to your Tivo or DVR at home but I didn't get that as I don't have that feature over there. Another nice feature is that it saves the most recent 60 minutes that you've watched so you can go back and watch replays or walk away, come in late and still watch something. All and all this is a must have for American Sports Fans, no regrets. Hope this helps.

[tommygun_00]

Originally Posted by Abacha

Longhorn - we were chatting a few months back, I'm in Dubai now and finally got my Slingbox connected, today in fact. Watching the Braves play the 'stros as we speak on ESPN and it's awesome. All the other channels work perfectly as well, watched a bit of Price Is Right this morning, a movie on AMC (Gregory Peck in MacArthur), the DirectTV football package looks like it'll work fine as well and I'm so excited. I had the unit sent to my brother in Virginia by Amazon, he's a techie so set-up was easy, he put it in one of his spare bedrooms that no one really uses (except me) so I'm not bothering him at all. Bought the Slingbox Solo for about $140. On this side I went to the website, downloaded the software, logged in and I was off, very easy. It works exactly as I expected, better even. My bro has DirectTV and I can either use a virtual remote that is exactly like the DirectTV remote or I can use the guide selector provided by Slingbox (or both at the same time, one on the left the other on the right as the Slingbox one is easier to navigate as the channel guide is downloaded on this side vs. the virtual remote which sends the command over the internet to Virginia which involves a slight delay, about 1-2 seconds between when you push a button and when it shows up on that side). Audio is perfect but the video isn't the greatest because of the slow internet speeds on this side but it's really not an issue, just like watching a good quality youtube video. No delays whatsoever, just smooth streaming as it has an optimization feature, if you happened to have a fast connection you can improve the video up to the top setting which is billed HD quality, the best we seem to do is 320 x 240, there are two lower and 3 higher including that HD quality. What I'm watching now is fine, I tried the manual settings to try the higher video settings and it was very clear, like a VCD, but it wasn't smooth so I switched back to the automatic optimization. I'm watching it on my laptop and it is fine in full screen mode but I can see how it wouldn't be so great on a big TV given the slow internet speeds and video quality issues around that but there must be a way this, perhaps with the Slingcatcher as someone suggested, you can also get a more full feature Slingbox and connect to your Tivo or DVR at home but I didn't get that as I don't have that feature over there. Another nice feature is that it saves the most recent 60 minutes that you've watched so you can go back and watch replays or walk away, come in late and still watch something. All and all this is a must have for American Sports Fans, no regrets. Hope this helps.

Seems to me the only issues after reading about it is you have to have both the Slingbox and the SlingCatcher to make this work for TV. I'm going to see what it would cost and hope it works over there once I'm on the plane.

[Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Abacha

Longhorn - we were chatting a few months back, I'm in Dubai now and finally got my Slingbox connected, today in fact. Watching the Braves play the 'stros as we speak on ESPN and it's awesome. All the other channels work perfectly as well, watched a bit of Price Is Right this morning, a movie on AMC (Gregory Peck in MacArthur), the DirectTV football package looks like it'll work fine as well and I'm so excited. I had the unit sent to my brother in Virginia by Amazon, he's a techie so set-up was easy, he put it in one of his spare bedrooms that no one really uses (except me) so I'm not bothering him at all. Bought the Slingbox Solo for about $140. On this side I went to the website, downloaded the software, logged in and I was off, very easy. It works exactly as I expected, better even. My bro has DirectTV and I can either use a virtual remote that is exactly like the DirectTV remote or I can use the guide selector provided by Slingbox (or both at the same time, one on the left the other on the right as the Slingbox one is easier to navigate as the channel guide is downloaded on this side vs. the virtual remote which sends the command over the internet to Virginia which involves a slight delay, about 1-2 seconds between when you push a button and when it shows up on that side). Audio is perfect but the video isn't the greatest because of the slow internet speeds on this side but it's really not an issue, just like watching a good quality youtube video. No delays whatsoever, just smooth streaming as it has an optimization feature, if you happened to have a fast connection you can improve the video up to the top setting which is billed HD quality, the best we seem to do is 320 x 240, there are two lower and 3 higher including that HD quality. What I'm watching now is fine, I tried the manual settings to try the higher video settings and it was very clear, like a VCD, but it wasn't smooth so I switched back to the automatic optimization. I'm watching it on my laptop and it is fine in full screen mode but I can see how it wouldn't be so great on a big TV given the slow internet speeds and video quality issues around that but there must be a way this, perhaps with the Slingcatcher as someone suggested, you can also get a more full feature Slingbox and connect to your Tivo or DVR at home but I didn't get that as I don't have that feature over there. Another nice feature is that it saves the most recent 60 minutes that you've watched so you can go back and watch replays or walk away, come in late and still watch something. All and all this is a must have for American Sports Fans, no regrets. Hope this helps.

Great you got yours working! I haven't been able to get mine to connect here at all. It works fine back in Houston but on the same computer here I always get a failure to connect. I have tried everything I can think of and nothing...next time I go back there I am going to try to tweak some things and get it working.

[Longhorn]

Originally Posted by Longhorn

Great you got yours working! I haven't been able to get mine to connect here at all. It works fine back in Houston but on the same computer here I always get a failure to connect. I have tried everything I can think of and nothing...next time I go back there I am going to try to tweak some things and get it working.

Oh, I did upgrade to the 12mb connection through Du...I never get anywhere near that speed but its not bad and my box is connected to a really fast upload connection in Houston, about 5-6 mbps average so it shouldn't be a speed problem. I can also see the box in my account so I know the slingplayer is finding it fine.

Did you get a slingcatcher or are you just using the slingplayer?

[Abacha]

Originally Posted by Longhorn

Oh, I did upgrade to the 12mb connection through Du...I never get anywhere near that speed but its not bad and my box is connected to a really fast upload connection in Houston, about 5-6 mbps average so it shouldn't be a speed problem. I can also see the box in my account so I know the slingplayer is finding it fine.

Did you get a slingcatcher or are you just using the slingplayer?

For now I'm just using the Slingbox, come football season I'll look at the Slingcatcher as well as a better connection so I can watch it on the big screen.