Remote potato vs Slingbox

Experiences and questions about WMC on your iPhone, Droid, WP7, and more.
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acegolfer

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Remote potato vs Slingbox

#1

Post by acegolfer » Thu May 24, 2012 1:40 pm

I have slingbox solo (connected to MCXtender) + slingplayer on my android phone to watch recorded TV shows. (Rarely watch live TV.)

Is remote potato streaming quality better than slingbox? I just upgraded my HTPC with a sandy bridge processor. What's the advantage of RP over slingbox?

bobbob

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#2

Post by bobbob » Thu May 24, 2012 2:18 pm

No advantage, its just a software solution as opposed to a hardware one. slingbox should be better quality as it manages the picture quality displayed in order to ensure as constant a stream as possible. i love my slingbox

barnabas1969

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#3

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu May 24, 2012 7:25 pm

Also, keep in mind that Remote Potato cannot stream copy-protected shows. If you have a slingbox (or other similar device) connected to the video output of your Media Center Extender or HTPC, you can watch anything you like, including copy-protected shows.

Is your slingbox connected to the extender via COMPONENT (red,green,blue) or COMPOSITE (yellow) video? You'll get better video quality with COMPONENT... as long as your extender is set to output 1080i or 720p, and your slingbox can handle an HD video source.

acegolfer

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#4

Post by acegolfer » Thu May 24, 2012 7:34 pm

barnabas1969 wrote:Also, keep in mind that Remote Potato cannot stream copy-protected shows. If you have a slingbox (or other similar device) connected to the video output of your Media Center Extender or HTPC, you can watch anything you like, including copy-protected shows.

Is your slingbox connected to the extender via COMPONENT (red,green,blue) or COMPOSITE (yellow) video? You'll get better video quality with COMPONENT... as long as your extender is set to output 1080i or 720p, and your slingbox can handle an HD video source.
No drm stuffs.
Component which gets pass through to hdtv.

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JazJon

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#5

Post by JazJon » Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:02 pm

I have a Slingbox Pro HD but I haven't even bothered hooking it up since I moved. The whole grainy gui interface (from a slow low res linksys extender) is clunky and hard to use on your small mobile screen. (can barely see what you're doing with massive delays)

I prefer Stream2Me iPhone app to stream my Recorded TV flawlessly/steady, (not sure of a Android equivalent)
http://projectswithlove.com/streamtome/
and Ceton Companion App for managing scheduled recordings remotely.
http://cetoncorp.com/products/companion/

This isn't the best choice for live tv, but I rarely watch live these days unless it's the news. You can sign into the CNN iOS app with your TV Provider (comcast) for live TV access.
Last edited by JazJon on Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:47 am, edited 1 time in total.

barnabas1969

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#6

Post by barnabas1969 » Thu Jan 17, 2013 1:09 pm

Lazarus, come forth!

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JazJon

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#7

Post by JazJon » Wed Jan 23, 2013 3:03 am

Hey I just noticed Slingbox came out with NEW boxes finally. (and they support HDMI 1080P) Anyone going to try one? I might since it's finally HDMI and 1080P. The old ones were component only and 1080i.

Slingbox 350 and 500

http://www.slingbox.com/

EDIT: Never mind they don't support HDCP (see reviews)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/community-cont ... B009FU8BR0

EDIT 2:
Maybe we could use a HDMI Splitter:
(not sure one exists that supports HDCP)

Then out of output #2 of the Spliter, convert HDMI to Component via:
http://www.monoprice.com/products/produ ... QgodjgcAMQ

If this works, you would only need the cheaper 350 (EDIT, 500 is the only one that has HDMI)
Last edited by JazJon on Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:36 am, edited 1 time in total.

bobbob

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#8

Post by bobbob » Wed Jan 23, 2013 9:36 am

i have no intention of going back to using a slingbox, i guess if we had DRM issues it could be a consideration but Remote Potato / DVBLink serve my recorded tv and live tv needs

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JazJon

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#9

Post by JazJon » Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:04 am

Here is an inexpensive HDMI splitter that has great reviews and says it supports HDCP.
http://www.amazon.com/SANOXY-splitter-s ... roduct_top

I wonder how the new HDMI SlingBox would work on a HTPC MediaCenter? (no premium channels)

I just asked more about it here:
http://answers.slingbox.com/message/83740#83740

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#10

Post by Scott R » Sat Jan 26, 2013 2:59 pm

WTV-MetaRenamer + Plex is a great solution for watching your recorded content. Plex will give you full metadata about your shows, group shows by season, "cover art" (or whatever you want to call it).

For live TV you can do pseudo-live TV by setting a show to record (using the Ceton app) and then starting it up in Plex (or AirVideo is another good on-the-fly transcoder) a minute or two later, but you'd have to keep restarting it because it will only check the recording length when you first start to play it. If you wait 15 minutes for a 30 minute show, and don't fast forward, you'd only have to restart it once. For real live TV (but no pause/rewind) InstaTV works but is a little flakey.

Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I found the PQ out of RemotePotato to be really awful, whereas the apps I've mentioned above can give you really good HD quality (note: I have an Intel i7 CPU).

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JazJon

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#11

Post by JazJon » Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:48 am

Ok I'm feeling crazy, and getting the urge to go for it, just because it can be done more than I need need it.

I was told via private message on another forum that if we are looking to order an HDMI spliiter that strips HDCP to get them on ebay or aliexpress. just make sure it says "HDMI 3D SPLITTER 1X4" in that font on the top of the device.

Image

His info comes from YouTube comments by one guy and another dude's posts on a gaming capture forum. (PS3)
http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=fdtSXRWTJ3A

Looks like this is it: (seller acepurchase as mentioned in youtube comments and elsewhere)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDMI-1x4-4-Port ... 3cce7c0c67

I'm going to order the new Slingbox 500, one of the above, and give it a shot. Hopefully the Media Center IR codes are good to go. (looks like Media Center PVR is still a choice looking at my old 300 setup choices) Luckily the non-existent advanced port forwarding I read about won't be a problem for my home network. I'll post my findings! (time to sell the Pro HD on ebay) Operation HDCP Stripper in action soon hopefully.
Last edited by JazJon on Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:52 am, edited 2 times in total.

stefan52a

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#12

Post by stefan52a » Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:37 am

Have windows media center 7/8 and a tuner? Watch live tv on your android ANYWHERE goto [moderator note: link removed due to multiple instances of advertised product]
Author of Remote Media Center see https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ientlivetv and iPad version on the app store.

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JazJon

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#13

Post by JazJon » Wed Jan 30, 2013 9:46 am

stefan52a wrote:Have windows media center 7/8 and a tuner? Watch live tv on your android ANYWHERE goto [moderator note: link removed due to multiple instances of advertised product]
Interesting, nice to see someone has finally updated the abandon ware/open sourced Remote Potato. Bummer that it's Android only. I guess we could install the Android App on our Windows Laptop/Tablet though via http://bluestacks.com (free -ndroid emulator for windows, pretty impressive) but doesn't help iPhone/iPad users. Still good to know and interesting!

* DRM-protected content is not supported. (that's no fun though)

Using the HDMI HDCP stripper should over come any DRM road blocks for my future SlingBox 500. (hopefully, I'm excited to test it all out)
Last edited by JazJon on Wed Jan 30, 2013 8:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.

bobbob

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#14

Post by bobbob » Wed Jan 30, 2013 10:00 am

i've have a HD Fury 2 which i have used to remove HDCP in the past. I believe there is a more recent version now.

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JazJon

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#15

Post by JazJon » Wed Jan 30, 2013 10:03 am

bobbob wrote:i've have a HD Fury 2 which i have used to remove HDCP in the past. I believe there is a more recent version now.
It was my understanding that the HD Fury had to convert HDMI to Analog DVI or Component, and then back to HDMI again. (so possible quality / aspect issues, even if only slight)

Do you know if they make a pure HDMI stripper? Their web site is not easy to navigate and I don't see anything.

The grey area off market HDMI splitter seems to be the best pass through easy stripper and it's less than $40. (if it works, looking forward to posting my review)

bobbob

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#16

Post by bobbob » Wed Jan 30, 2013 2:02 pm

you might be right, i'm not so clear on the technical aspect. i used it to take the hdmi from my cable box, split it, pass one off to the tv and the second through the HD fury into the Hauppaugge HDPVR. This was all before i got into Media Center properly

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