www.iFourWinns.com

I wanted to post a positive comment on the Slingbox system. For those who don't know of it, it plugs into your home cable, and home internet, and then is accessed over the internet from anywhere. It gives the used the ability to watch their "home" cable, dvr, change channels, record shows, etc.. I bought it last week, and installed it and configured it in less than 10 minutes. My wife loves the Red Sox, and trying to get them in any form onto the boat is next to impossible, without having a cable tv line put in. This is the best $140 i have spent in a long time. The marina we are at has wifi, so I fire up the laptop, log into my cablebox and tune into our sports network. of course, I can't watch it while out on the hook, unless I use the iphone, but then it eats bandwidth pretty quickly.

And now I can hear my wife say, "What? We are not watching that damn AxMen again are we?" while on the boat, not just at home! lol.

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Gary & Diane
1996 Sundowner 245
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH

I think you said it, bandwidth. There network may not be able to handle the bandwidth of you and the rest of the marina at the same time. I say this because, you did log into your cable box. Remember too, most WiFi setups are 802.11b/g, so top speed would be 54mps and wireless will burst. So one moment your getting data and the next your not. Why, because it is Tx & Rx out to you and 10, 20 plus users.

I use a "hot-spot", it is a monthly expense but you can use it anywhere and its more bandwidth than WiFi but less than a hard wired connection.

Logging onto his cable box takes no more bandwith than any other user logging on to the internet. The slingbox actually uses less bandwith than someone downloading a picture from face book. The marina Wi-Fi connection will have no problems whatsoever handling it.
It's more of a strain on the uploading speed of your cable provider, and if they impose any limits on bandwith streaming. And that is usually not an issue, even if you use an HD Slingbox.

gslpro, Enjoy your summer and your new slingbox, they are a great idea for someone in your situation. The last marina we were at , had Wi-Fi but no TV reception at all. By the middle of summer, 11 people had bought slingboxes and all got great reception from their cable boxes with no problems whatsoever. I was going to buy one myself, and then we switched marinas. Our new marina has cable TV at the docks with about 60 channels to choose from. Don't worry about bandwith, it will be a non issue. Trust me.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

If band width is not the problem, than what is?? I would not think that the marina would have a T1 line?

Gscpro, please read the below links and come to your own concussion. More so the last one, because it goes into what I was saying on share the bandwidth with everone else. Forgive me, I am only using these links to give you a better understanding on this subject. A movie will take more bandwidth and for a longer time than down loading a pic from anywhere.

http://gigaom.com/video/five-devices-th ... width-cap/

http://randomoracle.wordpress.com/2007/ ... bandwidth/

"In this bloggers’s experience ~500kbps is required to avoid compression artifacts and closer to 800 kbps is called for when the signal is intended for display on a TV at standard watching distances instead of a tiny window on a laptop screen."

http://www.michaelsinsight.com/2009/04/ ... rvice.html

http://www.ehow.com/list_7430293_bandwi ... solo_.html

"keep in mind that you may not be able to obtain this level of bandwidth if you share your Internet connection with multiple users"



Happy boating!!

Excuse me Ace, can't you read ? ...... did anyone but you say there was a problem ? gslpro said it works just fine and he is not concerned about any issues. If he has a problem and asks for help, then go right ahead and offer a dozen more links to internet blogs that drive home your point (that knowone is interested in) until then, a simple "Slingbox is nice I'm glad you and the wife are happy with the product" will do.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

YES, you are RIGHT! I miss read it, my apogees. This is what happens when I don't have my glasses on. Again, sorry for any trouble. I only wished you had pionted this out to me sooner! It's guy's like you that need to watch guys like me. SORRY

No troubles, enjoy your apogee sandwich.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

I am, right now its under my desk!

Man, you guys gotta hug....

One of the reasons I did not buy the HD version was streaming concerns. True, I might end up with problems, but I think that if 20 other users are on the router, than they would also have to be streaming video to eat that much bandwidth. We'll see what happens. For now, I just love good technology.

_________________

Gary & Diane
1996 Sundowner 245
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH