Slingbox Classic (UK spec) questions

[PaulR]

Couple of quick questions.

Do ALL the UK spec Classics have a built-in Freeview tuner?

Is this tuner still working for Freeview after the Digital Switch Over?

 

[smoggy07]

Couple of quick questions.

Do ALL the UK spec Classics have a built-in Freeview tuner?

Is this tuner still working for Freeview after the Digital Switch Over?

If it has Freeview built in it will work after DSO, not sure if they have it built in though

 

[Burnham Beech]

The Slingbox does not have any tuner.

What made you think it does?

 

[PaulR]

The Slingbox does not have any tuner.

What made you think it does?

Ebay 330672559746 and 330674368929 and stuff I've read elsewhere.

 

[Analoguesat]

My old SB certainly has a dtt tuner in it.

It worked fine after DSO - apart from the poor signal strength due to an excessively long cable run required, which made me give up on dtt..

Its not been used recently as it sucks up almost all the capacity on our not very fast broadband and makes the connection hopelessly slow for use with anything else.

 

[rolfw]

My two classics have Freeview built in, although not switched over yet, should be no problem. Not all of the classics have Freeview, definitely a backward step removing it from later models.

 

[PaulR]

Thanks for the input everyone. I think the Classic was renamed the Solo when the tuner was removed but I still have a niggling feeling that early Classics might not have a tuner.

 

[rolfw]

Think you're correct Paul, it was the early ones which didn't have the Freeview capability.

 

[Burnham Beech]

The Slingbox Classic appears to be an old version that was discontinued some time ago.

I would not bother with these old versions as you will not get the advanced streaming capabilities you get with the latest models like the Solo or Pro.

If you have a good internet connection at your base location you will get acceptable results.

 

[PaulR]

Yes but the Classics are cheap. I'm aware that the later versions use a better compression algorithm but this is more as an experiment to test the waters and if needs be will get a later version when the friend I'm doing this for decides he wants better quality.

The later HD Pro (and I think the earlier Pro) have the Freeview tuner but we're talking quite a few pennies more!

 

[PaulR]

Just realised I didn't finish this thread off. In the end I bought an HD Pro and a (now discontinued) Slingcatcher. Over the house network the speed clinbs up to about 8mbps but over the Internet it maxes out at just over 1mbps, which is just about right for my connection offerring up to 1.3mbps.

Viewing in France on a 47" TV showed up the artefacts. Fast movement and very detailed pictures give the most problem as you would expect but it was entirely watchable. Not as good as the best SD satellite channels but I've seen worse pictures quality on some of the minor channels.

I've recently bought a D-link Boxee Box as a media player and this has a Slingbox app amongst others. Quality seems to be the same.

 

[Captain Jack]

Paul, if you ever think about flogging your Boxee or Slingcatcher, let me know

 

[PaulR]

It's a pissabolity. I've recently (two days ago!) become interested in using a Raspberry Pi as a media centre. Trouble is that I KNOW that I'm not a programmer although I've been assured that apps are already written and out there.

TBH it'll probably be next September, after the summer hols, when I eventually decide what to do. In the meantime much reading up about the Pi is called for.