Anyone Using A Slingbox In Chiang Mai?

[highonthai]

Anyone using a slingbox in Chiang mai? Im in LA at the moment and thought I'd pick one up up for my CM house.

Tired of UBC, thought this might be a good alternatiive...Pro's, con's?

thanks

[Sansai Sam]

I have been looking into it. I would be very interested to know how it goes. I will be in San Francisco end of May and I might pick one up if it works well. Please post your results.

[howard251]

I just back from visiting my mom in Connecticut. I hooked up a Slingbox PRO-HD to her Comcast cable TV system and upgraded her AT&T Internet package to PRO, which is 6MB down and 768K up.

I fully tested the system while I was there using the Slingplayer PC software which you can download for free. I also bought and tested the Slingcatcher which let's you play your Slingbox directly through a TV with out the use of a computer. All the hardware power supplies are 110/220v compatible.

I live in Chiang Mai and have TT&T Maxnet Premier which is fantastically stable with no slow periods 24 hours a day.

With that said, after I got back to CM and hooked everything up, it was working in minutes because it was already tested before I left the states.

The picture quality is good, but next year when I return to the states I'll get mom my cable Internet or anything that has a faster upload speed, that way I'll enjoy HD broadcasts.

When I press the OPT button on my Slingcatcher, I consistently get a solid download speed of 664kbps which is acceptable because my mom only has 7778kbps upload Internet speed from her side.

I personally do not have a DVR hooked up to record, but that's OK or me because the 11 hour time difference to watch my favorite shows is not an issue for me.

The most important thing here is to have the fastestes Internet upload speed on the Slingbox side and a stable high quality download speed on the Thialand side.

I do recommend the Slingbox PRO-HD and well worth the extra money.

The only con I can think of at the moment. It's slow when changing channels, much quicker to change channels on the UBC remote. Also the time difference between LA and CM unless you have a DVR hooked up. And repeating myself, a good stable Internet connection in Chiang Mai to get the best results.

Edited April 20, 2009 by howard251

[Langsuan Man]

The only problem with the Slinbox is that you must have someone at the Slingbox location to re-set the router or Slingbox itself

It is notorious for losing it's settings

Having a DVR is not mandatory BUT will increase the stability of your stream

I really cannot comment on HD streaming but I think that when you talk HD here in Thailand and what is stable now, may not be stable tomorrow and I think an HD stream is going to tax the system

But as everything here in Thailand, YMMV

[sailaway2000]

I too am using the SLINGBOX SOLO in Chiang Mai though from Pleasant Hill in California. I have MaxNET here ( the cheapest ) and Comcast Cable with their internet service in California.

Generally speaking, the service is excellent and reliable. I do note some pretty wild fluctuations in download speeds, but that is most likely due to the fact that I am on MaxNET's Indy service. I may very well find improvement upgrading to the Premier service with MaxNET to overcome the daytime drop in speed. Hovever, as I work through the night, when general Thai usage is minimal, my streaming speeds are close to the maximum. 850 to 950 Kbps (90+%) of what Comcast USA offers in max upload, 1 meg, so I find it adeqate for my needs. I would agree the the previous poster, get the best upload speed to can in the USA or whatever your location and a static DSL connection if possible (reasonable in the US, OUTRAGEOUS here in Thailand).

BTW: I've not had the need to reset the box as yet.

Go ahead and do it.

Edited April 20, 2009 by sailaway2000

[Langsuan Man]

BTW: I've not had the need to reset the box as yet.

Go ahead and do it.

Neither did I until the last five minutes of the 2008 Super Bowl.........

[earlofwindermere]

For those using the Slinbox Catcher, how good is the picture on the tv here? Or, can you only watch a clear picture if its on the computer?

[howard251]

For those using the Slinbox Catcher, how good is the picture on the tv here? Or, can you only watch a clear picture if its on the computer?

I think the picture quality running Slingplayer on my computer looks better on my 19" LCD computer monitor then the Slingcatcher does on my 36" old fashioned glass Sony TV. It might have something to do with picture size?

However I know another Slingcatcher user here in Chiang Mai and she claims the picture quality looks better on her TV then the computer, just the opposite of my experience.

The Slingcatcher HD-PRO has an HDMI port on the back and maybe if it was hooked up to the newer LCD or Plasma TV's that have an HDMI input, the picture quality would be much better.

I also wanted to say I never had to have the Slingbox or router reset in Connecticut, it's been problem free since I set it up 3 weeks ago.

[ironhut]

Ditto some of the other thoughts on this.

I have 3 slingboxes in the States. Most important is to have them as slave units at the houses of friends/family for if/when there is a problem. All work well as long as the internet here is decent (which is rare). Upload speed on the slingbox end is a factor. You may want to check that it's better than 256K.

Good luck.

[Subin]

The writer says he/she is in the States and is thinking of picking up a Slingbox to bring back to Thailand. Please note that the Slingbox itself stays in the US (or other country served) and is connected to the cable or satellite system of a friend or relative willing to let you piggy-back on their system. If you choose to do this, you should also invest in a Slingcatcher, and THIS you bring back to Thailand with you. Our system (which includes a DVR rented from Comcast – and installed by them) has been dramatically improved by the addition of the Slingcatcher, which is hard-wired to the incoming internet signal. This has cut down on drop-outs and stalls, and seems to have also improved the picture quality. It was simple to install, and only occasionally hiccups when we try to input too many commands at one time.. We have reset and restarted the system once, but haven’t had the problem since we learned to slow down. Before we got the Slingcatcher, we were connected wirelessly to the internet, and the laptop was cabled directly to our TV. The remote was an image on the screen, which required the user to stand at the computer and enter commands by mouse. It worked, but it was inconvenient.

We strongly recommend the addition of a DVR or TiVo (again, on the US end) because it has allowed us to watch our programs any time we like. Our next purchase will be an HD DVR, so we can watch HD programming. With the addition of the Slingcatcher, we think it will be worthwhile and we should be able to enjoy even more programming. The Slingbox has made a big difference in our lives here, and the fact that we can take our laptop along wherever we travel and can see our programs anywhere there’s an internet connection is wonderful. We highly recommend it.

[highonthai]

Thanks for the info guys,

Yes, I understand that the box needs to stay here in LA (not a problem since I own a home here). The sling catcher I will take to the CM house. I just thought it would be a good subsitute for UBC. I only want it to feed one TV so will the solo be OK, or do I need the upgraded HD model? Got a fast internet feed here in LA and I don't watch too much TV in CM. I just like the fact I can cancell UBC.

[zippydedodah]

Thanks for the info guys,

Yes, I understand that the box needs to stay here in LA (not a problem since I own a home here). The sling catcher I will take to the CM house. I just thought it would be a good subsitute for UBC. I only want it to feed one TV so will the solo be OK, or do I need the upgraded HD model? Got a fast internet feed here in LA and I don't watch too much TV in CM. I just like the fact I can cancell UBC.

I am in SFO now and moving to CM in August and have been mulling over this question for quite some time... nice to see some real time experiences posted here.

My main concern is the big trend here in USA to cap users total bandwidth and/or charge by BW used.

all the likely friends, willing to put a slingbox in their home, also are heavy torrent users and are already concerned about their usage. Add a slingbox, pumping HD content streaming to thailand... and you have a LOT of gigabytes pushing their way across the internet. At some point, i think we would run afoul of the new capping systems (comcast has already dipped their toes into these capping waters, ATT continually makes noises and all other major providers have been floating cost/capping schemes regularly to the public).

so the idea of putting a box in a house with a separate line, just for the slingbox transmission occurred to me, but then the costs really start stacking up....

any ideas/considerations from posters about this issue?

zippy

[Rice_King]

any ideas/considerations from posters about this issue?

There is this option, Fliptube.Net. Their service is priced well beyond anything I would pay to watch TV. I cannot believe that Fliptube is the only option. An internet search may produce more affordable alternatives.

[Jingthing]

I wouldn't worry about charges for bandwidth in the US until IF and when that happens. So far, it is not happening. I have been using a sling for years now and am well satisfied. Also have a netflix account attached to it which is really cool (DVD player peripheral). Sometimes router and sling resets are indeed needed at the home station. Sometimes often, sometimes it isn't needed for a month or so. I will look into the slingcatcher of course, the reception can always be improved (speed in Thailand is the main issue). The dedicated DVR is also a must have. I share my hosts cable costs, it only seems fair. I think most anyone from the US can persuade a tech savvy friend to help you with this, especially if you share their cable costs. I wouldn't ask a tech phobic person to do this though. Tech problems can and do come up occasionally.

Edited April 23, 2009 by Jingthing

[zippydedodah]

I wouldn't worry about charges for bandwidth in the US until IF and when that happens. So far, it is not happening. I have been using a sling for years now and am well satisfied. Also have a netflix account attached to it which is really cool (DVD player peripheral). Sometimes router and sling resets are indeed needed at the home station. Sometimes often, sometimes it isn't needed for a month or so. I will look into the slingcatcher of course, the reception can always be improved (speed in Thailand is the main issue). The dedicated DVR is also a must have. I share my hosts cable costs, it only seems fair. I think most anyone from the US can persuade a tech savvy friend to help you with this, especially if you share their cable costs. I wouldn't ask a tech phobic person to do this though. Tech problems can and do come up occasionally.

besides the potential BW use/cost, part of my concern is around plain pipe clog. Say my friend belongs to private trackers, which require he maintain ratios to keep membership... therefore he is always using his outbound pipe, to the max. For me to come along and try and piggy back off of that, pushing HD content across (or just a LOT of content, HD or not), sounds like an iffy proposition. He is running 1000 torrent peers and i want to "watch" Dancing with the Stars... well, at the very least i will need a DVR and a lot of patience....

so, i meant that i would have to buy a separate dsl or comcast connection just to push over my slingshot....that ain't cheap, when added to the cost of premium programming ($100+ USD/month), plus the cost of good dsl ($30/month).

SO... i have looked into watching tv online, via ABC.com or other main stations... the problem there is that they don't allow IP addresses outside the USA... hence, i am now looking to proxy servers.....

zippy

[Mekong Bob]

I have been using SlingBox in Chiang Mai (Hang Dong) for a couple of years, but picture quality is erratic. Need some good advice from knowledgeable ThaiVisa folks. The SlingBox and dedicated tv (with DVR) are in Pennsylvania. Comcast for tv and Internet. My Internet Service Provider here in Chiang Mai is 3BB (Triple T), formerly known as MaxNet. I have a fixed IP, rather than dynamic (shared), 5MB download, 1MB upload, 3,100 THB per month. For best SlingBox image quality on my computer screen, SlingBox tech support states that " . . . a minimum upload speed of 600 Kbps is required. The faster the upload speed, the better the quality of the picture." My 1MB upload speed should deliver 1,000 Kbps, correct? My random Internet speed tests show that only a fraction of that upload speed is running on my connection. Should I ask a 3BB technician to make a house call to check this out? Are there certain settings on my computer and within the SlingPlayer program which must be checked as well?

As far as the picture goes, it is quite good at certain times of the day and night, and I have noted the SlingBox streaming rate to reach up to .570 Mbps during those time periods when the picture is exceptionally clear. If 3BB can improve my upload speed to near 1MB, should I then expect to have improved streaming rates?

Is there a gadget or a way to somehow "regulate" and "hold steady" the upload speed and streaming rate?

Thanks!!!

[NancyL]

We just pay for a proxy server, hook up the computer to the TV and watch shows from ABC.com, etc. The proxy server costs about $35 per year and the cables were less than $20.

Not as convenient nor is the selection as broad, but I haven't felt the need to do anything else.

By the way, I found that after I'd been here a year or so, keeping up with my favorite U.S. TV shows didn't seem to be a big priority. I actually stopped watching "Lost" before the show ended.

[Greenside]

By the way, I found that after I'd been here a year or so, keeping up with my favorite U.S. TV shows didn't seem to be a big priority. I actually stopped watching "Lost" before the show ended.

I quit after episode 2. What happened after that?

[Mekong Bob]

I too am using the SLINGBOX SOLO in Chiang Mai though from Pleasant Hill in California. I have MaxNET here ( the cheapest ) and Comcast Cable with their internet service in California.

Generally speaking, the service is excellent and reliable. I do note some pretty wild fluctuations in download speeds, but that is most likely due to the fact that I am on MaxNET's Indy service. I may very well find improvement upgrading to the Premier service with MaxNET to overcome the daytime drop in speed. Hovever, as I work through the night, when general Thai usage is minimal, my streaming speeds are close to the maximum. 850 to 950 Kbps (90+%) of what Comcast USA offers in max upload, 1 meg, so I find it adeqate for my needs. I would agree the the previous poster, get the best upload speed to can in the USA or whatever your location and a static DSL connection if possible (reasonable in the US, OUTRAGEOUS here in Thailand).

BTW: I've not had the need to reset the box as yet.

Go ahead and do it.

Sill using SlingBox ProHD in USA and 3BB here in Chiang Mai? Please update us on your streaming speeds experience. Thanks.