We have a Slingbox at home hooked up to our router and when we go out can watch our DirecTV on our laptop or iPad2. Just bought Apple TV which is just a wireless device that is hooked up to a HDMI port on your TV and can watch everything on the iPad2 on your big screen including DirecTV from Slingbox.
When we go camping all we need is Wi-fi to receive a connection. If we do not have Wi-fi we just do not watch TV but most places we go to do.
Lot less trouble than going through all the stuff setting up a dish not to mention the expense and taking up storage space in the RV.
I bought sling box a few years ago, and used it a little, but found that the quality of the wifi everywhere I went was barely good enough to use it properly. So I just bought a Moto - Sat and life is good. JMHO Macktee
The problem with watching video on Wi-Fi is bandwidth, The park only has so much bandwith if you are using their Wi-Fi like I do (I can not afford not to) then you are a HOG, i'm using perhaps 1% of what you use (if that) (I burn betwen 50 and 100 Meg a day as it turns out)
If you are using anythign that does not include the phrase "Unlimited" you will quickly find out just what I'm talking about.
Winters I spend my time split between a park with good Wi-Fi (2/3) and no Internet service (1/3) on a 2 week in/one week out (of service) basis.
When I am in the "no internet" park I buy Virgin Mobile, 500 megs, And thus monitor my usage, Thur, Fri and Sat I used 141 Megs. That leaves me about 50 meg a day for my next visit to the park (Since I'll use McD's on Sun and Wed)
Nothin adds excitment like something that is none of your business
Kenwood TS-2000 housed in a 2005 Damon Intruder 377
"How much data does the Slingbox use? At the highest resolution possible, the standard-definition SOLO Slingbox generates 6 megabits of data per second, or 2.6 gigabytes per hour. The high-definition PRO-HD model streams 8 megabits per second, or 3.5 gigabytes per hour. If you have a 5 gigabyte-per-month allotment on your laptop, you could blow a half-month's worth of data use on a single hour-long TV episode. A Slingbox spokesperson said they have some hairy stories about data use from people who, for example, have phoned in from their overseas yacht screaming about a $30,000 monthly wireless bill because they used their Slingbox full time on a roaming connection."
The new Slingbox software has been improved, and works better over a slower WiFi connection than it use to.
"Sending a remote video signal requires a fast Internet connection, and in particular a fast outgoing connection, as the SlingBox needs to push a compressed video feed out over the Internet to the remote location you hope to watch it from. However, most consumer broadband Internet accounts are designed around web browsing and consumption of inbound server-side content, meaning that they deliver far faster downloads than uploads."
"DSL commonly offers 0.768 to 1.5 megabit downloads, but often as little as 0.128 uploads, while "fast cable Internet" may deliver as much as 8 or 16 megabit downloads to customers in developed areas of the US, but only a quarter or less than in upload bandwidth. Even customers reporting 50 megabit or greater downloads commonly report only getting ten to twenty percent of that speed for uploads."
"That's the problem facing all server-type consumer applications like the one offered by Sling Media. Even customers who have fast Internet access both at home and in their vacation spot's hotel, college campus, or workplace will be hampered by the weakest link: the relatively slow upload service offered by most ISPs serving home users. Sling addresses this issue by applying proprietary compression and optimized signaling to deliver the most efficient transmission possible."
I have yet to find a CG wifi system that would support streaming video for more than a few minutes........ Trying to stream using 3G or 4G wireless connections work fine, but your data cap quickly comes into play. I don't see a streaming option that will replace my satellite dish for TV watching at this point.....
Paul & Sandra
New Bedford, MA
2003 Monaco Executive M43 DS2
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