S3 and a slingbox?

[lombard]

I've got a couple of quickies for the fortunate few who already have their S3 (mine's due on Friday).

I travel A LOT, and have come to rely heavily on my Slingbox for catching all my shows. I was wondering if one or two of you could check some stuff out for me.

1. Remote codes. I'm hoping that TiVo hasn't suddenly decided to change all their remote codes, since it'll probably be a while before slingbox updates their software with the new codes. I only really care about the basic navigation buttons (enough to get to Now Playing, Pick Shows to Record, Season Pass Manager, etc). I'm not worried about buttons for switching tuners, output options, etc.

2. I may have lied. There's a chance I do care about switching output options. If you're watching a HD show, does the TiVo automatically downrez it and put it out over the S-Video simultaneously with the component/HDMI? And if so, does it default to a 4:3 aspect ratio? I'm guessing it puts out a 16:9 image, since that's how I'll have it set up for my HDTV.

Thanks!

Can't wait to play with mine on Friday.....

[Dan203]

1) Remote codes are the same

2) All video outputs are identical. So if you have it set up for a 16:9 TV then HD content will be output over S-Video/Composite as a squished 4:3 picture. The only way to change it is to go into the menu and tell it you're using a 4:3 TV, which will then cause it to go into letterbox mode.

Dan

[mad6c]

Can the sling player be set to 16x9 and unsquish it?

[RoanokeHokie]

Can the sling player be set to 16x9 and unsquish it?As I understand it, the Sling PRO can do 16x9 ratio video, however it's still just 640x480 (or 320x240) resolution. I haven't actually played with one yet, but my Sling 'Classic' is living a happy live providing remote access to my Series 2... when there are some good deals on the Sling PRO (and when they have the long-delayed Mac client), I might get one for my Series 3 as well.

[IceStorm]

It works great. I've been using the Series 3 with my first generation Slingbox the past few days while at work (overnight shift, TV options at work suck).

Put the Sling's IR blaster right over the clock. That's apparently where the IR sensor is on the TiVo. To the left of the clock didn't work.

I'm using the latest SlingPlayer, 1.4.0.195. While the Series 3 remote isn't in there, the Series 2 is and it works fine. However, the Series 2 remote lacks the Aspect button. In its place is the Standby button (which works). You'll have to set the Aspect via the TiVo menus.

The new Sling Player supports rapid switching from 4:3 to 16:9 (it's in the Video Size context menu). The TiVo outputs via s-video or composite in whatever mode you want. For example, right now I have the TiVo set up for a widescreen TV and have Aspect in "Zoom" mode to watch a letterboxed 4:3 show without the letterboxing. The Sling Player is set to 16x9 mode, and on the Player it looks the same as my TV.

It'll be better once Sling updates and adds the Series 3 remote, but it's quite usable as it is right now.

Note that you can hook up to two devices to the traditional Slingbox player - one over s-video or component, and one over RF. I have my SA 8300HD on the RF input and my Series 3 on the s-video input. You can't use the third input (composite) and retain audio, though, because there's only one set of left/right audio inputs. The Sling Player will let you define something on all three video inputs, but you'd need to find a way to switch the audio signal between the s-vid and composite video inputs.

...

Well, it's not working any longer. BBC World won't stay on the screen. The Slingbox is attached to the s-video output of the TiVo, and now while I'm at work tonight the a TiVo banner has popped up to tell me that, "Viewing is not permitted using the TiVo Digital Media Recorder... Try another TV input."

Meanwhile, my SA 8300HD cable DVR works fine.

This is only affecting channels with a CCI code of 0x02, so BBC World, Logo, most HBO (not HD and I think family/signature), all Starz but HD, and all Encores.

I'm back to considering returning the Series 3 until these hurdles are worked out...