Slingbox + Premiere Q's

AbMagFab · 01-25-2011, 12:04 AM

I'm finding myself traveling a lot over the upcoming weeks/months, and realized that I need a Slingbox to connect to one of my Tivo's, as live TV is impossible to watch, and I need to watch my recorded shows or I slowly begin to lose my mind...

I have a couple HDs, HD XLs, and Premieres (and a couple disconnected S3s). The best place to connect this is on an HD or HD XL.

All of my Tivo's are connected via HDMI to an AVR/Pre-amp.

Can I simply connect the Slingbox via component to the Tivo HD, leaving the HDMI connection to AVR intact? It's very unlikely the AVR/TV will be on when we're traveling, but it's possible.

I searched, but there are a bunch of conflicting threads on this, some saying that the AVR has to be on or I get an "HDMI not supported" error, others saying this only works when the HDMI path is off, other saying it just doesn't work and I need to use component only.

Anyone actually using this, and can either confirm this works (HDMI->AVR->TV + Sling->Component), if it works whether the AVR/TV is on or off, or confirm I have to do component passthough for this to be reliable?

Thanks in advance for any help!

shorties · 01-25-2011, 04:48 AM

I think it depends on the audio receiver you have, but with my sony receiver my slingbox has no problem when connected via component and HDMI as long as the AV receiver is off. If the AV receiver is on and the TV is off or if the AV receiver is on a different input I get the HDMI is not supported error. If the TV is on and the AV receiver is on the right input the sling box works fine. I just have to remember to make sure to turn off my AV receiver before leaving the house.

AbMagFab · 01-30-2011, 10:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shorties

I think it depends on the audio receiver you have, but with my sony receiver my slingbox has no problem when connected via component and HDMI as long as the AV receiver is off. If the AV receiver is on and the TV is off or if the AV receiver is on a different input I get the HDMI is not supported error. If the TV is on and the AV receiver is on the right input the sling box works fine. I just have to remember to make sure to turn off my AV receiver before leaving the house.

Seems like everything works fine for me. I haven't tried the different input thing yet, but TV on/AVR on Tivo, and AVR off both seem to work, so I think I'm set.

Now if they would just make the whole remote control of it easier... having to get out of bed, pop up the virtual remote, do something, then get back in bed isn't particularly user-friendly. And forget 30-sec-skip.

(My set up is in a hotel, with my Mac Air connected to the TV, so it's not in arms reach when in the bed.)