I'm sorry but this is blatantly WRONG. I'm streaming my Slingbox over 3G on my AT&T Blackberry Bold right now and it works great. I like my iPhone better than my Blackberry for most stuff, but the Slingplayer on the Blackberry is MUCH better. It works over WiFi, 3G and even Edge (marginally). On top of that, I have two Slingboxes and two SlingPlayer Mobile licenses, and yet I had to pay for the iPhone client separately? SlingMedia really dropped the ball here. The interface on the iPhone is slow, the video framerate often drops down to a stutter, and you can't make it fill the whole screen for HD sources. Save your money, don't bother. Oh, and AppleInsider, please check your facts before posting.
So let me get this right- AT&T lets Slingbox go over 3G for other phones and then delivers a clogged-up 3G network to iPhone customers as a result? SLICK AT&T, SLICK.
Personally, I have never used it but I continue to believe that Sling is a poor solution for the problem it attempts to solve (TV on the go). Simply broadcasting TV signals to phones is a far better design. Sling exists only because the various companies involved (in the USA), can't get it together to offer such things.
It's a well-designed, somewhat elegant kludge... but it's still a kludge.
I think it is funny that you are admitting that you have never used the product in your life, but you say it is a poor solution. As a guy that has been using it for years and has friends that have been using it for years, I would say it's a pretty good solution. The product they had 3 years ago was a little rough around the edges, but it is really cleaning up nicely.
I agree with you when you say there needs to be a better, more direct way, but I don't see it really happening anytime soon. Verizon's Fios is looking interesting, but that will come with a heavy price tag and it still will not be a flawless solution.
Until media providers really let us select what we want to view, companies like Sling are going to be needed by many of us.
Before you go out and buy a sling box, do your research. I've had one for many years and I used it to watch cable programing from my Mac in the office. It is now sitting in a box somewhere in my closet. Why? HDMI is why.
Oh, I shelled out the bucks for the PRO version and even got the HDMI connection kit. It worked for a good number of months, then the software updates started rolling out. The last one I fooled with put a clamp on watching HD programming over sling box unless the HDMI TV the slingbox was connected to was turned ON. Yep, my cable box blocked viewing much of the content I wanted to watch unless the TV was powered on, providing the HDMI signaling required. OR, I am told, I could disconnect the slingbox from the TV when I wanted to watch video over the network.
Not the solution I was used to and not really practical.
You may find yourself in the same situation. Do your research.
Why do you need to watch HD on a 3" screen. It's compressed anyway. I just run my other outputs to the slingbox.
So... TV connected to cable via HDMI
Slingbox connected via Component. Works like a charm and it's still sending me the wide screen HD feed.
As an owner of two previous licenses of the Windows Mobile version of Slingplayer, I called up Slingmedia just as the author of this article suggested but they told me that it wasn't possible to transfer licenses.
Their reason was that Apple's app store doesn't support their model of verifying a registration key over the Internet so any keys I have cannot be transferred to a free iPhone license. On a positive note, the support person at Slingmedia did say that a single purchase would still allow you to run the app on every iPod touch/iPhone you have associated with your iTunes account. Since I have two phones and two iPods in the family, I can run four copies for the price of one. That wasn't the case with Windows Mobile where you had to have a separate key for every phone.
It's unfortunate the licenses cannot be transferred because that means I now have to decide whether it's worth buying yet a third license.
First, AT&T said no iPhone unlocking even after contract expiration. Second, AT&T said we will tell you what your iPhone can access using our wireless network but not other phones. Third, last week I discovered that AT&T, without my knowledge and permission, enabled international roaming and calling on my iPhone family plan even though I asked them not to do that when I setup my account last year. I was lucky to find out about it before traveling. I love my iPhone but AT&T is really pushing it.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. FIGHT BACK BY BOYCOTTING THE IPHONE. SAY NO TO APPLE AND AT&T. DON'T BUY AN IPHONE THIS SUMMER!
Even if you don't care about Sling, it concerns you as its just a matter of time before they do something that effects you. These 2 companies can not be allowed to get away with this. If they do we will be allowing them to set a precedent that will not bode well for us consumers.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. FIGHT BACK BY BOYCOTTING THE IPHONE. SAY NO TO APPLE AND AT&T. DON'T BUY AN IPHONE THIS SUMMER!
Even if you don't care about Sling, it concerns you as its just a matter of time before they do something that effects you. These 2 companies can not be allowed to get away with this. If they do we will be allowing them to set a precedent that will not bode well for us consumers.
LOL! This made me laugh.
First, these companies can, and will get away with this. You agree to their terms when you "buy" the phone. Starting to feel like you rented it doesn't it? Secondly, the few people you reach in this forum aren't enough to make even the slightest dent in sales.
I've heard this speech before, countless times actually, and not just for the iphone. Bottom line, you have no voice, deal with it.
First, AT&T said no iPhone unlocking even after contract expiration. Second, AT&T said we will tell you what your iPhone can access using our wireless network but not other phones. Third, last week I discovered that AT&T, without my knowledge and permission, enabled international roaming and calling on my iPhone family plan even though I asked them not to do that when I setup my account last year. I was lucky to find out about it before traveling. I love my iPhone but AT&T is really pushing it.
You don't think AT&T is rated at the bottom or next to bottom at Consumer Reports for nothing, do you?
So sorry about your dilemma but you all really should have thought about this unholy alliance you entered before you bought your iPhones- JEESH!
"Sling says owners of an existing Slingplayer Mobile software license for another platform can transfer that license to the iPhone version for free, but we haven't heard exactly how that process will be handled. If you've already bought a mobile viewer, contact the company for details before snatching it from the App Store, and you could save yourself $30 (or 18 pounds, if you're in the UK)."
I fall into that category and reached out to Sling. They wrote:
"Just to let you know, the current Registration Keys for other Mobile Phones (BlackBerry, Windows Smartphone, Pocket PC, Symbian) cannot be transferred to the iPhone or iPod Touch, if you want to use the SlingPlayer Mobile on your iPhone/iTouch you will need to purchase the application through the Apple Store, we do apologize if it causes any inconvenience to you."
The Slingplayer Mobile version distributed in Canada (at least for the Blackberry) does not have restrictions on connections - it works with both wifi and 3g. You might try to download the Canadian version for iPhone and Blackberry to watch Slingplayer over 3G. Be aware that it eats through bandwidth pretty quickly! It can be set to "wi-fi preferred" or "3g preferred mode" anthony maw, vancouver, canada, www.anthonymaw.com
Comments
I'm sorry but this is blatantly WRONG. I'm streaming my Slingbox over 3G on my AT&T Blackberry Bold right now and it works great. I like my iPhone better than my Blackberry for most stuff, but the Slingplayer on the Blackberry is MUCH better. It works over WiFi, 3G and even Edge (marginally). On top of that, I have two Slingboxes and two SlingPlayer Mobile licenses, and yet I had to pay for the iPhone client separately? SlingMedia really dropped the ball here. The interface on the iPhone is slow, the video framerate often drops down to a stutter, and you can't make it fill the whole screen for HD sources. Save your money, don't bother. Oh, and AppleInsider, please check your facts before posting.
So let me get this right- AT&T lets Slingbox go over 3G for other phones and then delivers a clogged-up 3G network to iPhone customers as a result? SLICK AT&T, SLICK.
Personally, I have never used it but I continue to believe that Sling is a poor solution for the problem it attempts to solve (TV on the go). Simply broadcasting TV signals to phones is a far better design. Sling exists only because the various companies involved (in the USA), can't get it together to offer such things.
It's a well-designed, somewhat elegant kludge... but it's still a kludge.
I think it is funny that you are admitting that you have never used the product in your life, but you say it is a poor solution. As a guy that has been using it for years and has friends that have been using it for years, I would say it's a pretty good solution. The product they had 3 years ago was a little rough around the edges, but it is really cleaning up nicely.
I agree with you when you say there needs to be a better, more direct way, but I don't see it really happening anytime soon. Verizon's Fios is looking interesting, but that will come with a heavy price tag and it still will not be a flawless solution.
Until media providers really let us select what we want to view, companies like Sling are going to be needed by many of us.
Before you go out and buy a sling box, do your research. I've had one for many years and I used it to watch cable programing from my Mac in the office. It is now sitting in a box somewhere in my closet. Why? HDMI is why.
Oh, I shelled out the bucks for the PRO version and even got the HDMI connection kit. It worked for a good number of months, then the software updates started rolling out. The last one I fooled with put a clamp on watching HD programming over sling box unless the HDMI TV the slingbox was connected to was turned ON. Yep, my cable box blocked viewing much of the content I wanted to watch unless the TV was powered on, providing the HDMI signaling required. OR, I am told, I could disconnect the slingbox from the TV when I wanted to watch video over the network.
Not the solution I was used to and not really practical.
You may find yourself in the same situation. Do your research.
Why do you need to watch HD on a 3" screen. It's compressed anyway. I just run my other outputs to the slingbox.
So... TV connected to cable via HDMI
Slingbox connected via Component. Works like a charm and it's still sending me the wide screen HD feed.
Get that thing out of your closet.
Their reason was that Apple's app store doesn't support their model of verifying a registration key over the Internet so any keys I have cannot be transferred to a free iPhone license. On a positive note, the support person at Slingmedia did say that a single purchase would still allow you to run the app on every iPod touch/iPhone you have associated with your iTunes account. Since I have two phones and two iPods in the family, I can run four copies for the price of one. That wasn't the case with Windows Mobile where you had to have a separate key for every phone.
It's unfortunate the licenses cannot be transferred because that means I now have to decide whether it's worth buying yet a third license.
Even if you don't care about Sling, it concerns you as its just a matter of time before they do something that effects you. These 2 companies can not be allowed to get away with this. If they do we will be allowing them to set a precedent that will not bode well for us consumers.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. FIGHT BACK BY BOYCOTTING THE IPHONE. SAY NO TO APPLE AND AT&T. DON'T BUY AN IPHONE THIS SUMMER!
Even if you don't care about Sling, it concerns you as its just a matter of time before they do something that effects you. These 2 companies can not be allowed to get away with this. If they do we will be allowing them to set a precedent that will not bode well for us consumers.
LOL! This made me laugh.
First, these companies can, and will get away with this. You agree to their terms when you "buy" the phone. Starting to feel like you rented it doesn't it? Secondly, the few people you reach in this forum aren't enough to make even the slightest dent in sales.
I've heard this speech before, countless times actually, and not just for the iphone. Bottom line, you have no voice, deal with it.
First, AT&T said no iPhone unlocking even after contract expiration. Second, AT&T said we will tell you what your iPhone can access using our wireless network but not other phones. Third, last week I discovered that AT&T, without my knowledge and permission, enabled international roaming and calling on my iPhone family plan even though I asked them not to do that when I setup my account last year. I was lucky to find out about it before traveling. I love my iPhone but AT&T is really pushing it.
You don't think AT&T is rated at the bottom or next to bottom at Consumer Reports for nothing, do you?
So sorry about your dilemma but you all really should have thought about this unholy alliance you entered before you bought your iPhones- JEESH!
"Sling says owners of an existing Slingplayer Mobile software license for another platform can transfer that license to the iPhone version for free, but we haven't heard exactly how that process will be handled. If you've already bought a mobile viewer, contact the company for details before snatching it from the App Store, and you could save yourself $30 (or 18 pounds, if you're in the UK)."
I fall into that category and reached out to Sling. They wrote:
"Just to let you know, the current Registration Keys for other Mobile Phones (BlackBerry, Windows Smartphone, Pocket PC, Symbian) cannot be transferred to the iPhone or iPod Touch, if you want to use the SlingPlayer Mobile on your iPhone/iTouch you will need to purchase the application through the Apple Store, we do apologize if it causes any inconvenience to you."
They inserted the following link as well:
http://support.slingmedia.com/get/KB-1000194.html
does the rights on this app work like mp3? can i buy it once and use it on multiple iphones in my family?
Apps are not DRM-free like the music sold in iTunes. You can, however, share this app with up to 5 people and pay only one price.