Computers & Networking

[rodn725]

Would the Slingbox Solo be able to record TV to my computer?

Slingbox Solo:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8548832&st=slingbox&type=product&id=1188561003217

[rodn725]

If the Slingbox Solo can't, would the Slingbox PRO HD be able to?

Slingbox PRO HD:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9004258&st=slingbox&type=product&id=1218007841283

[rodn725]

And one more question. If I would purchase the Slingbox PRO HD or Slingbox Solo, is that all I would need? Or would I need a SlingCatcher?

[Neihn Valued Contributor · Accepted solution]

No none of the sling boxes are stand alone DVR's or PVR's. They are for streaming video over LAN and WAN connections, they are not DVR/PVR's. The HD in Slingbox Pro HD sands for High Definition. Meaning it is capable of High Definition video. The sling catcher is a add on so you can stream video from your PC or internet to a TV set. It includes USB ports for external Hard Drives but that is used for movies you already have on a external hard drive. But in the end at this time there is no slingbox that can be used as a standalone DVR/PVR.

Now it would be possible to try to capture the video stream on a PC but from what i can gather there is not many ways to do it out there and the few that i have found you suffer from a bad video quality loss and sound quality loss. The best method i could find is by using Windows Media Encoder from Microsoft. I have never used it with my slingbox so i can not comment on how well it works or even how it works. If you do a google search for "capturing slinbox streams" you should get a bunch of forums that will help you try to figure something out if you still wish to proceed.

[rodn725]

I know that you need a DVR box but what I'm asking is that would I need a SlingCatcher? What is a SlingCatcher?

[Entropy]

If you are interested in recording TV to your computer, I would strongly reccommend either a TV tuner card or a capture card.

A tuner card can receive over-the-air digital broadcasts, unencrypted digital cable, and analog TV (cable or digital).  (Some digital units may only be able to do digital.)  If you want to record encrypted digital cable, you have two options:

1)  Record composite or S-video analog.  Resolution will be limited to 480i

2)  Purchase a Hauppauge HD-PVR (aka Hauppauge 1212).  This is the only solution for recording high definition component video that I know of - component video in, USB out.  As it records MPEG-4 AVC video, it has pretty high system requirements for playback.  Last I checked, the Slingbox HD was able to take HD inputs but downsized video to standard definition resolutions before encoding the video.

[rodn725]

I was thinking about getting a TV Tuner card but then I realized I wouldn't be able to get a card I would have to get a TV Tuner that plugs into a USB port. Do the USB TV Tuner cards work as well as the TV Tuner cards that plug into a PCI slot?


I downloaded windows media encoder and it works great. The picture quality isn't great but better than most screen capturing software that I have used. I still need to find a way to figure out how to capture sound. Any ideas?

[Entropy]

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rodn725 wrote:
I was thinking about getting a TV Tuner card but then I realized I wouldn't be able to get a card I would have to get a TV Tuner that plugs into a USB port. Do the USB TV Tuner cards work as well as the TV Tuner cards that plug into a PCI slot?


I downloaded windows media encoder and it works great. The picture quality isn't great but better than most screen capturing software that I have used. I still need to find a way to figure out how to capture sound. Any ideas?

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Any that has a digital tuner or performs hardware MPEG-2 encoding of analog signals (or in the case of the Hauppauge 1212, MPEG-4 AVC encoding) will be fine.

Some older tuners rely on the PC to do compression and try to send uncompressed video over USB - not a good idea.  Most new USB tuners are fine though.  If you have a particular model in mind I can give you an opinion.

[rodn725]

If the USB TV Tuners are as good as the TV Tuners that plugs into a PCI slot than I would probably get this one:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9234205&type=product&id=1218064151279

[Entropy]

Unfortunately from the description, it sounds like one of the older/cheaper designs that relies on the host to do MPEG-2 compression of analog TV:

"With the included SoftPVR MPEG-2 encoder so you can watch your favorite shows whenever you want."

If it has *hardware* MPEG-2 encoding (or MPEG-4 in the case of the HD-PVR 1212) it'll be just as good as a PCI version.

If it relies on software MPEG-2 encoding on the host, it may or may not be as good as a PCI version, either way it's simply not good.  A unit with a hardware MPEG-2 encoder lets your computer record with almost no CPU intervention (My file server only runs 4-5% CPU when recording two high def digital streams and one analog stream using a hardware encoder.)  A unit that relies on software encoder will require a lot of CPU time to record.