Sling Media SlingPlayer, User Manual

Page: 34 / 65

SlingPlayer basics • Page 34
Viewing your Slingbox over the Internet
With remote viewing, you can watch your Slingbox from any place that you can access
a high-speed Internet connection. For this, you should have enabled remote viewing
during the initial setup. If you have not, see “What you need for viewing away from
home” on page 10.
To view Slingbox remotely on a Macintosh, follow these steps:
1.
Launch SlingPlayer .
2.
Click at the bottom of the SlingPlayer window or go the Window menu
and select Slingbox Directory . You can also use the keyboard shortcut,
D
.
3.
Select the remote Slingbox you want to watch. If you don’t see your
Slingbox, you may need to add it to your directory using its Slingbox ID. See
“Using Slingbox Directory to view and add more Slingboxes” on page 52.
For more information on viewing with SlingPlayer on other platforms, visit our web site
and download SlingPlayer for that platform. Downloads are available from:
http://us.slingmedia.com/page/downloads.html .
The remote viewing experience
Using your Slingbox remotely works the same way as it does when you’re viewing in
your home. The streaming quality, however, may be affected by the Internet traffic
between your remote device and the Slingbox that you are watching.
The streaming quality—or audio and video quality—is represented by a number known
as the bit rate. The bit rate of the connection is indicated in Kbps (kilobits per second).
The higher the bit rate, the better the streaming quality. To see the streaming bit rate,
go to the
View menu and select Show Statistics . You can then click on the bit rate to
show the streaming frame rate.
As you change channels, fast-forward, set recording options, and so on, anyone in the
room watching the video source will see the changes you make—just as if you were
in the room using the actual remote control. And you’ll see remote control commands
that they make, too. (The Volume and Mute settings work independently.)
Important:
If you want to watch your SlingPlayer remotely on a remote computer or remote
mobile device, SlingPlayer must be installed on that computer or device.
Note:
As you watch TV with your Slingbox, it’s actually controlling the TV source (DVR,
DVD player, tuner, VCR, etc.) that it’s connected to. This means is that if anyone is
watching the TV that’s sharing that source with the Slingbox, there may be a
battle.