# Is GenieGo a good replacement for an original Slingbox?



## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

I have a HR44-500, HR21 and a C41W. The HR21 is used almost exclusively with a original Slingbox so my wife can watch her soap operas on her MacbookPro. I also watch it on the road and it feeds a seldom used 61" projection TV. I have been wanting to upgrade but don't want to spend the money for a new Slingbox 300 or 500. I hate having to change the format to SD and back on the HR21 when we use the Slingbox. I tried a Vulkano box last year and was not happy with picture quality and quirkiness. 

Thinking of getting a GenieGO and ditching the HR22. I would put the 61" on OTA/DVD only duty.

I understand you can stream live (almost) if you first start a recording. 

Thoughts from those who use the Genie GO?

Is it true you can only watch on wi-fi and not 4G or LTE on an I phone?

I saw a thread that said a new model/version was due out soon. Any changes?


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## trh (Nov 3, 2007)

With the GenieGo, you can stream anything on any of your DVRs, but yes, it only works on WiFi.

If you transcode your shows and load them on your mobile device before you leave your home, you can watch those show w/o any connectivity.

I bought mine so I could watch my favorite hockey team when they played on the west coast while traveling. But out-of-market games (even though I paid for NHL CI), aren't available. You can still transcode and watch your local RSN or national games though.


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## brian26339 (Dec 13, 2008)

I have a GenieGo and use it fairly often. I like it ok but would like to see an improved version.

I use it almost exclusively to transcode a program and then download it to my iPad. 

My experience with streaming it out of home is that the picture quality has been marginal at best. Streaming is so dependent on the available internet speeds. I stay at a lot of hotels. Most seem to not have enough bandwidth to stream a decent quality picture consistently. That wouldn't be any different with a sling though.

So for the way I use it, it works.....ok. The transcode is about 1:1. This means it takes 1 hr to transcode a 1 hr program and make it ready for download. Download takes 3 to 5 mins for the same 1 hr program. I usually do the transcode overnight and download to the ipad the next day.

My biggest gripe is the quality of the transcodes. They are not HD. On my ipad they are watchable. Same with the iphone. On my windows laptop with a 15in 1080p screen it's pretty bad. Low res and bit starved. If I try to connect iphone or ipad to a tv via hdmi and watch a transcoded program, it's almost unwatchable. The bigger the screen the worse the picture.

I also can not get it to stream via cellular to my iphone. It does work for wifi.

Haven't heard of a new model but I would be interested if it fixed the picture quality issues. I use a windows media center computer to record programs also. If I have time I use those recordings and transcode them with Handbrake into something the ipad can use. The picture quality is HD and so much better to watch. The transcodes take MUCH MUCH longer though and are much larger in file size but you can throw them up on a tv via hdmi and they look pretty good. It takes 3 to 4 times as long to transcode though. I just like to watch the higher quality picture when I can but the Geniego is pretty convienient and much faster.

Hope this helps.


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## Bill Broderick (Aug 25, 2006)

Phil T said:


> Is it true you can only watch on wi-fi and not 4G or LTE on an I phone?


With a recent update, they added cellular streaming to Android devices (the first time that Android has had something before Apple devices do). So, I have to believe that, unless there's a technical reason that it can't be done, cellular streaming on Apple devices is in the works.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

Bill Broderick said:


> With a recent update, they added cellular streaming to Android devices (the first time that Android has had something before Apple devices do). So, I have to believe that, unless there's a technical reason that it can't be done, cellular streaming on Apple devices is in the works.


or you can jailbreak and use 3G unrestrictor works like a charm!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## Jason Whiddon (Aug 17, 2006)

Intersting, I did not know Genie Go allowed streaming to a phone out of home. I really haven't kept up. 

I always liked relaxing on vacation, say at the beach, and watching a little tv on the phone.

So since I have a Droid Maxx HD, I could be out of town and use the app to watch a show on my HDD? 

As far as live, its a no go? It seems I understand it in this way, if I was to work one weekend and a sports game I wanted to see was on at noon, I could set a timer for it to begin recording, once it started I could then watched the delayed recording on a device, just not live?


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## Supramom2000 (Jun 21, 2007)

My Genie Go works better on cellular than it does on wi fi. In fact, on a recent trip in January, I was unable to get wi fi streaming at all. Only cellular. I have a Samsung Galaxy S3 and an Asus Transformer tablet. No I-phone or Ipad.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

Jason Whiddon said:


> As far as live, its a no go? It seems I understand it in this way, if I was to work one weekend and a sports game I wanted to see was on at noon, I could set a timer for it to begin recording, once it started I could then watched the delayed recording on a device, just not live?


correct

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

For some reason, a new recording takes about 4-5 minutes to show up on the GG playlist. So it's near live. But no trickplay, and if you lose connection, it's a start over.

I've often set manual records for 1 hour of a game or race to at least see those increments instead of one large recording.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

dennisj00 said:


> For some reason, a new recording takes about 4-5 minutes to show up on the GG playlist. So it's near live. But no trickplay, and if you lose connection, it's a start over.
> 
> I've often set manual records for 1 hour of a game or race to at least see those increments instead of one large recording.


Are you sure, last time I used my GG, I was able to "save" the place when I was streaming OOH.


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## dennisj00 (Sep 27, 2007)

On a current recording? Complete recordings 'save' the location but not current.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

hmm, I don't exactly remember, but is a god point 


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## islesfan (Oct 18, 2006)

Bill Broderick said:


> With a recent update, they added cellular streaming to Android devices (the first time that Android has had something before Apple devices do). So, I have to believe that, unless there's a technical reason that it can't be done, cellular streaming on Apple devices is in the works.


Wow, I would like to have that! When I'm in the city (Reno) I get 15 Mbps speeds on Sprint LTE, but when I'm back in my home town, Charter "broadband" is usually around 1-2 Mbps. OK, technically, it's 30 Mbps, but that's only at 5AM before I leave for work. Whenever I'm home, and my neighbors are home, that speed rarely tops 3 Mbps.


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## Phil T (Mar 25, 2002)

Well I pulled the trigger and should see my Genie-Go later this week. I have a trip scheduled for next week so I will compare both the Slingbox and Genie-Go. I really would like to see the iPhone streaming soon.


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## prushing (Feb 14, 2007)

Phil T said:


> Well I pulled the trigger and should see my Genie-Go later this week. I have a trip scheduled for next week so I will compare both the Slingbox and Genie-Go. I really would like to see the iPhone streaming soon.


Since you had a Vulkano, I'll give you a comparison. Vulkano quality is better than you get with the GG. Recordings are about 500MB on GG vs 900MB on Vulkano top quality for a 1 hour show. It looks fine on a phone, SG4, but is noticeable on a laptop.

You get the ability to automatically transfer your shows though, so no having to select a show on the DVR and press play and start the recording on the Vulkano. So I really enjoy that function.

You cannot download anything while OOH. This is a big negative depending on your travel lengths, but streaming helps somewhat.

Streaming quality is a big disappointment. I have GG, Vulkano, and Slingbox. GG is the worst of them. It is acceptable on a phone, but that's it. I can get 3mbps on my phone using Slingbox, GG doesn't come close to that. Screen shot comparisons would make you think you are watching HD vs SD.

Overall I do like the GG and use it all the time now, but I just feel like it is incomplete. It needs to come up to the level of Slingbox and Vulkano recording/streaming quality.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk


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## critter (Sep 29, 2007)

I have Genie Go and a SlingBox and use the SlingBox 99% of the time. I will use the Genie Go to put shows on my IPad and watch while flying, but will use my sling box to watch sports out of market at a hotel. I will also use the sling box and a google tv bo to watch my DTV on the porch without buying another receiver. So I find the sling box very useful and helpful


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## spedinfargo (Oct 6, 2005)

I used Genie Go streaming for one Timberwolves game while on the road and gave up on it and bought a Slingbox 350 instead. Trick play is important to me when watching NBA games - I never watch them live but rather delayed and I have a pretty good system of knowing how many 30-second skips to get through various types of commercials / end of quarters / halftime / free throws, etc. 

With Genie Go streaming recorded shows trick play was virtually unusable - you couldn't hit the 30-second skip a second time until streaming resumed. And sometimes resume would take 30 seconds! Plus quality was no where as good as the Slingbox.

Still happy with Genie Go for off-line shows (although I wish they had a native Windows 8 client) but not so much for streaming. Still have plenty to complain about on my Slingbox but light years ahead of Genie Go for its purpose.


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