# Hooking up Slingbox 500



## awalt (Jul 30, 2007)

HI all,

Thinking about getting a Slingbox 500. I have been reading about it, I am trying to make sure this will work.

Connection wise, I have Satellite cable -> HR20-700 -> HDMI input into Denon AV-4306 Receiver
DVD player also goes into the Denon
TV receives HDMI output from Denon

My understanding is that the Slingbox 500 takes the HDMI output (there is just one port I believe), from the Denon, and then passes the HDMI signal on to the TV. 

I then connect the Slingbox to my wireless network, and I am ready to go with apps etc to access it.

I have read some about problems with HDMI and HDCP issues, but maybe because I am going through the Denon and it's active/powered on I won't have those? Or do I have to stick with component?

Thank you for your help and correcting any bad assumptions on my part here!


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## Beerstalker (Feb 9, 2009)

Ok, looking at the Slingbox 500 it seems like that should work fine as long as you are not trying to watch programming protected by HDCP when you are out of the home.

So you will be able to watch most DirecTV content from your HR20 while you are out of the house. However, any content protected by HDCP, such as anything on the premium channels like Cinemax, HBO, Showtime, or Starz On Demand content, etc. will not be able to be streamed outside of the house (those channels will still work in your house though).

If you want to be able to stream those channels outside your home you will need to hook the Slinbox up using component video. This could cause another issue though, becuase if your DirecTV receiver sees that it is hooked up to something over HDMI that isn't completing the handshake it will shut off the component video outputs when you change to a channel with HDCP. So if you are outside your house most likely your TV and Denon will be turned off. That means that they will not be completing the HDCP handshake to your DirecTV receiver. So if you try to change the receiver to a channel with HDCP like HBO the receiver will shut off your component video outputs.

So if you really want to stream HDCP content outside of your home you would be best off to hook up the HR20 to your slingbox 500 using component cables, and then hook the component outputs of the slingbox 500 into your Denon 4306. You can then either ouput the video from the Denon to your TV as component video, or have it converted and sent out over HDMI.


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## bflora (Nov 6, 2007)

You will need to hook up the Slingbox with the component connections on your hr20 and use the analog stereo jacks for audio. The hdmi input on the slingbox will not pass the hr20 output.


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## awalt (Jul 30, 2007)

Thanks Beerstalker for the very informative reply! My real desire is sports that are blacked out - RSNs - MASN, CSN, maybe Sunday Ticket, the DTV MLB package - are any of those HDCP?


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## awalt (Jul 30, 2007)

bflora said:


> You will need to hook up the Slingbox with the component connections on your hr20 and use the analog stereo jacks for audio. The hdmi input on the slingbox will not pass the hr20 output.


Not at all? or just HDCP?


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

this might help

http://support.slingbox.com/get/KB-2000491.html


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## Stuart Sweet (Jun 19, 2006)

I personally own a Slingbox 500. I connected it via component to avoid HDCP errors and did not use the passthrough, instead connecting the DVR via HDMI. I have the Slingbox connected to another input on my TV so I can do things like firmware updates and broadcast stuff through it.


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## awalt (Jul 30, 2007)

Are sports channels (RSNs, DIrecTV sports packages) using HDCP?


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## harsh (Jun 15, 2003)

The danger in the proposed setup is if the AVR isn't on and pass-through is configured for the wrong input or it is on and switched to the wrong input.

If you really want to have the ability to Sling all devices, you're going to have to do some very diligent planning to make it work.

Otherwise, you put the Slingbox in line between the desired device and the AVR.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

Stuart Sweet said:


> I personally own a Slingbox 500. I connected it via component to avoid HDCP errors and did not use the passthrough, instead connecting the DVR via HDMI. I have the Slingbox connected to another input on my TV so I can do things like firmware updates and broadcast stuff through it.


Stauart, do you know if the Slingbox 500 passes DD on its HDMI pass-through?


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## Beerstalker (Feb 9, 2009)

Stuart Sweet said:


> I personally own a Slingbox 500. I connected it via component to avoid HDCP errors and did not use the passthrough, instead connecting the DVR via HDMI. I have the Slingbox connected to another input on my TV so I can do things like firmware updates and broadcast stuff through it.


I'm confused here, how do you have the DVR hooked up to your TV then? If you have the DVR hooked up to the slingbox with component, and the DVR hooked up to the TV over HDMI, then you should have issues trying to use the slingbox when the TV is turned off.


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## EricRobins (Feb 9, 2005)

It is important to understand: (1) what is the upload speed of your internet and (2) to what device(s) will you be Slinging?

I have one of the older (read: non-HD) Slingboxes and this works fine for viewing on my iPad, desktop computer and Galaxy S4 (both in home and OOH). 

Since my upload speeds are not enough to support HD streaming, there is no need for the Slingbox to output HD.

If your situation is similar to mine, you can use the S-video or composite on the Slingbox.


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## SparkyX (Jul 15, 2009)

peds48 said:


> Stauart, do you know if the Slingbox 500 passes DD on its HDMI pass-through?


The opinion of a poster on Sling's forums says the HDMI passthrough dumbs down audio to 2.0.


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## SparkyX (Jul 15, 2009)

EricRobins said:


> It is important to understand: (1) what is the upload speed of your internet and (2) to what device(s) will you be Slinging?
> 
> I have one of the older (read: non-HD) Slingboxes and this works fine for viewing on my iPad, desktop computer and Galaxy S4 (both in home and OOH).
> 
> ...


FWIW a newer Slingbox is a lot crisper and more watchable than an older generation, given the same bandwidth. Although it may not meet Sling's stated requirements for HD, the newer box streams a much nicer picture. There's no comparison between my Slingbox AV and Slingbox 350 with the same upstream bandwidth (or even greater upstream bandwidth for the Slingbox AV)--the 350 wins in the picture quality department by a mile.


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## SparkyX (Jul 15, 2009)

Beerstalker's post #2 is spot on. The only part I can add is that the component video cabling you'll use to feed the Slingbox 500 will only carry analog stereo audio. So if you go:

HR-20 -Component-> Slingbox 500 -Component-> Denon Receiver

you're going to want to add an additional coaxial or optical audio cable between the HR-20 and the Denon Receiver. Tell the Denon Receiver when you want to watch DirecTV to obtain video from the Slingbox's passthrough component cables and the audio from the HR-20's additional coaxial or optical input cable.


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## awalt (Jul 30, 2007)

Thanks all for your replies, I got a Slingbox 500, installed it, and so far it appears to work great. Here is how I set it up, in case it helps others, and in case there is a flaw in what I did that I have not discovered yet. I did it this way for two reasons, (1) to overcome the HDCP issues that were suggested, and (2) to make sure I could watch on my SLingbox when the TV was turned off. 

In the "power off" state, TV and Denon are turned off. HR20 remains on (I have a Panamax power device which configures what gets powered off and on so I only have to press one button).

I added this new cabling:
HR20 -> component and audio -> Slingbox (HR20 already sent video and audio to Denon, I did not change this)
Denon -> HDMI -> Slingbox
Slingbox -> HDMI -> TV (was Denon -> HDMI -> TV)
The Denon already has audio signal going to speakers independent of all this, that did not change

In this way, the HR20 and Slingbox stay powered on all the time, so I can watch via Slingbox without TV and Denon being powered on.

It would seem audio and video signals should be correct in all cases, don't you think?

Thanks again!


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## SparkyX (Jul 15, 2009)

awalt said:


> HR20 -> component and audio -> Slingbox (HR20 already sent video and audio to Denon, I did not change this)
> Denon -> HDMI -> Slingbox
> Slingbox -> HDMI -> TV (was Denon -> HDMI -> TV)


Not 100% sure what the Denon -HDMI-> Slingbox leg is doing. I guess there's something that's being fed to the Denon receiver (DVD?) that you're wanting to watch via the Slingbox?


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

SparkyX said:


> The opinion of a poster on Sling's forums says the HDMI passthrough dumbs down audio to 2.0.


Your link refers to the HDMI input, and I was referring to the pass-through "output"


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

SparkyX said:


> Beerstalker's post #2 is spot on. The only part I can add is that the component video cabling you'll use to feed the Slingbox 500 will only carry analog stereo audio. So if you go:
> 
> HR-20 -Component-> Slingbox 500 -Component-> Denon Receiver
> 
> you're going to want to add an additional coaxial or optical audio cable between the HR-20 and the Denon Receiver. Tell the Denon Receiver when you want to watch DirecTV to obtain video from the Slingbox's passthrough component cables and the audio from the HR-20's additional coaxial or optical input cable.


Component cables carries no sound


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

SparkyX said:


> Not 100% sure what the Denon -HDMI-> Slingbox leg is doing. I guess there's something that's being fed to the Denon receiver (DVD?) that you're wanting to watch via the Slingbox?


it looks like the he is using the Slingbox pass trough, so everything HDMI goes to the Denon and from there it "passes through" the Slingbox and goes to the TV. Not a set I would do IMO.


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## SparkyX (Jul 15, 2009)

peds48 said:


> Component cables carries no sound


True (the Slingbox 500 has R/G/B component video + R/W audio for the "component" input). I was more making the point that if component passthrough was feeding the Denon receiver the OP would need some sort of alternate audio path to maintain 5.1 sound.



peds48 said:


> Your link refers to the HDMI input, and I was referring to the pass-through "output"


Try this link instead--it was the one I was looking for when I posted the earlier link:

Low quality audio being passed through to TV via HDMI - No 5.1 Dolby Digital on TV


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

SparkyX said:


> Low quality audio being passed through to TV via HDMI - No 5.1 Dolby Digital on TV


Well that link is useless as the poster is expecting DD5.1 on his TV!


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## SparkyX (Jul 15, 2009)

I thought the link might be helpful to answer your question:



peds48 said:


> Stauart, do you know if the Slingbox 500 passes DD on its HDMI pass-through?


The post in that link seems to indicate the answer is "Only DD 2.0 is sent via the Slingbox 500 HDMI passthrough." Possibly Stuart Sweet may be able to confirm this with his Slingbox 500.


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## awalt (Jul 30, 2007)

I did forget to mention the audio signal goes from HR20 to slingbox, so it does not affect the sounds connections previously set up.


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## peds48 (Jan 11, 2008)

SparkyX said:


> I thought the link might be helpful to answer your question:
> 
> The post in that link seems to indicate the answer is "Only DD 2.0 is sent via the Slingbox 500 HDMI passthrough." Possibly Stuart Sweet may be able to confirm this with his Slingbox 500.


Yeah, but I can't rely on a flawed test.


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