# Sling Media introduces SlingGuide - Official Press Release



## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

*Sling Media Introduces SlingGuide: Redefining Search and Discovery for Satellite, Cable and Terrestrial Broadcast Programming *​ With powerful browse and search to add recordings, smart DVR space management and complete recording priority control, SlingGuide unlocks the power of your DVR from anywhere - on your PC, Macintosh or iPhone. 

*Las Vegas **-** International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)* *-* *January 8, 2009 -* Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), today introduced SlingGuide, a new web-based way to easily find, watch and record your favorite television programming from anywhere. SlingGuide allows consumers to browse, search and record programs on their DVR from any PC, Macintosh or compatible mobile phone. In addition, if the DVR is SlingLoaded™ or has a Slingbox™ connected to it, consumers can also watch live or recorded programs off their DVR through a web-based version of the SlingPlayer software that is integrated into SlingGuide. SlingGuide will be available first to DISH Network subscribers when it launches in spring of 2009. For more information, go to www.slingmedia.com/go/slingguide.

"SlingGuide revolutionizes the way we search and discover traditional TV programming from satellite, cable and terrestrial broadcasts," said Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media. "As avid couch potatoes, we were frustrated with the existing methods for finding what to watch and record from our satellite and cable TV sources. Meanwhile, for the much larger universe of Internet-based content, we were able to enjoy amazingly quick, easy and precise search tools. 'What regional sports station is that ball game on? Why does it take me so many steps to set a recording for a show on next week?' In other words, why can't I simply 'Google' my TV? SlingGuide, our answer to this frustration, makes it easy for you to find, watch and record the programming that matters most - from anywhere." 
*For DISH Network customers with select DVRs, SlingGuide will provide a personal, integrated and centralized view of everything you want to watch or record on DISH Network including programming from hundreds of channels, thousands of programming choices, and even internet video from Sling.com.*​
The following is a list of DISH Network DVRS that are expected to be compatible with SlingGuide at launch.*

*HD DuoDVR*TM* SlingLoaded*TM* ViP*®* 922 (Just Announced)*
DuoDVR™ ViP® 722k 
DuoDVR™ ViP® 722 
DuoDVR™ ViP® 622 

*Receivers require a broadband network connection to use SlingGuide.

*Beyond the Grid*
Current program guides on your TV can limit a consumer's view of what is really available to watch at present and in the future. For that reason, consumers watch only a handful of channels or programs at most. SlingGuide's powerful search technology makes it easy to watch and discover new programming you may never have known existed using the power of your PC, Mac or mobile phone. With SlingGuide, you can search for shows by title, genre, network, keyword or actor. 

*A Better Remote Control*
Using the web browser on an iPhone or iPod Touch, DISH Network customers can put the power of SlingGuide in the palm of their hand. Sitting in front of the TV, SlingGuide turns your iPhone or iPod Touch into an intelligent remote control capable of quickly browsing and searching the program guide, scheduling and managing DVR recordings, and more. SlingGuide on the iPhone or iPod Touch works with the DISH Network DVR to do this all in the background without disturbing the television picture displayed on the TV.

*SlingLoaded or Slingbox-Enabled*
While a Slingbox is not required to enjoy SlingGuide, those customers who have a Slingbox connected to one of the supported DISH Network DVRs or are lucky enough to be one of the first to enjoy the DISH Network *HD DuoDVR*TM* SlingLoaded*TM* ViP*®* 922*, SlingGuide also gives you the ability to watch live TV or DVR recordings on your PC, Mac or compatible mobile phone, around the home or around the world.

*SlingGuide Features at a Glance*
·Personalized, integrated view of everything you want to watch or record in a simple visual interface on your PC, Mac or iPhone/iPod Touch
·All the features of your DVR's remote control plus the seamless ability to browse, record or watch from anywhere.
·Watch your shows anywhere (with a SlingLoaded DVR or Slingbox attached)
·Discover new programming you never knew you had
·Easy, comprehensive search instead of your old remote control
·One click to record 
·Search and record shows from your iPhone or iPod Touch
·Integration with Sling.com for clips, trailers, etc. of your favorite shows

*Pricing and Availability*
SlingGuide will be free to DISH Network subscribers who have a network-connected, compatible DVR. Sling Media will make SlingGuide available to DISH Network customers in spring of 2009. A limited beta of SlingGuide is already under way. For an opportunity to participate in the beta program, go to www.slingmedia.com/go/slingguide.

*About Sling Media*
Sling Media, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), is a leading digital lifestyle company offering consumer services and products that are a natural extension of today's digital life. Sling Media's products include the acclaimed, Emmy award-winning Slingbox™ that allows consumers to watch and control their living room TV shows at any time, from any location, using PCs, Macs, PDAs and smartphones and the revolutionary new SlingCatcher™, a universal media player that seamlessly delivers broadcast TV, Internet video and personal content to the TV. Sling Media also provides a video entertainment web site, Sling.com, offering consumers a variety of popular TV shows, movies and other entertainment free for viewing online or on TV using SlingCatcher. For more information on Sling Media, Slingbox or SlingCatcher, visit www.slingmedia.com. To watch your favorite TV shows and movies, visit www.sling.com.

For images of SlingGuide, visit http://www.slingmedia.com/go/press-downloads

*- ends -*​


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Jason Nipp said:


> SlingGuide will be free to DISH Network subscribers who have a network-connected, compatible DVR. Sling Media will make SlingGuide available to DISH Network customers in spring of 2009. A limited beta of SlingGuide is already under way. For an opportunity to participate in the beta program, go to www.slingmedia.com/go/slingguide.


Great news ... and I love the cost!


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## Jason Nipp (Jun 10, 2004)

Yup


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Free is always the right price!

Also quite nice that it will be functional with existing DVRs... and then have advance Sling-viewing type features with the new 922 and SlingBox devices.

I'm also looking forward to those iPhone apps. My father has one of those, and I've been trying to get him onto Dish for a while now... meanwhile maybe I'll jump on the iPhone bandwagon soon too.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Get an iPhone (or other web capable handheld) so you have a really fancy touch screen remote?


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

James Long said:


> Get an iPhone (or other web capable handheld) so you have a really fancy touch screen remote?


Yeah, I know that probably does sound weird... even though there are probably a few people who would get it just for that!

I've been wanting one anyway... and the Sling app is really what is attractive to me, being able to schedule stuff from a phone away from home and even watch a little TV if I wanted. There's been more than one time I've been away and wished I'd set a timer. The online scheduling would be great if you are at work but if you are in the mall and all you have is your phone, you're out of luck!

Using it as a remote control would be a novelty thing. I know the Sling app will cost money (the Blackberry one is something like $29.95 I think), but I would hope the remote-function app would be free or very close to it.


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## lisacor (Aug 19, 2008)

Says it will notify via email when there is room in the beta. Any ideas how long one will wait to be notified they are able to particpate in the beta test?


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

Technically it is not free because there is a upfront cost to purchase the Sling equipment.


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## DBS Commando (Apr 7, 2006)

What about the 612?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

jacmyoung said:


> Technically it is not free because there is a upfront cost to purchase the Sling equipment.


The GUIDE is free and will work with the named receivers (with free Sling built into the 922).
Slinging content is a different issue, but remote scheduling and control of the ViP-622, ViP-722, ViP-722k and ViP-922 is free.

(But technically you have to pay for an internet connection for your home ... )



DBS Commando said:


> What about the 612?


Not named in the press release ... good question.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

James Long said:


> The GUIDE is free and will work with the named receivers (with free Sling built into the 922).
> Slinging content is a different issue, but remote scheduling and control of the ViP-622, ViP-722, ViP-722k and ViP-922 is free...


I was think in terms of those who will buy a Sling equipment for non-Dishnetwork service, I guess the SlingGuide is only available for E* subs then.


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## sethwell (Sep 19, 2008)

lisacor said:


> Says it will notify via email when there is room in the beta. Any ideas how long one will wait to be notified they are able to particpate in the beta test?


not sure, but i threw my email in to be a guinea pig.  hope i get selected.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

jacmyoung said:


> I was think in terms of those who will buy a Sling equipment for non-Dishnetwork service, I guess the SlingGuide is only available for E* subs then.


DISH subs with appropriate equipment. There is something similar for non-DISH Sling owners - http://beta.sling.com/ is the place to start.


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## lisacor (Aug 19, 2008)

sethwell said:


> not sure, but i threw my email in to be a guinea pig.  hope i get selected.


I'm still waiting on hopefully being selected. Any chance you received an email for participation?


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## sethwell (Sep 19, 2008)

lisacor said:


> I'm still waiting on hopefully being selected. Any chance you received an email for participation?


nope, not today. anyone know when they put that page on slings website? then beta sign-up page? just curious.


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## lisacor (Aug 19, 2008)

sethwell said:


> nope, not today. anyone know when they put that page on slings website? then beta sign-up page? just curious.


I will be very disappointed if I missed as with traveling this feature would be WONDERFUL for me!!! Hope I was not too late.


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## lisacor (Aug 19, 2008)

Must be full. I signed up for the beta early Saturday morning. Still no word on being able to participate. Wonder how many are in the beta test? Sure can't be as big as Microsoft's Win7 beta as anyone can d/l and install win7. Very disappointing if the beta for slinguide is full already.

Anyone have any ideas how many are participating in the beta?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Since I have not seen an "I made it post" perhaps no one is in yet?


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

I signed up, with in minutes of the posting, and not a peep from them. Wondering how many were already signed up, for CES.


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## techman540 (Jan 13, 2009)

I signed up as well!


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## doogster (Dec 13, 2006)

I joined the beta and I'm in testing... works pretty well, but there are some issues I've reported:

1) Can't currently update timers correctly (you get a time-out message)

2) When you search for something on the TV Grid, it only returns results for the day selected!! No way (yet) to change that... so, if you search for a program you have to keep changing the day its searching on from a drop-down box... but, I'm sure this will be fixed... 

Other than that... pretty nice!


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## lisacor (Aug 19, 2008)

doogster said:


> I joined the beta and I'm in testing... works pretty well, but there are some issues I've reported:
> 
> 1) Can't currently update timers correctly (you get a time-out message)
> 
> ...


Care to say when you signed up that you made it in the beta test? Still no reply to my request to join the beta.


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## due time (Jan 19, 2009)

This would be perfect for me as I just got Dish, just hooked it up with ethernet connection, and have an iPhone. I already signed up for the beta as well.

I saw the web activation menu item when I first got the Dish late Dec, but it disappeared by the time that I got the ethernet hooked up!

One negative associated with moving to Dish from my old cable/eyeTV DVR set-up is that finding and scheduling programs is much more difficult and time consuming. EyeTV has a really nice interface and integration with TitanTV web guide service.

But this sounds like it would take that to a whole new level.

I'm hoping they'll add more beta testers soon.

For any current testers, please provide some details of what looks good and what you've tried.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

I would guess that most people in a private beta are under an NDA. At least that is what I have seen from Sling when doing other beta testing.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

I signed up but haven't heard anything as well. I wouldn't be surprised if they were taking people that already have a Sling product registered first and I've never bought their products before. If this works as advertised though I will be one of the first to provide a credit card number for it!


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## hikari (Jan 19, 2009)

I signed up the beginning of last week. 
Before i even had dish this was one of the cool reasons that pushed me twords dish. 

But now that it is installed and am using it i realize how much i have been missing.

I am waiting patently on this have even called sling to ask them they cant say anything but refer to the website. 

Figured since Dtv has an internet based guide i would think dish would be pushing out something to compete fast. 

Being able to set stuff to record on the go is awsome and a must in my eyes and i my wife and i have iphones also so makes it very cool..


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## doogster (Dec 13, 2006)

lisacor said:


> Care to say when you signed up that you made it in the beta test? Still no reply to my request to join the beta.


Its funny... I read on this forum that the beta test was avail last week... tried to sign up and it said it was full. Then I tried the next day and it let me in to the beta test.... strange... but glad I'm in.


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## Borgie (Dec 30, 2006)

Just got my invite in the email. Thing is awesome!!!


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Just got my invite too. As Borgie said, it's awesome! Sorry, can't give details.


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

Totally blows my mind.


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## Jon W (Jan 27, 2004)

Is the Iphone application testing also? I am participating in the beta.


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## sethwell (Sep 19, 2008)

still no invite here. i went and put my email address in again but it said they already had it on file and i would get an invitation as soon as more spots were available. getting kinda bummed.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Possible sethwell that they want to roll it out in stages to avoid a flood of traffic and so they can monitor the load as they add people. I would not lose hope yet.


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## fatpug (Apr 11, 2007)

Does SlingMedia support viewing TV on your iPhone if you connect a slingbox to your dish DVR?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

fatpug said:


> Does SlingMedia support viewing TV on your iPhone if you connect a slingbox to your dish DVR?


Remembering that Sling is a DISH product ... "Soon"

http://www.slingmedia.com/go/iphone


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## joedoe (Jul 20, 2005)

While Dish is fighting it's way through different beta programs to implement web based DVR programming D* just does it and, BTW it doesn't require broadband or even phone connection for the receiver!

Isn't it funny?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

joedoe said:


> While Dish is fighting it's way through different beta programs to implement web based DVR programming D* just does it and, BTW it doesn't require broadband or even phone connection for the receiver!
> 
> Isn't it funny?


Sounds dangerous and underpowered. Not even phone connection? How do you know if what you requested online made it to the receiver? How do you know that there wasn't a recording conflict where the web requested program won't record or will bump an existing recording? How do you know that there is space on your DVR and if not what programs will be bumped? (Oops ... forgot to protect something and now it is gone.) How do you know what happened until you get home and find out that what you wanted didn't happen?

Two way communication is needed for proper remote scheduling. An internet connection is a good thing. It allows YOU to do more than send a suggestion ... it gives you control over your receiver. It would be nice to see a "phone only" version of the SlingGuide service - but what they have is likely to be a better product because of the level of control.


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

joedoe said:


> While Dish is fighting it's way through different beta programs to implement web based DVR programming D* just does it and, BTW it doesn't require broadband or even phone connection for the receiver!
> 
> Isn't it funny?


Really, is that how it works? Are you kidding? I don't see how that's a good thing at all for all the reasons that James just stated. This ain't the ReplayTV days anymore where the site would blast remote schedules to the receiver at 3AM every day and you just hope it works.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

James Long said:


> Remembering that Sling is a DISH product ... "Soon"
> 
> http://www.slingmedia.com/go/iphone


But since SlingGuide can be used on the iPhone (I suspect Windows Mobile too) and live viewing is supported in SlingGuide (via a SlingBox), I was wondering if the video part of SlingGuide worked on the iPhone.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

joedoe said:


> While Dish is fighting it's way through different beta programs to implement web based DVR programming D* just does it and, BTW it doesn't require broadband or even phone connection for the receiver!
> 
> Isn't it funny?


How do you know what recordings are on your receiver and how do you delete them?


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

fatpug said:


> Does SlingMedia support viewing TV on your iPhone if you connect a slingbox to your dish DVR?


I don't know. Got my email and plan on signing up this weekend. You might want to try using the browser on the iPhone and see if that works. They could have a mobile version designed for a web browser. Lot of sites do provide mobile versions of their apps.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

I don't have an iPhone. I am looking to get a new phone and this just might push me to the iPhone over a Blackberry.


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## lisacor (Aug 19, 2008)

doogster said:


> Its funny... I read on this forum that the beta test was avail last week... tried to sign up and it said it was full. Then I tried the next day and it let me in to the beta test.... strange... but glad I'm in.


Guess some have all the luck. Very discouraging the way the beta test was handled at this point. Hope it isn't in beta for a year.

Still waiting on my invite.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Discouraging? That's the way betas work, sometimes you just have to be in the right place at the right time.  In most cases a company will open a few spots for testers. If the tests prove OK then they open it to a few more. At times new testers are not accepted because they have enough info and/or need to make changes to the product before they expand testing. There really aren't any "rules" for beta tests. I don't think anyone was guaranteed they would get in.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

DirecTV's online scheduling program will certainly be more limiting than the SlingGuide. But there are many benefits too:

1) No phone or broadband connections needed. Most people I know do not have broadband connection to their DVRs, but they were able to use the online scheduling after I told them it was available to them, from work, from a library, or anywhere that has Internet.

2) Or, they can schedule on their mobile phones too.

3) Since for most people online scheduling was to catch a show either they forgot to record, or something unexepcted, it is not something used often and schedule conflict rarely happens.

4) If you have more than one DVR, can always record to the less used ones.

5) The scheduling has been quite reliable. For about 10 times I had to use it in the last 6 months, only missed one recording for unknown reason, could be mistake on my part.

That said, since my D* DVRs are all hard wired, I will most certainly benefit from the SlingGuide kind of service more than the DirecTV approach, but for a lot of folks, D*'s is a quick dirty way to get it done without any additional hassle and it is available to all D* DVR users.

For E* subs, it has to be the VIP DVRs. My 625 for example is toast.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

jacmyoung said:


> DirecTV's online scheduling program will certainly be more limiting than the SlingGuide. But there are many benefits too:
> 
> 1) No phone or broadband connections needed. Most people I know do not have broadband connection to their DVRs, but they were able to use the online scheduling after I told them it was available to them, from work, from a library, or anywhere that has Internet.


Most Dish owners that I know have broadband hooked to their receiver. SlingGuide can be used from any computer, iPhone and I would guess other phones once it is rolled out.


> 2) Or, they can schedule on their mobile phones too.


SlingGuide can be used with iPhone now (and I suspect WindowsMobile phones too). I would suspect other phones will be supported after roll out.


> 3) Since for most people online scheduling was to catch a show either they forgot to record, or something unexepcted, it is not something used often and schedule conflict rarely happens.


But you never know do you?



> 4) If you have more than one DVR, can always record to the less used ones.


Same as SlingGuide. But do you know which is less used? SlingGuide shows you how much HD space is available on your receivers.


> 5) The scheduling has been quite reliable. For about 10 times I had to use it in the last 6 months, only missed one recording for unknown reason, could be mistake on my part.


That is a 10% failure rate. Doubtful that would happen with SlingGuide as you have access to all of your recording schedules and can see if it took your new recording. Actually SlingGuide is so easy and versitile to use, it's better then the EPG on the receiver. I now use it all the time, even at home, to search for and set programs to record.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

I am not a casual DVR user, I have all four of my D* HD DVRs hard wired, has 18mpbs download speed for HD VOD, stream recorded HD shows from my HD DVRs to my laptops all the time for convenience viewing.

And yet I had only the need to remotely schedule a recording 10 times in the last 6 months, and I can only recall three times they were necessary, the other times was only for fun.

Don't get me wrong, I love to have the SlingGuide service, the online scheduling of a recording is not one high on the list simply because there are very few cases that you will ever need it. Most shows are already scheduled with series passes and all. In fact almost all my DVRs have maxxed out their timers.

And most importantly, my 625 is not SlingGuide capable, no online scheduling no matter how high tech my house is. Since this is only available for the VIP DVRs, a lot of folks will be left out, including those who have the VIP DVRs but no network connection setup.


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

625 is 5 years old and it doesn't even do MPEG4. What do you expect?


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

DustoMan said:


> 625 is 5 years old and it doesn't even do MPEG4. What do you expect?


Simple online scheduling? The 5 years old D* DVR can do it.

I am not here to insist E* do this, only that you can see the benefit of the D*'s simple approach.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Thought I can see the benefit in providing a means that does not require Ethernet, I see the bigger value in a mechanism that provides both the ability to schedule a recording , manage your box, and provides extra capabilities that you can't do within the receiver. 

from the press release this definitely looks like where this is going which provides both the functionality to a remote user (Work, out on the road etc) and the internal user that is at home and by using the web interface they can do things that are easier to do (Example searching) than can be done through the TV interface.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

DustoMan said:


> 625 is 5 years old and it doesn't even do MPEG4. What do you expect?


Not long from now that 625 will be no more then a paperweight.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

HobbyTalk said:


> Not long from now that 625 will be no more then a paperweight.


The question is not how soon the 625 maybe a paperweight (I can see it lasting another 3 years even in my high tech household), the question is rather how soon and how many E* subs will be upgrading from their SD DVRs to the VIP DVRs, and by how many per account, giving the four tuner lease limitation.

Keep in mind that even if you have one VIP DVRs, and two SD DVRs, only the VIP can be remotely scheduled.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

Well, jacmyoung, perhaps DISH shouldn't bother with the feature. 


I'm glad it is working on three year old ViP-622 DVR. I'm also glad to see better technology like the Sling enabled ViP-922 DVR only a few months from release. Add a Slingbox to the 622 and you'll have a "922 light". There will always be room for improvement. I certainly wouldn't want the 625 to be the top of the line.

SD receivers are on the way out. In three years your MPEG2 receiver may not have many signals left to receive.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

James Long said:


> Well, jacmyoung, perhaps DISH shouldn't bother with the feature.


Who said that?

The truth is I pointed out one simple thing overlooked by E*, and people do not like to hear anything negative.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

jacmyoung said:


> Simple online scheduling? The 5 years old D* DVR can do it.
> 
> I am not here to insist E* do this, only that you can see the benefit of the D*'s simple approach.


D*'s simple approach is very simple, it also means no two-way communications, and conformation, just for starters. Why have a feature when, You don't know for sure the recording will happen or not, or even if it will start ontime, if you have to do it at the last minute.

I perfer the idea of drawing a line, and moving forward, makes for a much more robust and flexible system vs a system that has to be made for so it can support the oldest and slowest technology, and lose all the features to make it special.

Granted there are some SD units that might survive longer than others, but as for HD DVR's, just like Dish, D* is forcing all those older HD users to upgrade, MPEG4 or else, so forcing users to upgrade Hardware, for newer features, is nothing new for either company.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

jacmyoung said:


> The truth is I pointed out one simple thing overlooked by E*, and people do not like to hear anything negative.


It wasn't one simple thing overlooked by DISH, it just isn't part of their design. (Kinda like DLB on DirecTV receivers. One simple thing that just isn't there on the HR-2xs.) DISH just went with something more robust than "send and hope".

I believe the full featured interface will make it a more popular feature on DISH than it is on DirecTV. People doing more than sending what amounts to a text message to their receiver. People checking to see what they have and managing their receivers.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

With all that was said, I hope you guys will not be surprised I may be among the first ones to get my hands on a 922


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

jacmyoung said:


> Simple online scheduling? The 5 years old D* DVR can do it.
> 
> I am not here to insist E* do this, only that you can see the benefit of the D*'s simple approach.


It's like comparing D*s Yugo to E*s Cobra. The D* system will get you to point A to B and that's it. What if someone tells you a race is on later but doesn't know the time or channel so you can record it? With SlingGuide I click one button to display all auto racing programming, click the listing for the race, then click record. How would you search for a program and then record it with the D* system on your phone?


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## joedoe (Jul 20, 2005)

James Long said:


> Sounds dangerous and underpowered. Not even phone connection? How do you know if what you requested online made it to the receiver? How do you know that there wasn't a recording conflict where the web requested program won't record or will bump an existing recording? How do you know that there is space on your DVR and if not what programs will be bumped? (Oops ... forgot to protect something and now it is gone.) How do you know what happened until you get home and find out that what you wanted didn't happen?
> 
> Two way communication is needed for proper remote scheduling. An internet connection is a good thing. It allows YOU to do more than send a suggestion ... it gives you control over your receiver. It would be nice to see a "phone only" version of the SlingGuide service - but what they have is likely to be a better product because of the level of control.


But the simple fact is that it DOES work now, period.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

joedoe said:


> But the simple fact is that it DOES work now, period.


Funny, he said that 1 out of 10 times it missed a recording for him.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

HobbyTalk said:


> Funny, he said that 1 out of 10 times it missed a recording for him.


Is this all you have to go by? I said that once I did not even know if it was me that clicked on the wrong DVR and did not find it when I got home.

In any event, I already said it was no big deal, there is no dispute that the SlingGuide will be a much robust service, they better be.

Why is it so hard for some of you to also admit that allowing *all* exsiting DVRs to do remote scheduling is also a good thing?


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## joedoe (Jul 20, 2005)

HobbyTalk said:


> Funny, he said that 1 out of 10 times it missed a recording for him.


BTW it sends an email confirmation for every scheduled recording so you always know it it went through.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

joedoe said:


> BTW it sends an email confirmation for every scheduled recording so you always know it it went through.


An email confirmation that the message was SENT to the receiver, not that it got through?

I'd prefer the ability to look at my timers list online, including conflicts. Two way communication is the best way to know if the message got to the RECEIVER. That's where the confirmation needs to originate. Does DirecTV's service have a "smart mode" that allows this?


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## joedoe (Jul 20, 2005)

James Long said:


> An email confirmation that the message was SENT to the receiver, not that it got through?
> 
> I'd prefer the ability to look at my timers list online, including conflicts. Two way communication is the best way to know if the message got to the RECEIVER. That's where the confirmation needs to originate. Does DirecTV's service have a "smart mode" that allows this?


There is no need for double confirmation as the system is reliable. The only reason it may fail is to have the receiver disconnected from the power source or from a switch. While scheduling a recording you can select it's priority to ensure that what must be recorded definitely will be.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

joedoe said:


> There is no need for double confirmation as the system is reliable. The only reason it may fail is to have the receiver disconnected from the power source or from a switch. While scheduling a recording you can select it's priority to ensure that what must be recorded definitely will be.


Some day I might have the 43 events in my timer list memorized in order so I can instantly decide where to place a new timer. Until then with the system you describe one would have to do their own offline schedule checking to make sure that there were no conflicts.

For example, for the past few weeks I've been recording 24 on Monday nights at 9pm ET on Fox. A couple of weeks ago the winter season of Kyle XY started up at 9pm ET on ABC Family. This Monday Heroes returns from it's long Christmas break at 9pm ET on NBC. If the priority is set wrong I could miss one of those shows.

I certainly wouldn't want to set a recording of the premiere of "The Bucket List" on HBO Signature Monday night that was higher priority than the "one night only" recordings of 24 and Heroes. (Kyle XY is available Tuesday night at Midnight.)

Wouldn't it be easier to do that scheduling with a complete list of timers and conflicts available and live operation of the receiver instead of flying blind? With a "send and hope" system you're hoping that you sent the right priorities so you get what you want. With a live system you know what you're going to get. Feedback is immediate and accurate.

It is the difference between an old receive only pager and a videophone. You can trust that a "we sent the message" confirmation actually reached the receiver or you can have real feedback from the receiver.

As noted before, I can see the value in both methods but there is certainly a lot more utility in a control system with a live connection to the receiver.

The good news is that I will have the system I like on my receiver. You may want something less robust. I believe the better system is worth the wait.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

I have never used D*s system so could someone that has answer this question so we can compare functions:

How would you search for a program (sporting event as an example) that you have no idea what the name is or time it starts and then record it with the D* system on your phone?


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

HobbyTalk said:


> I have never used D*s system so could someone that has answer this question so we can compare functions:
> 
> How would you search for a program (sporting event as an example) that you have no idea what the name is or time it starts and then record it with the D* system on your phone?


How do you do it? Depending what kind of game it is, if it is an NFL game, go to the NFL website, find out the time and location, the teams, the players, what kind of scandals they have committed lately, play time, which network, all the stats you want.

Then go to the online schedule and record it.

But that is not the point, I never tried to dismiss the power of the SlingGuide. I am all for it, I think E* made a brilliant move to acquire Sling, a forward looking act, compared to DirecTV's purchase of ReplayTV, only an act of self defense again any possible TiVo's attack in the court.

But the point here is, it would be nice if E* had also allowed all the DVRs to have the remote scheduling function, not a difficult thing to do. Also not to say that such function should in any way diminish the need for the development of the SlingGuide.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

HobbyTalk said:


> How would you search for a program (sporting event as an example) that you have no idea what the name is or time it starts and then record it with the D* system on your phone?


Finding that kind of information is trivial ... zap2it, TitanTV and other guides will tell you what is on TV without connecting to your personal EPG. They won't know exactly what channels you subscribe to in an online guide and may display choices that are unavailable or miss choices that are available. But an online guide operated by your satellite provider could know what subscription information has been sent to your receivers and use the channels you can get - without a connection to the receiver.

Finding stuff isn't a problem as long as they keep their guide accurate and the online channel subscription list matches your subscriptions. What an online guide without receiver feedback cannot do is know what your receiver is already set to do.

Most of my recording is in the evening when I'm around to control the receiver, so it is hard to find an example of when remote scheduling would be REQUIRED. I occasionally work late but rarely into prime time. Daytime TV doesn't interest me and even daytime sports is generally a weekend event. If I really cared about something I'd probably set up a recording the night or week before.

I imagine I'll be using the SlingGuide more from home than work or elsewhere ... that may sound odd to some. That rather than pick up the remote and run through the DVR menu system I'd log into SlingGuide and control the DVR remotely but it has it's benefits. You're not changing the display on the TV while you're setting and checking timers and managing old content.

Yes, it may sound silly but I expect I'll be sitting on the couch with my laptop and remote handy and use the laptop to set up a timer or check for conflicts.

The only times I've NEEDED remote scheduling is when I've been out of town. A couple of years ago on Memorial Day weekend when I had the Indianapolis 500 set to record and it got rained out. I couldn't set a recording for the next day. There have also been a couple of times when I was out of town and saw something on their TV that I thought was interesting enough to record later. But not really a daily or weekly experience of needing access when I'm not already watching TV at home.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Sure you can use a number of sites to find schedules, but it can be such a pain to find schedules if you don't know the site very well.

I just happened to use it today. Was at the hockey rink watching some practice, I normally take my netbook with me as they have wireless and I do a bit of surfing when I get bored. A few in the stands got to talking about the Michigan basketball game and some wondered what the score was. I popped on to SlingGuide, a quick search in the basketball listings showed where the game was. So I hit "watch" and we sat there and watched about 30 minutes of the game. Granted I have a slingbox connected so I could watch live but it was much easier then going to ESPN, Big Ten or whatever web site to try and find out the score.

This is what some have to look forward to with their new 922


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

I think it's legit to say that it's nice that D* allows all the DVRs to be scheduled remotely but it's also legit to say that E* decided to take a different approach and leapfrog their solution with SlingGuide. (Disclaimer: I am not part of the Beta program and have only see the videos / comments posted on how it is supposed to work and am basing my comments on that information).

While it may be a bummer that not all receivers can take advantage of the feature I can see that the most hi-tech (and likely highest $$ paying) customers are the most likely to use said functionality and a large percentage of these subs are likely to have ViP series receivers already. 

In short I agree that it's a great idea to build a new product without putting too many limits on it because of compatibililty with older model devices that are in the populace.


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## lisacor (Aug 19, 2008)

I got emailed my invitation just now. When I go to active it gives me a 6 digit code instead of a 7 digit code. Says it should say XXX-XXXX I get 88-XXXX. I have an IP address on my dish box and can ping. I have registerd. Anyone else have an issue where the box gives a 6 digit number for web activation instead of a 7 digit number? i can't get past that screen with only my 6 digit number.

Issue resolved.


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## RollTide1017 (Oct 12, 2008)

Why doesn't Dish allow this to work on the 612?

I assume that there is some type of hardware difference between the 612 and the other ViPs but, does anyone know what that may be?

Boy, do I regret getting a 612 now.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

lisacor said:


> I got emailed my invitation just now. When I go to active it gives me a 6 digit code instead of a 7 digit code. Says it should say XXX-XXXX I get 88-XXXX. I have an IP address on my dish box and can ping. I have registerd. Anyone else have an issue where the box gives a 6 digit number for web activation instead of a 7 digit number? i can't get past that screen with only my 6 digit number.
> 
> Issue resolved.


Put a 0 (zero) in front of the number.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

What perfect timing.
Recieved this in my email this morning.
:hurah:"Welcome to the SlingGuide for DISH DVR Beta":hurah:

Just intime for the Superbowl party and now I can show off to the Direct guys that are coming over.
:dance01::icon_da::icon_da::dance01:


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## KevinRS (Oct 9, 2007)

Think of it more like a computer interface to the DVR, you can control the dvr, switch to a program that is on, and start playback of recordings. Obviously these are related to the slingbox remote viewing possibilities, but they work with slingguide as well.
Searching is much faster than using the search on the DVR Guide, and using genres to find shows and movies brings up a list in just a few seconds. There are some refinements I'd expect to come before it gets out of beta, but just playing with it a little, I've found multiple shows and movies to add timers for.

I can for example, click the later tab, and click the genre Science Fiction, and I get 63 results, the shows are grouped, for example the 37 twilight zone episodes. I now notice that there are 4 2002-2003 twilight zone series episodes listed separately, nice that it is distinguishing them. 
I can view all conflicting timers easily, rather than scrolling through them in the daily schedule.

You can search by an actor's name for instance, and quickly get all the movies and shows that they are in, over the 9 days of guide listings.

It appears that the listings may be pulled from the DVR, though it would take some more checking to confirm this.

I see this becoming very popular when it goes live.


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## quasi888 (Jan 15, 2008)

Just signed up for the beta yesterday. Very impressive, refined user interface. Here are some screenshots as viewed from my iPhone.

Attempting to connect after logging in. This takes a few seconds.









*Grid View. Any program is clickable.*









*Program Detail* 









*Program Record Options* 









*DVR View*









*Episode List within DVR View*









*Episode Options within DVR View*









*Search*









*Search Results*


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

yeah I got my invites yesterday too (posted in another thread).

Didn't use the phone stuff, but as for the web front end, it's extremely well thought out. Room for improvement of course, but overall I love it. I dont even use my remote to manage anything on the dvr now. I use the web. you can delete lists of things at a time, one click allows you to view all conflicts in schedules, and tons of other stuff.

This is what I've been waiting years for, and am so happy it's been introduced (albeit beta) in such an excellent way


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

I see one MAJOR issue with SlingGuide.

Everytime I select my DVR or go online to watch Live TV from my DVR. I discover I want the VIP922 and I WANT IT NOW. As my 622 and 722 aren't initalized YET
I may have to just by a SlingPro HD right now, for the PC's in the house.

SlingGuide is nice, REALLY Nice. 
You do have becareful, and not start a Recording while others are watching TV, and you are in the Backroom. Granted it was lots of fun to change the channel start recordings, and do all sorts of things, and Listen to everybody argue down stairs about who was screwing around with the remote.:lol:


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

quasi888 said:


> Just signed up for the beta yesterday. Very impressive, refined user interface. Here are some screenshots as viewed from my iPhone.


Looks pretty nice. I wonder if Sling will take it to the next step and create a native app for the iPhone/iPod Touch.


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## quasi888 (Jan 15, 2008)

DustoMan said:


> Looks pretty nice. I wonder if Sling will take it to the next step and create a native app for the iPhone/iPod Touch.


Good question. The screens above are from the iPhone-specific web interface (the Sling server detects that the browser is from an iPhone, so it serves up the iPhone-specific pages). If I had loaded it up using a Windows Mobile phone, for example, it probably would look a bit different. So, it's almost as good as being a native iPhone/iTouch app.


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## gilunionhall (May 8, 2006)

hi guys -

not being the most technically up to date person -


if i have a sling box i can watch dish tv on the computer just like i do at home as long as i can receive an internet connection. but there isnt a way to get the signal from the computer to a regular tv (unless you buy a "sling catcher")

and currently there are no monthly fees for either of the sling boxes?

thanks,

gil


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

gilunionhall said:


> if i have a sling box i can watch dish tv on the computer just like i do at home as long as i can receive an internet connection. but there isnt a way to get the signal from the computer to a regular tv (unless you buy a "sling catcher")
> 
> and currently there are no monthly fees for either of the sling boxes?


The sling catcher is the way of catching without a PC on a regular TV. There are no monthly fees for either box.


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## RollTide1017 (Oct 12, 2008)

Well, I fixed my problem with the 612 not working. I just upgraded to a 722 which should be here on Sunday.


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## sremick (Feb 4, 2008)

Got an invite, but during the signup process:

"Username must contain at least one digit"

WTF? Sorry if this sounds petty, but that's rather obnoxious in my opinion. I like to keep consistency with my usernames, but _none _of them use numbers.


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

sremick said:


> Got an invite, but during the signup process:
> 
> "Username must contain at least one digit"
> 
> WTF? Sorry if this sounds petty, but that's rather obnoxious in my opinion. I like to keep consistency with my usernames, but _none _of them use numbers.


I don't understand what the username is even used for. You don't use it to log in... what gives?


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## wyatt earp (Feb 3, 2009)

Any idea of what the 922 will cost? I have 722 now but the sound of 1000 hours of video sounds to good, not to mention the built in Sling.

Wyatt


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

wyatt earp said:


> Any idea of what the 922 will cost? I have 722 now but the sound of 1000 hours of video sounds to good, not to mention the built in Sling.
> 
> Wyatt


Leased price was $199 when its released. The more I play with the Guide the more I want the Sling Enabled DVR.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

sremick said:


> Got an invite, but during the signup process:
> 
> "Username must contain at least one digit"
> 
> WTF? Sorry if this sounds petty, but that's rather obnoxious in my opinion. I like to keep consistency with my usernames, but _none _of them use numbers.


More and More websites will be forcing, at least a number, some will be forcing a number and a special Charactor, for security purposes.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

DustoMan said:


> I don't understand what the username is even used for. You don't use it to log in... what gives?


I agree with that, you login with email address. But your username shows up at the top. Looks like for down the road feature, for usernames on you account and content control or something.


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## sremick (Feb 4, 2008)

GrumpyBear said:


> More and More websites will be forcing, at least a number, some will be forcing a number and a special Charactor, for security purposes.


That's fine for a _password_, but unnecessary, pointless, and a nuisance for _usernames_.

I want to be my English name for display purposes, not some garbage montage of letters, numbers and symbols.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

sremick said:


> That's fine for a _password_, but unnecessary, pointless, and a nuisance for _usernames_.
> 
> I want to be my English name for display purposes, not some garbage montage of letters, numbers and symbols.


It started with passwords. I build websites, and you will be seeing MORE and MORE, websites forcing you to add a number or Charactor to your name, depending on site, some of this is even Govt mandated.
To many sloppy users have forced more and more security features to be forced down to people, rather you want it or not. Websites have to protect themselves, from users that leave a huge security hole in thier everyday world. To many bad guys, lazy users, and Lawyers, out there.

A site like SlingGuide that allows you via the internet to have access to your HOME and personal DVR, will have higher security down the road.


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## sremick (Feb 4, 2008)

GrumpyBear said:


> It started with passwords. I build websites, and you will be seeing MORE and MORE, websites forcing you to add a number or Charactor to your name, depending on site, some of this is even Govt mandated.
> To many sloppy users have forced more and more security features to be forced down to people, rather you want it or not. Websites have to protect themselves, from users that leave a huge security hole in thier everyday world. To many bad guys, lazy users, and Lawyers, out there.
> 
> A site like SlingGuide that allows you via the internet to have access to your HOME and personal DVR, will have higher security down the road.


Usernames are already public... there's nothing to be gained by adding numbers to them beyond annoying the users.

And since the "username" in question has already been established to _have absolutely nothing to do with logging in or authentication_, obfuscating it serves no purpose whatsoever. Certainly not any perceived "added security".

If people are looking to add better security to their websites, they need to actually put effort into things that are related to the problem... not "feel-good" policies just for the sake of "see? We did something!" Just because it's "government mandated" doesn't mean there's any logic, reason or factual basis to it.

I see no reason we should be validating Dish's/Sling's actions on this. This is just plain stupid.

I build websites too, and have been an IT/network administrator for 15 years on Windows and unix-based systems.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

sremick said:


> I build websites too, and have been an IT/network administrator for 15 years on Windows and unix-based systems.


Not all user names are public, and SlingGuide is forcing a username to be displayed that is different from login. Look at your email you use for login, and your displayed username, that shows only after you login. Plus we don't even know for sure what they are going to be using the displayed username at the top of your account yet.

This is a psuedo vpn connection, and since you have been working IT for 15 years, you already know that their are multiple ISC Certifications for Remote access securty. SlingGuide is just that a remote access to your PERSONAL DVR. I have no issues with people building in the proper security and meeting ISC Certification levels. Real companies can't just build and release a product that doesn't meet Industry standards.

IT security standards for SECURE, remote access, require a Secure username, not just a Simple username. I have 200 sales reps that complain about this all the time. NOTHING can be done about it, and they have to use a Number and a Charactor, in there usernames, as our Director took a higher security standard than minimum.

Complain, its your right, don't like it, thats your right too.


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## gilunionhall (May 8, 2006)

James Long said:


> The sling catcher is the way of catching without a PC on a regular TV. There are no monthly fees for either box.


thanks for the response

in general terms, if possible - how does the "sling catcher" know where you are?

do you have to call in and register it wherever you are?

thanks again!

gil


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

GrumpyBear said:


> Not all user names are public, and SlingGuide is forcing a username to be displayed that is different from login. Look at your email you use for login, and your displayed username, that shows only after you login. Plus we don't even know for sure what they are going to be using the displayed username at the top of your account yet.
> 
> This is a psuedo vpn connection, and since you have been working IT for 15 years, you already know that their are multiple ISC Certifications for Remote access securty. SlingGuide is just that a remote access to your PERSONAL DVR. I have no issues with people building in the proper security and meeting ISC Certification levels. Real companies can't just build and release a product that doesn't meet Industry standards.
> 
> ...


Come to think of it. The username might be used on Sling.com if there's any community features there. I remember when I made the account that is specifically said, Sling.com not SlingGuide. So there's probably going to be some integration between the two sites sometime down the road.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

DustoMan said:


> Come to think of it. The username might be used on Sling.com if there's any community features there. I remember when I made the account that is specifically said, Sling.com not SlingGuide. So there's probably going to be some integration between the two sites sometime down the road.


I think there are some community features, as you can make yourself Public or Private and thats the sling part, not the SlingGuide. I just played with the Guide, setting up timers and launching shows, and changing the channel, sling.com made me depressed as I don't have a 922 to use some of the killer features. If I remember there was like a Fan setting in your public area, for people watching you are slinging/feeding. I didn't bother with any of that at all.

I had no idea I would/could ever do it, and I am having lots of fun doing it NOW, but my Laptop has turned into my FAVORITE remote control. All in One only gets used for volume now.


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## badmans (Oct 3, 2006)

I activated the new Sling / Web feature on my 622 today. The web interface is great and it is very fast in communicating with the receiver.

Unfortunately, the Sling side of things does not recognize when you have off-air digital channels integrated into your guide. Nor does it recognize recordings of off-air digital channels. Hopefully they will fix this over sight.


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

badmans said:


> Unfortunately, the Sling side of things does not recognize when you have off-air digital channels integrated into your guide. Nor does it recognize recordings of off-air digital channels. Hopefully they will fix this over sight.


I sent feedback on that issue. I hope it gets fixed too.

EDIT: Hey wait a minute, are OTA recorded events not showing up either? I just went looking for 24 and Fringe and they are not listed. The timers are there. I wanted to make sure those two shows recorded since I'm away from home until the end of the week.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

badmans said:


> I activated the new Sling / Web feature on my 622 today. The web interface is great and it is very fast in communicating with the receiver.
> 
> Unfortunately, the Sling side of things does not recognize when you have off-air digital channels integrated into your guide. Nor does it recognize recordings of off-air digital channels. Hopefully they will fix this over sight.


I noticed the OTA problem last night, while playing around with things. No problem with getting 2 recording going on the fly, but wanted to tune into my OTA.
The guide shows SD and HD Locals and labels the HD channel, but the OTA 39-01 isn't listed, only the 39-00 SD/HD were. I think EVERYBODY needs to complain about this. We have 3 tuners, what do they think we are Direct and can't record or watch OTA? 
I don't have any OTA recording I will shortly, so I can send them whats missing recording wise as well. NO reason for them not to show whats recorded on the DVR.


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## Lostinspace (Oct 25, 2007)

BETA means that. Instead of ranting report the issues.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

Lostinspace said:


> BETA means that. Instead of ranting report the issues.


Not so much ranting here, as sharing what we are seeing so we can send feedback. 
For Feedback though the more that complain about something not being there the more they will listen. And the more that are on the same page the about lacking features the better. Most of have already said we Really enjoy SlingGuide,and the last few posts were all comments about feedback sent in, hoping they will fix the issues.


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## Wolfpanther (Apr 29, 2008)

The OTA channels are showing up in my grid now. They weren't there about an hour ago.


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## badmans (Oct 3, 2006)

DustoMan said:


> I sent feedback on that issue. I hope it gets fixed too.
> 
> Thanks for reporting it. Out of interest, what is the email address or URL for sending bug reports on this beta?


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

it's done through a panel form on the site and it's done programmatic. but even if it was in the source, or can be located, it shouldn't be.


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## KevinRS (Oct 9, 2007)

If it's browser access that it's done through for the iphone, there shouldn't be a reason it would not work on other devices. However they seem to be detecting and rejecting logins from other devices.

On the blazer browser on my treo 650, I attempt to login, and instantly get sent back to the login page.


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## jimborst (Jun 13, 2006)

I had no problem using my Samsung Delve, it's slow and hard to get the program right, but I did program it earlier.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

KevinRS said:


> If it's browser access that it's done through for the iphone, there shouldn't be a reason it would not work on other devices. However they seem to be detecting and rejecting logins from other devices.
> 
> On the blazer browser on my treo 650, I attempt to login, and instantly get sent back to the login page.


I think its the Blazer Browser.
Palm Centro doesn't work, but the Samsung Eternity works fine.
Since they don't say anything except about the iphone, anything else that works is just
gravey, I guess.


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## sremick (Feb 4, 2008)

They should make a version that's not so Javascript-heavy that will work with Opera Mini (used by countless mobile owners). Also a Blackberry app would be good.

(yes, I submitted both suggestions via feedback)


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

badmans said:


> Thanks for reporting it. Out of interest, what is the email address or URL for sending bug reports on this beta?


There's a feedback link up at the top of the page where you can submit bugs and suggestions.


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## CoolGui (Feb 9, 2006)

Wow, I just got the invite today, and I am impressed. The channel list is a little slow, but nothing like the short lived old one was. I wish I could filter the channels to speed it up, I know I only watch about 1/3 of those.


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## griff55 (Oct 14, 2008)

How long has it been taking for signing up for the beta, to receiving an invite?


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

CoolGui said:


> Wow, I just got the invite today, and I am impressed. The channel list is a little slow, but nothing like the short lived old one was. I wish I could filter the channels to speed it up, I know I only watch about 1/3 of those.


You can create a Favorites list.
I started to create one, by noticed a a few channels weren't listed, DIY being one of them. I submitted some Feedback on creating a custom favorites list. Do the same, the more the better.


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## CoolGui (Feb 9, 2006)

I think it took 2-3 weeks between when I submitted to when I got the invite.

I see the favorites now, I will play around with it and submit feedback.

Those iPhone screens look really nice, unfortunately it doesn't work at all on windows mobile, at least not from pocket IE... I did get it working reasonably well with skyfire however.


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## jimb (Feb 13, 2006)

Is anyone else not seeing all of their timers under the my dvr tab? I'm only showing two and I have a lot more than that.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

jimb said:


> Is anyone else not seeing all of their timers under the my dvr tab? I'm only showing two and I have a lot more than that.


Do you have the HD Content only box checked?
Thats the only time I notice I don't see everything in the MY DVR tab.
I don't know about you, but I am really enjoying the Recordings, Scheduled, Timers, Conflicts, Skipped 
tabs when you are in the MY DVR.


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## manzelmo (Apr 16, 2008)

GrumpyBear said:


> Do you have the HD Content only box checked?
> Thats the only time I notice I don't see everything in the MY DVR tab.
> I don't know about you, but I am really enjoying the Recordings, Scheduled, Timers, Conflicts, Skipped
> tabs when you are in the MY DVR.


You have to watch having the HD content checked. Things get weird with that on. I guess you have to expect that though. Things get weird on the DVR as well when a channel has both HD and non HD and are listed with the same channel number. I wish it was like OTA where the their is a differnt number for the subchannels.


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## LJR (Nov 2, 2005)

FYI: I sent in my request on Wednesday & got the invite today (Friday).

Everything is working great! It's even faster to edit my schedule/timers online than with the remote.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

LJR said:


> FYI: I sent in my request on Wednesday & got the invite today (Friday).
> 
> Everything is working great! It's even faster to edit my schedule/timers online than with the remote.


I agree. I hardly use the remote, and even then its for a swap, or when I want to just jump directly to a station. Remote is mainly used for Volume control. NEVER would have thought I would use my laptop as a remote, or would I enjoy it either.


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## jimb (Feb 13, 2006)

Thanks, checking HD messed up my timer list....


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## badmans (Oct 3, 2006)

badmans said:


> I activated the new Sling / Web feature on my 622 today. The web interface is great and it is very fast in communicating with the receiver.
> 
> Unfortunately, the Sling side of things does not recognize when you have off-air digital channels integrated into your guide. Nor does it recognize recordings of off-air digital channels. Hopefully they will fix this over sight.


The issue with missing off air channels has been fixed. Also, off air recordings are now showing up in Sling. Thanks to Sling for the fast response.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

LJR said:


> Everything is working great! It's even faster to edit my schedule/timers online than with the remote.


That is one of the keys to calling this feature a success. Glad to see it appears to be meeting that goal.


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## Wolfpanther (Apr 29, 2008)

badmans said:


> The issue with missing off air channels has been fixed. Also, off air recordings are now showing up in Sling. Thanks to Sling for the fast response.


I posted in Message 102 on Wednesday afternoon that they were showing up in my Grid.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

I have been stoked about this but despite registring 3 seperate e-mail addresses I hadn't heard anything back from them but this morning all three had invitations! :icon_bb:

So far this I think it ROCKS and I think I might go out and buy and Ipod Touch which I had been comtemplating for a while now anyway. Talk about and economic stimulus program! :grin:


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## CoolGui (Feb 9, 2006)

Geez, I'm having serious problems tonight. None of my scheduled programs recorded, and now I'm getting no info available for nearly all the channels after midnight. I did the check switch and rebooted twice, none of it helped. 

I guess I'll give it until tomorrow then have to get them to take me off the beta program if things aren't working again.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

CoolGui said:


> Geez, I'm having serious problems tonight. None of my scheduled programs recorded, and now I'm getting no info available for nearly all the channels after midnight. I did the check switch and rebooted twice, none of it helped.
> 
> I guess I'll give it until tomorrow then have to get them to take me off the beta program if things aren't working again.


Are you seeing this on the actual DVR screen on your TV or only in the SlingGuide? If it's the former I don't think it has anything to do with SlingGuide but rather something wrong with your equipment. Does the DVR go through the "Downloading Guide Information" screen after a reboot?


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## LJR (Nov 2, 2005)

Can't connect to my receiver today. Anyone else having problems?


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## sremick (Feb 4, 2008)

LJR said:


> Can't connect to my receiver today. Anyone else having problems?


Working fine for me.


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## LJR (Nov 2, 2005)

LJR said:


> Can't connect to my receiver today. Anyone else having problems?


^Disregard, got it working. I had to reset my broadband connection.:sure:


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## Radner (Oct 24, 2005)

Applied for about 3 days ago and was accepted today. So still accepting. I guess they wanted to make sure I got the invitation, because I got 5 of them today!


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## russ9 (Jan 28, 2004)

Radner said:


> Applied for about 3 days ago and was accepted today. So still accepting. I guess they wanted to make sure I got the invitation, because I got 5 of them today!


I got 5 as well. It must be a new buy one get 4 free promotion.


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## russ9 (Jan 28, 2004)

Signed up, logged in, and wow! This is an awesome program.


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## stanggt03 (Jun 13, 2006)

Radner said:


> Applied for about 3 days ago and was accepted today. So still accepting. I guess they wanted to make sure I got the invitation, because I got 5 of them today!


lol I got 8. I gave them my email addy last night and got the invitations today.


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## beaugolfs (May 19, 2008)

quasi888 said:


> Good question. The screens above are from the iPhone-specific web interface (the Sling server detects that the browser is from an iPhone, so it serves up the iPhone-specific pages). If I had loaded it up using a Windows Mobile phone, for example, it probably would look a bit different. So, it's almost as good as being a native iPhone/iTouch app.


I have an IPOD Touch and it isn't serving up the cool looking interface from the Iphone screen prints you shared with us. Any thoughts on how I can get this to work. thanks,


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Did you try typing in the URL using Safari on the Touch?


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## beaugolfs (May 19, 2008)

Ron Barry said:


> Did you try typing in the URL using Safari on the Touch?


Thanks. Yes, I think I did. I thought Safari was the only web browser on the Touch.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

It is.. Hmmm What are you getting when you browse? I personally have not tried it but wanted to removed the obvious.


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## beaugolfs (May 19, 2008)

Ron Barry said:


> It is.. Hmmm What are you getting when you browse? I personally have not tried it but wanted to removed the obvious.


I get the same page I get on my IE 7.0 Browser on my desktop computer. To do anything I have to scroll around quite a bit. I tried typing the work mobile at the end of the URL and that didn't work either. I also went into the Safari settings and didn't see anything that seemed like it needed changing.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Sounds like a bug. Wonder if the Touch version is not sending the right browser type. I would not expect a difference but sounds like their might be one. I will try it with my wife's tonight and see if I get the same experience.


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## beaugolfs (May 19, 2008)

Ron Barry said:


> Sounds like a bug. Wonder if the Touch version is not sending the right browser type. I would not expect a difference but sounds like their might be one. I will try it with my wife's tonight and see if I get the same experience.


Thanks again. As a test, I tried going to amazon.com and that site automatically recognized my iPod Touch and gave me the website version that is user friendly to the Touch. That is what I expected from the dish4.sling.com website. Look forward to hearing if you are successful.


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## beaugolfs (May 19, 2008)

beaugolfs said:


> Thanks again. As a test, I tried going to amazon.com and that site automatically recognized my iPod Touch and gave me the website version that is user friendly to the Touch. That is what I expected from the dish4.sling.com website. Look forward to hearing if you are successful.


OK, I found an answer to my problem. I added iphone at the end of the URL dish4.sling.com/iphone.php and it worked. The regular URL was not auto redirecting my iPod Touch, but it can be forced by adding iphone to the end of the URL. Thanks Ron for trying to help. I would still like to know if you were able to get the Touch version of the site without iphone on the end of the url.


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## sremick (Feb 4, 2008)

Anyone figure out a way to get Firefox to save the username/password on the login page? None of my standard tricks have worked.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

sremick said:


> Anyone figure out a way to get Firefox to save the username/password on the login page? None of my standard tricks have worked.


I have a mixed bag here on the DBSTalk login with Firefox... so it seems like it might be a Firefox thing rather than a specific Web site thing?

On my iMac, it does not save it on the top but it did save it on the left-hand side of the Home page.

On my PC, it doesn't save it in either place correctly... but it does sort of save it. When I visit from my PC I have to first click in the "Username" area and clear it out... then click somewhere on the page outside... then double click inside and I will see my username as a selectable option. Select that, and it fills in my saved password.

I've never been able to figure out why it works (or doesn't as the case may be) that way.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

Stewart Vernon said:


> I have a mixed bag here on the DBSTalk login with Firefox... so it seems like it might be a Firefox thing rather than a specific Web site thing?
> 
> On my iMac, it does not save it on the top but it did save it on the left-hand side of the Home page.
> 
> ...


I'm running IE 6 and can't get it to save no matter what I try.


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## AppliedAggression (Aug 16, 2003)

bobukcat said:


> I'm running IE 6 and can't get it to save no matter what I try.


That's disgusting...


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

bobukcat said:


> I'm running IE 6 and can't get it to save no matter what I try.


Don't feel bad, it won't save with Firefox either.


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

I can't get FireFox to remember mine either. I use Roboform Pro because....well for many reasons. taking my passwords with me on a memory stick on my keychain for one.

But I do wish FF kept it. Nut using Roboform solves the problem for me


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

beaugolfs said:


> Thanks again. As a test, I tried going to amazon.com and that site automatically recognized my iPod Touch and gave me the website version that is user friendly to the Touch. That is what I expected from the dish4.sling.com website. Look forward to hearing if you are successful.


Going to take another day... Went to try it last night but used the wrong login name on my router and could not get the Touch to connect. Hopefully I will get the connection so I can try it tonight.


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## Paradox-sj (Dec 15, 2004)

HobbyTalk said:


> Don't feel bad, it won't save with Firefox either.


It wont save with IE 7 either (too)


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

bobukcat said:


> I'm running IE 6 and can't get it to save no matter what I try.


Bob.. Do the net a service and if you can move to IE7, Chrome, or FF. Lets rid the net of IE6. It just is plain wrong.

Sounds from the posts the save user feature is not yet implemented.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

Ron Barry said:


> Going to take another day... Went to try it last night but used the wrong login name on my router and could not get the Touch to connect. Hopefully I will get the connection so I can try it tonight.


Ok.. Tried it with the Touch tonight. Worked as I thought it should. Not sure why you are not seeing it. Give it another try.


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

Ron Barry said:


> Bob.. Do the net a service and if you can move to IE7, Chrome, or FF. Lets rid the net of IE6. It just is plain wrong.
> 
> Sounds from the posts the save user feature is not yet implemented.


I would but most of my web-browsing is done from my work laptop and we have some internal sites that don't play well with FF or IE7. I use Chrome when I'm not logged into our VPN but again, it doesn't automatically handle the proxy settings so it's pain to use. I actually have very few issues with IE6.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

bobukcat said:


> I would but most of my web-browsing is done from my work laptop and we have some internal sites that don't play well with FF or IE7. I use Chrome when I'm not logged into our VPN but again, it doesn't automatically handle the proxy settings so it's pain to use. I actually have very few issues with IE6.


Most people don't because the web developers have had to go through the pains to make the sites work with IE6 due to the fact that IE6 came on millions of computers and most people don't swap it out.

As for internal sites not playing well, I understand and I have to say it annoys me to hear that and shows that the team developing apps for your company did the company a disservice by tying an app to a particular browser version.

For your company's sake I hope they remedy that situation. Well I am wondering a bit off topic.. Thanks for an explanation. Since in my day job I play a technical lead developing the next generation rich internet platform for our apps that we deliver our services on this type of data I find interesting.


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## jacmyoung (Sep 9, 2006)

Can anyone confirm this, from the latest tech chat it appeared the 612s are now also on the SlingGuide list?


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## CoolGui (Feb 9, 2006)

bobukcat said:


> Are you seeing this on the actual DVR screen on your TV or only in the SlingGuide? If it's the former I don't think it has anything to do with SlingGuide but rather something wrong with your equipment. Does the DVR go through the "Downloading Guide Information" screen after a reboot?


Sorry it took me so long to reply. I agree I think it was the DVR, but because I just started in the sling guide beta, I thought it might have caused it. To answer your question, it was going through the downloading guide information screen, but still was showing no info available. Not sure what happened, but in the morning everything was working fine again.


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## CoolGui (Feb 9, 2006)

Has anyone gotten the slingbox integration to work? I've tried it on a few different machines and it just sticks at "Connecting". I left feedback about it, but never got an answer. Yes, I have a separate slingbox and I believe I did set it up correctly. It works using the slingplayer, but not through the website. Also the firefox plugin install seems really buggy, but it happened the same way on all 3 machines. The IE install went pretty smooth, but still didn't work.


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

The "integration" is via the internet, so it seems a bit slow. I tried it early on but have not tried it since. Time to try it again.


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## beaugolfs (May 19, 2008)

Ron Barry said:


> Ok.. Tried it with the Touch tonight. Worked as I thought it should. Not sure why you are not seeing it. Give it another try.


Ron, Thanks. Not sure if you saw my post on #140, but I added "iphone" at the end of the URL dish4.sling.com/iphone.php and it worked. The regular URL was not auto redirecting my iPod Touch, but it can be forced by adding "iphone" to the end of the URL. Not sure if you had to do that too, but it is working now. Thanks again.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

CoolGui said:


> Has anyone gotten the slingbox integration to work? I've tried it on a few different machines and it just sticks at "Connecting". I left feedback about it, but never got an answer. Yes, I have a separate slingbox and I believe I did set it up correctly. It works using the slingplayer, but not through the website. Also the firefox plugin install seems really buggy, but it happened the same way on all 3 machines. The IE install went pretty smooth, but still didn't work.


Works fine on mine. Didn't do anything special, just put in the finder id and it worked.


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## Ron Barry (Dec 10, 2002)

beaugolfs said:


> Ron, Thanks. Not sure if you saw my post on #140, but I added "iphone" at the end of the URL dish4.sling.com/iphone.php and it worked. The regular URL was not auto redirecting my iPod Touch, but it can be forced by adding "iphone" to the end of the URL. Not sure if you had to do that too, but it is working now. Thanks again.


Nope. I just went to the URL. Perhaps their was a fix inbetween our trying it out.


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## TUKIN18S (Aug 16, 2005)

nevermind! It must have been down for a bit. Works GREAT!!! I love it!


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## Jim148 (Jun 22, 2004)

I just found this thread and it is interesting reading the posts. I wanted to get a Slingbox some time back, but then when I heard about a possible "all in one" I decided to wait. I am probably eligible for an upgrade on my leased 622, but I think I will continue to wait until the 922 becomes available. Keep up the beta testing guys!


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

Ron Barry said:


> Most people don't because the web developers have had to go through the pains to make the sites work with IE6 due to the fact that IE6 came on millions of computers and most people don't swap it out.
> 
> As for internal sites not playing well, I understand and I have to say it annoys me to hear that and shows that the team developing apps for your company did the company a disservice by tying an app to a particular browser version.
> 
> For your company's sake I hope they remedy that situation. Well I am wondering a bit off topic.. Thanks for an explanation. Since in my day job I play a technical lead developing the next generation rich internet platform for our apps that we deliver our services on this type of data I find interesting.


There is a LOT more to it than 'coding a website for a browser.'. Some companies are Microsoft houses that work exclusively with it. There are still some very large companies that require users to stay on ie6 because of active directory, sharepoint and other internal mechanisms that aren't as simple as 'hey let's make this work for everything'.

As a lead developer I'm sure you know this, but I'm not sure why you made a derogatory statement and pointed it to something that's absolutely more involved than what you said.


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## sremick (Feb 4, 2008)

FastNOC said:


> Some companies are Microsoft houses that work exclusively with it. There are still some very large companies that require users to stay on ie6 because of active directory, sharepoint and other internal mechanisms that aren't as simple as 'hey let's make this work for everything'.


Which is kind of the posterboy reason why no one, large or small, should build such systems around, on, and dependent on proprietary single-vendor version-specific "extensions" of an established standard.

There was no shortage of people preaching and crying from the rooftops on this exact issue back when IE6 was fresh and current. They had the foresight to be able to recognize that this would be the long-term price for selling out to MS and going the "easy route". Everyone had the opportunity to do the smart thing, but some didn't and now are paying a heavy price for it, having shot themselves in the foot by allowing themselves to be entrenched in archaic, buggy, proprietary tech while the rest of the world nimbly blows by them.

They had no excuse, and I have no sympathy for them. They deserve to suffer and be ostracized for their bad business decisions. Only by paying a price will they have any hope of learning from their mistakes and realize there's an incentive to do "smart" over "easy" in the future.

Code for standards, not for browsers.


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

sremick said:


> Which is kind of the posterboy reason why no one, large or small, should build such systems around, on, and dependent on proprietary single-vendor version-specific "extensions" of an established standard.
> 
> There was no shortage of people preaching and crying from the rooftops on this exact issue back when IE6 was fresh and current. They had the foresight to be able to recognize that this would be the long-term price for selling out to MS and going the "easy route". Everyone had the opportunity to do the smart thing, but some didn't and now are paying a heavy price for it, having shot themselves in the foot by allowing themselves to be entrenched in archaic, buggy, proprietary tech while the rest of the world nimbly blows by them.
> 
> ...


Microsoft networks are by far the largest selling web servers among fortune 1000 companies. It's not as simple as you'd like it to be, and this isn't the place for the argument. but there's lots more to it.


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## sremick (Feb 4, 2008)

FastNOC said:


> Microsoft networks are by far the largest selling web servers among fortune 1000 companies.


Well, considering that _the _most-popular web server software isn't "sold", that's kind of deceiving. 

(Note: I work as an IT admin and run webservers at a Fortune 1000 company)



> this isn't the place for the argument.


Agreed.


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

if there's a place on the forum to discuss it I'd be happy to. it's a good discussion. If you want to make a thread just link me to it. 

As for experience with it, I just managed a project for Intel Corporation revamping the entire internal hosting. They are 100% microsoft.

As far as deceiving, it's not deceiving because the number is 55% use Microsoft web servers. 24% use apache. The number INCLUDES free web server platforms


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## JimD (Apr 8, 2005)

I joined and find this to be pretty cool. I use it on my iPhone. The only bad part is that the remote buttons are pretty limited - there's too little space to put enough of them.

As an aside, the demo video on the sling guide website made me chuckle near the end. Sharon actually POINTS the iPhone at the TV when she presses the button to watch Iron Man. :lol::lol:


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

JimD said:


> I joined and find this to be pretty cool. I use it on my iPhone. The only bad part is that the remote buttons are pretty limited - there's too little space to put enough of them.
> 
> As an aside, the demo video on the sling guide website made me chuckle near the end. Sharon actually POINTS the iPhone at the TV when she presses the button to watch Iron Man. :lol::lol:


I'm curious as to how much delay there is using the iphone to control it. My first thought it it would be annoying. but I don't see people complaining about it.


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

FastNOC said:


> I'm curious as to how much delay there is using the iphone to control it. My first thought it it would be annoying. but I don't see people complaining about it.


Using a PC I've found it to be almost instant, can't tell much different then using your remote.


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## JimD (Apr 8, 2005)

HobbyTalk said:


> Using a PC I've found it to be almost instant, can't tell much different then using your remote.


Same for me, even on my iPhone. It is astonishing how fast the response is.

I did have something weird happen today. I was poking around with the interface on my iPhone from the office. I was speaking to my wife, who had a recording in playback and paused on the 722. I tried to start a live TV show, and what happened was not at all what I expected.

I got a warning that I had to go to live mode first to perform this action. But still the recording my wife had paused went away, and she was suddenly watching live TV on the last channel to which the DVR had been tuned.


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## HDftw (Jul 12, 2008)

I just watched the video on slingguide. So If I'm correct the Vip722 will only have access to the sling guide; and will need a seperate sling box to watch tv any where? Also will the Vip922 have built in sling box?


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## James Long (Apr 17, 2003)

HDftw said:


> I just watched the video on slingguide. So If I'm correct the Vip722 will only have access to the sling guide; and will need a seperate sling box to watch tv any where? Also will the Vip922 have built in sling box?


Correct on both counts.


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## just_dave (Feb 25, 2009)

Thanks for the SlingGuide info. I was able to set mine up but connecting to my DVR is hit and miss. Sometimes I get connected right away and sometimes it takes a few minutes. Often it won't connect at all. Reseting the DVR Ethernet connection doesn't help. When I go to the dish.sling.com site, I get "waiting for connection", the DVR name doesn't update and it just sits there. Anyone else having this trouble? Any ideas? Thanks, Dave


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

Do you have dial up or broadband?

Your issue sounds more like a connectivity issue with your ISP than a problem with sling.

If you're on broadband, is it Satellite broadband? There are horrible latency issues with sat broadband and I could see sling timing out.


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## just_dave (Feb 25, 2009)

No, it's DSL. I work from home and haven't noticed any issues with my VPN or other connections. I seems like a problem from Sling Guide to the DVR. Question...where does the Sling Guide web page get the DVR 'name' from? The DVR or from your account settings? - Dave


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

This is speculation, but what I think happens is, once you register your DVR nickname, it authenticates the box and shows you the name. So how I THINK it works is, it grabs the info from the site to make sure the box is authorized, then tries to contact the DVR itself.

But with the problem you're seeing there's something wrong between you and them. I get connected within the first 4 or 5 seconds.

Could it be a firewall issue? I think you're right about it being between sling and the dvr. for sure.


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## just_dave (Feb 25, 2009)

I'll go back and reseat all of the connections, maybe use a different port on my Router. Not sure what else it could be. I'd like to think that if it works once that would rule out firewalls, etc, but who knows. I'll go into my router and take a look at anything that jumps out at me. Thanks again. - Dave


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

Well, logically it could be the route between the sling side and you. Just because you can route to them doesn't necessarily mean they are going to ride the same route back to you. there may be an intermittent peering problem somewhere along the lines. But those usually resolve pretty quickly.

As for firewall, i agree, except, if you've got some app that's open a range of ports, and the ports this stuff uses also shares those ports that could be it. I have no idea what ports they tranmit. hell i don't even know if it's TCP/IP or UDP


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

Ports should not have to be opened for SlingGuide to work in a normal home network setting. I see that some that have had to that when they have a more complex home network.


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

i agree it shouldn't matter. but something is wrong. can't figure out what it is without troubleshooting and I figured those things I mentioned could help.

The problem here is that we can run a trace to the sling site from him, but that doesn't seem to be the problem. if you ask me the problem is between the sling site and the routing coming back, which there's no way to trace from his place


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## HobbyTalk (Jul 14, 2007)

I agree. It appears to be straight TCP traffic. The receiver appears to contact the SlingCatcher server 4 times a minute. This should allow the SlingCatcher server to reply to that contact without the need to open any ports. What is stopping that reply is the $100k question 

If I remember correctly, the ones that were having a problem had something like a router and a separate wireless access point. They had to open a port between the router and access point to allow the return trip.


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## just_dave (Feb 25, 2009)

Thanks guys for all of your suggestions and discussions. I'm going to run some more tests while my VPN is down, perhaps that tunnel is affecting things. When my VPN is up, I do a lot of tunneling to our corporate LAN. Many ports are opened, some closed and it's also very picky about the various protocols being passed. I'll report back in a few days when I test without the VPN. Thanks again and have a great weekend. - Dave


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

I dind't know you had a VPN. I would almost bet your problem is you can connect to the box when you AREN"T on the VPN, but cannot when you are logged into it.

When you go through the VPN you're tunneling through your company's network, so it's almost guaranteed that it's blocking the ports. But when you're not using it, it gets in.

Test both and I bet that's the issue.


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## marketinghelp (Sep 9, 2006)

Will the slinguide work with a Dish 625?


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## bobukcat (Dec 20, 2005)

marketinghelp said:


> Will the slinguide work with a Dish 625?


It is currently only offered on the 622/722 but it is still in Beta so who knows what products it may expand to.


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## Parrothead (Mar 24, 2005)

I have sling guide set up on my vip622 and all seems to be working except that when I set a show to record the DVR thinks that is was to record on November 30, 1999...This occurs if I try to record with either my home computer (home network) or using my iPhone (3G network) so it can't be a network issue. Something is telling the DVR that it's 11/30/99....I have check everything I can think of. Anyone have any thoughts?


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## David-A (Feb 21, 2006)

Parrothead said:


> I have sling guide set up on my vip622 and all seems to be working except that when I set a show to record the DVR thinks that is was to record on November 30, 1999.


I just connected SlingGuide to my 622 last night and I'm having the same problem with most but not all of the recordings I've made. Looking at the timers for these recordings directly on the DVR, the SlingGuide recordings sometimes have the description for a completely different movie and in a couple cases also have the wrong movie name. I believe these are all from recordings with the November 30, 1999 date. Since there is no mention of this problem elsewhere in this forum, I'm guessing this is a new bug.

Is there an on-line list of known SlingGuide bugs? Is there a SlingGuide forum for discussing bugs and suggestions?

Thanks! -David


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## Lt Disher (Mar 4, 2009)

Looks like the Slingguide software is older than we thought. It seems to be having Y2K problems.


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

New today. Recordings for movies that I tried to set show up on DVR as record once instead of showing a date. Descripitons sometimes show some other movie even though title is correct. Conflicts show up once a third recording is added but show skip buttons with nothing described (which is why I went to the DVR to see what was happening. Ended up setting the recordings from the DVR. I have reported bug to the sites feedback.


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## just_dave (Feb 25, 2009)

Update---I tried connecting numerous times; with my VPN connected, sometimes not, sometimes never since my last reboot, etc. Every imaginable sequence and got the same results....Sometimes I could connect and sometimes I couldn't. I also tried FF and that didn't help. Yesterday was the worst. In addition to not being able to connect, the page often wouldn't load at all or if it did, not completely. Very weird. So today I try and I'm good to go. I've connected at least 10 times, all with success. First thing I noticed is a "Delete" icon next to Status. I think they updated the website. I also noticed that it never remembers my login information. (IE and FF). If I click Logout I have to re-enter all of my information when I try to log in again. If I just close the browser, I can get right in using my shortcut without entering any of my information. Maybe that's what they mean by remembering my information. Anyway, it's MUCH better today and I really like using SlingGuide. Does this make me a Slinger?


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## HarveyLA (Jun 8, 2006)

tnsprin said:


> New today. Recordings for movies that I tried to set show up on DVR as record once instead of showing a date. Descripitons sometimes show some other movie even though title is correct. Conflicts show up once a third recording is added but show skip buttons with nothing described (which is why I went to the DVR to see what was happening. Ended up setting the recordings from the DVR. I have reported bug to the sites feedback.


This problem existed all this past week, since March 1, but it has apparently been solved. I just set a recording from slingbox and the correct date, time and title was registered, and the program was recorded right on schedule.


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## FastNOC (Sep 11, 2007)

I think there's a chance that their show icons are a bit off kilter . As well as their genres


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## pmcall (Dec 20, 2008)

I signed up for the beta today - and got an e-mail within minutes. I have had sporadic success, I was able to connect immediately and view my timers, etc. Then I logged out. And when I logged back in I got "Connecting...." forever. I deleted the DVR - and it took several hours before I could connect again and re-register the DVR. Once it was re-registered I could again browse the timers,etc until I logged out, and when I logged back in I got "Connecting....".

A couple of questions. Where is the discussion of port numbers going on? I use WildBlue->Cisco Wireless Router->Cisco Wireless Game Adapter->DVR combination (DVR says it is connected) and wonder if I need to perform some port number adjustments.

Where do you send feedback? I see nowhere on dish.sling.com to leave feedback or engage in discussion. Feel free to PM this info.

Thanks!


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

pmcall said:


> I signed up for the beta today - and got an e-mail within minutes. I have had sporadic success, I was able to connect immediately and view my timers, etc. Then I logged out. And when I logged back in I got "Connecting...." forever. I deleted the DVR - and it took several hours before I could connect again and re-register the DVR. Once it was re-registered I could again browse the timers,etc until I logged out, and when I logged back in I got "Connecting....".
> 
> A couple of questions. Where is the discussion of port numbers going on? I use WildBlue->Cisco Wireless Router->Cisco Wireless Game Adapter->DVR combination (DVR says it is connected) and wonder if I need to perform some port number adjustments.
> 
> ...


Why LOGOUT?

The feedback is right on the dish.sling.com menu IF you are signed in.


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## pmcall (Dec 20, 2008)

tnsprin said:


> Why LOGOUT?
> 
> The feedback is right on the dish.sling.com menu IF you are signed in.


Because I was sitting right in front of the receiver in my living room, and I wanted to see if I could log in and view the Grid|My DVR,etc absent having just added the receiver.

I see that there is a feedback menu IF you are signed in AND you are connected to a receiver.


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## just_dave (Feb 25, 2009)

pmcall, I've had the same issues though it sounds like others don't. I got excited that my problems were fixed only to be back to the same problem getting connected. I can connect, just not consistently. It did work 100% for one day though. To me that proves my connectivity is good and the issue is somewhere between Dish and my DVR.

FWIW, I don't "logout" I just close the browser. Saves me from reentering my login information which it doesn't seem to remember even though I select the option to do so. Logging out or not doesn't seem to effect my chances of connecting the next time.

-Dave


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## TheFoxMan (Aug 25, 2008)

just_dave said:


> pmcall, I've had the same issues though it sounds like others don't. I got excited that my problems were fixed only to be back to the same problem getting connected. I can connect, just not consistently. It did work 100% for one day though. To me that proves my connectivity is good and the issue is somewhere between Dish and my DVR.
> 
> FWIW, I don't "logout" I just close the browser. Saves me from reentering my login information which it doesn't seem to remember even though I select the option to do so. Logging out or not doesn't seem to effect my chances of connecting the next time.
> 
> -Dave


I was having the same problem with inconsistency in getting a connection, and the problem went away after reserving the DVR's IP address in my router settings... I'm not a network whiz, so I have no idea if it was merely a coincidence, all I know is the problem went away. Also, I gave up on port forwarding after reading that it should not be necessary, and in my case, it wasn't.


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## hootowls (Mar 11, 2009)

Has anyone had success using a Mac? I've tried both a G5 and an Intel iMac, each with 10.5 and Safari, with limited results. I can get to the receiver (722), see the timers but no recordings and no guide.

I see that the SlingGuide says PC, Macintosh and iPhone, so maybe it's something on my end?

-Scott

PS - Dish sub since 9/96 and long-time lurker - just upgraded to a 722 from a 501.


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## Stewart Vernon (Jan 7, 2005)

Welcome...

I haven't tried with Safari, but I have connected using my iMac with Firefox browser. I had to stop using Safari because I couldn't find any script-blocking add-ons like I had for Firefox.


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## just_dave (Feb 25, 2009)

I can't connect to the Sling Guide website at all this morning. I get "The page cannot be displayed ". Anyone else?


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## tnsprin (Mar 16, 2003)

just_dave said:


> ...
> 
> FWIW, I don't "logout" I just close the browser. Saves me from reentering my login information which it doesn't seem to remember even though I select the option to do so. ...
> -Dave


Typically most web logon's work the same. It remembers you until you logout. A few sites remember your id but I consider that bad as you may not want to leave any info on a computer when logged out. I believe the DBSTALK.com works the same way as dish.sling.com.

I too have had no trouble logging off and on again. I have both my home computer and laptop working on the dish.sling.com site. It of course is still in beta and has been down a few times, and had days where annoying bugs have shown up. Be sure to report Bugs and suggestions to Feedback.


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## satgeek550 (May 30, 2008)

bobukcat said:


> It is currently only offered on the 622/722 but it is still in Beta so who knows what products it may expand to.


It will never be offered to the 625 but probably all VIP DVRs eventually
Simply because the VIP series has a RG-45 Connector in the back and no others do.


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## kucharsk (Sep 20, 2006)

FYI, things have started working just fine now with my Mac running Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.6 using the Safari web browser (v3.2.1.)

I didn't need to open _any_ ports and this is for a connection that's double-NATed (my 722 is connected to a network that is NATed behind a Linksys router that acts as a wireless client to a NATed network created by the Wi-Fi router connected to my cable modem.


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## origkds (Dec 2, 2002)

My HD locals were added last week but have yet to show up in the Sling Guide. Do I need to force a program guide download on my 722 to have these channels show up on in the Sling Guide?


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## phrelin (Jan 18, 2007)

I waited to sign up since even though my ViP722 would have worked before, it represented half my recording capability since my other box was a ViP612. Now, with software version L6.03, the ViP612 is recognized, so I signed up.

It's interesting but, of course, I wish I could use my primary favorites program guide. Always something to whine about.:sure:


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## David-A (Feb 21, 2006)

origkds said:


> My HD locals were added last week but have yet to show up in the Sling Guide. Do I need to force a program guide download on my 722 to have these channels show up on in the Sling Guide?


That didn't help me. (I didn't think it would.) I submitted a bug report on this last week. I guess we have to wait until Sling adds it.


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## origkds (Dec 2, 2002)

David-A said:


> That didn't help me. (I didn't think it would.) I submitted a bug report on this last week. I guess we have to wait until Sling adds it.


Thanks David. I guess we just wait.


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## ShapeShifter (Apr 21, 2008)

For those who have signed up... When you entered your email address and clicked on "Sign Up" what did it say? A bunch of people said they were notified that the beta program was full. Did it say it as soon as you clicked "Sign Up" or did you get an email? If an email, how long did it take to be told the program was full?

I ask because I tried to sign up, and the page immediately said that an email was sent to my address indicating how to continue. It didn't say anything about the beta program being full. But that was yesterday, and I haven't received anything yet. I tried again, and it said that address had already signed up and I need to wait for the email.

So, is this the way it normally works? You wait for days for an email that they said was already sent? Do they silently keep you hanging for days? Or am I missing something? (I've already scoured my spam folders many times, it's just not there.)

I finally have the 6.03 software on my 612s, and I'm anxious to try it out!


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## ericboutin (Nov 11, 2007)

Wow I'm glad it's not just me! :eek2: I tried yesterday also and got the exact same thing you described. So thankyou for the very timely post. Helps my sanity out just a bit.


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## Jim5506 (Jun 7, 2004)

I signed up 5-6 times before I changed to an alternate email address and got an immediate answer.

My main email address has a dash in it, I guess the Dish can't dash as far as email is concerned.

Try an email address with no unusual characters if yours has any.


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## ShapeShifter (Apr 21, 2008)

ericboutin said:


> Wow I'm glad it's not just me!


Misery loves company. :crying:



Jim5506 said:


> Try an email address with no unusual characters if yours has any.


I tried two different ones. Neither one has anything special about it. :bang


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## ShapeShifter (Apr 21, 2008)

Well, I just tried again with a third address, and I got the email about 30 seconds later. Unfortunately, that's not the address I would've preferred to use. Oh well.

Maybe something was going on yesterday and when they thought they were sending out the emails, they weren't really going out? 

Thanks for your help. :righton:


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## ShapeShifter (Apr 21, 2008)

Well I'm in, and connected to tmy receivers.

You know, adding a receiver to the account goes a lot smoother when type the receiver number in properly! :shrug: Oops!

ericboutin - give it another try today, if you still have any email addresses left.


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## rrmcdonald (Nov 26, 2007)

origkds said:


> My HD locals were added last week but have yet to show up in the Sling Guide. Do I need to force a program guide download on my 722 to have these channels show up on in the Sling Guide?


That didn't help me with my 622. We got HD LIL about 2 weeks ago; before that (and still currently) also get HD via OTA.

What I get through the sling guide grid is locals in SD ok, locals OTA sub-channel OK, but HD LIL are off 3 hours (listing shows from some other broadcast stations for each of the locals) and it does not show the main OTA station. I sent a bug report as well; hope they get it fixed soon.

BTW I had no problems signing up a few days ago....


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## ericboutin (Nov 11, 2007)

Well I tried again using my work email.....and lo and behold I got the invite!  But as my luck would have it...my dsl modem is messed up at the house...:nono2: so I'll have to wait till tomorrow to log in and register. Thanks for the help.


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## Dr. Collect (Jun 27, 2005)

SlingGuide doesn't seem to want to let you specify the channels of the timer, which wouldn't be much of a problem if they also didn't have a bug that cause it to miss HD designations on some HD shows (none of the Bravo shows show up as HD on the guide).


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## robotec (Apr 1, 2009)

ShapeShifter said:


> For those who have signed up... When you entered your email address and clicked on "Sign Up" what did it say? A bunch of people said they were notified that the beta program was full. Did it say it as soon as you clicked "Sign Up" or did you get an email? If an email, how long did it take to be told the program was full?
> 
> I ask because I tried to sign up, and the page immediately said that an email was sent to my address indicating how to continue. It didn't say anything about the beta program being full. But that was yesterday, and I haven't received anything yet. I tried again, and it said that address had already signed up and I need to wait for the email.
> 
> ...


I got in and signed up right away with no problems. Except for me not having an Iphone. Hopefully, they will support the Blackberry soon. I was disappointed that I will need to purchase an Slingbox to enjoy programming on my PC.


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## GrumpyBear (Feb 1, 2006)

robotec said:


> I got in and signed up right away with no problems. Except for me not having an Iphone. Hopefully, they will support the Blackberry soon. I was disappointed that I will need to purchase an Slingbox to enjoy programming on my PC.


This is just Sling Media, to get is even more excited and used to the interface. The ViP922 will be Sling Enabled and you wont need a Slingbox then.


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## Brew (Jan 18, 2003)

OK, I've been baffled by this sign-up process??

I've twice went through the initial sign-up, entered an email address, received the email confirmation, with the "Lets Get Started" button.

I then go through the three remaining steps to select a user ID password etc. It all completes fine. And takes me back to the sign-in screen.

I then also receive a second email entitled:

"New Sling Account Creation Confirmation"

I then enter my ID etc, on the previously mention Sign-in page, and it instantly returns an:

"Account not authorized." message just below the LOGIN button.

Anyone else had this problem? Is there a magic process I've missed?

TIA,


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## ljr01 (Mar 6, 2008)

How long does it take for new HD channels to show up in the Sling guide? I still don't see the Viacom HDs or my local HDs that lit up last week.

(...or am I doing something wrong?)


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## David-A (Feb 21, 2006)

ljr01 said:


> How long does it take for new HD channels to show up in the Sling guide? I still don't see the Viacom HDs or my local HDs that lit up last week.


*Update: This morning the new channels appeared on my Sling Guide! Yea!* They weren't there as recent as last night. It is almost as if someone there has been reading this forum. Anyway, I'm happy now. This will make Sling Guide useful to me again. I can go through a week's worth of HD movies on all the channels now much quicker, easier, and more accurately than I could using the DVR's user search interface.

- David


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## JimD (Apr 8, 2005)

Today I tried to schedule a manual timer for NASA (213) between 1:30 and 3:00 PM for Atlantis' launch. I am doing this over the web from my office. The timer appears to complete successfully, but then checking the schedule it does not show up. Nor does it show up in "conflicts".

I tried this several times to no avail. Ultimately I called my wife and had her schedule it directly at the receiver. When she attempted it, a conflict was reported! It turns out that "The Daily Show" was conflicting with this request.

The conflict with "The Daily Show" should not have existed, but there's no way to record only NEW episodes of "The Daily Show", but that's another story...

The problem here is that a conflict with a manual timer set remotely is not reported.

My apologies if this is already a known issue, a quick search did not reveal anyone having reported this previously.


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## DustoMan (Jul 16, 2005)

There's an update incoming for the SlingPlayer software for iPhone. According to Engagdet, here's what's been submitted to Apple for version 1.1:


True 16:9 Widescreen Support
Native DVR Interface
Video Streaming Over 3G (Outside US Only)

Of course, any of these features may be changed before being pushed up to the App Store for all to see.

http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/10/slingplayer-1-1-for-iphone-promises-dish-integration-for-us-3g/


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