Sling Media SlingPlayer, User Manual

Page 1: ...SlingPlayer for the Macintosh Set Up and User Guide ...

Page 2: ...rvices screen images logos and trademarks are the property of their respective owners All names used are fictitious and the similarity to any person living or dead is strictly coincidental SlingPlayer uses the SoundTouch Sound Processing Library which is licensed under the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License http sky prohosting com oparviai soundtouch license SoundTouch Library Copyrigh...

Page 3: ... any cables get a flashlight 12 Next connect the cables 12 Connect the IR Blaster 13 How does it all work 14 How does it work when I watch at home 14 How does it work when I do remote viewing 14 What s the secret 15 Where will you watch your TV 15 Installing the software for your Slingbox 16 Before you begin installation of the software 16 Installing SlingPlayer 18 Running the Setup Assistant 18 T...

Page 4: ...orite controls 37 Accessing multiple rows of favorites 38 Modifying and removing favorite channels or controls 38 Favorites Bars 39 Using Favorites Bars 39 Adding Favorites Bars 39 Renaming Favorites Bars 39 Deleting Favorites Bars 39 Exporting Importing Favorites Bars 40 Changing SlingPlayer preferences 40 General preferences 41 Warning 41 Other options 41 Video preferences 42 Buffer settings 42 ...

Page 5: ... multiple Slingbox audio video inputs 55 Connector glossary 57 Adding an additional device 58 Switching between inputs 58 Troubleshooting 59 Solving problems 59 I see green lines onscreen I hear sound but I see no video 59 I can t change some settings preferences they re grayed out 59 SlingPlayer Remote won t control my device but I can see video 60 I can t see my Slingbox in the Slingbox Director...

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Page 7: ...t Row iPod Universal Dock or iPod HiFi see our web site http us slingmedia com page support html Here are details about what you need to get started A Slingbox Any of these models SlingPlayer software for the Macintosh A link to the software is on the CD that came with your Slingbox TUNER Slingbox AV or Slingbox PRO You can also download the software from our web site at http us slingmedia com pag...

Page 8: ...uter has go to the Apple menu and choose About This Mac The window that appears tells you what processor your computer has as well as how much memory RAM is installed Together the processor and installed memory determine the resolution of the video window that displays on your home computer screen These requirements do not affect the ability to view remotely Why these specifications matter SlingPl...

Page 9: ...the two numbers are multiplied you get the total number of pixels in an image The more pixels that are in an image of a particular size the better the image looks In practical terms resolution refers to the level of detail in an image The images below simulate a low medium and high resolution picture of a flower Low Resolution Medium Resolution High Resolution Note that resolution is independent o...

Page 10: ...h remotely on a computer you ll need SlingPlayer software running on that remote Mac or PC It doesn t matter which kind of platform you use at home you can have a Mac at home and run SlingPlayer on a PC remotely for example or a PC at home with a remote Mac or two Macs or two PCs Downloads of SlingPlayer software for both platforms are available from http us slingmedia com page downloads html The ...

Page 11: ...e speed and the amount of data being transferred Usually the downstream bandwidth is faster often by a big margin than the upstream bandwidth This allows you to quickly download big web sites and large files from the Internet What you typically upload typically are much smaller files such as emails and text documents Uploading in most cases requires much less bandwidth When you re viewing your Sli...

Page 12: ...lighting A flashlight will help you see behind them so that you can connect the cables correctly Next connect the cables Now you connect your Slingbox to your home network and to your TV DVR such as a TiVo or ReplayTV DVR or a DVD player or other video device Think about what you watch most often or what you d like to watch the most and connect that particular device This diagram gives a very basi...

Page 13: ...device usually behind a dark sometimes reddish plastic window If you don t see the sensor shine a flashlight through the window and look for a small bulb similar to the one on the emitter end of the IR Blaster Tip You may have a different configuration of modem and router Check the label that s usually on the bottom of your equipment if you re not sure what you have This guide assumes that you hav...

Page 14: ...it all easy and simple How does it work when I do remote viewing If you set up your router and Slingbox for remote viewing you can venture outside of your home network s range When you do remote viewing Slingbox sends your television signal or other audio video through your home network and then only to you via the Internet You can have access to your TV from almost anywhere in the world where the...

Page 15: ...ter optimizing the connection for a few moments SlingStream makes sure that the video you re watching looks and sounds great without skips or jumps Where will you watch your TV Think of all the places that you can watch TV within your home network While you re in the kitchen you can follow along with a cooking show While you re relaxing in your backyard catch the game While surfing the web or writ...

Page 16: ...may need it later on Turn off recording temporarily If you have a DVR VCR or DVD recorder connected to your Slingbox make sure that it s not currently recording and that it s not scheduled to start recording while you re installing and setting up your Slingbox Part of the setup process involves checking that SlingPlayer can control your device This will interrupt recording Turn off any personal fi...

Page 17: ... Slingbox If you have questions about how to verify or change your router s configuration see the documentation that came with it If you need more information during setup click the Help button It s at the bottom of each screen Tip Here s a non technical explanation of DHCP Your network is a lot like a small community The mayor and postmaster for this community is your router In order for packages...

Page 18: ...u can place the documentation anywhere on your computer 5 Open your Applications folder and double click SlingPlayer 6 After you ve gone through the setup assistant and you watch your Slingbox for the first time you re asked to register Follow the onscreen instructions Running the Setup Assistant If this is the first Slingbox on your home network when you launch SlingPlayer for the first time the ...

Page 19: ... you re asked to do is check for updates This is always a good thing to do and the Setup Assistant makes it easy When you click the Check for Updates Now button a browser window automatically opens to the Sling Media Check for Updates web page If you currently have the latest SlingPlayer software that s available the page that s displayed tells you so ...

Page 20: ...tes screen click Continue The Slingbox Found screen appears If the cables for your Slingbox are connected correctly video starts streaming in the Setup Assistant window If you don t see any video in the Setup Assistant window recheck your connections and make sure all the cables are securely fastened If the Slingbox has been previously configured you may need to enter your Slingbox password before...

Page 21: ...a usually you ll connect using coaxial cable sometimes called just coax Coaxial cable is easy to spot it has a highly visible center wire protruding from each end and almost always has threaded caps at each end as well Composite If you use a TiVo or some satellite TV services your TV probably gets its signals via composite cabling that consists of three separate cables one cable with a red connect...

Page 22: ... or digital DVD Player You can set up your Slingbox to show you what your DVD player is showing DVR Digital Video Recorder If you have a DVR such as a TiVo or ReplayTV device be sure to select this option if you are connecting your Slingbox to a DVR Miscellaneous Device You can also connect other devices such as a VCR to your Slingbox Use Miscellaneous to connect to an AppleTV Macintosh with Front...

Page 23: ...o your Slingbox outside of your home network You do this for example when you watch on a laptop in a hotel room halfway around the world If you plan to watch your Slingbox outside of your home network select the box on the Remote Viewing screen during setup Important Make sure you specify the correct brand and model for your video source If you re in doubt look on the underside of the device or ch...

Page 24: ... Support site for details on how to manually configure many popular routers http us slingmedia com page support html If your router is not listed on our web site check the documentation that came with your router on how to enable port forwarding For you techies the assistant uses your router s built in Universal Plug and Play technology UPnP or its built in Network Address Translation Port Mapping...

Page 25: ...tically finds your Slingbox regardless of its location If you didn t write down your Slingbox ID during setup you can access it again as long as you re on your home network See Locating your Slingbox ID on page 26 Tip Here s a non technical explanation of port forwarding Again your network is like a small community Normally the entrances the ports to your home network are closed to anything from t...

Page 26: ...to configure your Slingbox again 4 Enter your Slingbox ID and your password If you didn t write down your Slingbox ID during installation see Locating your Slingbox ID in the section below 5 Click OK and you ll be able to watch your TV from almost anywhere Locating your Slingbox ID To locate your Slingbox ID 1 Launch SlingPlayer Mobile on your home network 2 From the Window menu select Slingbox Di...

Page 27: ... SlingPlayer To launch SlingPlayer 1 Open SlingPlayer If you don t see it in your Dock go to your Applications folder and launch it 2 If you have only one Slingbox click the start button in SlingPlayer You can also use the keyboard shortcut K 3 Enter your Slingbox password if required You can watch TV right away If you watch more than one Slingbox If you re a big Slingbox fan and you watch more th...

Page 28: ...to be sent Controlling displays when SlingPlayer is in Control Mode Streaming bit rate This is the video bit rate You can show or hide this number by going to the View menu and selecting Show Statistics Buffer This bar graph displays the amount of data that is currently in the buffer It can be an indication of the quality of the data stream When the buffer is full your network conditions are stabl...

Page 29: ...own graphics as a channel logo or a control button See Favorites on page 36 Click at the bottom of this button to view or edit your Favorites lists Favorites If you have channels that you frequently watch or commands that you frequently use you can add them as Favorites To view one of them click the Favorite that you want See Favorites on page 36 Show additional Favorites in this list If all of yo...

Page 30: ...w The upper diagram The image in the Dock looks like the lower diagram when you minimize a SlingBar M Close closes and quits SlingPlayer Q Format Description What it looks like Fullscreen 4 3 This is the standard television format 4 3 aspect ratio Widescreen 16 9 New movies are often filmed in widescreen format 16 9 aspect ratio Letterbox This fits a widescreen image within the width of a standard...

Page 31: ...elect Audio Only The main SlingPlayer screen is replaced by an image of a speaker and only the audio is streamed Using SlingRemote SlingPlayer includes SlingRemote an on screen remote control that you use just like the real remote control that you hold in your hand SlingRemote displays the correct remote control on screen regardless of which video source you re currently using For example if you r...

Page 32: ...kly respond to your remote control button presses You may however notice a slight delay between the time you press a button and the actual change in the video See Control Mode on page 33 Note that our SlingPlayer software contains the remote control images for a large number of video devices However it isn t possible for the SlingPlayer software to display a remote control replica for every possib...

Page 33: ...dge that s closer to the center of your Desktop Control Mode SlingPlayer is equipped with a feature called the Control Mode which you can use to switch between channels faster Control Mode is also useful with your DVR DVD player or VCR for extra control when locating a specific scene While Control Mode provides faster response times it may also result in temporarily jittery video Control Mode can ...

Page 34: ...en you re viewing in your home The streaming quality however may be affected by the Internet traffic between your remote device and the Slingbox that you are watching The streaming quality or audio and video quality is represented by a number known as the bit rate The bit rate of the connection is indicated in Kbps kilobits per second The higher the bit rate the better the streaming quality To see...

Page 35: ... tell whether or not someone s using it by looking at the word sling on the front of the Slingbox If the letter n is lit up in red then someone s using that Slingbox The other two small lights tell you that the Slingbox is powered on and that it is connected to your network ...

Page 36: ...aren t limited to changing channels You can also use them for control functions such as Channel Up and Channel Down For quicker access you can group Favorites buttons into sets called Favorites Bars For example you can combine all the sports channels into one Favorites Bar and the news channels into another Adding favorite channels To add a favorite channel 1 If you haven t set up other Favorites ...

Page 37: ...Bar You may need to move the Favorite Buttons window to see the new button Continue this process to add more favorite channels c When you re done click Close to close this window See also Adding favorite controls on page 37 Adding favorite controls A favorite control button allows you to control the connected device quickly instead of using the remote control To add a favorite control 1 If you hav...

Page 38: ...y not all fit in a single row and therefore they may not display Click the arrow on the end of the Favorites Bar to access these other buttons Modifying and removing favorite channels or controls To remove a channel or control from your favorites hold down the Control key on your keyboard and click the button in the Favorites Bar If you are using a two button mouse right click the Favorites button...

Page 39: ...tes Bar 4 Click OK SlingPlayer creates a new Favorites Bar Renaming Favorites Bars To rename a Favorites Bar 1 Click the icon within the SlingPlayer window 2 From the menu select the Favorites Bar that you want to rename The Edit a Favorites Bar window appears 3 Update the name and description for the Favorites Bar 4 Click OK SlingPlayer updates the Favorites Bar Deleting Favorites Bars To delete ...

Page 40: ... Select Import The Import Favorites Bar window opens 3 Click Browse 4 Navigate to a file with an spf extension and then click Open The Favorites Bar is imported to your player Changing SlingPlayer preferences You can make changes and adjustments to video encoding connections and other options for the SlingPlayer software You do that by working with SlingPlayer preferences Tip You can also download...

Page 41: ...le satellite box or DVR However this faster response time may result in temporarily jittery video You can choose to have this alert display to remind you to turn Control Mode off to return to normal viewing mode When video quality problems are detected SlingPlayer can detect if your video quality has problems It can also alert you to such problems if you enable this option Deselect this option to ...

Page 42: ...he SlingPlayer menu 2 The SlingPlayer Preferences window opens 3 Click Video 4 Change the settings you wish as described in the paragraphs below 5 When you re done click OK to save the changes You can change the following settings in Video preferences Buffer settings You can change buffer settings from automatic to manual Here s an explanation of what s controlled by this option People often save ...

Page 43: ...lect a Slingbox and press Start You can enable this only if you enable SlingStream When you first connect to your Slingbox you may see the word Optimizing in the SlingPlayer status display When fast start is active SlingPlayer connects and begins streaming video as soon as possible but you may see lower quality video for the first few moments When you disable fast start you have to wait for the bu...

Page 44: ...ngStream optimizes video as it s sent and received over the Internet SlingStream optimization generally provides the best possible video experience although you can try manual settings as well There are three different TV profiles using Low Action Best used when the content you are watching has little action but many details for example during a news show where you want to read the ticker at the b...

Page 45: ...an t get water fast enough so the height in the fountain suffers Bandwidth required This shows the calculated bandwidth your stream needs based upon your manual settings If the network conditions do not provide enough bandwidth you ll see the video pause from time to time This could mean that the profile you selected is too aggressive If you can t find an good manual setting you may want to switch...

Page 46: ...Note that the computer system you have may limit the resolution See What you need for viewing at home on page 7 and What you need for viewing away from home on page 10 Early Slingbox models versions 1 6 and before may also limit the resolution Video smoothness When video is smoother action scenes appear more natural but the details are fuzzier When video is sharper action may be jumpier but more d...

Page 47: ... and what you want to name it It may be easier to locate if you save it on your desktop 3 Your preferences are saved with this icon To import your Preferences 1 Launch SlingPlayer Mobile 2 Go to the File menu and choose Import Preferences 3 Navigate to the saved Preferences file and then click Import 4 A warning message appears asking you to confirm that you want to import the saved Preferences If...

Page 48: ...the password that you enter is assumed to be your user password If you want to log in as Administrator select the checkbox You also chose a method to connect to your Slingbox Slingbox ID Each individual Slingbox comes with its own unique Slingbox ID Enter it here if you are viewing remotely Direct Connection If you d rather use a domain name or IP address rather than the Slingbox ID choose this op...

Page 49: ...ow appears 8 Enter a new name When you re done click Continue The Set Your Password window opens 9 If you want to change passwords enter one on the first line and then confirm it on the second line 10 If you want to change the Administrator password enter one on the first line and then confirm it on the second line When you re finished click Continue 11 After you see Setup Completed Successfully c...

Page 50: ...ontinue to move from screen to screen 8 After you see Setup Completed Successfully click Done The assistant closes and makes the changes Additional audio settings are available To change these go to the Player menu and select Audio Change Network Settings If you get a new Slingbox computer or router you may need to change your network settings You can easily change them To change Slingbox network ...

Page 51: ...ick Continue 3 Click Browse to select an alternate location for the Firmware file 4 Select Update the firmware now 5 Click Continue The assistant downloads the updates from the Sling Media site You can track the progress on this screen The assistant then restarts your Slingbox 6 Click Continue and then click Done You can also check for the updates manually To update Slingbox firmware manually 1 Ch...

Page 52: ...ectory You can also open the Slingbox Directory using the keyboard shortcut D The following table describes what s shown in the Slingbox Directory Icon Description What it means A Slingbox with arrows You re currently connected to this Slingbox A Slingbox with a green light This Slingbox is available A Slingbox with a red light This Slingbox is unavailable It s being used by someone else A Slingbo...

Page 53: ... Slingbox ID The Slingbox ID is a code that uniquely identifies each Slingbox To locate a Slingbox s ID see Locating your Slingbox ID on page 26 To add a Slingbox to your directory using its Slingbox ID 1 Go to the Slingbox menu and select Slingbox Directory You can also use the keyboard shortcut D 2 Click Add 3 Enter the Slingbox ID of the Slingbox you want to use in the Slingbox ID field 4 Give ...

Page 54: ... Enter the domain name or the IP address of your router as well as the port number for the Slingbox you want to add 5 Click OK to add this Slingbox to your directory Launching SlingPlayer if you have more than one Slingbox When you have more than one Slingbox you can you can connect to even more Audio Video sources Launching and using SlingPlayer is still easy To launch SlingPlayer if you have mor...

Page 55: ...ote If someone else is watching the Slingbox that you select you ll be prompted for the administrative password Enter the administrative password to redirect the stream to your computer The other computer will receive an alert message and then they will be disconnected Slingbox model Number of devices Input connections Notes The original Slingbox The Classic and the US100 100 2 The mini A V input ...

Page 56: ...e Slingbox For example if you used the S Video connection to your Slingbox make sure that you also use an S Video connection to your TV See the important note below Important This port is for the Slingbox HD Connect cable only Its physical design is not intended to accommodate an HDMI connection To connect the Slingbox PRO to an HD source use an HD Connect cable available separately from your reta...

Page 57: ...yellow is for video Audio inputs These are used for audio only connections White is for left audio red is for right audio S video input An S video connection produces higher quality video S video connections carry no sound You can use an S video connection in combination with an audio connection Mini A V input Mini RCA connection Many video cameras have this kind of connection Typically they have ...

Page 58: ... the left side of the Slingbox Directory window click the Slingbox that the new device is connected to 5 On the right side of the window click Edit 6 The Slingbox Info window opens 7 Click Configuration and then click Change Audio Video Setup 8 The Slingbox Setup Assistant opens 9 Follow the onscreen instructions 10 When you re finished click Done Switching between inputs While watching video from...

Page 59: ...me on page 7 for more information Also double check your cable connections If that doesn t resolve the problem and you re connecting to an iPod in an Apple iPod Universal Dock make sure that your iPod has TV Out enabled Go to the main menu for your iPod and choose Videos then Video Settings In Video Settings choose TV Out and then set TV Out to On I can t change some settings preferences they re g...

Page 60: ... 4 Click Advanced and then deselect Block UDP Traffic if it s checked If you have an additional firewall product from another company see the documentation that came with it for more information I can t get remote viewing to work To view your Slingbox remotely outside of your home network you need to open a port on your router During the Setup Assistant if you selected Fully Automatic UPnP mode th...

Page 61: ...our network To find out if DHCP is available on your network a First make a copy of your current settings You can do this by choosing Edit Location from the Location pop up menu and then clicking the Duplicate button Rename the new location Slingbox Setup and click Done b Now choose Slingbox Setup from the Location pop up menu and click the Apply Now button c Launch Safari and see if you can conne...

Page 62: ...to set up your router for Slingbox remote viewing when you know the problem isn t with Slingbox but with your network Fortunately you can continue with the rest of the Slingbox setup Later you can come back to the remote viewing activation when you ve resolved your network issues ...

Page 63: ...ink http us slingmedia com page support html Updated SlingPlayer software and Slingbox firmware We re constantly striving to improve our products For the latest versions visit http us slingmedia com page downloads html Technical Support Email help for the Mac is available on our web site at http us slingmedia com page contactsupport There are also those times when nothing can substitute for talkin...

Page 64: ...ifying channels 38 modifying controls 38 removing channels 38 removing controls 38 renaming favorite bars 39 using favorite bars 39 Front Row 7 I ID 25 iPod 7 iPod HiFi 7 J Japanese 41 L language changing 41 listening options 31 bilingual audio 31 left right channels 31 mono 31 stereo 31 M multiple inputs switching 58 mute 31 P preferences language 41 R remote control 28 remote viewing 34 S settin...

Page 65: ...status 28 unmute 31 V video bitrate 45 no video only audio 31 settings 58 video only 31 volume 29 ...