Currently I have Comcast cable programming set up so that I can watch all of the Cal football and basketball games here in Western Washington. I have to move to Toronto later this year, where Cal games are not generally available. If I set up my son's TV here in WA with the same Comcast cable programming setup and a Slingbox, will I be able to watch all of the Cal games in Toronto? If so, will he have to set up the games individually or would I be able to do it online from Toronto? If I am expecting to much from the slingbox arrangement, are there alternative ways for me to see all of the Cal games from across the border? Thanks for any advice/suggestions.

You will basically have control of the remote for that tv by accesing the slingbox account in Toronto . You will not have to program anything. But whoever is watching that TV at your son's house will also have to watch the Cal game. :bluecarrot:

zerkmxl;842129072 said:

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You will basically have control of the remote for that tv by accesing the slingbox account in Toronto . You will not have to program anything. But whoever is watching that TV at your son's house will also have to watch the Cal game. :bluecarrot:

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Or you could do what I do - set up a dedicated receiver for the slingbox. It's only a few dollars more per month. Then, you have complete control over that receiver/DVR with the slingbox, and your slingbox "host" can enjoy their own television viewing without even knowing you are on the slingbox.

grandmastapoop;842129080 said:

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Or you could do what I do - set up a dedicated receiver for the slingbox. It's only a few dollars more per month. Then, you have complete control over that receiver/DVR with the slingbox, and your slingbox "host" can enjoy their own television viewing without even knowing you are on the slingbox.

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Correct, plus you don't need to hook up a TV to it (in case this wasn't obvious in poop's solution), just the cable box, slingbox, and cable/power connection.

tenplay;842129070 said:

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Currently I have Comcast cable programming set up so that I can watch all of the Cal football and basketball games here in Western Washington. I have to move to Toronto later this year, where Cal games are not generally available. If I set up my son's TV here in WA with the same Comcast cable programming setup and a Slingbox, will I be able to watch all of the Cal games in Toronto? If so, will he have to set up the games individually or would I be able to do it online from Toronto? If I am expecting to much from the slingbox arrangement, are there alternative ways for me to see all of the Cal games from across the border? Thanks for any advice/suggestions.

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My father watches A's and Raiders games from HK off our slingbox so yes, you can do it online from Toronto. Definitely agree with the suggestion above to have a separate receiver.

If your son has a Comcast account he should be able to just give you his login info so you can stream the games directly from the xfinity TV website, without the expense of a slingbox or dedicated receiver. However, since you will have a Canadian IP address that might be blocked. If that's the case I'm with poop, pay for a slingbox and an extra receiver at your son's house and you should be all set.

Nah, force them to watch the Cal games!!!

(non issue for me, slingbox is at my house and I only use it when I travel)

Thanks for all the helpful and encouraging info. Great to know that I won't be cut off from watching Cal sports after more than 50 years. Also I am happy to know that I won't have to regularly drive over the border to Niagara or Buffalo to get my fix. So here are some concerns/questions:

1. I am pretty sure that I cannot access my Comcast account online with a Canadian IP. But I will have to have a friend across the border try it just to be sure.
2. By a separate receiver, are you saying that I would have to get an additional Comcast account and pay the monthly charges all year around? Definitely worth it but I would rather not donate more than I have to to Comcast.
3. Slingbox has several models. Will all of them work equally well or is there a certain recommended model?
4. Will the Slingbox arrangement work equally well with Dish?

tenplay;842129167 said:

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Thanks for all the helpful and encouraging info. Great to know that I won't be cut off from watching Cal sports after more than 50 years. Also I am happy to know that I won't have to regularly drive over the border to Niagara or Buffalo to get my fix. So here are some concerns/questions:

1. I am pretty sure that I cannot access my Comcast account online with a Canadian IP. But I will have to have a friend across the border try it just to be sure.
2. By a separate receiver, are you saying that I would have to get an additional Comcast account and pay the monthly charges all year around? Definitely worth it but I would rather not donate more than I have to to Comcast.
3. Slingbox has several models. Will all of them work equally well or is there a certain recommended model?
4. Will the Slingbox arrangement work equally well with Dish?

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2. No. Not a new account. Just a box. So you find someone in the US with cable or satellite (for you, it sounds like your son would be a good candidate). You have him add an extra DVR/receiver to his account. Some companies would let him add that for free, some might charge him $10. You'll have to call and see. You then hook the Slingbox up to that DVR/receiver and then you remotely control that receiver wherever you go.

3. I can't really speak to the different levels. I have the best one of the last generation and it works perfectly fine. They released newer models late last year.

4. Yes.

If your son will "host" your slingbox at his house, it should just be another receiver charge from Comcast @ ~ $10/mo.on his existing account. Not a whole additional account.

Theoretically at least, Slingbox should work even better with Dish, since it's now built in to their Hopper DVRs. See here

I'm actually planning to make the switch to Dish in early to mid August. My only hesitation so far has been uncertainty about how many P12 channels I will get through the box, rather than streaming. Nobody at Dish has been able to tell me for sure. The phone reps all say "you will get everything." The in-store reps say "You will only get 1, the national feed." But the demos in the stores show enough "alternate" channels in the guide to pique interest that they might have the overflow bandwidth to accommodate the regional channels. Unfortunately the stores don't get P12 as part of their demo programming, so it's inconclusive.

My concern is pretty different than yours though I think. I don't want to end up streaming P12Net Bay Area when I'm at home here in the Bay Area. If that's what it comes to, I will be very disappointed. So I'm waiting until August so I can test under real Saturday conditions inside their 30-day cancellation window.

You can probably be ok with the cheapest hd slingbox for your purpose. Even used boxes

tenplay;842129167 said:

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Thanks for all the helpful and encouraging info. Great to know that I won't be cut off from watching Cal sports after more than 50 years. Also I am happy to know that I won't have to regularly drive over the border to Niagara or Buffalo to get my fix. So here are some concerns/questions:

1. I am pretty sure that I cannot access my Comcast account online with a Canadian IP. But I will have to have a friend across the border try it just to be sure.
2. By a separate receiver, are you saying that I would have to get an additional Comcast account and pay the monthly charges all year around? Definitely worth it but I would rather not donate more than I have to to Comcast.
3. Slingbox has several models. Will all of them work equally well or is there a certain recommended model?
4. Will the Slingbox arrangement work equally well with Dish?

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As far as I can tell, the only difference btw the high-end Slingbox and the lower model is wi-fi capability. If your son has a direct Internet connection available, get the cheaper one.

I've watched the Bears in England and Mexico using Slingbox and it is great!

I previously owned a slingbox. It broke pretty quickly and, as it turned out, there was a known defect with a capacitor. Slingbox offered no customer support - basically told me to buy a new one (with the same defect). If you google slingbox and capacitor, I'm sure you'll find out. I have no idea if the problem was fixed in subsequent models.

Instead, I bought a competing product - a Vulkano. It was less expensive and had better features. It has worked well for me and does everything a slingbox does. You may want to check it out.

BearGoggles;842129243 said:

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I previously owned a slingbox. It broke pretty quickly and, as it turned out, there was a known defect with a capacitor. Slingbox offered no customer support - basically told me to buy a new one (with the same defect). If you google slingbox and capacitor, I'm sure you'll find out. I have no idea if the problem was fixed in subsequent models.

Instead, I bought a competing product - a Vulkano. It was less expensive and had better features. It has worked well for me and does everything a slingbox does. You may want to check it out.

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Thanks for letting me know about the Vulkano. Checking at Amazon, another device called Belkin@TV Plus is similar and more recent. Guess I will have to read the reviews and compare. The price is about the same for all three. Anyone have experience with Belkin?

Unlike the two current slingbox models, the Belkin and the Vulkano do not allow you to watch in HD, so assuming adequate bandwidth, the picture quality on the slingbox is much better. Assuming you have a good upload speed at your son's house and a good download speed in Toronto, you will be watching on your computer in HD. The slingbox website states that you need a minimum of 2 Mbps upload at the slingbox site and download at the remote viewing site to get HD. I'd go higher than that. Note that the maximum bitrate on the slingbox is 8 Mbps, so anything over that is overkill.

As far as the two slingbox models, aside from features that you are likely never going to use, the big difference is that the 500 has wifi and the 350 does not. So, if you're able to connect the slingbox to the router by using a cable (if the cable box is next to the router), go with the 350. Otherwise, go with the 500.

I have two 350s, having previously used a Slingbox AV (which I purchased in 2007) and a Pro-HD, and I've never had a problem with any of them.

THe Pro-HD (black) has significantly better picture quality that the Pro (red).. and enables HD streaming on mobile devices. I have three Slingboxes... two at home and one at my brother's house in LA... they are awesome. I also have an El Gato EyeTV HD hooked up at my house. Place shifting is awesome and a great way to get around the arcane local blackout rules that exist. A must have for serious sports fans.

BearGoggles;842129243 said:

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I previously owned a slingbox. It broke pretty quickly and, as it turned out, there was a known defect with a capacitor. Slingbox offered no customer support - basically told me to buy a new one (with the same defect). If you google slingbox and capacitor, I'm sure you'll find out. I have no idea if the problem was fixed in subsequent models.

Instead, I bought a competing product - a Vulkano. It was less expensive and had better features. It has worked well for me and does everything a slingbox does. You may want to check it out.

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This was a big issue that was fixed before i bought my slingbox...3 years ago?

Some cable providers will also have a fee for "duplicate programming" ... a nice way for over-charging for the signal bandwith you're already paying for. So you may be looking at a box rental (~$10/mo) and added programming fees (~$10-15/mo).

Ukrainian;842129358 said:

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Some cable providers will also have a fee for "duplicate programming" ... a nice way for over-charging for the signal bandwith you're already paying for. So you may be looking at a box rental (~$10/mo) and added programming fees (~$10-15/mo).

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Comcast cable doesn't do that