3. Setting Up, Continued

Continuing with the configuration brought me to a screen allowing me to choose the specific device I was getting video from. In my case, I was using a fairly obscure Dish Network Personal Video Recorder that wasn't listed on the Sling Media list of supported devices. I wasn't sure it would work, but the setup screen allowed me to cycle through several Dish Network options and I quickly found a code that was able to control my unit.

The setup screens also allowed me to password protect my unit for both an administrative and normal users. This is an important step because the device is designed to be present on the open Internet where it is reachable from anywhere in the world. So, unless you want a Romanian hacker to be able to watch and control your TV, pick a good password.

Finally, there was a setup screen for network options. The device defaults to trying to lease a DHCP address, but for long-term use, it needs an address that won't change from day-to-day. If you're going to allow the device to be used from the Internet, it also needs a "hole punched" (forwarded port) in your router's firewall. The easiest way to set all this up is automatically, using the UPnP protocol (Figure 3).

If the router on your network has support for UpnP, the Slingbox configuration will use it to both acquire a static IP address and set up its port-forwarding needs. Since my WRT54G has UPnP support, this was all seamlessly accomplished in a few seconds. If you don't have UPnP support, or if you want to do the same thing manually, there are configuration screens and tips on configuration for your router. Depending on how complex your home network is however, setting up the Slingbox to be accessed from outside your firewall can get complicated, so fairly extensive documentation was provided.

Figure 3: Router Configuration

When you enable your Slingbox to be used from the Internet, a unique ID is automatically generated and registered with Sling Media. This ID can be used in order to find your box when you bring up a client from a remote location, such as work or an hotel. If you're so inclined, you can skip the ID and directly attach using the port number and IP address of your router. This is why it's so important to pick a good password, because if you can connect to your Slingbox remotely, so can that Romanian hacker. Of course, the most he or she could do is watch and control your TV, or maybe order a few Pay-Per-View movies.