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8:46 pm
April 19, 2010
Monsoon Multimedia has recently released a new product called the Vulkano. This new device has been called everything from the "God Box" to a "SlingBox Killer".
Although we doubt it is either one of those if you are looking into a place shifting device you should take the time to look into the new Vulkano before deciding on what to invest in.
Both the Slingbox and the Vulkano have their plusses and minuses. For instance the Slingbox HD can give you up to a 1920x540 HD stream, the Vulkano can do up to 720x480 resolution, or as they say a near HD experience, but it offers a recording option and other things that the Slingbox doesn't.
This does make it hard to decide what to buy. They both offer the ability to place shift to your mobile device but depending on what your mobile device actually is you may get better results from one device over the other
To help you decide what place shifting device you should invest in you need to first figure out what you really need from it. Do you need to record something for playback later or do you already have TiVo or DVR that does it for you? Is there a particular place or device you want to place shift your TV to? Then which box does that the best?
This is where we can help. Between the Place Shifting Enthusiast members and the Monsoon Multimedia Community you can do your research and get the answers you need.
If looking into a Slingbox and have questions on it then jump into our forums here and ask away. If you have questions regarding the Monsoon Multimedia Vulkano then you can ask about it in the Community forum here.
Like we said both the Slingbox and the Vulkano have their plusses and minuses but before you buy either of them we recommend you first figure out what you really need in a place shifting device, ask about your needs and see what the actual users of these devices can tell you about their experiences.
If you do decide to purchase either a Slingbox or a Vulkano we would love to hear why you picked one over the other. Everyone has different needs when it comes to Place Shifting. What is yours?
12:01 am
April 20, 2010
Well sling media seem to be having so many issues with their servers, nearly 3 weeks down in August and another 31 August notice with more connection issues. Many people are still having connection issues from teh 03 August crash. I would advise anyone looking into a sling to wait and see to make sure the server issues are fully sorted, as they certainly now are not.
The Vulkano is really a product full of promise but doesn't yet have all the firmware for the capabilities listed yet. A few issues need to be sorted with firmware upgrades so still too early to say how good the Vulkano will finally be.
I can say the Vulkano streaming on the Iphone leaves everything else ( HAVA and slings looking sad ) I get constant wireless streams of over 1mb and today peaked at 1340kpbs on the Iphone. Doesn't make the picture any better than 1mb though.
But as far as remote streaming to a PC or a Macbookpro, the Vulkano blitzes even the sling pro HD even though the Vulkano has less resolution. Its not only the resolution setting that makes a difference but the difference in chipsets as well. On LAN the sling Pro HD for HD is perhaps the better product until we see further firmware upgrades for the Vulkano.
Slings are great when they run well but the reliablity seems to be getting worse and worse and tech support costs too much (US$30) for the constant problems people are having. Monsoons HAVA Platinum are solid streaming with slightly better pics than the sling pros both remote streams but on LAN the HAVA is clearly far better with 720 x 576 PAL or 720 x 640 NTSC res. Monsoon support is free. Sling phone and other apps US$30… Monsoon Vukano apps are free.
Sling software has faster response but thats due to the different way the buffering works with the slings. New Vulkano software is markedly improved over the HAVA PC player software.
Several things to consider, how much it all costs to get the hardware and apps, and the money you pay for tech support.
Firmware upgrades that actually make an improvement to the devices. Sling you cannot rollback and this has always been an issue if the new firmware doesnt work well. Monsoons firmware can be rolled back using the wizard.
For most of my clients thos hardcare MAC users not willing to use bootcamp they went with slings before. Those who were happy with Windows chose the HAVA as RECORDING to the PC was always a key in their decisions.
Vulkano now has MAC and Windows and recording but too early to say how good a product it is. I do now have several customers who will be on Vulkano's by the end of this week after testing them first.
12:38 pm
June 10, 2010
I already own a Slingbox Pro-HD and a Scientific Atlanta 8300HDC DVR provided by Time Warner. So, the only thing missing would be a nettop box like the Boxee or Roku. If I really wanted an upgrade my own experience, I would be better off to replace the DVR with a Moxi (http://moxi.com). Then I could have those features, plus save on the monthly fees associated with it by returning it to Time Warner. It just wouldn't make sense for me to buy the Vulkano and duplicate the features while downgrading my viewing resolution.
Actually, I'm thinking of dumping broadcast TV subscription all together. There about 10 to 15 shows that I enjoy watching, but I'm usually not home when they air. That's why I record all the shows and then watch them at my leisure later. Some weeks, I don't even get around to watching or clearing the shows off the DVR. This has cause me to miss recordings due to space limitations. So, being able to stream these shows without storage concerns at anytime has definately peaks my interests.
The most important thing; however, is the total cost of service. I spend about $1200 a year on cable. Most of which I don't even watch. There's only about 15 hours of content that I prefer to watch per week. Less if you subtract commericals. Let's look at this, 24 hours of content at $100 a month boils down to $0.14 per hour. Fifteen hours of content per week comes to $2.10 which is $8.40 per month. That's ends up being about $91.60 (92%) per month wasted on crap which I don't even want to watch.
A few years ago, I experimented with season passes for shows after getting my first iPhone. They were nice in that they were commercial free but they cost about $30 to $40 a pop. Plus, I had to download them to watch them. Storage is cheap, but it still costs money. The biggest issue was that it would have cost me more to buy all the season passes for each of the shows than to pay for cable.
With Hulu+ costing about $10 and Netflix costing about $9 that would come out to about $228 per year. Which would come to an 81% in savings or $972 a year. This is not counting whatever wattage hours saved for not requiring to have a DVR continuously powered. That's a lot of room left over for spendthrift video content.
1:19 am
April 20, 2010
eferz said: The most important thing; however, is the total cost of service. I spend about $1200 a year on cable. Most of which I don't even watch. With Hulu+ costing about $10 and Netflix costing about $9 that would come out to about $228 per year. Which would come to an 81% in savings or $972 a year. This is not counting whatever wattage hours saved for not requiring to have a DVR continuously powered. That's a lot of room left over for spendthrift video content.
There's the whole key to a new way of broadcasting. China has been way ahed of the game and we use a net service there that allows watching current US shows. Helps if you read Chinese though.
Netflix and Hulu are great to save your $$$ for better bandwidth..
11:37 am
August 11, 2010
I spend alot of money on directv and the main reason is NFL sunday ticket so I also get mlb and nhl..
I know NHL and MLB can broadcasted on boxee app if valkuno could get these apps that would be one step closer to the ultimate box for me.
Now directv now offers NFL sunday ticket online stream without having directv for 350.00. ONly if there was app or you could sling your desktop then we are in business
As for all of the shows I watch I can watch on HULA misc sports espn3''
6:02 pm
April 20, 2010
If you are outside of the USA like me, we can pay about US$285 for the whole season including all games. But acutally I get some of the NFL from a HDTV channel beoadcast in Asia that carries them.
If the Vulkano can stream your PC apps anywhere like Youtube Boxee and Hulu then you might have the product you need.
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