SlingBox Pro question re. that HD cable...

[Lord Vader]

I've had a SlingBox Pro for a year or two now and love it. This past weekend I was visiting my brother and his family out of state and we were able to watch the Bears game via my Sling. He then hooked up his laptop through which the Sling connection ran and connected the laptop to his 52" LCD Bravia HDTV. I must admit, the PQ was very good. Granted, it wasn't true HD, but I dare say it was better than DirecTV's typical SD channels!

My Slingbox at home is currently connected to an HDVR2 SD DirecTIVO receiver in my bedroom. I'm thinking about moving the Sling to one of my HR20-700s. I had a couple questions to ask here if anyone knows the answer to them:

1. If I connect the Sling Pro to an HR20-700, would the picture quality be even better because of it running off an HD DVR?

2. Regardless of the answer to #1, would I need that HD cable that is offered as an optional accessory for SlingBox Pro units?

3. What really IS this "HD cable" for anyway? I've seen it but confess I'm not that familiar with it.

[d max82]

1)generally yes. The better quality picture you start with the better it will be on the other end. Please note though that the old pro model you have will down rez the HD image to 640x480 so it wont be true hd either.

2)You will need the cable if you intend to feed the slingbox with an HD source. Of course you could save the $50 or so for that cable and just hook it up Svideo or composite video.

3)The cable is just a component video input adapter. it looks like an HDMI plug on one end, but you can't hook up hdmi to the sling box, only component with this adapter.

Before you go spend the money on the adapter you might want to look at the new slingbox pro HD. It supports streaming HD video up to 1080i and retails for $300, compared to $50 for the hd cable to your current box that wont go 1080i.