[lgb0250]

I recently purchased a slingbox for travel and found out the hard way that it wasn't what I needed. Evidently the resorts we tend to stay at don't have the highest bandwidth available and thus the slingbox is impossible to watch.

Am now considering the nomad and was hoping for some input from those of you that have the unit. Any input, good or bad, greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[hdtvfan0001]

I recently purchased a slingbox for travel and found out the hard way that it wasn't what I needed. Evidently the resorts we tend to stay at don't have the highest bandwidth available and thus the slingbox is impossible to watch.

Am now considering the nomad and was hoping for some input from those of you that have the unit. Any input, good or bad, greatly appreciated. Thanks.

You've actually touched upon one great reason for nomad : Freedom from the need to find enough broadband speed to stream.

nomad is specifically designed to be a mobile viewing device without the need for an Internet connection as you travel or leave your home.

As both a frequent traveler and a nomad user...my experience is that having the ability to watch virtually and DVR recorded content wherever you want is a great capability. The playback quality of the transcoded recorded content onto a mobile device is very, very good. It's great not having to deal with airport, hotel, and other slow bandwidth streaming.

I have a slingbox as well, and now hardly use it.

To answer the base question...if you are looking for the ability to take DVR-recorded content and be able to play it back on a mobile device anyplace and anytime...it's a perfect fit.

 

[dennisj00]

I echo HDTVFan's comments above. While we only rent a place if it has wifi, we find 'free' wifi exactly what you pay for! You may be able to get your email, but you're not going to be happy streaming Netflix, HBO/Go, ESPN or others.

Nomad allows us to carry the programs we want and watch on the iPadss or laptops with great picture quality.

It's also great to watch out on the deck or when you just don't want to crank up the big TV.

 

[shedberg]

I just purchased mine and am on a trip this week. I find it to be VERY useful. Especially when I can watch my recorded content on the plane. It makes three hours go by a lot faster.

 

[trh]

I really enjoy mine and the freedom to not have to have internet (which I don't have often while traveling), makes it real nice. I mainly use an iPad - picture quality is great.

But you do have to plan ahead with what you want transcoded by the nomad and then downloading that to your device while on your home network.

 

[NR4P]

Is it worth it? YES

I use it many times per month on trips. I particularly enjoy watching folks on flights slide their credit cards to pay to watch the flight TV system while I'm settled in watching movies and tv shows from my DVRs, at no cost.

 

[lgb0250]

Thanks for all the replies. Makes my decision quite easy. Next question: Is it ok to purchase the nomad from Solid Signal instead of D*? Will I have any problems activating it if purchased from SS? Thanks again.

 

[Sixto]

If you actually want to enjoy watching a recording remotely, then nomad is a great option, and to be honest, it's the only "real" option for DirecTV content.

Slingbox (I have two - one on each HR34) is nice for a quick check of a "live" sporting event or when you need to access an individual receiver for any other reason, but if you want to watch a recording just like you're sitting in the room with your DVR, then nomad is perfect.

It still needs a little work, like a native iPad version, but I've used it dozens of times, and it's a great experience.

Recently, I've also brought along the iPad HDMI adapter and an HDMI cable, I've been lucky that most of the hotel rooms have had HDMI capable TV's, and the picture quality is not bad even on a large HD set.

The routine is that a couple of days before I leave for a trip, I transcode 5-10 recordings, I download them to the iPad the morning I'm leaving or the night before, sometimes also to the laptop (it uses the same transcoded file for both), and then I have the iPad for the plane, and the iPad and laptop for the hotel room.

For my recent flights, I've also added GoGo inflight internet to allow for online access at 30,000 feet to eMail and the forums, while also watching a nomad recording or two, and it's transformed the flying experience from boring to very productive.

Good luck if you decide to purchase one, it's fairly inexpensive (one time charge - no recurring charge), it's easy to setup, and we're always here to help. Enjoy!

 

[Sixto]

Thanks for all the replies. Makes my decision quite easy. Next question: Is it ok to purchase the nomad from Solid Signal instead of D*? Will I have any problems activating it if purchased from SS? Thanks again.

You should have no issue. It's just a simple piece of hardware that you just plug in and it works, and if there's any issue a quick call to DirecTV should resolve things.

 

[BBM3]

I think the best of both Sling and Nomad is Vulkano.
The Lava and Blast will give you total control of your DVR including recording and playback, stream live over wi-fi or 3G as well as save / transcode recordings to your mobile device.

Plus you can record and transcode to your mobile device outside of your home network.

I have been using a legacy model (Platinum) with a 500gb esata drive attached for about two years and have never had a problem.

Video quality is near HD. I can read the CNBC scroll even on an iPhone.

(Monsoon sells refurbished legacy Delux Pro units with 500gb drives on eBay).

 

[Darcaine]

I'm curious what makes this a better option than the Hauppauge HD PVR...They both seem to work the same (require you to play the video while you "record" it. But the PVR doesn't cripple the show with DRM that makes it unplayable after a month).

So other than customer support from D*, (and maybe price? Not sure what nomad costs) what does Nomad offer that the HD PVR doesn't?

 

[trh]

I know little about the Hauppauge (or Vulkano). They might be just as good or better than the nomad for all I know. But the OP didn't ask what the best option was; he wanted to know whether the nomad was worth it. BBM3 makes a strong case for the Vulkano.

(And the nomad retails for $149.)

 

[The Merg]

I'm curious what makes this a better option than the Hauppauge HD PVR...They both seem to work the same (require you to play the video while you "record" it. But the PVR doesn't cripple the show with DRM that makes it unplayable after a month).

So other than customer support from D*, (and maybe price? Not sure what nomad costs) what does Nomad offer that the HD PVR doesn't?

How easy would it be to put recordings from the Hauppauge PVR onto the iPad? The Nomad allows seamless download to PC/laptop, iPhone and iPad and soon to come Android device.

- Merg

 

[Darcaine]

How easy would it be to put recordings from the Hauppauge PVR onto the iPad? The Nomad allows seamless download to PC/laptop, iPhone and iPad and soon to come Android device.

- Merg

As easy as it is to move any compatible file (it records in MP4 format so its compatible with ipad) from the PC/laptop to a mobile device (not sure how easy that is on ipad, since well, its an Apple device, but its easy on every device by every other manufacture I've ever used).

You could probably record the show directly to the storage of any device you want (haven't tried it on anything other than my PC's hdd though). Maybe I will try recording directly to my android phone/tablet.

Is that really the only "benefit"? I was thinking about swapping out my PVR with a nomad, but since it works nearly exactly the same, it doesn't seem worth the restrictions placed on the recordings for the "benefit" of recording directly to my tablet (and may already be possible, now I'm curious about that), which is already copy/paste easy to move.

 

[trh]

As easy as it is to move any compatible file (it records in MP4 format so its compatible with ipad) from the PC/laptop to a mobile device (not sure how easy that is on ipad, since well, its an Apple device, but its easy on every device by every other manufacture I've ever used).

So to get a recording on my iPad, I'd first have to import the file into iTunes and then sync with my iPad? With nomad, you don't use iTunes. The DirecTV app does all this 'work' for you.

 

[Steve]

How easy would it be to put recordings from the Hauppauge PVR onto the iPad? The Nomad allows seamless download to PC/laptop, iPhone and iPad and soon to come Android device.

Looks like it can save directly into .mp4 format, so that should be a straight copy onto an iPad, but they don't specifically say it, so I'm not sure. That said, even if it was compatible, you'd have to babysit (and tie up) the HR and the PVR while your playlist recordings are being transcoded, one at a time. Seems to me that would be a real PITA.

For those that are not aware, Nomad can be set to automatically transcode shows once they hit the HR playlist. And if your playback device is running the Nomad app overnight, it can automatically copy the transcoded files to it. If the app is not running, the transcoded files can be manually copied from Nomad to the playback device at a rate of about 3-6 minutes per 30-60 minute show.

 

[Darcaine]

Looks like it can save directly into .mp4 format, so that should be a straight copy onto an iPad, but they don't specifically say it, so I'm not sure. That said, even if it was compatible, you'd have to babysit (and tie up) the HR and the PVR while your playlist recordings are being transcoded, one at a time. Seems to me that would be a real PITA.

For those that are not aware, Nomad can be set to automatically transcode shows once they hit the HR playlist. And if your playback device is running the Nomad app overnight, it can automatically copy the transcoded files to it. If the app is not running, the transcoded files can be manually copied from Nomad to the playback device at a rate of about 2-4 minutes per 30-60 minute show.

Ok that's what I was wondering about. So nomad = automated transcoding with a one month limitation on the recordings, and pvr = manual transcoding with no limitations (btw you can record simultaniously to your dvr and pvr, so no having to wait for the show to hit your HR playlist).

Not really worth the cost to upgrade for automation (and experation date, that's the one that kills me as often times I don't get around to watching the shows for several months and would hate to have to leave them on my dvr until I'm ready for them). Thanks for the info.

 

[Darcaine]

So to get a recording on my iPad, I'd first have to import the file into iTunes and then sync with my iPad? With nomad, you don't use iTunes. The DirecTV app does all this 'work' for you.

This is one of the reasons I don't use Apple products. Having to use the godawful itunes for something that should be as easy as copying from one folder and pasting into another, is rediculous.

 

[Laxguy]

This is one of the reasons I don't use Apple products. Having to use the godawful itunes for something that should be as easy as copying from one folder and pasting into another, is rediculous.

We have a thread for knocking Apple. But I will say knowing a bit about how iTunes works makes for easy copying and so forth. It's hardly ridiculous.

 

[Richierich]

I recently purchased a slingbox for travel and found out the hard way that it wasn't what I needed. Evidently the resorts we tend to stay at don't have the highest bandwidth available and thus the slingbox is impossible to watch.

This is the Reason I am Selling my brand new Slingbox PRO HD which I have Never used. I had another one and I had to deactivate it because I had to use RF for my Directv Remote and it isn't compatible with RF so I am getting rid of it.

As with my other Slingbox PRO HD I couldn't use it effectively because my Bandwidth in my Marriott Vacation Villas didn't have enough Bandwidth to Support my Slingbox and I would get Pixellation and Macro Blocking so I just quit using it.

Also, if you can get Optional Bandwidth via other Services like Verizon your Slingbox will eat up your Bandwidth Allowance in a Heartbeat so I just went with Nomad and couldn't be Happier.

It lets you take with you What You Want To Watch When You Want To Watch It And Where You Want To Watch It and with HDMI Output I can even Watch It on the Big Flatscreen HDTV in my Condo.

It is Definitely Worth In My Opinion!!!