As discussed earlier this week, DISH is officially shuttering Slingbox in a few days when they bring the servers down. However, given the number of inquiries received, I began investigating alternatives and have identified the most viable solution to keep your video streams a’flowing…
Over the last several months, Gerry Dubois of Nova Scotia has been developing “Slinger” — a Python application that runs on your hardware in lieu of Sling servers. The various network configurations are documented here, but the gist is Slinger relays commands into the Slingbox and relays video out to a media player of your choosing, like VLC. I can’t imagine it’s as elegant as the “real” thing, but I’m absolutely certain it beats a blank.
What makes all of this currently possible is the repurposing of your assigned Slingbox device password, obtained from this URL. It enables Slinger to establish a connection with Slingbox. However, the expectation is that this URL will cease to exist soon. So grab your info ASAP. In talking to Gerry, he is hopeful that analysis of his extensive network captures will ultimately lead to a Slingbox password reset function – thereby extending Slinger to factory-reset and repurposed boxes. Likewise, ingesting IR remote mapping is also on his to-do list.
I do worry about certificates or other firmware elements that could expire (or could be expired) but, for the interim at least, Slingboxes owned by the geeky have been spared bricking. Gerry hasn’t thought to accept donations nor does he have any technical assistance, but I think he may be open to either from those willing and able.