Get A Joey or Sling with Android Mini PC?

[traustic]

Looking for some personal experiences with using sling to view live tv and recordings to another room without the extra cost of the Joey. Is it acceptable or too cumbersome? The second TV will be in my daughters room and probably play some babyfirst videos and live tv.

The joey with no contract is $100 for the initial equipment purchase and $7 a month for service. ($50 for a lease but why lock myself into a contract over 50 bucks?)

Android Mini PC TV units sell for $100 that are quad core a9 units with hdmi output and playstore - I can download and install the dishanywhere app and wire my 24" tv to my sling adapter. Since the connection is the local lan bandwidth is not an issue.

The issue I might see if the difficulty in use. Joeys are easy to operate but limited in comparison to a 1.6ghz quadcore android pc attached to a TV. Do I need most of the functionality of the android device? no, but I may in the future. I'm just not sure the Joey is worth $84 a year for operating cost when I can achieve the same result with no additional monthly fees.

Thoughts?

 

[nsafreak]

Well I'm pretty sure that image quality should not be an issue since you have more than enough bandwidth to send a full 1080p signal. The problem is indeed going to be in controlling the setup. The android app is designed around a touchscreen interface which you obviously won't have with an android mini PC hooked into a TV. It sounds like you're putting it in an infants room so I'm guessing that she's not going to be the one changing channels or selecting DVR recordings. If that's the case and you're just occasionally selecting a live TV channel or recording for her then it should work out fine.

 

[Miner]

I'm not too sure how it works with a hopper but on my 722 and sling adapter the U/I and responsiveness (skip, channel change, etc) are marginal at best. That being said, I do use it in my guest bedroom and office via full computers to watch TV. If one doesn't change channels constantly it works alright.


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[JM42]

There's a reason the slingcatcher or whatever they were going to call it was never released. For occasional use it may be OK, but I can't imagine using it for routine viewing.

 

[redelephants]

If you get an air mouse to use with your Android tv stick, the Dish app works pretty well. It will never be the same as having a Joey, but it will work.

 

[bobrown14]

Yes - hopper with sling you can use dishanywhere with any pc with a decent internet (4mps min for 1080P) or lan setup. I occasionally watch dishanywhere from my PC in my home office & at wrok (no joey there) and I actually think its a lot less glitchy (actually no glitches) than the joey in my media room. I've had no problems with dishanywhere fast forwarding/pausing/rewind/stop pick back up where I left off etc. The Joey on the other hand, WAY more glitchy, Joey hangs up have to reboot joey without stopping or forwarding occasionally to be honest . I'm actually thinking about ditching the Joey and just using my PC, anything I can get on the Joey I can get on Dishanywhere except my downloaded content and I'd be able to get that with a PC attached to my lan (or from anywhere for that matter). The Joey is a great idea and it worked great originally but lately (new software) when it hangs up I just shut the TV off and listen to music. I'm getting close to breaking down and purchasing a PC with a upgraded video card so I wont need the joey. Sorry dish, with Joey you're on the right track but not there yet, not for me anyway.

Cheers,
?Bob

 

[JM42]

The Joey is a great idea and it worked great originally but lately (new software) when it hangs up I just shut the TV off and listen to music. I'm getting close to breaking down and purchasing a PC with a upgraded video card so I wont need the joey. Sorry dish, with Joey you're on the right track but not there yet, not for me anyway.

Something is wrong. I can't remember the lat time I had a Joey hang. Seems like way back in the first month or so after release there were a couple of random reboots, but nothing in a very long time. I use it daily. Looks like you've only had Hopper for a couple of months, I would look into possible cabling issues or replacing the Joey.

 

[glenwms]

Something is wrong. I can't remember the lat time I had a Joey hang. Seems like way back in the first month or so after release there were a couple of random reboots, but nothing in a very long time. I use it daily. Looks like you've only had Hopper for a couple of months, I would look into possible cabling issues or replacing the Joey.

I agree completely. I have 2 Joeys and they're both rock solid. Not a single issue out of either one of them, and they're both used quite a lot.