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Question

Need help to upgrade NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE Graphics

Jan 23, 2015 10:34PM PST

Hello,

My son lives out of state and has a Slingbox. I sign into his Slingbox so I can watch baseball and football games. The quality is not that good. No smooth transitions. Will upgrading my graphics card improve that?

Here's the info on the computer that I have:

HP Pavilion 16330f desktop PC
AMD Live Smarter Digital Entertainment
AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core Processor 5600+
3072MB Memory
500GB hard drive
NVIDIA GeForce 6150 SE Graphics
EXPI9301CT Gigabit CT Desktop NIC PCI-e Network Adapter (INTEL 82574L Chipset)
Windows 7 Home Premium

I admit that I have no knowledge what's the best solution to my problem or even if there is a solution. So, any help with this would be greatly appreciated. Thanks...Mike

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Connection speed is very important
Jan 24, 2015 12:47AM PST

and it's not just your download speed but the upload speed of the serving device. Many ISPs with decent download speed offer upload speeds at a much reduced rate. With the slingbox, you're dealing with upload speed and your end is download. Tell about those before looking to upgrade your video card. Chances are that if you've no problem with DVDs, Youtube, etc., your video card is not the problem.

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Internet speed
Jan 24, 2015 2:15AM PST

My internet provider (Brighthouse) offers a download speed of 150 Mbps which I subscribe to. So, I'm getting the fastest download speed that they offer. My son's upload speed is 25 Mbps and his internet provider is Verizon FIOS. Do you think that may be the problem?

Thanks for your help with this, it's very much appreciate...Mike

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highway vs interstate
Jan 24, 2015 4:34AM PST

Let's say both you and your son who is elsewhere, can drive 55 on local highways, then get on the interstate to head toward each other and you find there's a backup due to weather, accident, cops giving tickets, etc. Doesn't matter your or son's capability, you both will be slowed down.

What you can do is install a program called "iperf" and it's graphical front end called "jperf". I can download it direct from my linux repository, but there is a windows version of it too. You'd need to look around for it. It will measure not just the "latency" which any "ping" of an IP can do (if the computer answers ping request with a pong), but will also measure actual bandwidth ability between you and the server/vpn/computer you are connected to. It's similar to those dialup networking programs that showed how well your modem was working or not at the time.

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Answer
I'm go with no.
Jan 24, 2015 1:10AM PST

My prior laptop with a core 2 duo and it's 4500MHD did 1080p HD just fine. Your GPU is better so my bet is that it's connection speed or compression. Such slings rarely approach the quality of the broadcast feed.
Bob

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More about Slinging.
Jan 24, 2015 2:41AM PST
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Answer
use speedtest.net
Jan 24, 2015 1:11AM PST

to find out what your speed is from a speedtest site in the state. It won't tell you the speed of the feed to you from his slingbox however, you'd need to run some software that showed your download speed.

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Internet Speed
Jan 24, 2015 2:37AM PST

James,

My internet provider (Brighthouse) offers a download speed of 150 Mbps which I subscribe to. So, I'm getting the fastest download speed that they offer. My son's upload speed is 25 Mbps and his internet provider is Verizon FIOS. Do you think that may be the problem?

Thanks for your help with this, it's very much appreciate...Mike

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Answer
consider the VPN approach
Jan 24, 2015 1:45AM PST
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VPN Question
Jan 24, 2015 2:35AM PST

James,

Thanks for responding!

I'm a novice so please bear with me. I live in Florida and my son is in Massachusetts. The Slingbox (with is attached to his TV and internet connection) allows me to watch his TV on my computer. So, if I set up a VPN does he have to set one up also? And how do we connect the two VPN connections? To access his Slingbox all I do is use his user name and password on the Singbox sign in page. I'm confused as to where the VPN comes into play.

Thank you very much for your help with this, it's very much appreciated...Mike

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good question
Jan 24, 2015 4:08AM PST

Seems it would depend on the slingbox accepting a VPN connection.

http://support.slingbox.com/KB/KB-1000329

Long thread, addresses some unusual situations.

http://placeshiftingenthusiasts.com/forum/slingbox-and-your-network/setup-remotely-via-vpn-connection/

Noted is the fact your router may need a different gateway address assigned than the LAN by VPN you are connecting too.

In Windows you'd go to the networking setup and look for the section to set up a VPN and follow what it says. Windows versions may differ on exactly how it's done, and I use Linux myself.