Getting started with Slingbox M1, the next steps

[ChrizK-oldGit]

Hi, some of you may have seen my rather annoying questions as I have a need to get my M1 working again, only to find that the solution is/was dependent on Sling Media servers.
Until this afternoon, I had only been investigating, but I have now installed Docker on my Synology NAS and @rbf121's container.
I am now at the stage of having to edit the config.ini. As I understand it, I need to provide the type of slingbox (I'm guessing 'M1') and a password ... I may also want to change the port from default 8080.

Is it correct that that I need to follow the instructions contained 'Slingbox admin password'?
These appear to use CURL to call two APIs at secure.sling.com.

Does this rely on having an account at Sling? My M1 has been in a cupboard for years and I don't remember ever creating an account (TBH I don't even remember using it!).

If I don't remember my account (and would even be guessing which email address I would have used), does this mean that I have hit a dead end?

Once again, sorry if I have misunderstood how this all fits together, but I am at a loss how to proceed.

[pfuller88]

Hi, from another post I wrote this.... I was able to reset the M1. I held the reset for about 40+ seconds to hard reset. I then ran slingbox 5.0.0.83 software with no internet block. as it needed to login and the software updated the M1 firmware. i then loaded a custom bin for the remote -- you can also choose from a drop down list if your box is listed (one note here, drag the popup slider down rather than click it by page). The software then took me back to the login page where it halted, although all was setup on the M1 and slinger works with admin as the password. I did have to run this several times, make sure it takes you back to the login page at the end; once there, close the program and reboot the slingbox. Should work - of course, no guarantees.

[ChrizK-oldGit]

@ChrizK-oldGit I just opened a new account and it was fine. I don't think my box was lock to an account?? But is there an option to unlink? There is also a forget your password button but sling desktop won't work if port 5678 is blocked. So you cant even sign-in to setup if port 5678 is blocked. Or try to create new account with another email if you can't recover/reset old password.

May be can try slingplayer 2 on virtual box under windows7?

Slinger is the project name, can't you see it on the top?? Slinger is a self run replacement server for slingbox.

@mike-uk THANK YOU SO MUCH telling me about the Desktop and suggesting starting from there. The 'Forgot Password' ability is deprecated, one of the first things I tried. I actually found an email from 2018 when I last did this, and so part of the process must be to receive the mail, which I assume is now 'shut down'. Because of this, I didn't attempt to create a new account, thinking it would be the same situation.

Anyway, created an account as suggested, which led me to a Firmware update. This initially failed as I had the MAC address internet access blocked. Disabled the rule and the firmware updated. I was prompted to give the box a name, which I did. No prompt for password ...
It then proceeded TO DISPLAY A PICTURE!!! I was asked to select a remote. Unsurprisingly the Virgin V6 was not found by search, but I manually chose Virgin and Tivo V+ ...unfortunately this completely fails to do anything, but I accepted it just so I could proceed.
(I think the Remote is actually Bluetooth and so I suspect there is no IR capability)
I have now re-enabled my MAC filtering. Started slingbox-server which successfully waited for first stream. I was a little surprised at this point, as I thought it would end up with the same password I used for my dummy account, but it I guess it stays as 'admin'.
Started Slingplayer (as provided by Gerry) and I can now finally see video. Initially the playback stuttered, but I think it settled down (I am still on 720p I think).

Funnily enough, the Pro-HD turned up yesterday. I was actually amazed how well packaged it was and it came by courier ...for a two quid postage fee!!! I thought it would never come as lost in the post.

[mike-uk]

@ChrizK-oldGit I told you its only take 20-30mins to do. It was hard to make you believe. I wasn't sure before because I had Pro-HD only but since I bought M1 I know it works. Its good to have a Pro-HD as back up incase M1 get brickes. Did you get all cables with it? My ir blaster was missing but for 10 pound and I only had to walk across the road to get it, it still a good deal. I wanted the M1 wifi so I can be cable free. I am waiting for a dvb-t2 box to go on it. Although Pro-HD has tuner in my area many channels had funny audio problems. You can always use one box for v6 and one for freeview haha.

You mixed up the slingbox password with sling online account password. On Pro-HD while setting the box you choose a user password and an admin password (default is admin). For M1 you have to log into email account before you can even start to set up the box. M1 seem only have admin password after reset its admin.

Virgin tv have a remote app. So if you upgrade your rounter with vpn option may be you can use it while being out and connected to home vpn? Or just use it as it is while at home.

[ChrizK-oldGit]

@ChrizK-oldGit I told you its only take 20-30mins to do. It was hard to make you believe.

For M1 you have to log into email account before you can even start to set up the box. M1 seem only have admin password after reset its admin.

Virgin tv have a remote app. So if you upgrade your rounter with vpn option may be you can use it while being out and connected to home vpn? Or just use it as it is while at home.

I believed you, I just thought the player route was blocked for me as I didn't know my account password. I am so pleased you told me to simply create another account (I actually thought having my M1 tied to my existing account would block me from associating it with another). You are right, it seems that there is only the admin password. The instructions to retrieve the password kinda confused the situation :)

And again you are right, I think there is a remote app ..never downloaded it, so not exactly sure what it does. Thanks again for all your tips.

[GerryDazoo]

It was never possible to set your own password on the M1/500 etc. The password, a random 15 character string is assigned when the box is setup. This fails because the needed servers are shutdown now and the password remains as the default "admin".

[ChrizK-oldGit]

Hi, from another post I wrote this.... I was able to reset the M1. I held the reset for about 40+ seconds to hard reset. I then ran slingbox 5.0.0.83 software with no internet block. as it needed to login and the software updated the M1 firmware. i then loaded a custom bin for the remote -- you can also choose from a drop down list if your box is listed (one note here, drag the popup slider down rather than click it by page). The software then took me back to the login page where it halted, although all was setup on the M1 and slinger works with admin as the password. I did have to run this several times, make sure it takes you back to the login page at the end; once there, close the program and reboot the slingbox. Should work - of course, no guarantees.

Just wanted to say thank you. Although @mike-uk had to direct me to create a new account, your instructions were spot on.

[mike-uk]

I think you should stay on one thread (your own) so people so you can get help in one place.
I am not sure about m1 but on my pro-hd I have to check the port number in sling player software matches and make sure in config.ini its the same. Once your set up slinger you need to use the sling software to setup as well before it can work. It may help if your post your config.ini as well

[ChrizK-oldGit]

@GerryDazoo thanks for the link. A great document.
I don't think it mentions where to get .420 from (?), but I see in the screenshots that Slingplayer 1.5 allows you to update firmware .
I see in one discussion you mention SbPbProHdFwV2_01_420_HwV1_0_0Current.bin. Is there a (safe) download link? A quick Google only provides a link to a discussion in Chinese.
A discussion on Reddit kindly provides a link to a number of firmwares, but I would prefer a 'recommended' one.

Also, can I use Slingplayer 1.5 to change my M1 name and password?

Re the discussion on Synology NAS, I fully intend to go back to it. I initially installed using Docker and the container produced by rbf121, but the latest is only v3.08f so Gerry suggested going to v4. For expedience, I thought installing on Windows would get me going quickly. That resulted in a discussion about netifaces (still to be looked into), and the current use of .exe.

The windows exe isn't really compiled, it's just a wrapper around a python interpreter that has all the needed modules pre-configured.

I had no idea 'someone' could create an .exe like this. Clever stuff, maybe I will look into that at some point ;)

[mike-uk]

@ChrizK-oldGit I didn't put the link because you pro-hd may already have the latest firmware. The link I found was from slingbox server and it was in the post you found. I can just imagine you having a hard time waiting for the new box to arrived while having all the files ready haha.

@GerryDazoo I started testing outside my network this afternoon. It seem after I port forward the slinger on my router, it connection stay open and I don't have to login to kick start it. I used a very high 5 digi port number as you have suggested. Thanks

[ChrizK-oldGit]

Oops, sorry. Focused on the @gerry and thought Gerry posted the Document link.
Fair comment ... I guess you are starting to 'appreciate' my personality, getting all prepared and heading off in different directions ;)

I have tried v1.5 with my M1, but it either doesn't like it, or something is blocking it.
[ 0x9234006D ] Unexpected TCP/IP error(s)
I may investigate once I go through Gerry's suggestion of downgrading the video resolution (which my Amazon YPbPr purchase allows).
BTW v1.5 appears to run fine in Win7 compatibility mode.

[mike-uk]

@ChrizK-oldGit £2 postage would be super slow haha you have till weekend to get things read lol

The m1 didn't exist at 1.5 time of release so it might never work. Gerry did offer to jump on your pc to check on your M1 settings for you. You heard of team viewer??

I am sticking with windows 10 till I cant anymore. Plus since I started learning programming I am getting more comfortable with linux and appreciate the older computer power

[ChrizK-oldGit]

You heard of team viewer??

Yes, installed for helping my dear ol' mum.
I will see how far I get and then I may impose on Gerry if he isn't fed up with me by then.

[ChrizK-oldGit]

Thought I would start another 'thread' in this discussion, now that my eyes have been opened to Slingdesktop (5.0.0.83).
This has allowed me to follow the setup process, not only applying the latest firmware if needed, but also adding a Remote Control.
This is the reason for the 'sub thread'.

I have been rather silly (again), thinking that I had a Virgin V6, simply because 'it looks like one'.
I found that my remote is a 360 remote ... then found that the V6 looks the same as the 360 box, which I actually have.
Given this is fairly recent and the Slingbox solution is fairly old, I thought it highly unlikely that I would get remote codes, but I have.
(I am asking the provider if he would like me to announce his site to this forum ..if it hasn't been already!)

I now have a working remote for the Virgin 360 (default skin).
Now that this is open to me, can someone tell me if the functionality is only available through SlingPlayer?
In my limited experience, SlingPlayer (v5) is OK for setup, but not suitable for playback. It continually loops round the setup process, never getting to be an actual player.
Unlike the old player provided by Gerry, I don't think you can give the newer version the address of the Slinger server.

So, how do I use my newly installed Remote for the M1?

NB I am still unable to use VLC on my laptop (unable to open the MRL), or DX Player on my Android (attempted dual stream bug?).

[mike-uk]

@ChrizK-oldGit That is normal, its called buffering. If you look at bbc iplayer live vs live tv you would see about same delay. Sling box was invented to watch baseball games after all, no switching channel in the middle of the game haha. Try resolution 5 see if you can live with it, as reduce data also mean faster.

[GerryDazoo]

You can spend a pile of time trying to use VLC and minimize the buffering delay or you can use SlingerPLayer which comes out of the box with a minimal delay configuration ~1 second.
You're also confusing us my referring to the buffering delay as lip-sync delay. That's something different and can be adjusted in VLC.

[mike-uk]

@GerryDazoo What is the best option for Android 5? I like slinger player on pc but doesn't support my older android tv boxes. Also on android mobile is there a full screen function? Thank you

[ChrizK-oldGit]

You can spend a pile of time trying to use VLC and minimize the buffering delay or you can use SlingerPLayer which comes out of the box with a minimal delay configuration ~1 second. You're also confusing us my referring to the buffering delay as lip-sync delay. That's something different and can be adjusted in VLC.

Thanks @GerryDazoo, I will try to side-load the provided APK
NB the Virgin V360 remote actually works from the back room (to the front room) as it is RF, so having a faster picture 'receiver' would be great for me.
Using Slingdesktop on my laptop only has ~1sec delay, which is very usable. I have been investigating firestick and found comments that it uses a buffer, which I guess is for all apps (MX Player has the same delay). I am hoping this will not affect the SlingDesktop (apk).

Sorry, I was thinking that fixing the delay would also resolve the lip-sync.
Out of interest, as I am having to decrease the Audio Delay (Firestick VLC {playback/streaming} > Down arrow > Left Arrow > Up Arrow {Audio Settings drop down} > Audio Delay +/-), would I be making the overall playback delay worse, or better?

[ChrizK-oldGit]

NB I am still unable to use VLC on my laptop (unable to open the MRL), or DX Player on my Android (attempted dual stream bug?).

To use VLC it may be necessary to allow the application through your 'personal' firewall (eg Windows Defender)
https://blog.pcrisk.com/windows/13347-how-to-fix-vlc-is-unable-to-open-the-mrl-file-error#allow-vlc-through-windows-firewall

[watanyoshi]

You can set the [SERVER] URLbase to anything you want (the default is slingbox). You can use this as a sort of password to prevent someone who happens to know your IP address and port number an the fact that it's my code on the other end and that they really want to watch your TV from accessing the server. Hi Gerry, is it possible to add URLbase feature to Remote as well? It is currently fixed as "Remote". I want to change it to something a little more complicated to prevent taking over the remote control. Or can the Remote URL be like "IP address: <Port>/[SERVER] URLbase/Remote" not "IP address: <Port>/Remote"? Either way works. I know it needs change on Slinger player side too but it is really nice to have. Thanks! 2023年4月1日(土) 6:21 GerryDazoo ***@***.***>:

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SlingerPlayer for Firestick does not have the integrated web browser like the Windows/Android version due it issues with trying to navigate the page with the Firestick remote. I'd suggest doing what I do. Use the browser on your phone as a remote. You can set the [SERVER] URLbase to anything you want (the default is slingbox). You can uses this as a sort of password to prevent someone who happens to know your IP address and port number an the fact that it's my code on the other end and that they really want to watch your TV from accessing the server. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#567 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AMLHKXDISQLWFPSVV2IOHILW7ATWFANCNFSM6AAAAAAWG533L4> . You are receiving this because you are subscribed to this thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[GerryDazoo]

I'm not going to write that code for the one in a million chance that some hacker MIGHT happen to bring up the remote while you are viewing a stream.

You can set "RemoteLock" in your slingbox section of your config.ini to prevent someone else from using the remote while streaming. This option is in the release note but for some reason it's missing from the default config.ini docs.

You can also use the unified config to set a name for your slingbox. So to get to the remote it's IP:port/Remote/Name.

[mike-uk]

@GerryDazoo I just like to know when you use unified_config do you have to rename it to config.ini before uploading? Thanks

[GerryDazoo]

Config.ini is the default. You can call it anything you want. Just add it to the server command line
slingbox_server /path/to/configfile

[watanyoshi]

Thanks Gerry. The second solution seems to be the one for me. I will try it after reading the documentation about the unified config. I will also use Windows task scheduler to start and stop slingbox_server.exe daily to add a little more security. 2023年4月1日(土) 9:40 GerryDazoo ***@***.***>:

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I'm not going to write that code for the one in a million chance that some hacker MIGHT happen to bring up the remote while you are viewing a stream. You can set "RemoteLock" in your slingbox section of your config.ini to prevent someone else from using the remote while streaming. This option is in the release note but for some reason it's missing from the default config.ini docs. You can also use the unified config to set a name for your slingbox. So to get to the remote it's IP:port/Remote/Name. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#567 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AMLHKXASUMIX4AY3XGS2SB3W7BK6TANCNFSM6AAAAAAWG533L4> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[watanyoshi]

I have updated the existing config.ini to use the custom slingbox name successfully and it meets my needs perfectly. What I did are: *Added following two lines at the top* [SLINGBOXES] sb1=<desired name> *Changed* [SLINGBOX] to [<desired name>] *Added* Remote=<remote.txt file> into [<desired name>] section *Removed* [REMOTE] section Now IP:port/Remote does not work and IP:port/Remote/<desired name> works. Thank you so much Gerry. 2023年4月1日(土) 10:34 GerryDazoo ***@***.***>:

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Config.ini is the default. You can call it anything you want. Just add it to the server command line slingbox_server /path/to/configfile — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#567 (reply in thread)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AMLHKXFH27ECFIXIHFXA6PLW7BRKRANCNFSM6AAAAAAWG533L4> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[waelelfeqy]

My M1 is not resettable, no matter how many times I reset it or for how long I pressed the button; I even went crazy and was able to turn the box upside down and rest it nicely on a pin for 3-4 hours; didn't do anything, I still got my old slingbox title from the olden days, meaning it did not reset nothing. Low and behold, I thought about accessing an old drive that I didn't wipe out from back in 2010 because I didn't know what hidden values it may have and sure enough, it had the sling player installation from back in 2015 when I bought the device at a discount from Tigerdirect. went to the logs and boom !!!! the password is there !!!! I applied it in slingplayer 1.5 and 2.4 and they took it, but will NOT connect to the machine because M1 is not compatible with either versions. I installed Sling player 5.0083, but it does NOT show anything but a black screen. I'm able to use the Slinger server just fine with all the channels, but I have 2 challenges, one is that I don't know how to use the online remote to manage my TV from anywhere, which I like to do; and second, I would like to access the slingbox directly from outside network without having to run a server on a PC; anybody have an idea about how to solves these 2 problems ? or at least one of them ?