Using the SlingPlayer Behind a Company Firewall

Some organizations use firewalls to protect their networks from unauthorized (and therefore potentially malicious) access from the Internet. Unfortunately, in some cases, this can also prevent you from using the SlingPlayer software to watch your TV away from home. If you're having trouble using your Slingbox (from the office, for example) this could be the reason.

You might see this error message:

“Unable to connect to the Slingbox Finder. Please check your Internet connection and firewall."

There are two ways that the SlingPlayer software can connect remotely to your Slingbox:

• Using using your Slingbox ID. Your Slingbox ID is the unique number assigned to your Slingbox.
  
  
• Using your router's IP address (Internet protocol address). This is the unique number that's associated with your router on the Internet.
  

If you suspect that your organization's firewall is preventing you from properly connecting to your Slingbox, try to connecting using your router's IP address instead of the Slingbox ID.

To configure your SlingPlayer connection using your home router's IP address

You first need to know your WAN (Wide Area Netork) IP address. To find this number, follow these steps:

Using the computer that is on the same network as your Slingbox, go to www.whatismyip.com

It will identify your WAN IP address.

1. Start the SlingPlayer.
2. Open your Slingbox Directory.
3. Click Add New Slingbox.
4. Check the check box within the Direct Connection section.
5. Enter the WAN IP address of your router and the port number that your Slingbox is using. The easiest place to find the router IP address (the one assigned by your ISP and does NOT begin with the number 192.168….) is from the administration pages for your router or from a site such as www.whatismyip.com.  Unfortunately, please be certain that you only have a one router environment before you use this. 
   

How can I tell if my Slingbox is set up correctly for remote viewing before I leave my home network?

The best way to know if you everything is working is via the SlingPlayer setup screen. You can only get to this screen if you’re in the same home network as the Slingbox you want to check.  Follow these steps:

1. Start the SlingPlayer application
2. Click on the menu item: View→Slingbox Directory
3. Select the Slingbox that you want test
4. Click on the button “Edit Properties”
5. Click on the tab “Slingbox Configuration”
6. In the Network Settings section, click the “Change…” button
7. After you enter your administrator password be sure that in the next you have checked the box for enabling remote viewing.
8. Continue to click the “Next” button preserving all of your same settings until finally the Slingbox will report back to you whether it successfully could receive a remote connection.
9. If you see this screen, the chances are great that your port forwarding is incorrect and you should change the settings on your router and try again.  See this article for more details: http://support.slingmedia.com/get/KB-005034