OT question - DirectTv data rate

[Phred]

With the advent of SlingBox type devices, I was wondering - what is a single (one channel of program material) DirectTv transponder's bit rate (full quality, not SB's further compressed data stream)? Assuming an equivalent upload capability at the source, would a 1.5Mb connection be sufficient?

Cheers,
Phred

(mods feel free to delete/move if this is too off topic)

[petestrash]

There is no one set rate. Each channel uses a variable bit rate which can even change through the day. The Broadcom chips (http://www.broadcom.com/collateral/pb/4201-PB04-R.pdf) used in current STB's are rated 2-85Mbps.

Realistically though Most SD stuff is currently 1.5-15Mbps, with most shown in 480*480 2-3Mbps.

But all this is irrelevent for use with a Slingbox since you are not talking about a HD feed. You can't feed a standard slingbox a SD feed in digital format. You need to feed an analog signal to it. The slingbox then uses it's own compressors to push the video out.

For small screen viewing you need an upload link of at least 256Kbps. An upload link of 512Kbps will give a reasonable full screen picture on a laptop. The upload link can't have anything else running or you will see dropouts.

Peter.