Sling Media Slingbox AV (SB240-100)
by Sling Media
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Our Price: $299.99 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $49.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sling Media Slingbox AV (SB240-100)
Customer Review: Home Run (if you can get a fast connection to your TV)
Summary: 5 Stars
I've finally gotten the Slingbox working reliably. My frustrations setting it up had zero to do with Sling and 100% to do with getting a reliable and fast Internet connection to my living room.
Like many homes, the living room in my condo only has a cable outlet and no place for an Internet connection.
My first foray was the Linksys WET54G wireless Ethernet Bridge. What a bridge does is bring an Internet outlet into your living room without having to drag a cable. It relies upon you already having a wifi signal in your house. What they don't tell you (but I've learned) is that it can be very tricky getting a FAST connect (required for Sling to play reliably) from your living room to another room in the house.
I think this trickiness is due to signal interruptions, etc. Also if you browse the local office stores, there is usually only one style of bridge which to me says the demand either isn't great enough or they don't work reliably enough to stock a lot of them.
When I first setup the WET54G I had a lot of trouble connecting and my best speed was maybe 200k.
Out went the WET54G and in came the WGA54G wireless gaming adapter. Different model but same concept as the bridge above. This worked ok and got my speeds up to about 400 to 600k sporadically. Enough to watch some Slingbox but I still had very frequent stalls and freezes.
As a curiousity I resorted to the tried and true "drag 40 or 50 feet of cable into the living room" and my Slingbox few. Once I was hardwired into the wireless router, my speeds flew up into the 4,500 to 5,500 k range (which btw is needed if you are going to stream this remotely).
So you once overcome the issue of getting a fast connection from the remote area, the Slingbox is a real dream.
I'm streaming wirelessly to my office and home. All you need to do to set this up is download the free sling viewer from their site, obtain a "Finder ID" (sort of like a serial number for your slingbox) and the password of the box. With those two pieces of information you an watch your TV from any fast Internet connected PC.
As an added bonus, I took my new Sprint Motorola Q cell phone/Window Mobile 5 device and loaded the remote slingplayer onto it (note: If you want to do this remotely via cell phone, at the present time Windows Mobile devices are your only option as Palm is just entering beta -- you should also have an unlimited fast data plan or you'll pay through the nose -- Sprint SERO plans are great for using this device as they start at $30 and allow unlimited EVDO fast Internet). I can reliably stream TV (once I had the fast connection) with no drop outs. This lets me get all my cable channels and completely bypass the limited offerings of the cell carriers.
The whole slingbox setup is extremely easy once you have that fast Internt connection. It's wizard driven and will automatically configure most of the options. There is also a very active slingcommunity forum which provides helpful assistance from volunteers.
A really great product. It would be absolutely great if they could build wifi into these things as the only pain I experiences was bringing fast Internet to the box.
Customer Review: Slingbox AV is sweet!
Summary: 5 Stars
I'm guessing you know the claims: watch your home TV from anywhere, no monthly fees! Well, it's true. Not only is it true but the quality is awesome, from construction of the Slingbox, to the cables, to the software.
Now, TV on the computer has traditionally been a challenge because of the technical differences between a computer monitor and TV resolution and interlacing. While this is still the case, I can get about 95+% picture quality on my local network. This is great when working in the kitchen or in a room the does not have a TV. I see uses for it in the summer so I can watch TV in my yard (on the laptop. The possibilities are endless.
One thing did have me nervous. That was the fact that picture quality depends on the upload speed of your home broadband connection for remote viewing. Sling recommends at least 256kbps. While I have that in theory, every speed test I have run was clocking in at about 190kbps. I wasn't sure if the device would even function at this speed as no one mentions this in any review. Well, I traveled on business from South Carolina to Wisconsin. Much to my delight, the Slingbox worked quite well and I achieved speeds of 190-210kbps with adequate picture quality. By this I mean, I could see the show and read the signs on buildings and doors, but if it showed fine detail, these were a little hard to see. This was while viewing the TV in full-screen mode on my laptop. I'm sure you have read the reviews of people with blazing fast connections that rave about picture quality, and I believe it because I stream at about 5000kbps on my home LAN with TV quality picture.
There are some nuances that take some getting used to. There is a buffer (set for 7 seconds by default), so the software kind of skips a little until the buffer is full. Also, when controlling your TV, the software seemingly deletes the buffer, sends the command, and the skipping resumes for a few seconds. I have adjusted. When commercials hit, while streaming from Tivo, I skip ahead until the last commercial and use that time to let the buffer fill.
Overall, this product ROCKS!!! It makes me wish for faster internet services in my area. If you travel or just want to add some flexibility around the house, this is a must have device. If you have a TV and broadband internet, I would say buy this!
Customer Review: Slingbox is a home run for HTPC development
Summary: 5 Stars
I won't go into the technical aspects of the Slingbox AV because it would just be a reiteration of countless reviews. This will be short and sweet and to the point:
The Slingbox AV is THE must-have device for this year. The performance and ease of use make this a total home run! Simply follow the easy instructions to hook up to your TIVO, Cable box or other AV source. After that you can access your Slingbox from just about anywhere in the world you can get a decent internet connection.
With that said, the device is not without its limitations. First, its performance on a wireless network is less than satisfying. My suggestion is that you do not try to access your device over a wireless network unless absolutely necessary because performance is degraded. Second, try to have as few switches or hops in your home network as possible. Slingbox performs incredibly on the local network at our home (6000KBS), which is about as good as it gets. On a wireless network expect about (300-600KBS) which will give you a picture about as good as a moving oil painting. I get real world performance between my home and my friends nearly 100 miles away of about (1200KBS) which is good. I should note that we both have FIOS internet.
I use my Slingbox primarily on the home network which allows me to keep the old TIVO box in the garage and distribute to all the PC's in my home. I also use it when on the road with great results. I do not use the client for Smartphone's on my device.
Slingbox comes in 3 flavors, AV, Tuner and the deluxe or premium version. Essentially the premium version has 2 inputs while the others have only 1. The Tuner version has a built in cable tuner. Pick your flavor; personally the AV version makes the most sense to me.
Slingbox is a slick, second or third generation product that lives up to its advertising very well. I am extremely pleased with the documentation, workmanship and performance of the product. It is not for everyone, but if you think you have a need for this product, run out and buy one right now. I am happy to say this device passes my "Ready for Prime Time" test that so many products today cannot!
Customer Review: A superb product
Summary: 5 Stars
When I found out about the SlingBox, I had to have it. I was going to be away for a while, and I wanted to be able to get all the channels I get at home from where I was going to be. I also loved the feature that would allow me to watch on my cell phone, but I wasn't really sure how good the quality would be.
First, for the setup. As long as your router is near the device, setup is very, very easy. The software guides you through it and it's pretty hard to make a mistake.
The video quality is very good when you're watching on another computer. As long as your on a computer with a broadband connection, even if it's not a great broadband connection, you get good quality video from your home cable box. My upload speed at home is good, but from where I use the SlingBox mostly, the broadband connection is rather slow and shared by a lot of people, but the video is still pretty seamless.
Then, for my favorite part. My cell phone is one where SlingBox Player is available for it. So I installed it not really knowing what to expect. I was very surprised. On my Sprint pocket PC device, the quality is very good. Where EVDO is available, which is pretty much everywhere I've been, you can watch TV like you normally do. Of course the screen is small, but as long as there is EVDO, the video appears without hesitation for the most part. I've watched a number of baseball games on it, and they look very good. Sound is perfect. Just one suggestion, if you're going to watch a complete program, like a baseball game, you're probably not going to have enough battery in your phone. Make sure you have an AC adapter or a car adapter or something to provide your phone with more power.
Bottom line: If you want to watch TV from a computer anywhere in the world, or watch TV from your cell phone, this is pretty much a no-brainer. You need to get this product.
Customer Review: One of the best tech devices I have ever purchased
Summary: 5 Stars
There are certain landmarks for me when it comes to tech purchases. The ones that stick out are the mp3 player for one of my cars, my first CD burner, my first digital camera, my first laptop, my first Ipod, and now this Slingbox. They are all things that I never regretted purchasing.
It's easy to set up for someone that is moderately used to plugging in coaxial and component cables. You will need a wired Ethernet cable to access your router so if you don't have the router close to your tv, you will have to move either the router, or the cable/satellite box to the same room to set it up. Slingbox MUST have access to both your cable/satellite box AND your router.
Once everything is hooked up, turn it on and install the setup CD. It downloads the Slingbox program and sets up an account for you. Configure the video on your computer and you are set. If you have multiple computers, you will need to run the setup CD on each.
I have found it to be remarkable so far. When I go to coffee shops, or anywhere that has wi-fi, I can click on the Slingbox icon on my desktop and watch my tv. I can even change the channel or pull up my DVR and watch a recording. However, if you are in a crowded wi-fi area, quality will suffer. You will be hogging a lot of bandwidth so everyone's internet speed will suffer so I don't do that often.
Where it shines though is with a dedicated internet connection from your home, work, or hotel room. With a a private internet setup, you can pull up your tv on your laptop anywhere and the video quality will be exceptional.
This will come in handy on international trips. Now I won't have to suffer through 2 or 3 English channels when out of the country. As long as you have a broadband connection, you can access your own tv from anywhere in the world. It's amazing.