Sling Media Slingbox PRO (SB200-100)
by Sling Media
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Our Price: $399.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $143.00 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sling Media Slingbox PRO (SB200-100)
Customer Review: Unbelievable: Works better than my highest expectations...
Summary: 5 Stars
So by now you probably know what this is: A thin ethernet client (read: single purpose computer) that takes video from your home devices and streams it so that you can watch it on a PC or other compatible device anywhere in the world with internet access. You get to control your home device through a virtual remote that sends IR signals through an IR "blaster" cable that connects to the Slingbox and shoots the IR signals to your home device just as if you were at home with a remote.
Looks good on paper. But does it work? Having a lot of experience with streaming video, I was very skeptical. In general, I've found that streaming video eminating from high bandwith commercial servers still results in videos that continually freeze as the buffer runs out. Just how could this Slingbox, which has to squeeze its broadcast signal through the intentionally crippled upload connection of a typical cable connection, possibly deliver the goods to the receiving device in a fashion that allows a good, non-stuttering, non-freezing picture? (In case you don't know, almost all home cable/DSL connections are limited by the providers to about 30kpbs upload speed; compare that to download speeds that range from 768kbps to 3mbps! This is done intentionally so that people don't use their PCs as web servers unless they pay much higher commercial rates).
Anyway, I installed the Slingbox (trivially easy if you have ever installed an A/V component before), installed the software on a PC (Windows 2000 or XP required, sorry you ME, 98 and NT laggards), and let the Slingbox installer do its thing. It asked me some simple questions and I was done.
Installation was quick and painless, but what about the real question: How's the streaming video quality? Well, on my home PC, which obviously has an advantage since it's on the same network as the Slingbox, I can get great streaming video. But that's no real challenge.
So I went over to a friend's house, where there's a kinda miserable DSL connection, installed the Slingbox player, and fired it up...And guess what? After about 30 seconds, where the slingbox player was adjusting the compression/resolution in order to provide stutter free playback, the picture was rock solid. Better than anything I've EVER experienced with video from any web server. And it stayed rock solid. W-O-W!
I'm sold. This product is for real. What a great product.
As for whether you need the Slingbox Pro, or the cheaper models. The pro adds capacity for multiple inputs, an integrated analogue video tuner (so you can watch EITHER cable or your attached DVR/VCR/DVD player/cable box/etc), and the abilty to stream the output of a HD (high definition) device. HOWEVER, be aware that to use the HD input to the Slingbox, you need a proprietary cable that is NOT included in the package (and which will set you back about $50). That kinda sucks, and I almost docked the unit one star for that bit of bait and switch (the box touts its high definition capabilities but doesn't really say that it will cost you $50 more to use them), but I'm so happy with the performance of the box in general that I'll let that slide...
Customer Review: Slingbox is great
Summary: 5 Stars
I really liked the idea of the slingbox. I travel, and I have a pocketPC phone, so the idea of being able to access my TIVO from an airport using Cingular's 3G network, or from a hotel room using my laptop was very appealing. It works great! Here are some tips and other information you might find useful:
1. Slingmedia's support is terrific. I found the process of the initial set up very confusing, as the instructions and setup wizard could not modify my DSL router. I tried to do it manually, following the directions, but the screenshots provided in the setup wizard didn't match my router's homepage. Anyway, I went to slingmedia's website and found the technical support option and clicked the "chat" option. Within a few minutes, the technician took over my computer and remotely set up my router to work correctly. Since then, it has been very easy to add devices to receive the Sling signal.
2. To watch on a laptop, you have to be able to download software to your laptop: if you are using a company laptop, for example, you need administrative rights to install.
3. Write down your Slingbox's password.
4. Slingbox apparently takes a lot of resources on your computer. Trying to surf the internet while watching a program really slows down your internet connection - lots of timeouts on pages.
5. Before you buy, scope out your location. The slingbox needs to be near your AV equipment, as well as near your router. (You have to have a wired router -- slingbox doesn't support wireless -- and not just a cable modem or DSL modem. You have to have a highspeed modem, AND a router. I have a DSL modem that has a wireless and wired router built in, a Westell DSL modem from AT&T). Slingmedia sells some extra equipment to allow hook ups where your router is in a different room, but I have no experience with that. Also, the computer requirements are pretty high - 1 gig processor minimum. I don't quite get this last part. Sling works well with my cell phone/pocket PC so I don't know why they set the minimum requirements so high.
6. The program to make you pocketPC work costs about $30 and can be downloaded from the slingmedia website. This is, of course, in addition to the cost of the Slingbox.
7. Once you own it, you own it. No monthly fees. Just the normal cable or satellite/tivo charges.
If you travel with a laptop or with a pocketPC (a palm version is in beta testing, from what I understand) you will be happy with the purchase.
Customer Review: Great Stuff....
Summary: 5 Stars
I am currently in Germany - way over on the other side of the globe and needed some American TV - cause all the German language is getting on my nerves.
The Device was hooked up by my Buddy in SanFran who has no clue about electronic stuff and he made it without any 3rd persons help. That should conclude how good the Instructions are.
When connecting to the Sling the Speed works well to view a show or movie while doing other things. Full screen resolution might be an option if you're farther away where pixel distortion doesn't matter that much.
My only problem was, that I couldn't get the speed to be continouse so I had a live chat with their support (which was very nice and helpful) and we figured that my connection HERE has some trouble. Some people speak of ISP (Internet Service Provider) limitation (theoretically to stop illigal downloads but nothing is officially confirmed) That's quite annoying, but whenever I am at my friends house or other internet source it works fine!
FYI: The Box is currently connected to a receiver with comcast movie-on-demand which makes it very nice to watch what I want, when I want (remember: 9hours time difference ;)We haven't tried the internal Receiver function of the PRO yet since our cables are too short but I will include this info whenever it's connected.
Conclusion: A great box for anyone being away from home, no matter where, who doesn't want to miss his favorite Team/School's Ball game or can't live without Dr. Phil's Advice....There is also software around to even record from your slingbox onto your PC to watch shows later or with time-shift function (IF you haven't plugged in a recording device at home anyway). Only downside is, that only one stream is available. Therefore if one PC/Device is watching, no one else can watch - only the "Admin" with the correct passwort can log in while logging out the other channel (in case you forgot to switch it off at a different location). Aparently this is a legal issue so there's nothing you can do about it.(Except with Windows Media Encoder - but that's a different story :o)
Customer Review: Perfect for college students and those who travel...
Summary: 5 Stars
I am a college student and a big Philadelphia sports fan. If I wanted to watch the Flyers and Phillies games down at school, I needed a Slingbox. I bought the pro back in July as I knew I would soon take full advantage of its capabilities.
I was impressed that the Slingbox came with all the needed cables and splitters and such. They were of respectable quality too. I hooked up the cables and put in the installation CD and just watched it do the setup and configuration on my computer for me. I was amazed at how easy this was, my mom could have done this (which says a lot). We have since upgraded from Comcast to Verizon FiOS. I reconnected all of the cables to work for digital TV instead of analog and I redid the configuration within the Slingbox program and became amazed again at the quality, thanks to FiOS TV and internet. Its almost as good as watching it on the actual TV.
Another feature I didn't think about when I re-hooked up for the digital cable was I still have access to my favorites and the built in TV schedule and the DVR if I had one.
The Slingbox is a must have if you are on the go a lot or a college student. There is no need for a TV in my dorm room, it only waste space.
However, the Slingbox is not perfect. I can only expect them to fix or readd these features in the future...
1. Make it so I can record what I watch!!! If I can do it with a TV tuner or a DVR, why not a Slingbox? Please add this feature again!
2. Make it have built in wireless capabilities. My Slingbox is in the basement and the internet connection is upstairs, I had to run a wire all the way through the house for the hookup. And I don't want to buy a Slinglink.
3. Relabel your HD cable that should have been included with the pro. I wanted to buy it, but since I learned it doesn't really give you HD capabilities, I thought it was a cheap advertising scheme.
Other than that, it is a great product, with a great future. I highly recommend this to everyone.
Customer Review: One of those items you can't appreciate until you have
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought my Slingbox because I travel a lot between New York, Delaware, Atlanta and Nebraska and wanted to be able to watch and schedule the shows on my Cox HD DVR.
It works just like I thought it would and I'm very happy.
The issues I had with setup are: 1) I had to open a port on my router because COX blocks port 80 and 2) I had to change the port once again because one of my laptops uses McAfee which has only a handful of open ports that it ignores. [...]
The online support is OK but it may take some time to find just what you need. Since the slingbox needs to be connected to your router, you may either need to wire an ethernet cable to your cable box or get a wireless access point. I chose to wire because I was afraid that wireless might degrade the speed and thus my picture quality.
The uses I find are: 1) Sometimes when I want to watch TV in my room, I watch my downstairs cable box on my laptop upstairs from my bed. 2) I had my Dad (who has an rather slow DSL line and lives 1200 miles away) install the slingbox player software on his PC. Now he can watch all of my premium stations from his computer since he only has the most basic of channels. He says the quality is very good as long as he doesn't use the PC while watching. 3) While traveling, I can watch my shows and set my cable box remotely. It's like being in front of the TV. 4) I've plugged an older remote control enabled camcorder into the slingbox and it can be used remotely as a high quality webcam for my Dad to see my son.
What's neat is that the slingbox software gives you a virtual remote control that looks very much like the control I have. It has mostly all the features of the real thing but I can't seem to erase programs remotely. I can, however, set the program to erase if space is needed.
Overall, it worked like I expected and the picture is great. I only wish it had the closed captions that I'm so used to having.