Sling Media Slingbox SOLO (SB260-100)
by Sling Media
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List Price: Our Price: Calculated in a shopping cart Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $109.99 (click here) Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sling Media Slingbox SOLO (SB260-100)
Customer Review: Slingbox Rocks!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've known about Slingbox for a few years now and was a little hesitant to try it as I've heard mix things about them. I find myself traveling quite often and thought this would be a good way to help pass some time and bring MY favorite TV shows and movies right to my computer on the go.
Slingbox offers a few different boxes based on different setups. This particular box is meant to be used with an existing TV tuner. What this means is that you must have a cable/satellite box as the Slingbox does not have a TV tuner. You can connect the Slingbox through AV cables (included) or digital HD component cables (sold separately). I have not noticed a difference in quality between the two but its good to have both available due to different home theater setups. The Slinbox must have an internet connection for it to work, either a network cable connected to your router or Slingbox offers a powerline adapter which converts a network connection to run over your existing electrical wiring. The Sling Media SlingLink Turbo Powerline Kit ( SL200-100 )is quite expensive though at $118.00.
Once the box is connected to power, audio/video and network the software can be installed on as many PC's as desired. Software installation is easy as you only have to go to the Slingbox website, create an account and install a few browser plugins.
Slingbox just released their mobile player for Android which is absolutely awesome. It will allow you to watch from your Slingbox to any Android powered device, over WI-FI or even 3G! Quality is good but I have noticed some lag/tiling over 3G. The app is available in the market for $29.99 (ouch!).
Pros
- Watch TV from just about anywhere there is an internet connection
- Easy Installation
- No subscription fee
- Mobile clients for smart phones (Blackberry, IPhone, Android)
Cons
- Max resolution of 640x480 which may not look the best on large displays
- One user watching at a time
- 1.5mbit uplink required on broadband connection
Overall I am very pleased with my Slingbox and recommend it to friends and family.
Customer Review: SlingBox Rocks
Summary: 5 Stars
The Good
The technology works! Using a Sprint Air card I was able to keep tuned into my TV while driving in the country. This is probably the worst case scenario for remote reception. I was only getting about 100K download speed with occasional dropouts. No other streamer that I have tested would work under these conditions.
I was running 320-240 res under these conditions. With faster more stable connection you can run higher.
At home on my home network I run 640x480 resolution with a maximum stream rate of 6000Kbps with Near CD quality Audio.
It works! It works! It Works!!
The Bad
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This box did not come with a software CD or SVid cable. So I had to dig one up. I had the player software from SlingBox AV that I had tested. In any case you will need to download the latest software from the SlingMedia website. I had to dig up an aditional Svid cable.
The Ugly
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Couple things that I realy hate about the SlingBox technology.
-Max Res 640x480 res
-Only one connection allowed at a time. If you try to connect and someone else is watching the slingbox you will get a Buisy indication. Thats why it is called a Personal TV Viewer.
-No Recording Option available. There are some third party venders offering this at a cost of $49.
-Mobile Player software is not free. You must pay $29 for wach mobile device you want to install the player software on.
Final Thoughts
All this said, I still love the SlingBox. I had originaly purchased the Slingbox AV but found its connection options limited with out a pass through connection. I now have two devices set up. Dish Sat box and Panasonic E55 DVD recorder/player. I can remotely change the channel and start my recorder from anywhere in the world that I have an internet connection.
BTW this box retails for $179 and I picked mine up for $159. Thats only $30 more than I paid for the AV.
Customer Review: Solo was my way to go
Summary: 5 Stars
I got the Solo for a few reasons:
Since the Pro-HD does not have an HDMI cable it's not really 720/1080 HD. Also, having read numerous reports of the Slingbox failing after about a year and customer support lacking unless you pay them for helping with their product I thought I'd save a buck in case that happens.
So far I've it for about a week. I found the setup process to be a bit of work. I think it took me an hour with tinkering. My cable provided HD-DVR box was not on the list so I found recommendations from users on which one would work close enough (software remote compatibility). But after it was set up it was good to go.
I use my slingbox on my Mac, iPad and on the web. Technically the slingbox software for the solo is not supported for my mac, but I found the download on Cnet and set it up.
Keep in mind if you have a ISP that has low data caps this will chew through it just like Netflix if you are not on your local area network (LAN). I went ahead and created a WAN (Wireless Area Network) Alias so I can choose to go through my Airport Extreme (dual band) WAN it works great, I'd say just like a non-hd good ole co-ax hooked up television, both on the iPad and Mac.
Out from the network, say at a coffee shop it is okay. I tried using my phone's 3G data and had a really choppy experience. I guess it would adapt to it after a while but long term watching I'd grow frustrated about the quality and the amount of data (bandwidth) I'd use.
Battery on the iPad doesn't fall any faster than other video watching and I found my fans on my Macbook did not speed up much if at all unless I ran it on the external monitor I have it hooked up with.
Aside from the $29.99 price for the iPad software I'd say I'm happy with my purchase. I do not regret going with the Solo over the Pro. So what if you have to watch what the person at the TV is watching. Usually that's not a problem. Or it makes for quite a game with the person in the living room!
We'll see in a year if this review stays this happy.
Customer Review: A must have for the frequent traveler/sports fan
Summary: 5 Stars
As someone who travels for work frequently who is also a Detroit sports fan (Go Red Wings), I have come to love my Slingbox. It was really easy to set up and get connected to have it work. I never had to call customer support.
A couple of things you should keep in mind:
-If you have someone else at home that will be watching TV when you are remotely viewing, make sure you don't hook the Slingbox up to the main TV that they typically use. I have a second TV that my wife doesn't use that much and I run the signal for that TV.
-This should go without saying, but your ability to watch crystal clear TV on your laptop depends on your connection speed. Sometimes, I'll be at a hotel where I get only about 1 Mbps. The quality will be a little grainy. At home I have 15Mbps and I can watch it very clearly.
-I would not recommend using this if your ISP is a wireless mobile company, especially if you are paying for a plan that has a usage limitation. (I'm talking here about if your computer internet is through a 3G service: Verizon, Sprint, etc, not about viewing through a mobile smartphone using the Slingbox app). Streaming video can cause you to quickly go over your allowance. Also, I've heard of horror stories of people who have gone on vacation out of the country and used their wireless modem to connect and watch a whole football game through their slingbox. Imagine a bill where you have gone over your data allotment AND done so going off of global mobile towers.
Overall, a great purchase for me, a sports fan. Have two games you want to watch at home at the same time? Watch one on your main TV and sling the other to your laptop from your second TV. Going out of town, but still want to watch the big game with your local announcers...this lets you do that. Forgot to set your DVR to record something...you have access to your own TV's guide and can do that remotely too.
Customer Review: Fantastic and amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
I purchased the slingbox solo after reading much about it. I have HD and this allows me to access and stream HD channels without having to buy any extra pieces. Set up was quick, as Slingbox walks you through everything step by step. The only problem I ran into was setting up remote viewing. I clicked on chat, and typed back and forth with a customer service rep. She could not solve the problem and asked if I would let her take control of my computer. I hated doing that but let her. She was not able to resolve the problem, but by watching her click around, I figured out what was wrong. I thanked her and hung up. I took control of my desktop and had the remote viewing part up and running quickly. I wrote this review to explain what happened with my setup and help others too.
I have a wired/wireless router that assigns ip addresses. I had changed my router to have a very uncommon ip address. The slingbox picked that up, but assigned itself an address that ended in 273 if I remember correctly. My router assigned the slingbox an ip address which ended differently. Once I chose manual set up during the slingbox walkthrough and typed over the ip address the slingbox had during set up everything was up and running. I guess I just had a fussy router.
Slingbox is amazing. We went home for Christmas and accessed our Slingbox easily from a coffeehouse and from my parents house. My husband installed mobile software on his dash and was watching a game while we hit the sales December 26. Needless to say we were both happy to be grabbing great bargains while able to check the score and see to a favorite team at the same time. I highly recommend this product.
In the fall, our oldest heads to college. Now we can tape his favorite shows on the DVR and he can still watch them from his lap top. Great product.