Sling Media Slingbox PRO-HD SB300-100
by Sling Media
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List Price: Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Sling Media Slingbox PRO-HD SB300-100
Customer Review: Great product, with 2 HD caveats
Summary: 5 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
Having been a prior user of the SlingBox Pro, I was already familiar with the SlingBox software and hardware setup. Receiving the ProHD it was quite easy to perform the setup and installation required to be "slinging" my TV all over the world (and around my home).
Despite having setup one of the the original devices before, I attempted to walk through the installation as a completely new user. The booklet gives clear, easy to understand directions for the multitude of ways in which this device can be setup. It isn't relegated to "just" HD; the SlingBox Pro HD can also sling your standard definition content over the world or over your own network as well. This does not mean, however, that a person couldn't be easily confused just due to the sheer amount of devices one could potentially control with the SlingBox Pro HD (or the original Pro for that matter).
Remember when setting up the hardware, the location of the IR sensors is crucial in your ability to control your devices over the Internet or the network.
Once you are finished setting up your SlingBox Pro HD, you are prompted to download and install the Sling Player software. Of the entire process, I have to say this is the most frustrating part. It would have been easy enough to deliver a CD with the software inside the box, however Sling Media chose to force you to download the software. The only time I can see this as being an issue is if you purchased the SlingBox Pro HD with the express intention of "slinging" your media around your house and not over the Internet (and even then really only if you have no Internet connection). Deduct a point for the 5-15 minutes you must spend downloading the software; as if the anticipation of getting the device working wasn't bad enough already!
Next up was actually installing the software and finding the device on the network. The software walks you through every step of the process. The most difficult part, and calling it difficult may be stretching the definition, is in figuring out what remote to use. Some devices you may have in your home have several hardware versions and also have remotes with different nuances which could potentially throw a monkey wrench in the works. You are presented with the layout and a picture of the remote, so as long as your remote is handy you should be able to compare it easily to what is on the install screen.
You must install the Sling Player software on every PC (laptop or desktop; or cell phone if you purchase the software for it) you wish to view your media from.
Now for the fun part, actually watching your media!
From home, you can sling HD media around your network with reckless abandon. Even with a "slow" network speed of 10 mbps, you can achieve the ability to sling content in HD. At lower speeds you may notice some minor artefacting and other compression issues, but this is really only due to the slower network speed. If you are using a 100 mbps or faster connection, this should shoot high quality HD content all over your house with no problems. The only down side in this is that if you are using wireless, you must remember THERE IS NO WIRELESS CAPABILITY built into the SlingBox Pro HD (or other SlingBoxes for that matter). I wish they had included the Sling Link Turbo, which allows you to connect the Sling Link Turbo to your network, another cable into your power line and network the SlingBox Pro HD via your electrical outlets, negating the need to run network cabling all over your house. Including wireless connectivity would also be a bonus, however there is no guarantee on wireless connection speeds, which is why it is not included as a feature. Given variances in wireless speeds and quality of connection, there would be no good way, yet, for the SlingBox to offer a consistent level of quality in the video it slings.
Now we delve into watching from anywhere around the world. The first HD caveat I mention in my title for this review, is one of HD media slinging. Unfortunately you must have a decent upload speed from your Internet connection to be able to receive a decent HD picture. The recommended upload speed for a consistently good HD picture while traveling and watching over the Internet is 1.5 mbps. My DSL connection is capped at 768 kbps, which means I cannot watch HD content while traveling as I am given choppy images and broken audio. You can, however, still watch the content, only you will need to set the SlingBox Pro HD to "down convert" the video you receive to standard definition quality. So if all you want is to be able to watch local sports or TV while traveling and don't mind it not being in standard definition, this is a great device. The other side of this caveat is that if you will only be watching while traveling and don't have a fast upload speed, you may be better served saving some money and going for the regular SlingBox Pro instead of the HD.
The other HD caveat is that the SlingBox Pro HD can only accept and output sources UP TO 1080i. This means that if you have a Blu Ray or other HD capable device that can output and is setup to output at 1080p, you will have to dial it down to 1080i output. 720p content is not affected.
Which brings us to connections. There is NO HDMI connection on this device. Not a single HDMI connection. Your options are:
Inputs:
composite (red, white, yellow)
svideo (still needs red and white for audio)
component (red, blue, green, uses either red and white for anlog audio or orange connection for digital audio)
coax (your cable connection)
Outputs:
composite (red, white, yellow)
svideo (still needs red and white for audio)
component (red, blue, green, uses either red and white or orange connection for audio)
coax
The SlingBox Pro HD also has a USB connection for viewing media off of a USB thumb drive (may even work for a USB hard drive; I haven't tried it as of this writing)
You can control all sorts of devices with the SlingBox Pro HD, and especially important is the inclusion of an ATSC tuner within the Pro HD. What this means is that this SlingBox is prepared for the digital conversion we all keep hearing about on TV. The regular SlingBox Pro has only a regular NTSC tuner so is not future proof on its own (if you have a digital converter box, like the ones the government offers coupons for, the regular SlingBox Pro may still be an option).
One other "problem" is not being able to control the PS3. As the PS3 is one of the best selling Blu Ray players, I would have liked to have seen a way to manipulate it using Bluetooth connectivity from the SlingBox Pro HD. They missed the mark on this one, but only by a little. Hopefully they will allow for Bluetooth remote control connections in the next version of the SlingBox?
In the end, this device is amazingly nice. Very rarely does a device impress me as much as this. If you desire to watch HD sources all over your house, this is a great device to purchase. If you want to do the same with SD content, this will still work for you. If you want to watch HD media while traveling, this is the device to purchase (assuming you have a fast enough upload speed to the Internet); you can also use it for watching standard definition content while traveling, though again, if this is what you desire you may be better served with the regular SlingBox Pro and save a few dollars.
As long as you can look past the inability to input/output at 1080p and the Internet upload requirements, this is a great buy!
Customer Review: Minor setup hiccups, but works very well now.
Summary: 4 Stars
I received my Slingbox PRO-HD SB300-100 two days ago. I also received a SlingCatcher SC100-100 and Slinglink Turbo 1PORT Enet Connection Bridge (I'll review those separately but will include some points here). My first impression was that all of the items were nicely packaged. The unboxing was a joy. Everything I needed was included, and there wasn't a lot of excess packing material.
The setup guide was straightforward, and I followed all of the steps as described. I have recently switched back to Comcast from Verizon, and I was looking forward to using the Clear QAM signal Comcast broadcasts over the cable as well as the HD output from my Comcast Motorola DCX3400 DVR. After I ordered, I started to get concerned that I'd need a splitter to run the cable to both the Slingbox and the Comcast DVR, but as it turns out, you can run the coax into the Slingbox and from it to the cable box (using the additional piece of coax cable supplied with the Slingbox), and all is well - passing the coax through the Slinbox in no way interferes with the cable box, including On Demand (two-way) communication, etc. Nice. Note that the supplied coax is a bit longer than needed if you're going to put the Slingbox on the cable box, but it works fine. I then connected the component video and audio from my cable box to the Slingbox using the cables supplied with the Slingbox and then connected the Slingbox to the TV using the cables that had originally been connected to the cable box. As with the coax, the component video and audio cables are longer than necessary when the Slingbox is on the cable box, and they're also of, well, "average" quality. I was worried they would degrade the signal, but I've noticed no issues. You could always replace them with better ones, but the supplied ones work fine. I then plugged the Slinbox into an outlet (the guide tells you to do this last).
I use Macs, so I assumed I'd have a lessor experience with everything including setup, but I didn't. I downloaded the SlingPlayer application from SlingMedia and started the setup process. It was a good experience overall with a few hiccups, all of which were easily resolved. First, my Motorola DCX3400 wasn't listed, but I discovered that I had to choose "DVR (Digital Video Recorder)" and then pick "Comcast", then "DCT3416". This resolved the issue. The next hurdle was internet access. I tried the "Fully-Automatic" option, twice, but it didn't work. However, the manual process was simple. I assigned an IP address I knew was available, I entered the subnet mask and router, I chose a port I knew wasn't in use ("3333" in my case), and then I went to my router via a browser and set up a rule to let the traffic through. I had one issue, but clicking on the "Sling Media Support Site" button on the app got me wonderful automated assistance that resolved something I'd done wrong. All told, I was up and running in thirty minutes. Please note that you WILL WANT TO SAVE the Slingbox ID they show you - although you could get it by going through the setup process again.
I then went to add the coax input, and I was a bit irked that - at least on the Mac - I apparently had to go through the entire setup process again (with previous settings remembered, thankfully) to add the new input. Presumably, you'd need to do this again for the composite and S-video inputs (I'm not using those now). The scan for channels took quite a while - a really long time - but found them all (59 analog, 18 Clear QAM). Now, a connected viewer can see all the coax channels without in any way affecting my cable box viewing. Obviously, they could also watch the S-video or component inputs as well. If an external viewer watches the component video, they could change cable box channels as I watch the TV, but that's the way it works (and how it should work).
The IR cable works great and has four outputs, but, as others have noted, they all send the same signals (at first, I looked to see which one to put by the cable box, then realized that they're all identical). If you have more than one of the same exact item to control, this approach won't work for you. For me, though, it's great.
So, now that setup was done, I went to see how it worked on my computer. The Mac version of SlingPlayer works, but it's standard-def and it tends to crash. However, the browser plugin is excellent. Go to sling's site (sling, not slingmedia), click the "Live TV" link, and install the plugin. Note that, if you're a Mac user, this will install the plugin in a folder named "Internet Plug-ins" in your home folder's Library folder. It needs to go into the "Internet Plug-Ins" folder instead (note the "I" in "Ins" as opposed to the "i" in "ins"). Once you move the plugin to the right place, all is well. It works great in Safari 4, and I'm very pleased. The video looks close enough to HD to make me happy.
I then called my folks next (1500 miles away), and got them to install SlingPlayer on their Mac, and they were able to watch shows without issue.
I then installed the SlingCatcher and Slinglink Turbo pair. The Slinglinks are braindead simple - literally plug and play. The SlingCatcher works well enough, but I need to run ethernet to get the bandwidth to be more reliable (the Slinglinks do a good job, but I have an old house with older wiring, and I don't think the signal quality is consistent). When given sufficient bandwidth, the SlingCatcher provides a near-HD experience. Note that response times using the remote aren't fantastic, but it's usable.
Overall, I'm very pleased.
Pros:
(1) Setup wizards work well. Even non-standard internet access setup worked with the help of the supplied wizards.
(2) Internet viewing works well (assuming you have the bandwidth up from the Slingbox and down the the viewer).
(3) Multi-input and built-in tuner means viewers can watch without interfering with cable box viewing on the primary TV.
(4) Works well with SlingCatcher when given a good connection.
(5) Browser plugin works great, even on Macs.
(6) All necessary cables supplied.
Cons:
(1) Mac SlingPlayer (version 1.0.9.267) is a bit buggy (crashes) but works (needed for setup, but I recommend the browser version for viewing).
(2) Channel changing is slow and a bit tedious.
(3) Animated upside-down "U" LED display on front of Slingbox lets you know when someone's using it, but it's a bit bright. When no one's using it, it's not an issue.
Four stars due to sad state of Mac software (not an issue for Windows users) and sluggishness with remotes (maybe the Windows version is better). Once you've gotten to the channel and source you want to see, it works great. Again, you need the bandwidth, but there's no getting around that. I get a good signal on the SlingCatcher with a bit less than 2Mbps, so I'm guessing that an upload/download pipe with that much bandwidth would work from anywhere. Less bandwidth means a lessor-quality experience, but still should work.
Recommended.
Customer Review: Space-shifting your TV viewing
Summary: 5 Stars
Ever since the arrival of VHS we've been taking time-shifting of TV viewing for granted. We can record TV shows that we want and watch them later on when we want to see them. The arrival of DVRs in recent years has additionally simplified this process, but the basic idea behind it remains the same. Some of these DVRs allow you to transfer recorded shows to your computer and from there to almost any device that plays video. However, for the most part this process is rather cumbersome and time consuming. I for one have only done this on just a few occasions. Furthermore, this doesn't allow you to watch live TV from somewhere else. Slingbox, on the other hand, allows you to do exactly this. Once you set it up at home with your various video inputs (cable, antenna, DVD player, etc.) you are able to access any of those devices via broadband internet. This, at least, is the promise of Slingbox, and for the most part it delivers on that promise. I've been using it for several months now, and am extremely happy with it thus far. Here are some of my observations:
* The setup was fairly straightforward, but it did not go without a few glitches. As you may expect, having three different video inputs and that many outputs, not to mention several cables for each one of those inputs/outputs, plus all the audio inputs/outputs, can be a wee bit confusing. Sorting out which cable goes where is bound to lead to an error or two the first time you do it.
* Connecting to the home network was no problem at all. The Slingbox recognized the network settings, and later on when I was trying to access it from various computers on the network I was immediately able to find it.
* The software setup was also pretty straightforward, although you had to download it from the internet.
Overall I think this is a good idea: you are certain to always get the latest version of the software. You do have to register your Slingbox and create a user account on the company's website. This account is used for the purpose of connecting you to your Slingbox over the internet, and is indispensible when you are away from home.
* There are many different versions of Slingbox software depending on the device that you are watching your video content on. The software for PC and Mac is free, but there are some major differences between those two programs at the time of this writing. The biggest difference is that PC version of software allows you to pause live video stream for up to 60 minutes, while the Mac version does not let you do this. This is pretty annoying if you are a Mac user.
* The software for various mobile devices is even more limited, and for the most part it is not free. The iPhone version costs $30 for instance. However, being able to watch TV on your phone could in and of itself be the single best feature of Slingbox, especially now that you are allowed to stream over 3G networks. This means that now you can watch TV and movies pretty much anywhere you are. In fact, you can do something even better: if you have for instance connected a device to your Slingbox that can stream video content from the net, you can now watch that same content on your mobile device as well. For instance, I have TiVo and I can watch Netflix movies streamed to it. Now I can watch those same movies on my iPhone, thus going around the obstacle that there are no ways of streaming Netflix movies directly to iPhone. When I tried doing this there was a slight sound delay, but it was not bad enough that it would interfere with my viewing experience.
* The HD version of Slingbox definitely makes a difference when watching the HD content. This difference in quality is most noticeable when you are streaming video around your own home network, but even away from home you can see the difference between HD and regular video.
* One of the limitations of this system is that if someone else is currently watching the TV that Slingbox is connected to, you are bound to watch the same stuff that he or she is watching. One way around this is to have two different ways of connecting Slingbox to the TV content: over the regular coax and through a DVR for instance. This way you can choose a different source from the one that the person watching TV at home is using.
* The quality of the video stream will primarily depend on the speed of the internet connection that you have. In my experience, as expected, the best results have been from watching the video stream in another room of my house over the Ethernet connection. The worst have been over slow WiFi and 3G connections. That's also where most of the dropped signals would occur. This might be a bit of a problem if you are watching a movie, but for watching TV news you would probably not be bothered at all.
* Another annoyance has to do with the fact that only one Slingbox connection is allowed at any given time. This means that only one person can be watching video streaming at a time. This could be due to the bandwidth limitations, but I would not be surprised if some pseudo-legal restrictions might be at play as well.
* The physical production value of the Slingbox is also very high. Its metallic casing feels very solid. The physical appearance of the Slingbox is also very appealing, and it fits very well with the rest of my entertainment center devices.
* I had just very limited experience with the customer service (I called them to clarify something during the initial setup) and have found it to be prompt, responsive and knowledgeable. Fortunately I haven't had any more serious problems with my Slingbox thus far, so I don't know how good the customers service would be under those circumstances.
* I wish that, in addition to watching live TV and other streamed content, we could also record content on your computer or other device. This could potentially make Slingbox the definitive TV content viewing platform, but my guess is that there are many legal potholes that would need to be surmounted before something like this can happen.
There are many supposedly revolutionary new devices that don't live up to all the hype that surrounds them. Slingbox, however, is not one of them. This product is as good as advertised. If you are interested in watching TV and all your other video content while away from home, I would strongly recommend giving Slingbox a shot. I have and have been extremely happy with my experience.
Customer Review: Updated Review: WORST CUSTOMER SUPPORT EVER
Summary: 2 Stars
11/09 I installed the latest firmware for this device (that sling automatically asks you to install). After installing I have horrible video quality and stuttering. Video now buffers constantly and bitrate rarely exceeds 1200kb/s over local network. I have tested with two different machines. Sling Media offers ZERO! and I mean ZERO support. Be aware before you buy this! They have a 90 day limited warranty and charge $[...] just to talk to them, if they need to do any repairs to the product they charge an additional $[...] on top of the $[...]! They will not answer any product questions unless you pay them additional money. Customer service agents are rude and refuse to give any info to talk to a higher level tech/manager. E-Mail support is unresponsive. DO NOT PURCHASE THIS PRODUCT UNLESS YOU ARE WILLING TO HAVE YOUR MONEY GO DOWN THE DRAIN DUE TO NO FAULT OF YOUR OWN LATER!
Old Review:
My connection specs for comparison:
In network streaming wireless over G+MIMO ~30ft 108mbps.
Over internet 20MB Down/8mb Up.
Positives:
-View Anywhere: Basically anywhere you got an internet connection you can view from. Works in SD with SlingCatcher.
-Steam Quality: There is really no better alternative out there for quality that I have come across. Streaming within the house HD looks great from Comcast HD as well as QAM. Looks amazing when streaming in home over the network.
-QAM tuner: Some people have complained about not being able to use both analog and digital tuners at once but you can solve this easily by using composite from a receiver or VCR if need be and selecting the alternative input.
-Included cables: The box comes ready to go with cables for every connection the device accepts.
-Easy Setup: It takes only a few minutes to get the device set up and working.
-Looks way better in your AV setup than the previous red models.
-Accepts sound via digital Coax.
Neutral:
-Build Quality: The box itself feels much more sturdy and well made than the previous models. That said out of the box the mesh covering on the front did have an adhesive problem in one corner and would not stay attached. Tiny dab of super glue took care of it.
-Slingplayer 2.0 Software: The software is very easy to use even for a novice pc user. Walks you entirely through setup start to finish. Has a wizard for setting up each connection type. SlingPlayer does have some bugs. Occasionally my transfer stream will drop way down and never fix itself. I usually can fix it by closing and then re-opening the player. The software includes a built in channel guide which is convenient. I sometimes experience bugs with this where the guide will come up blank or where selecting a different channel listing causes the guide to hang. I experience this on multiple systems so I assume its a fault of the software or Guide provider and not of the PC or connection itself. Outputs to PC at 1280x768 in HD.
-Fairly steep streaming requirements over the internet. Aside from having no signal and needing to restart SlingPlayer I personally have not experienced problems but I do have a pretty good connection compared to most users. Don't expect amazing HD quality streaming over the internet unless you really can maintain a large upload. Verify your connection beforehand, check with [...].
-Sling Catcher HD: This is on the way so it's soon to be fixed but if you are hoping to output to a TV on the other end the only way to get HD is with a PC outputting it. As stated previously though, the Sling Catcher will still output in SD from the PRO-HD.
Negatives:
-Lack of hand held remote support: There is no built in support for a universal remote control on the PC end, and Sling Media offers no real solution. There are some ways to make a remote work if you are willing to take the time to do so but it is very complex. I would like to see a USB IR receiver with slingplayer being programmable to a Logitech Harmony or even slings own remote. This is important to people who will use this with a Media Center PC!
-Lack of recording ability: There are 3rd party ways to record or if slinging from a DVR box this doesn't matter as much but it would be a much welcome feature and one thing that Sling Media's competition does offer.
-Does not accept inputs of 1080p. Not a huge issue since it doesn't output in 1080p and HD devices will send a signal the box can accept (720p/1080i).
-Sling Player bugs: They do squash them and for the most part the software works okay, but its still got issues that need to be remedied. Most notable While running in dual monitors and maximizing slingplayer to monitor your start bar on the other screen will disappear.
-No digital optical for audio.
-No HDMI
Overall, I like the Slingbox HD, but can't rate it 5 stars considering the few issues I have seen or experienced. If you have a room without cable, maybe want to catch the ballgame in HD at the office, professional on the go, or just liked to be connected this device gets it done. As of this writing it may still be one of the more expensive boxes for remote viewing but if you are looking for the best option currently available this is it.
Customer Review: works but a few issues
Summary: 4 Stars
Customer review from the Amazon Vine™ Program (What's this?)
I originally bought the slingbox pro last year and have just tried the Hava Platinum HD, so here are my impressions. Setup for the Slingbox Pro-HD is easy. You download the software from their website, install it and it guides you through the process of finding the pro-hd on your network and setting up your devices. BTW - hookup was very easy and straight forward. I connected the slingbox hd to my cable, my router and the power cord. Went to my laptop and took it from there.
In my scenario there are a couple of things to note. I live in NYC and have digital cable with HD. Now, I have to use my cable box to be able to see HD channels. By bypassing the cable box and directly connecting my cable line into the slingbox HD, I can either see all of my regular cable stations (up to channel 99) OR I can see whatever HD channels are free (or over-the-air) in NYC. You can't do both at the same time (at this time, according to their website - that will require a firmware update that is 'high' on their list - I have some history with waiting for them to 'develop' something . . I'll come back to that later).
I set up the slingbox pro HD to look for qualcom HD channels one my cable line and let it do it's thing. It found about 20 HD stations, the best being NBC, CBS, ABC, WB, UPN, PBS, PBSkids. The others are either home-shopping type sites or sports-versions of the big networks. The picture is really great - super clear and with no artifacts - great HD experience at a smaller size. This is VASTLY improved from the regular slingbox pro that I had last year - the picture on that was terrible - fuzzy, grainy - granted it was SD video, but I absolutely hated it.
I then set up the slingbox to look for the regular cable channels. I had to delete the HD setup and have it look up the SD channels. It picked up the channels up to 99. These looked OK and were still better than my memory of the regular slingbox pro. I had one issue in where the picture cut out and had 'low' signal strength. I searched through the forums at slingmedia and apparently this is common to other users and there's no quick fix that anyone has posted.
So, I switched it back to HD.
There is a program guide that looks like every other program guide out there. Nice feature, but only works for the cable channels, at least for me. The HD channels have show up as channel 1.1, 1.3 and so forth - and there is no program guide for those. A bit annoying because I had to figure out what each channel is. This would be OK, but there is considerable lag to changing the channel. You can select a 'quick mode' that basically lowers the quality of your picture while you change channels. It does make it faster, but still not as responsive as changing the channel on your TV. It's probably inherent in the technology.
Pros - easy setup, easy connection, picture looks great. Channel guide if you use regular cable channels
Cons - you can't have both SD and HD channels with a direct cable hookup - you have to go through your cable box, which means you have to set up the IR remote (I didn't do this, but I assume it works as I haven't seen anyone complain out it).
I didn't hook anything else up because it's doubtful that I'd want to stream DVD's or my camcorder's video to a laptop or PC - I would do that directly and have much more control.
Now, one of the reasons I bought the original slingbox pro was because they had advertised that they were working with Microsoft to connect it to Vista so that you could record TV to your computer, thus making it a DVR. That never happened and eventually both MS and Sling media removed those references from their websites. I found that really frustrating because I waited a long time for that. It tought me a lesson to buy technology for what it will do TODAY and not some promised future. All that to say, who knows if they will ever update the firmware to show both SD and HD channels at the same time?
Another thing - when I had the original slingbox pro, I didn't much enjoy watching my home TV remotely when I was traveling or on my phone. It was too jerky and I was worried about maxing out my home/phone bandwidth and data plans, so it was not fun for me. Plus, it killed my battery on my phone too quickly. You may have different needs, likes and dislikes, so take that into account when reading this review. It's unlikely I'll 'sling' my TV, so I'm not reviewing that, but keep in mind that it's the biggest selling point of the slingbox HD and you may really want that.
Overall, the slingbox pro HD does what it is advertised to do - nothing more, nothing less, and what it does it does with good quality.