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 $129.99 (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 SOLO (SB260-100)
Customer Review: Great remote viewing, but limited longevity of the electronics
Summary: 3 Stars
The Slingbox Solo is a great device, but there are some longevity issues with the electronics: in particular since mid 2010 owners are reporting their Solos are experiencing sporadic streaming problems or just suddenly quit working. Doing some Google searching about the issue reveals that the root cause appears to be blown electrolytic capacitors. Note that disassembling the Solo voids the warranty, so trying to do your own repair work is not recommended unless you've given up on getting a resolution through Sling Media. Some electronics savvy owners have reported they replaced the obviously bad capacitors, and that restored the functionality of their Solos.
The good news is that Sling Media is in some instances offering to replace ailing Solo boxes even after the normal warranty coverage. If you have a dead Solo out of warranty, you can call 1-877-GOSLING. You'll have to pay a $29.99 trouble shooting fee and suffer through proving your unit is dead. If the unit is dead, the $29.99 fee is refunded, and they'll ship you a replacement. They'll place a $99 hold on your credit card until Sling Media receives the dead Solo. I went through this process, and it took about 25 minutes on the phone. I am currently waiting for my replacement Solo to arrive.
The function of the Slingbox Solo is great when it is working. Sling Media has continued to develop the firmware in the Windows CE based Solo and the matching player software over time and it has gotten better. The one disappointment is that Hollywood has put pressure on Sling Media and forced Sling to encrypt the streaming so that it is more difficult for 3rd party add-ons such as stream splitters or remote DVR software to work.
I use my Solo with my Dish receiver and the integration is very good - not surprising since Dish now owns Sling Media. Picture quality streaming to s computer or Sling Catcher on the same LAN is very good. I have tested with Sling Catcher, Winows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Mac OS X 10.5, and all provide good picture and sound with minimal lag of the virtual remote control. Remote viewing is still tolerable over modest bandidth. My DSL upstream is only 300 Kb/s, but remote viewing is approximately VHS resolution, but with less chroma noise than VHS. There's a little remote control lag, but the latest firmware and software have significantly reduced lag. The IR blaster output from the Solo does a very good job controlling my Dish satellite receiver.
Setup is about as easy as it can be for a fairly technical product like the Solo. The connectors on the box are well marked and easy to use. Just plug in the A/V source, the IR blaster, network and power then youre ready to configure the Solo. The Windows software makes configuration very easy and even guides the user through configuring the NAT settings on some routers to allow remote viewing. You'll need a public e-mail address, as that's what's used to link your sling player software to the Solo through Sling Media's web site. It may sound a little complicated, but in practice setup is very easy. The A/V input choices are composite, S-video and component. There is no HDMI input.
I would have given the Solo more stars in the rating, except for the longevity problem due to the apparent bad capacitors.
Customer Review: Second Time's the Charm
Summary: 4 Stars
I had the original Slingbox, and the AC adapter port seemed to go out after having that one about 3+ years. I ordered this Slingbox so that I can watch my TV while I'm at work overnight, and so far this Slingbox is basically the same as the original, only it seems to need to be reset a lot less (might be because of the different router I have now, though--I used to have shows cut off in the middle all the time and not be able to connect to the box from a remote location, and would have to call someone at the house where the TV was to reset the box). Setting it up was easy, as far as connecting everything, but that's only because I basically just disconnected chords from the old Slingbox and plugged them into the new one. The first time around, hooking everything up and going through setup was annoying and a tad time-consuming. The quality is still the same, i.e. still looks like how streaming from RealPlayer used to look 10 years ago (i.e. the colors are dull, if you're watching a sporting event forget being able to tell who's who or being able to see where the football is, etc). If you're on remote viewing, especially wireless internet, the quality really is affected and your show can lag. You need a pretty good internet connection, even to watch it on the same internet your Slingbox is hooked up to, for the best quality. Sound is fine, though. But if this is your only option for watching a TV, then it definitely will do...although at times, you might be better off trying to stream from a site like Justin.TV, especially in terms of video quality.
My Solo did not come with software (it did come with all the cables needed, though), so I used the same software I already had on my laptop. You should be able to download from Slingmedia's site. I still had to go through setup, and if your router is not listed...it's a pain in the bootay when you're trying to set up remote viewing. Go to [...], I believe, for help if your router is not listed--otherwise, I wouldn't have gotten remote viewing set up. Setup is fairly easy otherwise, but you need to know what kind of cable box you have, i.e. if you have a DVR or other DirecTV box, for example, you need to know the manufacturer (Panasonic, Magnavox, etc), model # and such.
Some features have been added to the new software while some have disappeared, it seems. They added a TV guide so that you can see what's on without interrupting your show/making the show smaller like normal with DirecTV (if you have DirecTV). They seem to have taken out a feature that let's you adjust video quality by giving you two versions of your show and letting you choose which one looks best to you. A clip+sling feature was also advertised, i.e. I bought this Solo from Amazon and they claim you can clip part of a show you're watching on the Solo and send it to people. Um, I have not found this feature, and I'm pretty disappointed with that, too, especially since it's advertised on Amazon and I can't seem to find out for sure whether or not Slingmedia just never came out with it or what.
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Conclusion: a good product, particularly if you need remote viewing. Quality is not that special, though, and you might need to reset the Slingbox every now and then to connect to it.
Customer Review: paired w/ direct tv and Symbian phone
Summary: 5 Stars
awesome awesome device.
i hooked it up using a direct tv box and started watching on my laptop wireless computer and on my phone at work.
it took about 30 mins of set up because i had to physically connect the router to my laptop while the slingbox updated its firmware. Then I had to find the Slingbox ID (which is under the Edit portion of the Slingbox directory for your slingbox). And of course, install the slingbox app on the computer.
it tired to detect and automatically configure my router but i had the UPnP feature turned off so I had log onto the router and turn that on before it started working outside of my network.
i primarily use the slingobx on my Nokia N75 on a 3G connection (w/ the unlimited data plan) w/c makes it glitchfree. I tried the MobiTV app on the phone and that was a disaster. Not only do you have to pay $10/mnth but the 'live' tv had about a 5 second gap between the audio and the video. The news audio wasn't in sync with the video and to top it off, it was very pixelated. You wouldn't be able to read the bottom news ticker AT ALL.
On the slingbox mobile, however, it is crystal clear and in SYNC. To top it off, when I'm watching using the EDGE network, it would constantly buffer every 30-40secs BUT it would continue the audio AND video to where it stopped so you don't miss a second! Plus, it's crystal clear and everything on the phone screen is VERY readable. And it can be viewed FULL screen w/c dispalys the video sideways! And unlike MobiTV, it doesn't keep asking every 20mins if you want to keep watching and if you dont' respond it turns off. Slingbox keeps streaming until you exit the app.
I was initially very skeptical at the viability of the 'internet tv' based on my experience with MobiTV but this is the real deal. An actual TV broadcast on your phone/ computer and you have complete control of the channels! Everything from accessing the tv guide to changing settings!
The only con I have for now is the fact that if you're watching at home, you wouldn't know somebody is watching using the slingbox until they change the channel. I wish they had a feature that indicated it's in use on the home tv.
Also, you can't use the slingbox in two locations at one time. So if I was watching on my phone, I can't use the computer to watch it simultaneously. Only one at a time is permitted.
And since my phone is a flip phone, the app closes when I close the phone. I wish it didn't. But then again I'm guessing it's memory intensive so that might be a good idea. But I can't listen to the XM channel with the phone open (the N75 is huge when flipped open.
And finally, I don't like that the phone app is not free (while the comp app is free). At least there's a 30day trial. But I guess they have to make their money somewhere.
Small gripes.
Just make sure you have broadband (both ways) to enjoy this device. So if you're on the edge about buying... don't! Go out and get it!
Customer Review: Total Junk - do not buy - unit fails approximately 1 year after purchase (practically to the day of warranty expiration)
Summary: 1 Stars
One (hopefully last) review of this piece of junk. Indeed - I did open up the Sling SOLO and in the process voiding my "warranty" (if we can call it that with a straight face) and found that the capacitors had failed, as everyone else eventually discovers. Replacing them at my cost of about $12 and two hours worth of my time (and I am not an electronics geek by any means), solved the problem. Here are some image links of the SOLO:
picasaweb . google . com / cesinco / SlingBoxSux#5547257092994979890
picasaweb . google . com / cesinco / SlingBoxSux#5547257105670666994
picasaweb . google . com / cesinco / SlingBoxSux#5547257110680945410
I have come back to edit my original review of the SOLO. I cannot stress enough how poor the product and customer service is. You are better off to take your wife out to a nice dinner than to hand your money over to this bunch. If you do, you might as well have set fire to the money you paid for the SOLO. Anyway, back to the original review...
If you are thinking of buying this product, I highly recommend you first go to this discussion thread on Sling's site
answers . slingbox . com / message / 24401
to see what nearly 500 postings have to say about the SOLO and Sling's customer support in general. If you don't wish to go through all of that, here's the condensed version:
Many people have discovered that the capacitors installed on the SOLO bulge up about 1 year after purchase, rendering them and the SOLO useless. Many of those who have tried, said that replacing the capacitors with new ones corrected the problem. Sling refuses to acknowledge that this is a problem of their making (despite the numerous posts and the thread having started about 6 months ago). Apparently, they don't "wish to leap to conclusions" as to the source of the problem until it is properly diagnosed. In the meantime, until such time as it is "properly diagnosed", Sling charges customers who are out of warranty (that means practically everyone since the problem typically occurs AFTER the warranty expires) just to talk to you. As I understand from other contributors to the thread, if it can be determined that the problem is indeed with hardware, Sling will credit this $30 towards replacement hardware which will cost you $100. So you end up paying $70 if it's a hardware problem to get a working SOLO or paying $30 to remain stuck with a non-working SOLO. Wonderful choice.
Apparently, the customer service reps are rude too.
Anyway, this is not me saying this - it's the condensed version of what is on the discussion thread.
I leave it to you to make up your own mind on whether you want to deal with such a company. Myself, I will go the "replace my own capacitor" route as others have and if it fails, I will be no worse off (except for the cost of a few caps) than I am now. But I will not fall for their tricks agan.
Customer Review: May help if you have a probem
Summary: 2 Stars
Let me start with the:
PROS: The product does work as advertised. I mosly used it with my iphone and sometimes remotely with a computer. For a remote connection its not bad at all. Pleanty of help on slingboxes' site if you have a problem. Note: it might be helpful in the future to save your slingbox ID somewhere where you can refer to it later if you needed it.
Cons: When the box works it works great, but if have a problem it could be one you can't fix through the software. I bought my slingbox used, but this may apply to you. I bought it used about 2 months and 27 days before I had a problem, NO LINK LIGHT after it was working with no problem. I tried all the steps on slingboxes' site nothen worked. However it did tell me two things:
1) I needed an upgrade
2) I was not connected, well I knew that.
So I called slingbox for assistance, they told me the warranty was 90 days. i told them it was used, I was told to fax my receipt, and they may be able to help. I call back 1 day before the warranty was up, they said customer service had not entered my fax in the system, but they would make a note that I faxed it in and to wait on them to call when the information was in the system. I am still waiting on the call. After a few more days I desided to check online to see if anyone else had the problem I was having.
When ever I tried to upgrade it would not work. I did remember reading, I might need to
reset the slingbox. Ok I tried that it helped. I was able to upgrade the box and the link light came on. However that also deleted my slingbox from my account. I had to reconfigure the skingbox again, No problem right, no big problem. When ever I tried to setup the box it would reset during the setup. I tried every thing, when over the slingbox site several times for help. Then I searched slingbox reset, and there it was several people with the same problem. A problem that looks like it has been around for over 11 years, yes 11 years. It appears after some time there are 2 to 3 cap that goes bad and will need to be replace it will be the ones that is curved on top instead flat and they are blue and round, in the center on the board from front to back.
Now this has been going around for as far as I can tell over 11 years, and this was my options with tech suport when I first called:
1) $40 to $50 for tech call
2) get a replacement for $99
3) don't call me I'll call you
If a electronic company only offers you a 3 month warranty, do your homework on the product. Buyer be ware. I'm not saying the product may be bad, just do your home work
Ok for a couple of bucks I fixes the box, by replacing a couple of bad caps. I read this can happen after about 1 year of use.