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: Slingbox Solo beats Hava Titanium HD by a country mile.
Summary: 5 Stars
With DirecTV at home and Cox Cable in my weekend apartment I was tired of paying $200+ every month to watch TV. I read reviews and concluded that a Hava Titanium HD installed at the house would save me over $1000 a year by cancelling Cox at the apartment and watching DirecTV over the Internet on my 70" JVC 1080p display.
After buying the Hava, I was so disappointed with the performance that I returned it for a refund. However, I decided to give the Sling Solo a try and the difference is amazing.
Over the Internet, Hava High Definition channels are streamed at around 350Kbs giving a resolution of around 240 lines - not even standard definition, never mind HD. Images were broken up with ghosting, painful to watch. In less than an hour of viewing, the Slingbox hit transfer rates of over 1200Kbs and picture quality was excellent.
The Hava on screen remote control for DirecTV has a generic skin - the Slingbox one is identical to the actual DirecTV remote. Furthermore, although the Hava remote can record selections on the DirecTV DVR, it has no way of viewing or playing those recorded programs . . . Hellooooo !
The reaction time in using the Hava remote is very sluggish compared with the Slingbox and the Slingbox has an onscreen program guide independant of the remote DVR which can be customized for favorites and allows single mouse click selection of channels to be viewed.
In a nutshell, the difference between Hava HD and Slingbox Solo is like night and day. I have to thank Amazon for their generous return policy that allowed me to check out both brands without obligation. They even paid the freight cost for me to return the Hava unit for a full refund. Thank you Amazon.
Customer Review: Worth the money
Summary: 4 Stars
Great product, easy setup. I purchased this because I was traveling during the world cup, but this really isn't the greatest thing to plan to watch on your phone as you are traveling in a car (I was a passenger). When in big cities, where 3G coverage was strong I got perfect video and audio, but you drive through cities in about 10-20 minutes and then the video gets choppy or freezes and then you get nothing. Overall, I use the mobile application on my phone about once a day in my hometown. I no longer have to rush home to get to the start of a show or sporting event and if my girlfriend is shopping too long I don't have to annoy her by rushing to get home. Make sure you have good 3G coverage for your cellphone in your hometown if you are planning on watching tv on your cellphone. I have T-mobile so they are great in big cities, but Verizon is probably your best bet if you will be traveling a ton. If you have AT&T...good luck.
For watching on another computer, the video quality depends on both the upload speed of your home internet and the download speed of where you are trying to watch from another computer so the quality will vary greatly. I have Roadrunner Lite (a budget speed from my local cabel provider, Brighthouse Network) and if I stream my slingbox signal to another computer in my house, the video and audio quality are perfect so you don't need to have the premium speeds to get HD quality. I was at my brother's house, however, and his internet speed was very slow because he lives in an outlying area so the quality was about a 5 out of 10. Still, I was able to watch my hometown Tampa Bay Rays and fair video quality was 100 times better than having nothing at all.
Worth every penny.
Customer Review: I love it
Summary: 4 Stars
I love it when people use their brain! The idea of inventing a device which allows you to view dvr remotely is mind-blowing for me. I bought this along with the Lorex LW2702 survaillance camera system so I can monitor my place when I am not around. This device works. The amazingness is not how it works but the fact that such a device exists! The one problem I have with this device is that the Lorex LW2702 is not listed as a device that the slingbox solo is compatible with. The result is that another remote control for a different Lorex model shows up on the slingbox viewing web page which is different from the remote that came with the LW2702. Although this does not affect the slingbox's ability to transmit the Lorex LW2702 feed over the internet it does affect my ability to make full use of my LW2702 remote control when viewing cameras online. Slingbox, please add the LW2702 to your compatible products list. For this reason alone I would give a 3-star rating for remote video quality. Despite this, the video quality is an exact reflection of the quality I get on the LW2702 LCD display Screen. Unfortunately the quality on the LW2702 LCD dislplay screen isn't all that great. I can confirm that this product works outside of the USA because I bought it for use in the Caribbean and it works. Although my Island is not listed in the list of countries during the online slingbox set up it's 'ok' if Caribbean purchasers use United States as their location. Something to note: Once you engage the AV feature on the LW2702 to send the video feed to the slingbox the display on the LW2702 is cancelled. This is not a fault of the slingbox. This is just how the LW2702 operates and I really hate it. You can read my full review on the LW2702.Customer Review: Awesome device
Summary: 5 Stars
What an awesome device. Easier to set up than most reviews I read. Being somewhat tech savvy I was a little worried I'd be the one with "we never heard of that problem before" issue. But anyway after taking the unit out of the box and seeing a small setup book I was a little worried. But I followed the directions and was up and running in 40 minutes. The only problem I had was actually finding my directv dvr in the setup menu of my account on the slingbox web site. It is an HR23-700 and I believe it is the latest dvr from directv. But was able to use the next closest model the HR22 and the remote worked. I was so thrilled with the ease and quality I actually went on my Iphone and paid $29.99 for the iphone app. It was quick and easy also. There is a two second delay from live tv to streaming but no lock up or delays as of yet. Being I just set this up 2 hours ago I will update this review if need be. But as of now I am thrilled with its ease of setup and quality overall. I gave customer service 5 stars but actually haven't had a reason as of yet to call customer service. I also checked the Sony LF-V30 version with wifi and the Hava before purchasing the slingbox. I feel overall my research proved the slingbox to be superior to the Sony and Hava. I am running my system on cat 6e ethernet cable. I paid $15.00 for 75 feet and have found my ps3, my directv dvr all work best wired direct. So the Sony and its wifi issues kept me out of that market leaving me to decide between slingbox and hava. If you travel and are on the fence about the slingbox, forget it go out and get it while it's on sale. I paid $157.00 on Amazon with free 2 day shipping and couldn't be happier.Customer Review: LOVE IT!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Where do I begin, it was easy to set up, easy to use and it just works! I have a D-Link DIR-601 router, an iPhone 3G (yes, the second generation iPhone, it's old) and a Comcast cable DVR. My router has the firewall up, is encrypted, and I use MAC fitering to allow only devices of my choosing to access my network. I simply turned off the firewall and MAC filtering, hooked everything up, turned it all back on and it worked. Total time, about 15 minutes to do this along with the wiring and fishing the patch cord thru the wall. At home with WIFI, the reception on my iPhone 3G was excellent. On the road, driving at highway speeds, my kids were able to watch the Disney channel and Nickelodeon as if they were sitting at home, except on a much smaller screen. For those who say they have had problems, it is most likely their wireless provider's problem and not with the Slingbox hardware and software. If we were in an area where the mobile internet service was weak, the resolution degraded, but again, that is a problem with being in an area of signal strength, not with the Slingbox product itself. I'm looking into getting the AV adapter for my iPhone so I can plug it into the overhead DVD player in my Avalanche so the kids can watch cable on long drives. All those mobile satellite providers better watch out, this is going to put them out of business. Why pay hundreds of dollars or even a thousand for a big satellite dish that has to sit on the roof of your vehicle and pay twice for the same cable TV service? After you buy the hardware, less than $200 for the Slingbox Solo and iPhone app, there are no more fees to pay! Bottom line, it works and I love it!!!