Sling Media Slingbox PRO-HD SB300-100 by Sling Media
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List Price: Our Price: Calculated in a shopping cart Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Sling Media Slingbox PRO-HD SB300-100
Digital camera Review: AVOID - SlingMedia doesn't support warranty
Summary: 1 Stars
I was a happy users for about 11 months. Oh - it was a pain to setup some times. They tricked me into buying the HD version when they still don't support HD on the Mac OS/X. (They had an upgrade program and claimed my older Slingbox wouldn't be supported anymore which turned out not to be true.)
But today, about a week before the 1 year hardware warranty is set to expire the box just quit. No power light, no network lights - the box doesn't do anything. Clearly a hardware issue or a bad power supply.
However when I follow the directions on the SlingMedia website to get an RMA to return the defective hardware, I was told I need to pay $29.99. I said it is still under warranty - you cannot charge me. The person said it was $29.99 to talk to them. I asked if it turns out to be a hardware issue - which it clearly is, would I get refunded? No was the reply. There is no escalation path.
Consumers should not have to pay to have warranties honored. SlingMedia is no longer a company I respect or can recommend. I highly recommend everyone avoid this company.
Digital camera Review: Almost perfect
Summary: 4 Stars
PROS:
+ Handles HD-content well, especially 1080i
+ Setup is simple and intuitive. I have two routers with a DMZ, and after a little tweaking, was able to get it configured quite easily
+ Continual software/firmware updates from SlingMedia mean that it's clearly a product that's going to be updated in the coming months/years
+ For the price, excellent
+ On-screen controls are easy to use, and Guide works
CONS
- No HDMI support
- Multiple devices of the same type hooked to different inputs cannot be separated with IR (meaning the IR signal is sent to all IR endpoints, which can cause some problems)
- Watching on Mobile phone isn't optimum, but it is great. Wish they would full screen and do better QoS
- Control mode is choppy
OVERALL
- Would buy it again in a heartbeat. While it definitely has room for improvement, I'm hoping those issues are remedied from a software standpoint and offered as free upgrades.
Digital camera Review: Amazing device
Summary: 5 Stars
I was in Italy a couple of months ago and found that I was very limited in being able to watch TV over my laptop. Netflix streaming and most everything else said that broadcasts outside the US were not allowed. We finally were able to find that we could watch Southpark reruns off their website, which was great, but we wanted a little more variety the next time we traveled. I had heard about a Slingbox and got this one when we returned. I haven't traveled with it yet, so I don't know how it will do under differing situations, but from other reviews it looks like it will be fine.
From computers on my home network the Slingbox picture looks great. It works flawlessly and you are able to lower the resolution of the picture so that it shows well at your transmission speed. Cable internet going through 802.11g wireless works fine.
I was a little concerned that I would need to have the AV (surround-sound) system and/or TV on as my devices are connected to them by HDMI cables, which transmit information both ways and devices sometimes will not operate with HDMI-connected output devices off. The Slingbox operates the digital cable box/DVR fine with the AV system and TV off. I am waiting for my new Roku box Roku HD Player (my first one quit on me) to see if that will work OK, but I suspect it will.
Setup was easy enough. You may have to struggle some with your home network, but they give good step-by-step instructions on getting it to connect. True it does not have any HDMI connections, but the composite connections worked fine. The software needed by the computers to watch the signal downloaded and installed fine for both Windows XP and Vista computers.
You do not need a Sling catcher if you are only going to watch TV through a laptop or cell phone. Slingbox is developing software to use it on Android phones. It already will work with iPhones.
The Slingbox really works amazingly well and if you want to watch video from the sources you have in your home anywhere you happen to be, it is a great device.
Update 2-12-2010 - Hooked up Roku (Netflix) player. Works great. I am able to switch quickly between the cable box/DVR to the Roku player quickly on the browser. I haven't tested it on the road yet, but operating on the same home network, it works great.
Digital camera Review: Amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars
Got this unit for my partner and we were both blown away by how the technology worked. We travel a lot so being able to access our local programming from wherever we are is great! We can watch it on our iPhones, ipads or on any PC we can access! The most amazing part is that you are actually controlling your tv using a graphic representation of your own cable providers remote. It looks and behaves exactly like your remote at home. You can access programs you saved on your DVR, set up recordings while your away. Plus lots more. Very cool!Digital camera Review: Annoying support
Summary: 1 Stars
I came here to read the comments because I was considering purchasing a second Slingbox Solo to my Slingbox Pro. After reading the comments however I will not be buying the Solo and I can add some comments to those here regarding support. I have had my Pro for about 4 years, and it has worked fine and in the beginning I considered their support (from Costa Rica) to be good, however a year or so ago the unit died and then I found that support of any sort needed to be paid for and online help was no good. Not even an email pointer to a checklist can be had without paying $30.00.
Eventually I realized that the $2.00 power supply was burned out and I found a discarded one from some old PC in a drawer that fixed that problem. One has to wonder why the cheapest components don't last longer than the complex ones.
Then I changed my router and nothing worked and in the end had to call and pay for support to reconfigure the router which fixed the problem, although I don't remember such complications the first time I set it up.
However, the hardware issues with the Solo sound like something I definitely don't want to get into.