Sling Media Slingbox PRO (SB200-100) by Sling Media
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Our Price: $399.00 Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $143.00 (click here) Category: CE See more digital camera details and other models |
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Digital camera reviews of Sling Media Slingbox PRO (SB200-100)
Digital camera Review: Easy to setup, works great with MacOS X 10.4.8
Summary: 4 Stars
Like most everyone else in these forums, I'm fairly happy with my SlingBox. Very easy to set-up, although two things annoy me.
(1) That I need to purchase a proprietary Componant-to-HDMI cable from SlingMedia to get HD routed through this box. Its not an expensive cable, as HD cables go, but if I can't technically route an HDMI source, why fit the Sling with an HDMI connector? Maybe we're talking space-contraints here, since the Pro is already a bit larger than the other SlingBoxes and HDMI takes up less space than componants. Still, most people with similar set-ups will have componant cables lying around to integrate this thing into their set-up. The Componant-to-HDMI cable should really have been included with the Pro.
(2) No 802.11a\b\g\n option. Yes, you can go get your own 802.11-to-Ethernet bridge. Or you can use the (expensive) powerline networking option. Frankly, I'd much rather see a larger SlingBox with a couple extra cubic inches in the box to cram in an 802.11 chipset and an antenna hanging out the back. But I guess that would just increase the headache on SlingMedia's end, from a technical support standpoint.
That said, I still love this unit. The MAC OS X client works like a charm, despite being in Beta. On a Core Duo MacBook Pro, the OS X client is quicker than the WinXP client running on similar Core Duo Dell hardware (E1705). Very nice. Being able to customize the button interface and swap interfaces between Mac and PC (to suit what cable channels you commonly watch) is a nice touch as well.
Lacking any Pocket PC hardware, I can't tell you how well the handheld client runs (are you listening Sling? My Blackberry feels left out!) although the friend that recommended this product to me has connected to my Sling over the internet with his handheld HP.
I'm done here. Nice product, some extra features like 802.11 would be nice, not having to spend an extra 50 bucks on a proprietary HD cable would be nicer still. Despite that, I'm a happy camper.
Digital camera Review: Easy to use, fun, great tech support website
Summary: 5 Stars
I wasn't sure what I was getting here. I knew it looked fun, interesting, and was getting lots of publicity. This company is truly an innovative company, it appears they really care about their customers, and a lot of the interactions with the device is smart. It works very well for me, though my DVR model is still not yet supported.
It does get a little warm as does anything electronic. The OEM box and shipping materials were very high.
The website is very complete and well organized. The live help the company provides uses a remote tool to help you set your internet router up if you need it, on a Sunday night, at what ever hour. I was very impressed.
Digital camera Review: Excellent Product
Summary: 4 Stars
I purchased this product because i was being sent overseas for a project for my company and i didn't want to miss out on my football games while i was gone for 3 months. This product was simple to install and within minutes i had it up ad running and when I finally got overseas i turned on my laptop and logged right in at my hotel and i was able to watch my games. This is an excellent product and i would recommend it to anyone.Digital camera Review: Excellent Toy
Summary: 4 Stars
The Slingbox Pro is a really cool toy. You will need an 100 BaseT network to watch within your home, and a minimum of 512 kbps upstream (minimum) at home and down stream where ever you want to watch it for internet viewing.
Pros:
1) Macintosh compatible.
2) Easy setup. Plug in an ethernet cable, your video source(s), the infrared repeater (to control your device(s)) and power. Install the software on your computer, launch and follow the prompts. Total setup time 30 minutes or so.
3) No need for a static IP. The Slingbox registers with their server and web clients check with the server to find the IP address to get to the box.
4) Good web quality viewing. Note that I have a 2 mbps internet connection for my upstream which makes a BIG difference in the quality.
5) Works great with DirecTV's HR-20 DVR and with Apple's AppleTV.
6) Comes with Ethernet, S-Video, Compsite, audio, and Coaxial cables to hookup to your sources, so no running out to the store for more cables unless you want to hook up a high definition source. (See Cons below)
7) Easy to reset. There is a reset button on the back that takes it to factory defaults and 5 minutes of software time to configure and you're back in business. This is great for those of us who like to play and then make a mess of the configuration.
Cons:
1) Even though there is an HDMI jack you cannot plug an HDMI device directly into it. You have to purchase the Media HD Cable Sling Media HD Connect Cable for Slingbox Pro ( HD200-100 ) into the Slingbox Pros HDMI connection and then use RGB cables to receive or send HD video. This "cable" comes with good quality RGB and audio cables as well as a 4 device IR repeater cable.
2) Only one connection of each type, RGB (with the above mentioned cable), S-Video, Composite Video and Coaxial (old style Cable TV)
3) Only one computer can watch a Slingbox at a time.
Notes:
1 of the 4 I purchased had a bad infrared port that popped off inside. I replaced the box, and have not had any other issues.
If you do not have a fairly new router, you will probably have to manually configure your router for watching the Slingbox across the web. Each Slingbox uses a single TCP port for access with the default starting at 5001. I changed mine to use 10001 to prevent overlap with other network traffic. You will also need to set the Slingbox to a static IP. All of this was pretty easy for me, but I have a lot of experience with this sort of stuff.
I took 1 star off for the bad IR port and the HDMI cable issue.
Digital camera Review: Excellent device
Summary: 5 Stars
I found the instructions very easy to follow and the installation went very smooth. I found the Slingbox to perform very well and now I can watch the tv on my notebook anywhere in the house. The video quality I get on my home network is very good but the quality over internet is not that good, but it has to do with the speed of my connection to internet.