Sling Media Slingbox Classic

Average customer rating: 4.5

AWESOME, but get the TIVO HD-S400 for a better experience...
Sling Media Slingbox Classic
Could be great, but not yet
Amazing Product
SI FUNCIONA

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Sling Media Slingbox Classic

Manufacturer: Sling Media
Product Group: CE
Binding: Electronics
ASIN: B000AMLXHW
2005-08-15

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Product Description

<b>Includes: AC adapter, Ethernet cable, 2 RCA composite A/V cables, 1 S-Video cable, 1 RF/Coax cable, & 1 infrared remote control emitter</b> Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. Now you can enjoy some of the pleasures of home when you're away - through your PC. Introduce yourself to Slingbox. The Slingbox is an amazing, award-winning device that redirects your home audio or television signal to any desktop or laptop PC - no matter its location! Slingbox place-shifts the television signal from an antenna, cable box, satellite receiver, DVR, and more to your PC via the Internet, so you can watch your favorite TV shows anywhere at home or thousands of miles from home. That's right, you can be in the next room or another country, and still enjoy the television signal that's being pumped into your home living room. The Slingbox is easy to install. Connect the TV source to the Slingbox; Connect the Slingbox to the Internet; Plug in the Slingbox power adapter; Load the SlingPlayer software onto your PC (Microsoft Windows 2000/XP/MCE compatible); and you're done! Where ever you are, provided there's an Internet access (broadband) connection, you can contact your Slingbox through your PC to view or play your favorite show. Intel Pentium IV 1GHz 256MB of RAM 100MB of Free Hard Drive Space 24-bit Graphic Card 16-bit Sound Card CD-ROM Drive 10/100 Ethernet Connectivity Network - Router (UPnP Capability Recommended) Cable or DSL Modem (for out-of-home viewing) 256Kbps Upstream Speed (higher is recommended) Video (NTSC) and Audio Source - Analog Cable Antenna/RF Digital Cable Set Top Box Satellite Receiver DVR (including Tivo, DirecTV, DISH, ReplayTV, UltimateTV)

Customer Reviews:

AWESOME, but get the TIVO HD-S400 for a better experience..........2007-05-28

I have this slingbox and it is great for all the reasons many posters here have described...however, I wanted to add a little something different to this review to help people REALLY get some more usefulnesss from this device without any added (subscription) fees.

I would HIGHLY recommend going on EBay and buying the TIVO SD-H400 (Toshiba) DVD/Tivo Combo model (it is discontinued, but if you can find it new or cheaper elsewhere, then skip Ebay and get it that way)...Anyway, It costs around $125 to $200 (depending on auction) and the reason for getting THAT specific TIVO is becuase it DOES NOT require any subscription fees to TIVO...it is one of the few "free lifetime" BASIC subscriptions for TIVO (which they do not include on any new hardware). Granted the SD-H400 is not High-def...but considering all the added functionality, it is well worth the price.

This way it allows you to combine internet streaming with recording TV and all your favorite shows and watching them whenever it is convienent in the TIMEZONE that YOU are in....all without any subscription fees.

BASIC TIVO just gives you 3 days of guide data instead of 14 and does not have "seasson passes"...however, if these become inmportant to you, you can always buy the premium subscription for the SD-H400 (even for a second hand one off Ebay...Tivo doesn't care if you are the original owner).

Also the SD-H400 is upgradable to a disk of almost any size (I did 300GBs with no issues at all..inside it is just a regular IDE hard drive)...there are a ton of other "hacks" to make the Tivo Web-enabled...Just google for Tivo Hacks and you will find tons!.

Good luck...Either way, the slingbox is a great investment.

Sling Media Slingbox Classic.......2007-04-22

If you think that all of the claims for this product are hype, then you would be wrong. It does everything it says it will do. I travel on business frequently. I have an HD TiVo with Directv and I get all of their channels and premium packages. When I travel I frequently have a very limited selection on the hotel TV cable system. With the Slingbox I have my vast selection available to me wherever I go including my recorded shows. Likewise, if I forget to set my TiVo to record something, I can access it remotely and set it wherever I am. I was most impressed with the optimal streaming performance. The SlingPlayer client on my PC will adjust to virtually any level of bandwidth I have available to me -- even as low as 100 kbps.

Could be great, but not yet.......2007-03-18

This is a great idea, not quite greatly executed. It works really well through their wired web interface (once you finally get it set up), but where it would really be most useful - from mobile devices - is where it is weakest.

First of all, they don't make it known that the mobile version of their software costs an extra 30 bucks, so that's an unpleasant suprise once you finally get their software working and decide to try it over your Windows Mobile smatrphone. And their tech support is inconsistant at best. Out of three phone support sessions, I had one rep who actually seemed to understand the technology, but he couldn't make port forwarding for the Sling work on my standard Linksys router either, so he had me set the Slingbox as a DMZ host, wide open on the internet.

The next two guys didn't even know what files were being installed on the smartphone (much less in what directories they were being saved) so after being told that the direct-device download install on their website didn't work right (Why wouldn't they fix that?), it was impossible to completely uninstall it. At least until I downloaded Total Commander file manager so I could find the settings file it saved under my user profile and delete it.

Warning: Only install the mobile device app through Active Sync or you will be sorry. Their tech support is useless and they basically told me I was SOL.

Last complaint: Some lag-time and temporary freezes are to be expected over a mobile WAN connection, but it makes fast-forwarding and rewinding your DVR extremely frustrating as you never know where you'll end up when you press play. So get used to watching commercials again when you're away from home, avoid ovepasses and tall buildings, and keep hoping for faster and faster mobile broadband.

Amazing Product.......2007-03-17

I have 2 of these and I LOVE them. I can watch my TV from anywhere. As an experienced computer technician, the most amazing thing about this product is it's SO EASY to set up. I came over to someone's house to install it for them and it did everything for me. For those that don't know how to configure port forwarding on their broadband routers (or even what I just said) it did it for me!! And for the routers it can't configure automatically, it has instructions for almost every make and model showing step-by-step directions of how to do it. Makes me a little sad cause people don't need me to set it up. Long story short, if you are a TV buff this is a must have.

SI FUNCIONA.......2007-03-10

Es un excelente producto y funciona bien. Lo tengo instalado en Costa Rica. Al principio tuve algunos problemas, pero adquirí un nuevo router, de los recomendados por Slingmedia y solicité a mi proveedor de internet que abrieran los puertos y listo. Cero problemas. Eso sí, se debe de tener acceso a mas 512 kbs, para que se pueda ver bien fuera de casa. Para aquellos que tienen wireless es una bonita opción para tener tv en cualquier parte de la casa.

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