Sling Media Slingbox Tuner
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December 4, 2007 08:43
3.5/5
for someone who does not know about the cable connections, i thought it is just the same as the other models so i am just stuck in one channel when i'm away. -
September 29, 2007 06:03
4.5/5
Usually I am guilty of rushing out to purchase the newest/latest gadget. Not wanting to be burned by a version 1/mass-marketed "proto-type", I waited longer to purchase a Slingbox after it's release than any other product that I've wanted. I am not disapointed with my purchase. I did not rate it a 10 because, especially where electronics are concerned, I believe there are very few items worth of a 10.
I've had my Slingbox for about 2 months now and I am very pleased with it. Set-up was simple out of the box. Slingbox includes cables, LAN and coaxial, if you do not have spares around. Excellent performance with my laptop connected to my home wireless network around the house and in my yard. Remarkably easy while traveling using my cell carrier's EVDO network pc aircard. My children love watching their favorite childrens television progamming during long and short trips. Of course I let my oldest child hold the laptop during the trips.
Slingbox compression works remarkably well considering the signal is analog from my homes source. The Slingbox A/V and Pro models are capable of handling digital cable. Key thing to remember with whatever model Slingbox you buy, the higher your home router uploading bandwidth and download bandwidth of the system you will be viewing the Slingbox software, Slingplayer, the better the resolution will be. So make sure your laptops aircard connection is at least 300kbps download and much more if possible. Wi-fi hotspots are typically way above that nominal speed.
Only one mobile device/pc can connect to it at a time. I purchased one for my wife to use with her laptop and aircard during her business trips. Both slingboxes connected flawlessly to the same wireless router. I contacted Slingbox to check out their customer service and was really impressed with their reps knowledge of the product. After talking with the rep for a little while about the product, I did something I don't usually do... I let him remotely connect to my system so he could check my router and my 2 Slingbox settings. I watched his every mouse move as my cursor swept across my screen as he switched back and forth between windows checking router and slinbox settings before finaly logging out. Everything checked out fine. I know it was only one call, but they earned excellent marks from me with that long technical call.
I wish it had it's earlier capability of recording programs and saving for later viewing. I believe I read elsewhere online that the change had something to do with possible impending legal consequences from some of the major networks. Made sense to me... why else would a company downgrade a feature on its great product that it had already spent money in research and development, builds, marketing and units already sold? Now had Slingbox shortly afterwards announced an add-on/plug-in download for sell to re-enable the feature, we would all know the all mighty dollar was the motivator. To date, that has not happened... yet.
Of course I am furiously fighting the urge to purchase the $30.00 Slingbox mobile phone software and change my cell phone to one capable of connecting to and receiving the slingbox signal.
Make sure you purchase it from somewhere with a good return policy so that you can return it for a full refund if you are not satisfied. I do not purchase items from merchants who have a re-stocking fee. Just one of my personal preferences.
Bottom line, my family is a very pleased 2 Slingbox household.
Z -
July 15, 2007 10:43
4.5/5
I keep reading from people that you can buy a better version of the slingbox (tv2me) but it cost around $2,000...I paid $101 (after shipping) on amazon.com. WHAT A BUY!!!
The picture quality isn't 100% perfect, but I would say if you have a great connection to your internet, it is about 90-95%.
I have my slingbox hooked up to my parents basic cable, I can now watch all my hometown sports, especially my FAV football team, no matter where I am...IT IS GREAT!!!!
I only wish I had found this product when it first came out!
AND THE HD STREAMING IS INCREDILBE!!!! You can find videos on youtube.com -
June 23, 2007 06:20
5.0/5
This is great product. With upload upto 512kbs service and AT&T yahoo dsl 2wire wireless modem. I can watch television anywhere,and TV picture is in high quality. It might difficult to disable computer's firewall and modem's firewall. Once it is disabled, my laptop tuned into Television in anywhere which WiFi exists. Thank you SlingMedia. -
March 29, 2007 07:33
4.5/5
I got the tuner for 120 on buy.com last week, and I love it already. The box is smaller than I thought it would be, was a breeze to set up. The package even came with a cable splitter and extra cable, very thoughful.
I specifically got the TUNER because I only pay for one cable box in my house. If you get the AV or HD you have to control your actual cable box with the sling box. With the TUNER, you can just plug it into the spare coax.
I want to mention is the optimization which is impressive! My cable is split so many times that the remaining quality is poor, but the slingbox has complex optimization software that must be described as active video noise-cancelling. The quality over EVDO is better than youtube for me, but you can tweak the settings to whatever you want. Over my home network, the quality is almost as good as an actual TV tuner.
Finally, the package comes with a CD with the player for your computer/laptop (which is also used to set up the box on your network). Unfortunately, and like so many PocketPC programs, it's not free. It costs $30, but for the real road warrior, it's awesome. On my XV6700 I can still read the scrolling headlines on CNN. -
January 2, 2007 10:47
4.0/5
My wife got me this as a complete suprise for Christmas. She was miss lead a little by the sales person that told her I could use this with my Tivo also which it is really not made to do. But what it does do and does so great is that I had an extra cable post right my my router and I just hooked it up there no TV needed. So now I am not taking over a TV when away from home and Comcast has a great basic cable line up that I can see every show I my want to. I tested it at work and the picture quailty was out standing. THe set up took me 3 mins at most I love it can not wait to show it off to more of my friends. -
October 19, 2006 12:49
3.5/5
I have been looking at Slingbox for awhile now but was afraid to purchase the first generation product for fear of a tough installation. I am a business traveler who finally decided to purchase a Slingbox now that the second generation product has been released. To say the least, I am not disappointed. I have (regular) basic/expanded cable with a coax cable protruding from the wall and a WiFi DSL setup. Installation was easy EXCEPT I had a problem installing the software onto my laptop using their CD-Rom Disc (Which is why I give this product 4 stars instead of 5). The CD does not contain the software download, instead it guides your PC to obtain the download over the internet. My laptop would download up to 90% of the software and then hang. I ended up having to retreive the download directly from the Slingbox Website (no big deal). Once installed, the software automatically configured my router so I could use my slingbox from the outside (from the road anywhere there is a high-speed internet connection). The picture is pretty good when I use slingbox from within my house. On the road away from home, the picture is considerably more distorted. In order to get a better picture, I need to shrink my screen. I watch my local news on the road and plan to watch my local sport teams. I love this product and it helps me make the most of my cable which I pay too much for! If you are a non-techie like me, BUY IT! Do not be afraid of the installation, it was easy.
**Will not monopolize your TV set** -
October 17, 2006 06:42
Good
1.5/5
Sling Media took a winner of a product and "enhanced" it by encrypting the media stream last month. This nifty feature was a hidden consequence of a firmware upgrade they pushed on owners last month. As a result, the ability to record a media stream for later playback is now taken away.
This seems to be the first time I've known a supplier to downgrade a customers service and product capability after the device was purchased. That they did it in such a sneaky manner says much about the companies committment to the customer.
I'd advise you look at the Monsoon HAVA instead!
ASTROBUF -
December 28, 2006 06:59
Terrible
0.5/5
I would give it a 0 if possible.
