![]() ![]() ![]() Assuming you’ve got enough speed - upstream (from the source) and downstream (in your viewing location) - video quality can look positively excellent. When you first connect to the Slingbox, it will take 30 to 45 seconds for the stream to optimize to the available bandwidth. Watching streamed cable TV on the ample screen of the Samsung Galaxy S3. To make a long story short: overall, the Slingbox 350 performed flawlessly, and was a pleasure to use. ![]() Later, I also connected it to a DirecTV HR21 DVR at the office. I connected the Slingbox to my Time Warner DVR, and streamed to a variety of devices over the course of several days: an iPad 3, an older Android phone, a Windows 7 laptop, a MacBook Air, and the WD TV Live. And if - like me - you already have a Sling account (from earlier Slingbox models), things can be up and running in as quick as 5 minutes or less. People who are reasonably tech proficient can be up and running in 20 minutes or less. (Best-case scenario is having a laptop in the same room as the TV/Slingbox.)Īfter you establish a log-in/password and install the plug-in, the rest of the setup process is mostly answering a series of questions: what’s the manufacturer/model number of your set-top box, which TV service do you subscribe to, and so forth.Īs usual, someone who’s a real tech novice may have trouble navigating the process (or understanding the terminology). While the Slingbox streams video anywhere on the Internet, make sure you’re logged in to the same home network that the box is on during the setup process. Plug-ins are now available for all major browsers: Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and - on the Mac only - Safari. While the company used to offer standalone streaming software for Windows and Mac, that’s all now handled through browser plug-ins. Sling has invested a lot of time and effort through the years streamlining the setup, and it shows. Once you get the Slingbox hooked to all the proper cables - Ethernet, audio/video, and, of course, power - it’s time to configure the box. Sling still includes a cabled blaster, but it’s highly unlikely you’ll need it for a standard “Slingbox on top of cable box” setup. In our testing, the results were flawless. The biggest improvement of the new Slingbox line is that the blasters are now built into the box’s body (on front and the sides). In the past, that also meant stringing annoying IR blaster cables to sit in front of the cable box, thus allowing the Slingbox to pass along your remote commands (changing channels, play/pause, menu/guide, etc.). But at $15 each, the apps are pricey, and the iOS app is not universal - you’ll need to buy it once for your iPhone/iPod Touch, and again for your iPad (if you own both).Īs with past models, the Slingbox 350 is designed to sit on top of the cable/satellite box or DVR to which it’s connected. It’s also available as an app for iPhone (and iPod Touch), iPad, Android phones, Android tablets (including the Kindle Fire line), Windows Phone 7, and BlackBerry. The SlingPlayer viewing software works on Windows PCs and Macs via a free Web browser plug-in. That means you can watch your TV anywhere, on a wide variety of devices. Think of it as Netflix, but instead of streaming a catalog of on-demand title, you're streaming your TV programming, in real time. It takes any video signal you send into its AV inputs - such as your cable/satellite box or DVR - digitizes it, and streams it to you, live and in real time. The Slingbox is a personal video broadcaster. It lacks those additional bells and whistles of its step-up sibling, but it focuses on its core competency - streaming high-def video to any location - and it does so in flawless fashion. But the Slingbox 350 is no slouch, bringing full 1080p video-streaming to the party. As the premium price would imply, the 500 is the flagship Slingbox, including some first-time features like Wi-Fi connectivity, limited HDMI support, and the ability to stream photos and videos from phones and tablets. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |