Reviewed by Kevin McCaig and Dave Bonhoff 11/16/11
The Slingbox Pro-HD is an internet and network video rebroadcaster designed to stream content from your Cable/Satellite TV or your PVR directly to your computer or mobile device via your home network or the internet. It lets you watch your TV and you're PVR'ed content on your Mac or iOS device in your backyard or anywhere you have a stable internet connection.
I was delighted when I found out we'd be getting a Slingbox HD Pro for review, I'd played with an earlier model in the past and liked not only the concept, but how the device performed, the only issue I'd had with the previous version was infrastructure related, and I was hoping that with the newer, faster connections available from the ISPs that the experience would be faster and smoother, but more on that in a moment...
First Impressions:
Taking it out of the box the device just looks slick (it's a huge step up from the bright red of the previous generation)... but I think I was most surprised by how light the Slingbox is, I had initially been concerned about setting it up on top of my PVR for both heat and weight reasons (my PVR has the bulk of it's venting across the top, and the only internal support for the top is around the side edges, so significant weight would cause the case to flex); however, the low-profile catamaran-legged design of the Slingbox allowed for maximum airflow underneath and let what little weight it does have transfer down to the side supports in the PVR. So I had nothing to worry about there.
The Hardware specs for the Slingbox aren't too demanding for SD but HD is going to require a fairly hefty CPU and a top-tier internet connection, all the major ISP's for the Waterloo Region have only one tier with enough upstream bandwidth to sling HD content, each of which will set you back around $80/month.
Minimum OS 10.6 (Snow Leopard)
Firefox 5 or Safari 5 (or higher)
For HD Viewing:
1.5 Mbps or higher (remember that this is upstream)
Intel 2.8GHz Core 2 Duo or better with 2GB of RAM
For SD Viewing:
384 Kbps or higher
Intel-based Mac with 1GB of RAM
In The Box:
Slingbox Unit
HD Component Cables
SD Composite Cable
S-Video Cable
F-Type Co-axial Cable (standard TV connector)
Ethernet Network Cable
4 x IR Blasters
Power Cable
Setup:
The actual connecting of the Slingbox and Slinglink were pretty easy, although we did run into an ambiguity in the manual when combining both devices together that made for some confusion and debate. We just went ahead and tried what made sense (thankfully that was the correct move). The best part for me about connecting it all up was that every cable I needed (including the ethernet cables BTW) was already included in the box, I didn't have to dig through the box of A/V cables in my workshop to get everything connected or have to make a trip to Wal-mart to buy another audio cable. It was all right there (there was no dedicated Digital Audio cable
Two cons that we noticed in the physical setup were:
- The lack of an HDMI port
While the reason for not adding one is fairly obvious (not wanting to pay the licensing for the interface and consequently increase the MSRP, and the fact that channel switching can sometimes cause glitches in the HDMI hardware handshaking protocols) the lack of an HDMI port may be an issue for some users. Unfortunately HDMI has become the de-facto HD A/V connection for most consumer video products for two reasons, it's easy for the average user to figure out one cable (as opposed to four or five), and it carries a full-surround digital audio signal along with video. Now factor in that not all HD TVs have multiple component inputs, and if you are someone who has something like the Nintendo Wii (who's HD output is also limited to Component video) you're left with a dilemma: Do I swap cables every time I want to use the other device or do I spend another $100 on an HD Component video switch?
- No optical digital audio out
Before I get lambasted in the comments for being nit-picky about this I'm mentioning it more for the lack of either HDMI or optical d/a out. If you have a TV with HDMI or Optical digital as the only Surround audio input as I do connecting the Slingbox between your TV and PVR will force you to downgrade your audio to analog stereo.
Software setup wasn't difficult since at the time of testing the Slingplayer Software for Mac didn't support the Slingbox Pro-HD (and at the time of this review it still doesn't, hopefully Sling Media is working on an update). Before I go on I wanted to mention that I did spend about an hour mucking about with the Slingplayer trying to get it to function without success, which was disappointing, but not unexpected. The alternative to the Slingplayer Application is to watch your content on the web at:
Slingbox - Watch your TV anywhere.
Placeshifting - watching content:
I started off by testing a local connection, watching my Rogers Cable content on my Mac Pro over my LAN, video and audio quality were excellent and the built-in remote was able to control my cable box without any issues. This brings up what I personally think is the best feature of the Slingbox, it's smart enough to detect that you're watching from the same IP address when using it over a LAN and serves your content to you directly rather than streaming it out to the net and back in to your computer. As a result content that you 'sling' withing your home doesn't eat into your internet usage cap.
The next step was to attempt to watch my cable content via the web, to do this I had our VP Dave Bonhoff log into the sling account I created and access the Slingbox directly. Dave was instantly able to see and control both the Slingbox and my cable box without trouble. While it would have been nice to see the HD content in all it's high pixel-depthed goodness we were limited strictly to SD content (largely because my upstream bandwidth is 1 Mbps rather than the required 1.5). There was the occasional playback stutter (though still eminently watchable) but the audio was rock solid thanks to the SoundTouch audio processing library which compensates for variable or unreliable bandwidth shifts.
While we didn't have the opportunity to try it there is also a Slingplayer mobile App available on the iTunes App Store which will let you control and watch your media via your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch for an additional $30.
The Slinglink Turbo 1port is actually two interchangeable devices which broadcast a network signal over your home's electrical wiring, effectively turning your whole house into one big hub. Suppose your Slingbox or other networked device is nowhere near your router, perhaps in a different room or on a different floor and a wireless signal isn't an option, this will do the job.
You'll notice I didn't say much about the Slinglink during the review, that's ultimately because there's not much that needs to be said, after I plugged both ends in (one to my router and the other to the Slingbox) I was able to completely ignore it. There was no configuration, no settings, nothing; simply plug it in and forget it's there (oh but make sure to not plug it in to a surge protector or UPS as they will filter out the data signal).
Overall i think both are great products, being able to stream your personal content anywhere you are is just awesome. Being able to do that without having to pay any additional monthly fees (like you would with a cloud service that stored and served media to you) is even better. Currently Canadian ISP bandwidth limitations are the only major hurdle I can see, if you aren't on a service which provides the minimum upload rate of 1.5 Mbps you might do better to pick up the less expensive Slingbox Solo.
Slingbox Pro-HD
Pros:
- Stream your content anywhere
- Integrated ATSC Tuner (didn't get to test that but it means that home viewers aren't forced to watch the same content)
- Awesome LAN Video and Audio quality
- Tons of A/V in/out options incl. 1080i component output
- Included cables
Cons:
- No HDMI or Digital Optical audio out
- iOS apps cost extra
- HD bandwidth and hardware limitations can hurt video quality (not the fault of the Slingbox, blame the ISPs)
Slinglink
Pros:
- Turn your household wiring into a network
Cons:
- I honestly can't think of anything bad to say about this thing
