![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.practicallynetworked.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/sling_200.jpg\")
<\/p>\nAuthor: Gerry Blackwell
\nReview Date: 5\/10\/2006<\/i><\/p>\n
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The SlingBox, a $250 network device from\u00a0Sling Media<\/a>\u00a0that lets you access your pay TV service or\u00a0PVR\u00a0content from any Windows computer with a high-speed network connection \u2014 including a Windows Mobile Smartphone or PDA on a cellular network \u2014 is sure to be the first of a new category of consumer network products.<\/p>\n In fact, the SlingBox is arguably the second.\u00a0Sony<\/a>‘s LocationFree TV, a portable LCD TV, offers some of the same functionality for $1,500. The Sling Media product lets you use the portable LCD you already own: your laptop or PDA. On the other hand, it requires you to have an existing wired or wireless Ethernet network. The LocationFree TV creates its own wireless network.<\/p>\n We were very impressed with the SlingBox. It’s a cool idea and well executed. However, it’s not perfect. It works great around the house, but when you take it away from home and connect via the public Internet, you run into all the congestion and reduced bandwidth problems familiar to anyone accessing streaming video on the Internet. And if you use a cable modem Internet service, those problems may be worse because the video is streaming over a connection shared with everybody else in your neighborhood.<\/p>\n Still, if you like the idea of being able to take your TV wherever you go, the SlingBox is worth considering.<\/p>\n How It Works<\/b> The final piece of the hardware set-up is installing the provided infrared (IR) extender cable. One end plugs into the SlingBox. The other end has two IR transmitters. You use the self-sticking material provided to affix them to your TV set-top box so the transmitters point at the box’s IR receiver. This is crucial because it gives you control of your TV receiver over the network from any device connected to the SlingBox, just as if you were using the physical remote.<\/p>\n Next, install the SlingPlayer software on your networked Windows PCs. You can install it on as many as you want. The software turns computers into TVs, letting you view video streamed from the SlingBox in a window on the PC monitor, or full-screen.<\/p>\n When you set up the software, you tell the SlingBox which service you use. It has built-in support for most North American pay TV and PVR services, including TiVo and Bell Expressvu a Canadian satellite service we used in testing. The software includes an onscreen remote control that looks and functions exactly like the real remote for your service. Mouse-clicking the buttons sends the same commands to your TV receiver \u2013 display the onscreen guide, change channels, adjust volume, etc. You can browse the onscreen guide and set up recordings from anywhere.<\/p>\n Sling Media is also currently offering a free beta version of its Windows Mobile client. The mobile software doesn’t give you a look-alike onscreen remote control \u2013 there just isn’t room on the little screen \u2013 but it does give you the same functional control. By tapping an onscreen button, you can switch from portrait to landscape view, which lets you watch full-screen.<\/p>\n Ready, Set, Problem Solve<\/b> Most people don’t have their network router and pay TV receiver in the same room, including us. And we weren’t going to run Ethernet cable all over the house. One option is powerline Ethernet adapters. You plug in one in the room where the router is and run an Ethernet cable from it to the router. You plug in the other in the room where the SlingBox is located and use Ethernet cable again to link them. The end-to-end connection is made over the household wiring.<\/p>\n W already knew that powerline Ethernet adapters probably wouldn’t work. The house we tested in is over 50 years old with old-fashioned wiring. The room where we located the router is on a different circuit from the room where the set-top box is located, and the powerline adapters couldn’t make an end-to-end connection. We tested Sling Media’s adapters and similar products from\u00a0Actiontec<\/a>.<\/p>\n We have a wireless network, but using a wireless bridge to connect the SlingBox turned out to be more problematic than we expected: not all bridges play nicely with all routers. We used a\u00a0Buffalo Technology<\/a>\u00a0router \u2014 the WZR-RS-G54 125 High-Speed Mode (HSM) Wireless Secure Remote Gateway. We tried connecting the SlingBox to it using a\u00a0Linksys<\/a>\u00a0Ethernet G Wireless Bridge, one recommended by Sling Media. No soap.<\/p>\n
\nFirst you connect cables from secondary audio and video outputs on your pay TV receiver to the book-size SlingBox. You can use composite\u00a0RCA,\u00a0S-video\u00a0or\u00a0coaxial\u00a0cables. Sling Media provides all three. Then you hook the SlingBox up to your network. If the router is in the same room, you can run\u00a0Cat-5\u00a0Ethernet cable. If it’s not, and your network is wireless, you can use a wireless bridge to connect the SlingBox. Or Sling Media will sell you a pair of powerline Ethernet adapters for $100.<\/p>\n
\nSetting up the SlingBox was no cake walk. We can’t attribute the problems we experienced directly to the Sling Media product, but they’re problems other people might encounter too.<\/p>\n