Slingbox Pro - Watch your TV, DVD player or DVR Anywhere in the World

The Slingbox Pro is a $250 add-on box for your TV, one that takes the output of your antenna, DVR, DVD player or other device, compresses it, and then streams it digitally to any PC, PocketPC, or Smartphone connected to your home network or the interenet, while still allowing the signal to pass through unaffected to your TV. Users can even view and control what they’re watching from the remote PC’s. The SlingPlayer softaware allows viewers to watch the video streams just as if they were setting in front of their TV with the remote in hand. SlingMedia offers several versions of the Slingbox, with the Pro version being the top of the line model. Cheaper models are available if you don’t need to stream HD devices.

The Slingbox Pro has connections for two video sources, a S-video connection and a composite video input. The Slingbox Pro also has an analog tuner, so there’s also a coax connection for your antenna/cable signal. And if your willing to pay for a $50 adapter, you can connect one high definition source to the Slingbox Pro via component video and audio cables, allowing the Slingbox Pro to stream content from up to 4 sources. I recently set up a Slingbox Pro in my den, connected to a Cox Cable/Motorola HD Digital Video Recorder (DCT6416) via component video cables, and to my home network with an ethernet cable. The Slingbox Pro comes with a wired IR transmitters to connect to up to 3 devices, which I set up to control my Motorola DVR.

Key spec’s and features of the Slingbox Pro include…

TV/analog tuner built in
Composite, S-video, coax inputs and outputs
Component in and out connections (if you also purchase the HD adapter)
Connect and control 4 devices, including one HD device (if you also purchase the HD adapter)
Two IR transmitters for controlling dvd players, cables boxes, etc (and two more with the HD adapter)
PC/Mac Compatible Sling Player, SlingPlayer versions for PDA’s and Smartphones
Streams compressed video at bit rates of up to 3000 Kbps
High quality video compression, support for most video devices

The Slingbox Pro does an excellent job streaming video over your network or the internet. Even more impressive is how many different kinds of hardware the Slingbox software will work with. The Slingplayer software provides a virtual remote on a PC's screen, that uses the Slingbox's IR transmitters to control all kinds of video sources. They have a huge library of DVD players, DVR’s and other devices which the SlingPlayer software can emulate. The Slingbox also knows how to work correctly with all types of routers, ensuring that they are configured correctly to upload video to the internet.

Appearances

The Slingbox Pro won’t look like anything else in your entertainment console. It’s a red box about 2” high, 12” wide and about 4” deep, slightly pyramidal in shape. The input and output connectors are on the back edge. There are 3 small, unobtrusive, red LED’s on the front, one indicates power, one for a good network connection, and one to indicate when the Slingbox is streaming video.

The Slingbox will add to the cable clutter in your entertainment center. Since it’s a pass though device, you’ll need to run the apprpropriate a/v cables into it from each player and out of it to your TV. You’ll also have the small IR transmitter cables going from the Slingbox to each device you want to control, the power cable, and ethernet cable. Fortunately, every cable you’ll need is included with the Slingbox Pro.

Setup

I’m using the Slingbox Pro to stream TV shows, live and recorded, from my HD DVR to other PC’s in my home and occasionally to two family members living in campus apartments. In addition to the Slingbox Pro, I purchased the HD Connect so that I could use component cables to connect to the HD DVR. Then I ….…

- Plugged the HD Connect into the Slingbox
- Disconnected the component cables going from the DVR to my Vizio HDTV and connected the cables to the HD Connect adapter. I also ran the component cables which came with the HD Connect from the HD Connect’s output to my TV.
- I ran the IR transmitter cable from the SlingBox and attached it to the DVR.
- I also connected the power and Ethernet cables to the Slingbox.

With all the wiring connected, I then installed the Slingplayer software on two desktop PC's in my home and the two laptops used by the college students in my family. The first installation can be a little complicated, setting up the software, configuring it to work with your router, and then configuring it to work with your DVR or cable box or other devices, and installing any firmware updates (recommended). With the first installation, you’ll setup two passwords, one that each PC will need to use to connect to the Slingplayer, and one administrator password that allows you to access the settings on the Slingplayer itself. The SlingPlayer also configured my router to ensure the Slingbox would be able to upload streaming video to internet connected PC’s. The software was able to handle this without intervention from me, but if you do have problems, there are easy to follow guides to walk you through accessing and changing most router’s settings.

I had to identify the right “virtual” remote to work with my DVR among all the options in the Slingplayer database. DVR’s and other devices are listed by type, brand and model in the database. To make things more complicated, some cable companies set up their DVR’s to work differently, so there are several options for each device in the database. I had to try three different ones before I found settings which allowed me to control my DVR fully.

Finally, the SlingPlayer walked me through a few steps to optimize the video quality on my PC, showing me two different scenes at a time, asking me to pick the best quality while it made adjustments.

Using the Slingbox

The Slingbox works best streaming video over a home network, wired or wireless, where your bandwidth is greatest. Streaming video over the internet works surprising well, but most broadband ISP’s limit your upload speeds to between 256-512Kbps, which limits the quality of the streamed video. Sling recommends a minimum 256 Kbps Upstream capacity. When I’m streaming media over my home network to another PC, my Slingbox streams at a bit rate of 3000Kbps, which allows for video quality at least equal to standard definition TV, approaching DVD quality for some sources (streaming HDTV, for example). Viewing the video full screen on a 19” LCD monitor is almost indistinguishable from standard definition digital cable channels on my TV or watching DVD’s on my PC, and the quality is better than analog channels.

Since I’m streaming video from my DVR, an image representing my DVR’s remote appears on the remote PC’s screen each time I roll my mouse over the SlingPlayer software window. I can access all the options my DVR offers with a remote in my hand, fast forward, pause, select recordings, power on and off, etc. My DVR takes an extra second or so to react to the virtual remote, an almost imperceptible delay. If I try to launch the SlingPlayer while someone else is also using the software on another PC, I get a warning. With the administrator password for the Slingbox, I can kick the other user off if so desired.

My ISP (Cox) caps my upload speeds at 512Kbps, which is enough to provide decent video quality on remotely connected PC’s, to the credit of Sling’s excellent video compression software. Playing the video in boxes that take up 1/2 of the screen or so look very good. Full screen still looks ok, though you can sometimes see a little blockiness, especially at bit rates of 300 kbps that I get at a local coffee house that offers free wireless internet.

There are a few drawbacks to having a SlingBox tied to my DVR. If someone is using the SlingBox to watch something from my DVR, I can’t watch something else without changing what the other user is watching. Sling has built safeguards into their software that keeps you from recording video from the SlingPlayer on your PC. This minimizes the risk of lawsuits, but it’s a shame that you can’t take full advantage of your PC by building in a few more DVR features into the SlingPlayer.