April 14, 2007

Slingbox Pro Review

The Slingbox by SlingMedia has been around for awhile and it has really proven to be a great little device. When we first read about the Slingbox we have to admit that we smiled and thought that this would fail in a matter of months. Well boy were we wrong. Not only has the Slingbox not failed, but it has thrived.

Targeted to those with fast home connections and the desire to watch their TV anywhere else in the world the Slingbox has become the perfect companion. For those not in the know the Slingbox hooks up to your DVR, cable box or whatever you have that is grabbing TV off the airwaves and, via a computer in your house that has a fast internet connection, will allow you then to watch it from anywhere else.

The software installed in the device is supposed to be able to detect the speed of your network connection and then adjust the compression it applies to the video before it streams it out. The nice thing about the Pro model is that unlike the other models offered, it has 4 inputs so it can output 3 standard definition streams and one high definition. The nice thing about that is the freedom it allows with regards to watching high def vs standard. You can have your HD Tivo streaming the latest baseball game while your standard def cable box in the kitchen can stream the evening news.

We love the idea of being on the road and being able to watch shows that you have recorded on your home machines. Granted we don't travel that much, but in theory its great. Ever since the first model has come out they have continued to improve the quality of the streaming and have spent a considerable amount of time refining their software to allow the highest quality experience possible.

If you find yourself on the road a lot of just basically away from the house and want to watch that recorded episode of Lost or Heroes then you can't go wrong with any of the Slingboxs offered.

You can find them all pretty cheap at Amazon: