Sony LF-B20 LocationFree Wireless Base Station

I purchased the Sony LF-B20 for myself last month as I am the guy who has everything and this fit the category as something I wanted and couldn't live without. I was somewhat skeptical about it's ability to do everything Sony said it could. My goal was to be able to watch my Direct TV while at a resort that had no TV available.

Right out of the box the setup worked without a hitch. I connected it to my DSS receiver and TIVO and my Netgear wireless router to program the base station and was watching and controlling my satellite receiver from my laptop in less than 5 minutes including registration. As long as I was on my home network it was a beautiful thing.

I had a few glitches in getting the unit to work from a remote network though. The issue was getting the IP address to be routed correctly. Please don't even try to do this on your own as it will be met with frustration and lack of success. I spent a day on the Location Free web site and blogs trying to find the correct method. Simply call Sony's Tech support for the Location Free system. In 5 minutes, with some small adjustments to the settings you will have control of your video universe from anywhere in the world that you can get onto a broadband connection!

It was a thrill to watch local news and sports from 2000 miles away from home, controlling my remote from the computer as if it was in my hand! Better yet, the remote never gets lost. Anybody who saw what I was watching on my laptop had to have more info on how to get one.

Sony has hit a home run with this device. Their tech support was top notch as well.

Note: If you have your AV components next to your router/modem than save the $50 and buy LF-B10 as you don't need the wireless connection from the base station to your router.

This new 'Toy' from SONY does exactly what it says it will do in grand fashion. It took a little bit of work to configure it with my new Belkin Wireless N Router & Netopia Modem from AT&T, but after the Sony Techies walked me through the step by step process, it worked like a charm.

I am compelled, at this time, to compliment the Sony staff as they used every option available to them, including taking remote control of my computer and calling me back as promised to configure the pinhole needed for off-sight TV viewing.

I own a PSP and take it with me to my local hot spots to watch TV and DVDs. It works...to everyone's amazement...the virtual remote controls give you total control over your set top box and DVD/CD Player.

The Picture and Sound quality is amazing thanks to the new AVC and I'm now going to get a Sony 400 Disc CD/DVD Player so I can watch my entire library off site.

When I add this setup to the new currently unreleased Sony TV Box Client, I'll be able to watch my entire DVD catalog in any room of the house where I have a client.

Kudos to Sony.

I hope that his review is valuable in making the choice to purchase the item.

Warren

Buy Sony LF-B20 LocationFree Wireless Base Station Now

I own both the Sony LocationFree and the Slingbox. The Sony I bought in Japan and the Slingbox in the US. The Slingbox is better for these reasons:

1) The Slingbox is easier to configure.

2) With the Slingbox, same PC can simultaneously run both over the Internet on your LAN. This saves reconfiguration when you use your laptop both in and out of the house.

3) Sony charges for each additional client software license while the Slingbox is free for download. While neither will allow multiple devices to simultaeously stream video, multiple seperate devices can be registered to run per Slingbox where only one device can be registered to run per LocationFree. In the latter case, you must "de-register" your PC before allowing another to connect using the same license.

4) The Slingbox has comprehensive remote control capability even when your away from home where the LocationFree does not.

Read Best Reviews of Sony LF-B20 LocationFree Wireless Base Station Here

Just got my LF-B20 yesterday. It took all of about 20 mins to install. Could have been just 5 mins if I had skipped registering the product while installing. The picture quality is simply stunning. At work with 200KBPS download speed the picture is fine for watching even movies on HBO. Two reasons why I chose LF-B20 over Slingbox Pro: 1) Wirelessly connects to the router, thereby doing away with the need for a wireless bridge. 2) Remote 'learning' makes it real easy to program non-standard receivers.

Would like to hear objective comparisons to Slingbox pro in terms of picture quality. LF-B20 uses h.264 video codec, not sure what Sling uses.

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I will keep this short. What sony forgot to tell me was that the only setup process is for pc. I was looking forward to using this with my psp but the fact is that without a pc you will never be able to use this and if you want to watch tv on your mac you will have to buy seperate software. This is no problem for some but for me its useless.