Sling Media Slingbox 500

• Extend your living room TV experience in sparkling 1080p high definition.
• Connects to your DVR, cable set-top box or satellite receiver via HDMI and component or composite sources.
• New simple setup on your TV screen
• Built-in Wi-Fi
• Sleek, innovative design

Before I begin this review, let me first get this caveat out of the way: I am new to the Slingbox placeshifting paradigm. Consequently, I neither have any investment nor experience with older Slingbox products. And, I can't share in the angst that seems to arise when comparing this product to earlier functionality that might no longer be available with the 500.

This review is aimed at others like me, who are new to this style of product, and are considering whether this will meet their needs.

Some Background:

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The following three ideas have become commonplace in modern TV viewing.

#/ Time-shifting :where you watch video from a given source, at a more convenient time, as with Tivo and other DVRs.

#/ Place-shifting :where you watch video in a geographically different location than its source, e.g., viewing video on a mobile device in an airport lounge sourced from a set top box in another state. This is what is solved by the Slingbox family. A Slingbox unit is installed at the source, and the source's video is accessed over the Internet using a client a browser, a mobile device such as an iPad, or some streaming devices.

#/ Streaming devices :While placeand timeshifting normally involves the viewing of normal TV broadcasts, streaming devices (like the Roku XD) let you view video on the Internet (Youtube, Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc.) The WDTV Live Hub does double duty as a streaming device as well as a Place-shifting client for the Slingbox.

A final note is on HDCP (High Bandwidth Digital Content Protection), which is an encryption technology intended to prevent the copying of digital signals.

The Slingbox 500 cannot handle HDCP. As a result, even though it can be connected to a source that outputs HDMI, that signal cannot be transmitted to its client devices. At most, it passes through the HDMI digital signal to your main TV avoiding any degradation of the primary signal.

So how does the Slingbox handle protected source video? It needs a Component video connection which means that it only can truly receive and broadcast an analog signal. It also means that rather than a single HDMI connection, you now have 5 cables to connect it to the source (3 for video and 2 for audio.)

That said, my eyes could not tell a difference in video quality, especially as my mobile devices are much smaller than my TV. (This is also why the Slingbox 350 might be sufficient for most users see comparison below.)

So, how did the Slingbox 500 HD work for me?

Setup:

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This was simple, though there are quite a few steps involved.

1. Connect the output from my set top box (a Comcast Motorola device) to the Slingbox 500 with both component and HDMI video

2. Connect the output from the Slingbox to my receiver.

3. Connect the IR remote transmitter to the Slingbox and place the other end near the Motorola set top box.

4. Connect the Slingbox to my network (it uses the less polluted 5GHz band!)

5. Create an account on Slingbox's web site (did it on the Slingbox itself)

6. Use a notebook and a browser to log in on the Slingbox site and view TV

7. Get the latest firmware for the WDTV Live Hub (v3.08.14) which adds support for the Slingbox 500

Performance:

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Viewing TV on my laptop was amazing I had a solid signal and the HD video was great. I could even bring up a facsimile of my remote, and use it to control my set top box, including using DVR and OnDemand functions. Even the program guide was a joy to use allowing me to search for programs and filter on HD content.

The WDTV Live Hub performance was less thrilling. It was slow, with button clicks taking up to 30 seconds to register, was choppy, and in the end just froze up on me, forcing me to retreat to the Home screen.

So far, I have not tried SlingPlayer on my iPad, nor the Boxee Box (discontinued last month).

Conclusion:

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Overall, while I was thrilled with the freedom offered by the 5GHz 802.11n connection on my laptop, I was less than enamored by the connection on my WDTV Live Hub. Hence the loss of a star.

Do note that the Slingbox 350 provides much of the same functionality at a better price. The key sacrifices with the 350 are:

no wireless connectivity

no HDMI input

no on-screen setup

no sharing of personal media

no unique (conversation-starting) form factor

I personally think the wireless connection is very handy, but it is debatable whether the other differences are worth the extra premium. For instance, the HDMI input on the 500 is not truly material, given the issues with HDCP.

Happy Place-Shifting,

~Damodar

Buy Sling Media Slingbox 500 Now

I'm a long time slingbox user. I currently keep a pro-hd in Japan, and watch in US on either my slingcatcher or the web slingplayer. I'm really excited about a new product from slingmedia, but I can see the placeshifting community will have some time to wait until some of the bugs are worked out. Here's what I've noticed so far:

1. Utility of HDMI feature: This is probably the #1 concern. All the documentation cautions you to use component as a backup because HDCP content will not be allowed on the box. I don't completely fault slingbox for this implementation. I pretty much expected it. It's not a technical challenge as much as it is a legal one. I suspect this is the reason an HDMI product from ANY company has taken so long. That being said, I tested it with most of the channels I get thru my "Extended Digital Cable" package thru Comcast. I received all channels so far(about 70 channels) directly from the HDMI of the Motorola cable set-top box. I can't comment on premium channels because I don't have them. There do seem to be some handshaking issues when I'll get a blank screen to start, fiddle with some inputs, and it will work. I'm not entirely sure about what the specific process is that gets it working, but once it works, it is nice. If I figure it out, I will post it. Component has not had any issues at all (again, as expected). On both HDMI and component, I must say that the picture quality is almost indistinguishable. Another unfortunate drawback to inputs is the lack of a separate digital coaxial audio input that used to exist on the Pro-HD, so if the HDMI doesn't work, you also lose the digital sound.

Continuing on the HDMI. There are no products that I'm aware of that remove the HDCP and go from HDMI to HDMI. (You can go HDMI to component or to DVI) with some dongles but HDMI to HDMI is basically non-existant. Correct me if you know otherwise. Other theories I have that remain to be tested, if a the source signal is split between the slingbox 500 and a HDCP-compliant device, it is possible that the one HDCP-compliant device will provide the handshaking that allows the signal to be passed to both signal splits. Again, I'm new to this, so feel free to jump in and set me straight.

EDIT(11/25/2012): The people at HDFury have told me that a HDFury4(aka 3DFury) with Dr HDMI will yield a HDCP free DVI stream (no audio). Therefore one could conceive the following setup: split original HDMI 1 to 2. Send one stream to the HDFury4/Dr HDMI to get video, send the other HDMI stream to an HDMI to Optical audio converter(sold on amazon), then combine the DVI and Optical audio streams (another converter sold on amazon). While this setup would work, the legality is questionable at best. Furthermore, the cost of the setup is likely beyond what most people are willing to pay($650 by my estimates).

EDIT(5/3/2013): A couple of remarks on quality:

When I first hooked up the 500, I had an extraordinarily difficult time distinguishing any picture difference between the 1080i stream that my Pro-HD was sending and the one from the 500. I recently became convinced that there has been a slight improvement in the picture quality with regards to refresh rates. The difference is subtle, but probably best appreciated when watching scrolling stock tickers and sports that have alot of camera panning. The movement seems a little smoother. The fact that it's really taken this long to appreciate that speaks to the really marginal improvement in quality (which was already excellent to begin with). I am considering adding back a star (to 3) for this as picture quality is of prime concern (especially in the age of ubiquitous HDTVs).

2. SlingPlayer for Connected Devices & SlingCatcher: Want to watch your slingbox on a real TV or home theater? Surprisingly this segment has very few supported platforms including the SlingCatcher(now discontinued), BoxeeBox(recently discontinued), Western Digital TV HD Media Player, Logitech revue(discontinued) and Sony NSZ-GS7. Of these platforms the SlingCatcher is considered to be the best and most reliable. However, the new 350/500 does not work with SlingCatcher(confirmed by SlingMedia) and possibly not with the other slingplayer platforms listed above(unconfirmed, as there have been reports of it working for some and not for others). This could be because slingbox no longer uses port 5001 for internet traffic, but uses 5201 instead(not changeable, see network bullet below). In the SlingCatcher, my Slingbox500 appears in the directory of available devices, but it requests a password to access it. Since there is no manual setup with the Slingbox500(see above) there is no place to assign a password. Therefore you cannot gain access.

A slingbox technician told me there are no plans to support SlingCatcher. This immediately places a serious cap the utility of the Slingbox500 for me and many others I'm sure. In fact before I knew this, I was ready to give up to 4 stars. With the slingbox500, SlingMedia essentially turns its back on the slingcatcher user base which is arguably their most loyal customer base.

EDIT(1/12/2013): As announced at CES 2013, The Netgear line of media players (NeoTV series) will be adding SlingPlayers, including the soon to be released NeoTV Prime which is GoogleTV based (and therefore will run the same software as Logitech Revue and Sony NSZ-GS7). I have amazon reviews for most of the slingplayer enabled devices. While the list of compatible players is increasing, none have functioned as seamlessly as the original SlingCatcher. Additionally, there are two glaring omissions from this segment: Roku and AppleTV which probably hold the number 1 and 2 spots of marketshare of this segment.

EDIT(4/8/2013): I reviewed the NeoTV Prime and left a review on Amazon. It basically is the same as the Sony NSZ-GS7 in terms of software interface, however I found the remote to be not as good yielding 3 stars. I think the Sony is the best of the lot right now. Please see my other review for more details.

EDIT(5/3/2013): I have recently decided to forgo my loyalties to the venerable SlingCatcher (at some point we have to cut our loses, right?). It still remains as the best "off-the-shelf" solution for watching your slingbox on an HDTV screen. The qualifier of "off-the-shelf" is important as the emergence of home-built HTPCs has started to gain traction and become more mainstream. I built my first HTPC which uses the Web SlingPlayer as my streaming engine, in large part because it is the most supported solution by SlingMedia. I'm very happy with the results, but it has not been a cheap solution ($700) compared with other media players that generally do not exceed $200. I suspect HTPCs will continue to gain popularity as computing power becomes cheaper, smaller, more power efficient, and easier to use.

3. IR Remote Setup: The previous online setup is abandoned and replaced by a handheld IR remote. Why was this done? Perhaps so people without computers could set it up? I'm not sure. That said, the setup process is relatively painless(not that the previous online method was bad): choose a wireless network, put in the access code, then just follow instructions. It takes a little while to punch in addresses with the remote. I'm fine with having remote, but it's a huge mistake to drop the online setup. Here's the problem: The whole point of the slingbox is to watch tv while AWAY from home, so limiting the setup functionality to a handheld controller makes remote administration virtually impossible. With computer based setup, you could login to your home network with a free package like LogMeIn to perform administration setup tasks & resets on the Slingbox. Let's face it, you're going to be away from home when you discover something broken. The remote controller isn't going to help you at all when you're thousands of miles away. You'll be stuck until you get someone at home to rerun the setup or reset the box. What happens if the dog gets the remote, or it breaks? Furthermore, I found that my Slingcatcher remote uses different codes too(I checked), so there's no backup. I hope this gets added back, because it's a major oversight. My understanding is that the 350 has a web-based setup(someone please confirm), which would be better.

EDIT: As of 10/19/2012, there is a working web-based setup

4. Network settings: you can use either hard-wire ethernet or wireless. The setup for both was easy to do, but lacks transparency in what it's doing. For most people this is probably OK, but for people who want more control of their home networks, this can be a problem. What really disappointed me about the setup is that I can no longer manually configure the IP address and the ports used. It appropriately picked up IP addresses from my DHCP server, but didn't let me assign one manually. I can think of a work around by reserving an IP address for the MAC address on my router, but that shouldn't be the way to do this. Without configuration ability it seems that the port will be locked on 5201. That could be a problem for people who have it blocked for whatever reason. I really think Slingmedia needs to make this configurable like before.

5. There is a bug with detecting valid email addresses of slingbox accounts. I tried logging into my long-held slingbox account thru the new IR remote setup interface. For some reason, it kept saying that my email address was invalid. I think it has something to do with a syntax checking routine which has some poor rules programmed. The acct it was refusing was in the format xxx@xxx.xxxxxxxx.edu. I'm not sure what the issue was(maybe .edu is bad?) but it accepted my yahoo acct. Slingbox confirmed to me that it is a bug and they are working on a new update that will fix it.

6. Controlling your devices: It seems all the previous device remotes(PL binaries) that have been amassed over the years are still available(many thanks to the user community who spearheaded this). I use a somewhat obscure tuner/dvr in japan that was added sometime last year, and it's still available. Unfortunately the capability to "teach" new controls is missing in action. The website that allowed this with the Pro-HD was taken down several months ago. There has been no word if the site will be revived (although we know there is a physical IR eye on the box that could potentially be used to "learn codes"). In the meantime there doesn't seem to be anyway to manually upload NEW PL binaries(quite a handy function with the previous boxes). This leaves a big question as to how NEW device codes will be uploaded to the new box. Don't count on Slingbox staying on top of this in a timely manner, as they have been notoriously slow for adding new devices. Without the generous user community creating these on request from other users online, many of the existing codes would not be available. It is unfortunate that we as users can no longer tap into this self-supporting resource.

UPDATE: Fixed! As of 12/4/2012, there is was a new webplayer that allowed the uploading of custom remotes.

7. Basically inconsequential observations: the new power supply is 12V. (The previous plug was 5V). I know there were alot of problems with the previous supplies, so I don't know if this is better, but it's unfortunate that they aren't compatible with the older models. (Previously the slingbox pro-hd, solo & slingcatcher used the same plug). Also, it's been pointed out that there is no longer a coaxial tuner on-board but as far as I understood this would prove to be useless now that all tuners must be digital. I don't miss it at all, I don't need another tuner.

8. A couple of nice things: it looks like the built-in IR blaster(built into the unit itself) is pretty strong. My cable set-top box didn't need any specific pointing or angling to see the signal. Although there is an external blaster included in the box, you probably won't need it. This makes for an easier and cleaner installation. Also, the box doesn't seem to get very hot as compared w/ previous models.

Overall, I think this product can only be considered a minor enhancement to the Pro-HD in terms of Wifi-access and possibly HDMI (which seems dependent on your channels and source hardware). In terms of accessibility it is a major stepback due to lack of support for SlingCatcher, SlingPlayer for PC, and now one less supported media player(recently discontinued boxeebox). I think the network and email problems I pointed out could easily be fixed with a firmware update. Overall, I am very disappointed in this product. Until these items are addressed, I find it difficult to give more than 2 stars for now. I would like to give more, but not in it's current state. I will update my review as the situation changes. In the meantime, my trusty Pro-HD will continue to be my main streaming device.

UPDATE(5/3/2013): I gave one extra star to my original assessment due to the slight (and I stress slight) improvement in picture quality (which notably has taken me 6 months to discover). However, given the importance of picture quality to the viewing experience, I am weighting this factor very heavily. My assessment of the other features of the Slingbox 500 still stand. I would therefore likely recommend the 350 over the 500, unless you absolutely need wifi.

Read Best Reviews of Sling Media Slingbox 500 Here

The slingbox works great IF you understand its limitations (and your cable box / provider). The biggest thing to point out is this 500 box is really designed for a single source due to the audio issues, you can work around it but its true design is for a single hdmi tv and single cable box. The best functionality is had when hdmi is passed strait through (to TV) and component is used for video and audio connections. This allows me to receive all content from directv including my hdcp protected premiums. My old box (Pro-HD) required me to either have the TV on for handshake or unplug the cable when away, neither elegant solutions for my premiums. People that argue the 1080p is irrelevant have a point, 99% of content is 1080i anyways, but what the 500 does add over the Pro-HD is better resolution on the compressed feed. I believe it is double of the HD actually, but I forget the exact specs. I've used both and I was much happier with the picture quality of the 500 over the Pro-HD, especially with color brightness. I had to install the legacy windows player on my pc just to turn the brightness up on my Pro-HD, a nice feature you do lose by going to the 500. On the network side wifi is added but you will need the router in the same room on the 5ghz band to really get the bandwidth you need for full HD. Now this is location based, but the 2.4ghz band just has too much competition for spectrum to get the required network bandwidth in my area. I decided to just keep the Ethernet I had already ran for my Pro-HD. Also keep in mind you will want a good upload (2mbps+, ideally 5+ imo) on your ISP where the box is located and a decent download speed of around 5mbps+, ideally 10+ where you plan to use it. Mobile devices are a little less picky and will work on 3g in Standard Quality mode, full HD will require 4g. HD mode is also a bandwidth hog, light usage over the last month (maybe 5 hours a week) was about 13 Gigabytes of data, so limited 4g will require wifi to avoid overages. Even with an unlimited data plan no service provider is going to be happy with that much consumption, heavy use could easily be 50gb/month. There are also a few quirks of this box, the IR is very strong, any boxes in the area on the same codes will also be effected, keep this in mind for a rack of boxes. You also cannot manually configure the port anymore, but this does support upnp. Best way to set a constant ip on your internal network is through a mac id dhcp reservation, most routers support this, esp third party firmwares.

To sum it all up, it works great IF you know what your getting into. If you just buy it and figure it out as you go you will probably not be happy, so be sure to spend the time learning the product to understand what it is and isn't capable of. If you have a single box, single hdmi tv you will be more then happy as long as your internet and cpu can keep up with the demands. Smart phones look great also, 720x1280 on a 4.7" screen is amazing, no missing the ball or puck here. Single complaint, my phone does have a tendency to freeze on the stream...but it does seem to happen mostly on my work wifi which is admittedly a poor router and not the most stable connection which plays into it. Disconnect/Reconnect always seems to correct it, but this does take about 20 seconds, +10 more to go back into HD mode, but it's only once per hour on average. PC seems to be rock solid though. Sling has really changed the way I watch TV.

Want Sling Media Slingbox 500 Discount?

I want to start off by saying I've been a happy Slingbox customer since 2007. When I saw the Slingbox 500 announced I thought it would be a great upgrade. My old faithful slingbox pro was connected via Composite to a Comcast DVR and via Component to a TiVo Series 3. Looking at the new 500, I saw it had Component and HDMI, so my plan was to keep the TiVo on Component and connect in the Comcast DVR over HDMI. The big reason for buying was the website's technical spec "Remote Viewing on 4 Screens". I had shared my SB-Pro login with my girlfriend and we've been fighting over access ever since!

Well, here's what I found:

> "Remote Viewing on 4 Screens" is very misleading. It doesn't mean you can actually watch from 4 screen's at once! It means they allow for 4 types of remote screens : TV's, Computers, Tablets, and Smartphones. The new TiVo Stream can support simultaneous device access. Sling blew it on this one big time, missing the mark by a long shot as most every household has multiple devices that could benefit from simultaneous streaming.

> As other's have said, the HDMI is totally worthless. The inability to decode HDCP renders the port virtually unusable.

> Even though there are Composite and Component Connections, there is only one set of Audio. Since the HDMI port is unusable, this really means you can only connect it to one input source. My 5+ year old Slingbox-Pro allowed me to connect to 3 inputs (Tuner, Component, Composite). This is a huge step back for a "top of the line" box.

> Slingbox has dropped the Windows Slingplayer. I've been using SlingPlayer2.0 for years, it works great, even on Windows8. To my surprise, Sling intentionally obsoleted this player, calling it "Legacy". To make it worse, they don't allow "Legacy" clients to connect to the new series boxes. You must use a browser. I've happily paid $29 for an iPhone Client. I even paid another $29 for an iPad client, at this point I'd almost be willing to pay another $29 to get back my old functionality, but that's not even a choice. They make you watch in a browser, which is terrible. I continuously find that when I close another tab I end up closing the Slingbox Player Window. Bring back the Windows Slingplayer!

> Geek Alert, the following sentence is fairly technical. I run a business-class firewall at home. It doesn't support UPnP or other "home" features. I have historically statically assigned the IP to my SB-Pro and then opened the required inbound NAT/Port. They no longer allow for static IP assignments of the device. I had to change the way I handled DHCP so that I could build reservations to fix the IP for the new NAT. I understand my "gateway" is not typical, but having to upgrade to a real DHCP server that supports reservations to get thru a non UPnP firewall was a crazy requirement.

With all that letdown, I'm up in the air as to if I will return it at this point. Once everything was up, I will say the image quality is a nice upgrade from my older Slingbox. Being able to use the iPad client I paid for a year ago is nice too (I actually got bit a year ago when my G/F bought the iPad app not realizing we had a PRO and not a PRO-HD, they have what appears to be an arbitrary limitation to not allow backwards compatibility).

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Well I finally decided to order this product even after finding myself unsure and somewhat intimidated by other reviews here, so I just received my slingbox about 20 minutes ago and I'm seriously watching tv on my iPad and iPhone already and i never even opened the instruction booklet that came with it. The quality is just as good as it is on my HD tv at home. I simply connected the hdmi cable that was provided to my tv and the hdmi from my cable box to the slingbox. I then simply followed the onscreen setup and things went as smooth as butter. The onscreen guide automatically updated the software, auto searched for my wireless Internet connection and advised me to hook up both the component and hdmi cables for best results. I did as instructed and the setup asked my cable box manufacturer and model which I entered, it then did a remote control test and connected to my new sling account. After the box self rebooted I opened the sling player app on my iPad and clicked connect and there it was, same thing that was on the tv it was connected to and in full crystal clear HD quality which after reading reviews I was unsure what to expect bc I am real big on the picture quality. I pressed the onscreen button for the remote and it brought up a virtual remote control that was identical to my remote control and all of the functions worked just as if I was sitting in front of the tv. As I said all time till watching tv was about 20 minutes if that long. Everything is working excellent. Definitely would recommend and planning on purchasing another unit for my other cable box so I have twice the options. I never noticed in the specs that this unit was capable of recording directly to your iPad or phone but it does have this option and it works great also. I hope this review helps some people bc when I was looking for a product to do this task I researched several and the reviews were very mixed so I don't normally write reviews but wanted anyone that was in my situation to know my experience has been amazingly simple and easy.