Sadoun introduces the SlingBOX Solo

[Sadoun]

Sadoun introduces the SlingBOX Solo

Order Yours Here

The Slingbox™ SOLO allows you to watch and control your favorite TV source—including your HD content—from anywhere in the world on your laptop or cell phone. So now you can watch your DVR, digital cable, satellite receiver, or DVD player wherever you see fit. With the Slingbox SOLO, you can watch your favorite TV shows and sporting events from anywhere.

HD Compatible
Connects to any of your high definition devices.

Single Input
Connects one high definition or standard definition device such as your DVR, digital cable set top box or satellite receiver.

SlingPlayer
SlingPlayer is the software that works hand-in-hand with the hardware inside the Slingbox to bring your entire living room TV viewing experience to your laptop, desktop or mobile device.

No Monthly Fees
Watch and control your TV and its programming on your compatible cell phone, PDA, laptop or desktop with no monthly subscription fee.

To get started with any Slingbox™, you’ll need at least the following:


Windows or Mac based PC


High-speed Internet connection


Home network router

Computer RequirementsMinimum PC Requirements:

• Microsoft Windows® Vista™ or Windows® XP with Service Pack 2
• Intel® Pentium IV 1.3 GHz processor
• 1 GB RAM for Windows® Vista™ and 512 MB for Windows® XP
• 150 MB available disk space for installation
• Graphics card (24-bit color)
• Sound card (16-bit)
• Network connectivity

Minimum Mac Requirements:

• PowerPC® G4/G5 800 MHz or Intel® processor
• Mac® OS X v.10.3.9 (or higher recommended)
• 512 MB RAM (1 GB recommended)
• 150 MB available disk space for installation
• Network connectivity

Minimum Network Requirements

• Cable or DSL modem (for out-of-home viewing)
• 256 Kbps upstream network speed recommended (higher upstream network speeds yield higher quality video)
• Home network router – wired or wireless (UPnP™ compatibility highly recommended)

Supported Audio and Video Sources Connects to one standard or high definition (HD) component, S-video or composite video source such as:

• Basic Cable TV Set-top Box
• Digital Cable Set-top Box
• Digital Video Recorder (DVR) such as TiVo®, Comcast®, ReplayTV®, DISH® or one provided by your cable/satellite provider
• DVD Player/Recorder
• HD component support with resolution up to 1080i
• Satellite Receiver such as DIRECTV® or DISH®
• Video/Security Camera
• Apple TV™
• Windows Media Center

Box Contents

• 1 Slingbox™ SOLO
• 1 AC adapter (100-240V 50-60Hz)
• 1 Ethernet cable
• 1 Quick Start Guide
• 1 Composite AV cable
• 1 Remote control IR cable

[jp498]

Can the slingbox encode and decode or is it strictly an encoding machine? I.E. Have one slingbox at an outbuilding where a satellite receiving system is, ethernet/fiber LAN link to another slingbox that decodes where the end user want to watch TV?

Seems like something like this could be a good method of getting TV anywhere over simple LAN wiring, without having to worry about bundles of coax, signal loss, cable quality, voltage drop, etc... I just don't care to watch TV on a computer.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by jp498

Can the slingbox encode and decode or is it strictly an encoding machine? I.E. Have one slingbox at an outbuilding where a satellite receiving system is, ethernet/fiber LAN link to another slingbox that decodes where the end user want to watch TV?

Seems like something like this could be a good method of getting TV anywhere over simple LAN wiring, without having to worry about bundles of coax, signal loss, cable quality, voltage drop, etc... I just don't care to watch TV on a computer.

Good question... I was going to ask the same thing, hoping that this might be a replacement for my Roku HD1000, but I suspect that the answer is that it won't do this. I was curious though re why it has both inputs and outputs for the A/V devices, thinking that possibly it MIGHT be able to decode, but then I thought that probably it only passes through the A/V to your TV, and then encodes it.

[lumpkin666]

These darn things never seem to have enough inputs.
Just in my living room, I have the following units that would be useful to view from remote locations:
Cable Box
FTA Satellite Receiver
Security Camera Console (x2)
Blu-Ray DVD Player (actually - ps3)
HD DVD Player (actually - xbox 360)
SD DVD Jukebox
Replay PVR
MS Media Center
VCR for OTA Analog
OTA Digital tuner


Now, I have tried those auto-sensing switches before, but a couple of my units do not completely power down, but instead show a black screen. The switches always stop on that screen. You would think that a system designed to remotely view "any" of your tv sources would be designed with the idea in mind that most geeks that would want something like this would also have more than 1 or 2 sources.

That said, this is a decent device, and probably serves a good segment of users. Until they have a "mega switch" solution at least bundled as part of the device though, I can't see how I'd make it work. (It'd also be nice if HDMI inputs were available).

[wejones]

Originally Posted by lumpkin666

These darn things never seem to have enough inputs.
Just in my living room, I have the following units that would be useful to view from remote locations:
Cable Box
FTA Satellite Receiver
Security Camera Console (x2)
Blu-Ray DVD Player (actually - ps3)
HD DVD Player (actually - xbox 360)
SD DVD Jukebox
Replay PVR
MS Media Center
VCR for OTA Analog
OTA Digital tuner


Now, I have tried those auto-sensing switches before, but a couple of my units do not completely power down, but instead show a black screen. The switches always stop on that screen. You would think that a system designed to remotely view "any" of your tv sources would be designed with the idea in mind that most geeks that would want something like this would also have more than 1 or 2 sources.

That said, this is a decent device, and probably serves a good segment of users. Until they have a "mega switch" solution at least bundled as part of the device though, I can't see how I'd make it work. (It'd also be nice if HDMI inputs were available).

But everything you're describing only relates to
video devices---> slingbox----> network ----> network viewing, with also local viewing on a TV directly from the slingbox of the local devices.
However can I assume that :
Video devices--->slingbox...> network.....>slingbox....> TV will not work???
or
Network video from other sources----> slingbox---> TV will not work???

I'm guessing that these 2 things won't work, ie the slingbox won't decode network stuff and display it on the A/V outputs, ie the slingbox only encodes, not decodes??? Is that right?

[lumpkin666]

Yeah, the slingbox seems to focus around encoding your content so that you can pick it up from a network enabled device in another location. The slingbox is not a client box, and requires you to run a pc or handheld device with their client software installed.

Edit:
Upon further investigation, Sling Media is also developing a unit called SlingCatcher (not yet available for sale) - which does the other part of the equation, taking the slingbox encoded data from ethernet and converting it back to view on your TV. SlingCatcher also supports usb hard drives in order to allow for PVR functionality to record the streamed content.

[wejones]

Originally Posted by lumpkin666

Yeah, the slingbox seems to focus around encoding your content so that you can pick it up from a network enabled device in another location. The slingbox is not a client box, and requires you to run a pc or handheld device with their client software installed.

Edit:
Upon further investigation, Sling Media is also developing a unit called SlingCatcher (not yet available for sale) - which does the other part of the equation, taking the slingbox encoded data from ethernet and converting it back to view on your TV. SlingCatcher also supports usb hard drives in order to allow for PVR functionality to record the streamed content.

Thanks for the info. The SlingCatcher thing sounds interesting. Hopefully Sadoun will keep an eye out for it.