Product Description

The Slingbox is a breakthrough consumer electronics device that enables you to watch your living room television programming from anywhere by turning virtually any Internet-connected laptop or PC into a personal television. The Slingbox shifts your television signal from a cable box, satellite receiver, or DVR to your PC--located at home or 3,000 miles away--via the Internet. Whether you want to watch your soaps in the laundry room, or catch the big game during a conference call, or watch your local news from China, the power is now in your hands. Wherever you go, your TV will follow.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16172 in Consumer Electronics
• Color: Silver
• Brand: Sling Media
• Model: SB100-100
• Released on: 2005-08-15
• Dimensions: 3.20 pounds

Features

• Enjoy your home TV programming wherever you are; the office, a hotel room, your garden, even the bathroom; anywhere there is an Internet connection
• SlingRemote lets you change channels, view recorded content, fast-forward and set up a season pass with virtually any A/V device
• Powered by a digital signal processor; leverages the latest WMV technologies; SlingStream network optimization algorithms provide superior quality
• Easy to use and set up, with no new cables required, automatic device discovery, and a setup wizard that guides you through the process step-by-step
• Absolutely zero subscription fees!

From the Manufacturer
From the Manufacturer What if you were able to watch live television wherever you go? The World Series in your cube. MSNBC breaking news at the coffeeshop. Your local news station halfway around the world. Lost in Hawaii. Emeril Live in your kitchen. Now what if we told you that you could do that without having to lug a television, a cable box, a satellite dish, or a subscription along with you? In fact, you don’t need anything besides your laptop (which is attached to your hip already).

That’s because back home, you have a Slingbox sitting on top of your television. The simple silver device looks suspiciously like a gigantic chocolate bar, but the technology inside is truly sweet. This award-winning gadget is a breakthrough device that enables you to watch and control your living room television programming from anywhere by turning any Internet-connected laptop or PC into a personal television.

Yes, It Really Works
With a wave of a virtual magic wand, the Slingbox place-shifts the television signal from an antenna, cable box, satellite receiver, DVR, and more to your PC via the Internet, whether you're at home or 3,000 miles away. Thanks to the Slingbox, you can enjoy your home TV programming wherever you are: the office, a hotel room, your garden, even the bathroom--anywhere there is an Internet connection. You even get full control over the source, from changing channels and viewing recorded content to fast-forwarding or setting up a season pass. You truly can watch and control your television anytime, anywhere--the power is in your hands.

With a resizable window mode, full-screen mode, and the Slingbar, the SlingPlayer lets you watch your television however you want.

Our solution to viewing your own TV while on the road involves two pieces of technology. In addition to the Slingbox hardware which always remains connected to your television source, we provide you with the SlingPlayer--which is installed on any Windows-based desktop or laptop. This software program gives you 100% control over your source. It encompasses several innovative technologies, including our SlingStream optimization algorithms that automatically give you the best picture possible. You can watch your TV in full-screen or windowed mode. There’s also the Slingbar mode, which docks the SlingPlayer on either side of the desktop. Your desktop will dynamically resize to fit the remaining screen space, so you can watch TV while using your computer for other functions such as surfing the Web or working on a presentation.

We're Scared of Wires, Too
The Slingbox is designed to fit seamlessly into your existing home theater setup and your PC technologies. We support literally thousands of devices, so whatever you’ve got, we’re sure the Slingbox can handle it. Better yet, installing it is a piece of cake. We won’t make you rewire the entire house, wait around for someone all morning, or purchase extra required pieces. The Setup Wizard automatically discovers and configures the Slingbox for the device that it is connected to, and it walks you through the process step by step. In just four simple steps, the Slingbox is good to go.

It’s easy to connect to your Slingbox. With the free Slingbox Directory service, you can see a list of all Slingboxes on your network, and whether they’re available or in use already. Scroll down the list and select yours, then hit connect.

1. Connect the TV source to the Slingbox.
2. Connect the Slingbox to the Internet.
3. Plug in the Slingbox power adapter.
4. Load the SlingPlayer software onto your PC.

You are now ready to view and control your TV programming via your Internet-connected desktop or laptop as if you were sitting in your living room, watching your TV source, and using its own remote control.

SlingMobile: Sling on the Move
In addition to watching your Slingbox via any Internet-connected PC, you can now also utilize select Smartphones and Windows Mobile products to connect to your Sling, making it possible to watch your favorite shows from airports, inside taxis, during road trips, and just about anywhere else you can get your mobile phone signal. The optional software is available on www.slingmedia.com for download.

It’s My TV
Sling Media believes in giving you what is yours. This means that in addition to giving you your television wherever you go, the Slingbox lets you personalize the viewing experience. We have developed numerous remote control skins that look just like your real remote control. You can fine-tune the volume, brightness, contrast, hue, and other video signal settings to perfection. The Favorites Bar gives you one-click access to all of your favorite stations. You can even use any picture from your computer’s hard drive as the channel’s icon.

We believe that watching your TV is about, well, you. That’s why your remote control is your own, your favorite channels are your own, and your video signal is just the way you like it.

What’s in It for Me?
When you buy a Slingbox, you don’t need to buy another computer just to watch it. There is no monthly, yearly, or hourly subscription fee. There are no contracts to fill out or services to sign up for. That means you don’t have to feel guilty about watching TV all the time now. (Well, unless you want your significant other to still love you.)

Talk Nerdy to Me
The Slingbox is powered by a high-performance digital signal processor from Texas Instruments and leverages Microsoft’s latest Windows Media Video technologies to provide superior video quality. Plus, our engineering dudes developed the SlingStream optimization algorithms that automatically adapt to changing network conditions. This means that we can give you the best video quality consistently, personalized to your connection. Our variety of S-Video, coax, and composite RCA inputs allows you to hook up basically anything you want to the Slingbox and sling that signal around the world. Right now, the software works with Microsoft Windows Vista/2000/XP/MCE and Mac computers, as well as select handheld devices.

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Customer Reviews

AWESOME PRODUCT - GREAT INVENTION - FANTASTIC QUALITY!!!
Well, I've only been using it for about 2 days now and I must say that I am pleasantly surprised and 99% satisfied! (1% is lost on the fact that only one computer can use it at a time.)

The quality is top-notch! I thought it might be pixelated, jerky, or buggy - but it isn't. It flows and runs like a regular TV. It just feels like you're watching TV.

Let me also mention all of the features that it has:

* You can watch TV with a full screen and either have the remote on the screen, or not.

* You can hit a button and it will automatically dock to one side of the screen and re-adjust the size of your other windows. And then, you can even fine tune and adjust the size of that window.

* If you just want it to be on your screen and not be docked, you can do that and adjust that screen size as well.

* You can also create a list of favorite channel icons, so all you do is click onto your favorite channel's icon. If the icon doesn't exist - you can create your own!

* It also works with channels like HBO On Demand and with TiVo as well (however, I don't have TiVo).

* If your workplace has a firewall, you can access your home computer using your home computer's IP Address.

This product is HIGHLY recommended!

Outstanding People, Ground Breaking Technology
Ground-breaking technology. This device allows me to watch my Chicago cable TV service while in Paris. It converts the TV signal into an internet transmission. The image is only about 4 x 3 inches in size on my higher density 1680 by 1050 notebook screen but looks very clean and highly viewable. Sound quality is excellent. Transfer rates ranges from 400 to 700 kbps.

Another feature of this product is that it can be used as an internet based remote control. I have one in my mother's senior home apartment. It enables me to view her apartment, view her electronics, and send remote control signals to her electronics whenever she gets stumped. I'm sure there are many other ways to apply this unique technology.

SlingMedia is an exceptional company. The initial release of this product brought rave reviews -- uncommon for release 1.0. They did not rest. Since then, they have released new versions which further enhanced the SlingBox.

I'm impressed with the concept, the technology, the product, the execution, the installation, the enhancements, the updatability, the reliability, the quality of the support, the people from top to bottom. The staff members are very active on avsforum.com. Great attitudes.

While Tivo enabled me to watch TV when I wanted, this product allows me to watch TV where it was otherwise impossible.

This may be the best consumer electronic product of 2005.

Update 15 Nov 2005: Wow, it happened! Time Magazine named it one of the "Best Inventions 2005" in November 21st 2005 issue.

Update 9 Jan 2006: Won PCMag 2005 Technical Excellence Award\

I'm in no way affilated with SlingMedia. I'm just a SlingBox fan boy.

Actually works perfectly out of the box
I was amazed. On my home network, streamed very high quality (though small picture, since the TV signal is actually less than 640x480), and when I went wireless, the quality dropped (as expected), but it kept up with audio, didn't break up. Really amazingly well designed wizard to configure.