Sling Media Slingbox 500 - The Best Gadget

Place-shifting heaven, November 5, 2012

By 

Damodar Chetty (Minnesota, US [www.swengsol.com]) –

  

  

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 place- and time- shifting 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

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Some improvements and minor bugs, but a huge stepback in accessibility, October 16, 2012

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).

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, and the Logitech revue. 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 turns it’s back on the slingcatcher user base which is arguably their most loyal customer base.

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…

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Works great but understand what your getting into, November 24, 2012

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, 720×1280 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.

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