Sling Media Slingbox Pro-HD review

Sling Media Slingbox Pro-HD Review

Reviewed by: John P. Falcone

Reviewed on: 30 September 2008

When Sling Media released a trio of second-generation models in the autumn of 2006, the Slingbox Pro was at the top of the line. Unfortunately, it also came with a handful of caveats and was an ugly maroon colour. The third-generation Slingbox Solo appeared the following year, co-opting nearly all of the Pro's key features, making the need for an upgrade to the Pro even more apparent. Almost two years to the day since the Pro was released, its replacement is here: the Slingbox Pro-HD, which will be available in the UK soon for around £200.

Design
The Slingbox Pro-HD looks like an elongated version of the older Slingbox Solo, with the extra space needed to house the myriad AV jacks found on its backside. It sports the familiar Slingbox trapezoidal design, but the Pro-HD's metallic black and gray housing looks far more attractive than its inexplicably red-coloured predecessor. Except for the three red indicator lights on the front face, all the action is around back. There's no power switch, either -- once plugged in, the Slingbox is designed to be on always, just like a cable modem or router.

The Pro-HD's rear panel boasts multiple sets of inputs and outputs, so it can sit innocuously between your cable or satellite box (or DVR) and your TV, and soak up signals from three sources: one for a standard definition (composite or S-Video plus stereo analogue audio); one dedicated high-definition source (component video plus analogue stereo or digital coaxial audio); and one RF coaxial video source.

The RF source can be either analogue or digital. Using the SlingPlayer software, you can toggle between the inputs at the touch of a button. In fact, you can really have two analogue AV sources -- one on composite, one on S-Video -- for a total of four video sources. They'll either need to share an audio input, however, or one will have to be sans audio, such as a security camera.

The component video connections of the Slingbox Pro-HD have no trouble processing HD video (720p and 1080i, but not 1080p). An HDMI connector would've been nice, but that would introduce pesky copyright protection and digital-rights management issues. Nevertheless, be aware that some cable boxes can't support parallel HD video output.

Also, don't expect to share a Slingbox key with friends and family to use simultaneously. By design, the Slingbox only supports streaming to one client at a time.

Features
The new model fixes nearly all the annoyances of the older version, and brings it up to date for the upcoming DTV transition. Specifically, component inputs and outputs are onboard; the unit can now stream 'HD' video (or, at least, better than 640x480-pixel resolution) to remote PCs; the enclosure sports a much improved look and feel; and the unit even boasts a built-in digital TV tuner.

The Slingbox lets you stream your home TV programming to your broadband-enabled Mac, PC, smart phone, or to a SlingCatcher receiver that's hooked up to another TV. Both the Slingbox (source) and the device running the SlingPlayer software (receiver) need to be connected to high-speed broadband networks, but the distance between the two isn't a factor. As long as you're getting normal broadband access speeds, you can watch your Slingbox playback anywhere -- be it in another room of the house or halfway around the world, literally.

We ran our HD DVR through the Slingbox's inputs using the component video cables and the digital audio cable; then we connected the Slingbox outputs to our TV. We also connected an RF cable to the Slingbox and ran it to an antenna. We left the standard-definition inputs open, but serious gearheads could add one or two more. It's worth noting that Sling includes pretty much every cable you'd need: component, composite AV, stereo audio, RF, S-Video and Ethernet.

In addition to connecting the Slingbox between the cable/satellite box and the TV, you'll also need to connect it to your home network. With no built-in Wi-Fi, the only choice is the wired Ethernet connection. If you don't have a network cable in the vicinity, you'll need to opt for a wireless bridge or power-line networking interface. We've had much better luck with the latter, which sends network traffic over your home power lines.