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SlingboxIt seems there are new electronic devices popping up every month these days, harnessing the power of the internet and wireless networking to bring us new ways to talk, listen, and view digital media. Sling Media was formed in 2004, bringing us a product known as the Slingbox. What is a Slingbox? Well, the crazy name doesn't tell you much, but it is basically an electronic device that plugs into your home computer network and cable or satellite TV system, allowing you access and viewing of all your home TV options from any other internet-connected device. What does this mean? It means you can watch TV on your laptop in the kitchen. You can check out program from your Tivo on your cell phone. You can watch all your favorite sports programs from home when you are using your laptop in a hotel room 3000 miles away. The easiest way to think about it is that Slingbox lets you watch your TV, just like you were at home, from any location as long as you have a internet connected device capable of showing video (laptop, computer, cell-phone).
How does a Slingbox work?A Slingbox looks much like any other video component you might have in your home entertainment room - Tivo, cable set-top box, DVD player, etc. There are 3 different versions of the Slingbox available -- the Slingbox Tuner, the Slingbox AV, and the Slingbox PRO. Hooking up a Slingbox is relatively simple. You need a cable or DSL modem, 256 Kbps Upstream Network Speed, and a Internet router on your home network. The main difference between the 3 different products is in the kind of video feeds they can accept. The basic model, the SLingbox Tuner, accepts only an analog cable input (ie, basic cable). The next level up, the Slingbox AV, can handle just about any video input except for HD (high definition) -- this means it can connect to your digital cable set top box or satellite TV box (Dish Network), DirecTV, Tivo, DVD players, and any other NTSC S-Video or Composite video source. The Slingbox Pro adds compatibility with HD signals, and allows you to connect up to 3 non-HD sources and one HD source.Each package comes with the Slingbox itself, the SlingPlayer software CD, an AC adapter, ethernet cable for connecting to your router, and come cabling for connecting to your video sources. Buying a SlingboxWhere can I buy a Slingbox? How much does Slingbox cost? The Slingbox Tuner and AV models both retail for $179, while the PRO costs $249. You can buy them direct from Slingmedia.com or at many electronic retailers and websites, like Amazon.com ($239 for the Pro, $137 for the AV), JR.com ($150 for Slingbox Tuner, $219 for SLING MEDIA SB200-100 Slingbox Pro), or CircuitCity.com ($165 for Slingbox AV, $229 for Slingbox Pro as of Jan 2007). In our research, we probably wouldn't use the Slingbox that much unless we really did a lot of travelling and had time enough on the road to check out TV shows from home. In your own home, while it might be handy to pick up programming on laptops or computers spread around the house, the TV is still the preferred viewing platform, and what is really needed is a wireless add-on that allows regular TVs to pick up and display programming signals being broadcast from something like the Slingbox attached to a master location, making Tivo, DVDs, and cable and satellite programming to be viewed from any TV in the house, not just on networked computers or portable devices. We are going to sit this one out and wait for something designed for in-home TV viewing ease.
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