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Sony LocationFree TV LF-B20

Michael Brown — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 13:38:44 -0600

The LocationFree TV LF-B20 offers a number of improvements over Sony’s earlier video-streaming effort. A few of the new model’s features are superior to the Slingbox Pro’s, but this product is no match for Sling Media’s latest release.

Surprisingly, considering the source, the LF-B20’s two biggest shortcomings are its video quality and the convoluted process you must go through to set it up. The latter problem can be attributed to the LF-B20’s flexibility: It can operate as either a wireless client to a wireless router (meaning you don’t need to hard-wire it to your router) or a wireless 802.11a/b/g access point in its own right. But there’s just no excusing the inferior quality of the LF-B20’s streaming video.

There’s also no excuse for Sony’s continued expectation that consumers should pay $30 for each additional PC on which they wish to install the company’s LFA-PC2 player software. And despite the claim of “Windows Mobile” compatibility advertised on the LF-B20’s box, no such software was available at press time. (Third-party developer Access has announced, but not shipped, a $20 Pocket PC client.)

On the other hand, the LF-B20 boasts a few features we’d like to see on the Slingbox Pro: We dig the fact that we don’t necessarily have to hard-wire it to our router, of course, and we also like the infrared port that can learn commands from any IR remote. And Sony’s device has two IR emitter ports to the Slingbox’s one—although Sony provides only one IR blaster in the box. And if you want to watch TV on your PSP, Sony’s LocationFree TV products are your only choice. But without a built-in tuner, homebound and remote viewers have to watch the same channel.

Month Reviewed: February 2007
+ BROADBAND: Supports Sony’s PSP; can function as a wireless access point.
- DIAL-UP: Cables not included; each additional client costs extra; PDA and smartphone support not yet enabled.
Verdict: 7
URL: www.sony.com

Sling Media Slingbox Pro

Michael Brown — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 13:38:44 -0600

The original Slingbox was housed in a goofy ingot-shaped box. The Slingbox Pro is only slightly more attractive, but it’s eminently more capable. Unfortunately, you’ll need to spend one-third more than its $250 base price to enable some of its cooler features.

As with the original product, the Slingbox Pro must be hard-wired to your router. This renders the device inconvenient to deploy if your cable or satellite set-top box isn’t near your router. Sling Media offers the SlingLink power-line Ethernet adapter ($100) to address this problem, but we conducted our tests over a hard-wired connection.

The Slingbox Pro is equipped with one composite-video input and one S-video input, with analog stereo inputs for each. It also has a high-definition input that looks just like an HDMI connector—but it’s covered with a sticker warning you not to plug in an HDMI cable. Dumb. This connection is actually useless unless you drop another $50 on the company’s HD Connect dongle. Dumber. The picture quality you get at the other end is admirable, but we’re hard-pressed to say it’s worth an additional 20 percent on top of the base system’s price—image quality with an S-video connection is very good.

Since Sling Media’s PC software is free, we don’t understand why the company expects you to cough up an additional $30 for each Windows Mobile smartphone and Pocket PC device you own. The presence of a built-in tuner, however, addresses one of our biggest complaints about the original Slingbox; now, whoever is home doesn’t have to watch the channel being streamed. The built-in tuner is only analog, so it’s limited in the number of channels it can receive, and it can’t descramble encrypted channels, either, but we think these are worthwhile trade-offs.

Month Reviewed: February 2007
+ HIGH-DEF: Built-in analog tuner, easy installation, and great video quality.
- LOW-DEF: Only one IR emitter port; HDTV dongle and handheld-device-client software both cost extra.
Verdict: 9
URL: www.slingmedia.com

New Slingboxes

Michael Brown — Thu, 28 Sep 2006 11:26:14 -0500

Sling Media is now shipping several new models of their products that enable you to watch and control your TV or DVR anywhere you have web access and a PC or smartphone. We're particularly interested in the Slingbox Pro, pictured here, which looks to be much more sophisticated than the original product that we reviewed in December, 2005.

Unlike the original Slingbox, which takes over your entire tuner (pitting your viewing preferences against whomever might be at home trying to watch TV), the Slingbox Pro enables you to connect and control up to four A/V sources. So if you have a satellite settop box with dual tuners, you can control one remotely and leave the other alone. You can do the same if you have digital cable box equipped with a second, analog, tuner.

We think Sling Media's marketing effort is a bit misleading when it comes to the Slingbox Pro's support for high-definition TV. Their website states you can "...connect a component high-definition video (720p or 1080i)...and Sling your high-definition content using the HD Connect."

This requires a optional $50 dongle that has component-video inputs on one side and a DVI-like connector for the Slingbox on the other. But based on what Sling Media executives told us in a briefing last week, what you'll see at the other end of the connection will most definitely not be HD (although it will be better than composite or S-video).

We've requested an evaluation unit for review consideration, so we'll let you know what we think when we get our hands on one.