Sony LF-V30 LocationFree Base Station

Michael Brown — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:25:07 -0500

Which consumer product first enabled any PC with an Internet connection to remotely control a set-top box or DVR and stream live or pre-recorded television to it? If you answered “Slingbox,” you’re mistaken. It was actually Sony’s LocationFree TV.

So how did a startup manage to swoop in on one of the world’s best-known television manufacturers and steal a TV-related market right out from under its nose? Simple: Slingbox had better marketing, tighter focus, and a superior product. Sony is now introducing its fourth place-shifting device, but it’s no Slingbox killer.

The LF-V30 offers component-video input (and pass-through) to accommodate high-definition TV, but the image that’s streamed is downscaled to QVGA (320x240). In spite of that relatively low resolution, the image quality is excellent. The Slingbox Pro is wired for high definition, but you must purchase a dongle separately in order to make use of it. On the other hand, the Slingbox Pro also has a built-in tuner, so a remote user can stream unencrypted TV without forcing homebound viewers to watch the same channel.

Most of the features we liked about Sony’s older video-streaming products are still here: It can operate as a wireless client on your network (all Slingbox models must be hardwired), or it can stream while hardwired to your router or switch (and act as a wireless access point). The LF-V30 has two IR blaster ports, so it can control a whole bunch of hardware. Its front-mounted IR receiver can “learn” your remote control with a single button press. And it’s the only device capable of streaming video to a PSP.

Sony puts one copy of its LocationFree client in the box (and bundles the $30 software with its VAIO notebooks), but pig-headedly insists that consumers buy another copy for streaming to each additional PC. But what really saps our enthusiasm for the LF-V30 is the absence of a smartphone client. For that, the Slingbox remains the only game in town (Monsoon Multimedia’s mobile client for their HAVA Gold, reviewed in our March issue, is still in beta.)

UPDATE, NOVEMBER 9, 2007: Sony has just confirmed to Maximum PC that they intend to drop the $30 license fee the LocationFree client and will make the software available for free on their eSupport website, possibly as early as the end of November. They're also working with a third-party software developer to create a mobile client for Windows Mobile 6.

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

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Sony LF-V30 LocationFree Base Station

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