While the Slingbox has been out for just over a year it has only recently made it to the UK and has also had a revised firmware version which has added support for new set-top boxes and strengthened the Sling Media streaming system. At first sight it's bit of a weird unit looking like some sort of Lego heat sink, but looks are very deceptive and this simple looking box is in fact the extra your Sky+ box has been crying out for.

Set-up isn't too bad at all, first you need to sit the Slingbox into the path of your Set-Top box or receiver, we tested with a Sky+ box and it was easy using the supplied cables to get the unit into circuit and still retain all the usual Sky outputs on a loop through. The next step is to install the software client "sling player" on your main host PC, this machine doesn't have to be near the Slingbox as it can connect to your home network via an RJ45 cable, the host machine is the intelligence and gateway to your home network and beyond.

The software installed first time without issues and opens up on a tuning screen which was fairly self explanatory and did not require us to head to the manual at all. A quick bit of basic set-up and we were ready to see if the PC could receive the stream, a simple push of a button on the screen and bingo there was Sky News streamed real-time to the desktop from the Sky box. We know from reading around that we were lucky and this has a lot to do with our brand new ADSL 2+ UpnP Linksys router and others have had endless problems getting the Slingbox through firewalls.

If you are hoping for a wireless connection rather than laying CAT5 cable then think again, you'll either need to use an RJ45 wireless bridge or perhaps an Ethernet over mains type solution. To us this is a fairly serious shortcoming of any device that's part of a home network. Now we could stop the review at this point with a simple stream and you'd say we'll what's so special about that?

True, if that's all the Slingbox does then it's not all that, but the unit does a fair bit more which is rather hinted at in the way that all the Sky+ features are in the software client not just basic tuning. First though you'll have a wee bit of config to fight your way through. Naively we thought that as SlingMedia are promoting the unit as being Sky ready that it would be out of the box. But no we had to head for the Sling Community, as always the web provides advice ten times better than the manual and we soon found the correct Sky+ codes to get all the buttons on screen controlling our Digibox plus also a handy location for all the TV station logos. It was a surprise that the chaps at SlingMedia haven't made it more "out of the box" ready, either that or our model was an older version?

With all the right control files loaded and basic streaming working it was time to test our the ace card, remote viewing. Yes this is the big feature, the idea is simple much in the same way that you can watch on any network connected machine, you can also watch off network. To do this we had to punch a little hole in our firewall for the Slingbox and load up the client onto a laptop and head to a WiFi hotspot, once connected it was time to try the same connection as if we were just in another room. Sure it takes a little longer but within 10 seconds we had Sky News streamed from the office all the way to starbucks!

This is more than a simple push stream, using the client we could instruct the Sling box to send a command to the Sky+ box through the IR emitter and change channel, even browse the EPG, albeit slowly. Sling Media do say that you need an ADSL connection with an uplink of at least 256kbps which is about the maximum you'll get off a UK ADSL service, we are rather spoilt with the 24mbps / 1mbps connection from Be. So our tests, while remarkably successful may not be entirely representative of someone on a budget broadband package, certainly if your ISP only gives you 128kbps upload then think again.

Quality is not too bad but you'd be best to restrict your viewing to quarter screen, switch to full screen and the downside of a 256kpbs stream soon shows itself and those heavily compressed Sky channels look even worse after further concatenation. Stick to QSIF and things look pretty good, after all you'll be the only one sitting in a coffee shop watching your home TV while answering emails. Perhaps this is a good point to explain that the Sling unit only support s a single stream, it is not multicast and does not support more than one unicast session, so you can't share your stream with your mates or even other users sat on your network. Plus it takes over your Sky box, so don't forget you'll get a phone call from the other half if you switch channels from Coronation Street to the West Wing while she's sat at home watching!

Then we decided to see if you could control the DVR capabilities of the Sky+ box, it all looked entirely possible as all the buttons are there on the client and these are just replicating signals to the actual unit sat back at home? Well blow us down it only flipping works, we can browse what's on the Sky+ box and start it playing, pause and rewind too, sure its a bit like controlling it via a Blancmange but its does work. Imagine being away from home on business in a hotel, fire up the Sling client and catch up on those missed episodes of 24 or Lost, cool eh?

We did have some rather rash ideas of using the second tuner in the Sky plus box to drive the Slingbox but it doesn't work, it's as if the second tuner is just too deep for the Slingy to be able to use, but we'll settle for basic control anyway. Over the next week we went on to watch a fair bit of telly using the system and while it's not a substitute for a big TV screen it works well if you are tucked away in the study but want to keep an eye on the TV without incurring a second Sky box charge or have to install a PCTV card. However it's the remote viewing that is the killer application and this is something that all the Hauppauge and Tivo boxes can't match.

SlingMedia have also announced support of Windows mobile devices like PDA's and Smartphones, so you could in theory use your phone to gain control of your unit to add a recording to the SKY+ box. All sounds cool but given the poor UK mobile data speeds and extortionate costs we doubt you'd use it, especially when Sky are launching their own remote web / mobile based booking interface for the Sky+.

Overall the Slingbox is one hell of a gadget, it combines an in home remote sender with full DVR control and then layers on uber cool remote access enabling you to keep up without your favourite shows anywhere in the world. It works like a treat too, as long as you aren't expecting HD pictures a quarter screen Slingbox client will both keep you happy and impress all who see it.

Published - 16/07/2006

More TV Gadgets-

[ Up ] [ Panasonic TUCTH100 Freeview PVR ] [ Slingbox Review ] [ Topfield Freeview PVR Review ] [ Humax 9200-T Freeview PVR Review ] [ Sagem 6280T PVR Review ] [ Thomson Top Up TV Plus ] [ Goodmans GHD8015F2 Review ] [ Sony Freeview PVR ]