Setting Up the Slingbox A/V

The Slingbox AV setup is a tad more involved than its Tuner counterpart, but shouldn’t prove to be too far out of grasp for the typical electronics noob.

First, you’ll need to connect the audio/video cables from the source device to the Slingbox. For video, you can use either S-video or composite video connections. Use S-video if available, as it will give you a better image. Strangely, the AV lacks the pass-thru feature from the original Slingbox, which makes connecting to devices with a single A/V output much more difficult. Personally, I don’t see how this could be omitted while keeping the phrase, “easy to set up” to hold true. Sure, the majority of set-top boxes sport more than one A/V output, but it will certainly be a roadblock for some people.

Once you have the audio and video cables connected, you’ll need to connect the IR blaster cable, which enables you to control the device through the SlingPlayer software. The mini-plug connects to the IR port on the back of the Slingbox and the IR “eye” needs to be placed in front of the device’s IR receiver.

The final step is getting connected to your network router, and there’s a good chance your router is located in different room from your router. If so, you’ll need to pick up a Wi-Fi to Ethernet bridge or Powerline network extender to make the connection to your home network. Either option will set you back about 60 to 80 bucks.

Setting Up the Software

Once the Slingbox AV is wired into your sources and home network, you need to install the SlingPlayer software on your computer. SlingPlayer is compatible with just about any Windows 2000 SP4/XP/Vista/Mac OS X computer running on anything but stone-age hardware.

The Slingbox AV ships with a CD that contains a digital user guide, demo, and other information. It does not actually include the SlingPlayer on the CD, and instead launches an automated program that downloads the latest version from Sling Media. Sling Media continually improves the SlingPlayer over time, and you should expect a flurry of new releases immediately after launch. If it were on the CD, it would already out of date. If you want, you can just skip the disc and download the most recent build of the software from Sling Media’s support site manually.

One area Sling Media has always excelled is in customer support, providing an easy-to-use wizard interface that helps you get your Slingbox up and running.

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