Sling Sticks to Windows Media

Sling Media is pushing forward with their reliance on Microsoft’s VC-1 codec for video encoding needs rather than moving to something like MPEG4 AVC or H.264. Some may view this as a hindrance to overall video performance, but Sling Media doesn’t agree. According to them, the DSP in the Slingbox is optimized for Windows Media, and though they’ve tried to experiment with other video codecs, none of them could match the performance of Windows Media on this hardware.

Either way, Slingbox fans will continue to question the motives behind their devotion to Microsoft, but the fact of the matter remains that VC-1 looks better than ever on the new hardware and delivers a superb experience.

In-Network Performance

In-network performance is one of the major areas of improvement from the original Slingbox. The new line streams content around the home at a full 640x480 resolution when in one of two full resolution quality mode settings. This is enough resolution to pass on analog material at close to full quality.

A new feature in SlingPlayer’s video options menu is a four position slider bar to set the streaming quality for in-network connections. The higher you go, the better the image will look. However, slower computers or networks may have a hard time keeping up, so you’ll need to experiment on which setting works best for the hardware you’re running.

Options for the new performance bar include:

• Standard Quality: Least demanding on computer and network bandwidth
  
  
• High Quality: 2x increase in quality and works with most computers on wired and wireless LANs
  
  
• Full resolution; Works well on all computers: Use if your computer slows down with the maximum quality settings.
  
  
• Full resolution; maximum bitrate: For fast computers on fast networks.
  

Initially, the Slingbox Classic was limited to a streaming resolution of 320 x 240 for both LAN and remote connections. Just recently Sling Media added a high quality mode for the original Slingbox that bumped in-network resolution to 640x240. It doesn’t look like the older Slingbox hardware has any more room for improvement. The HQ mode is retained, but the actual max picture resolution stays at 640x240.

The streaming cap on the Slingbox PRO, Tuner, and AV has also been given a speed bump... a dramatic one! If your network bandwidth allows, the new boxes can stream up to 8Mbps, up from the roughly 2.5Mbps cap on the original. Even at the highest setting, the Slingbox will only use the bandwidth needed to stream whatever the content requires.

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