Performance

The Slingbox SOLO, like the AV, Tuner, and PRO, streams video over LAN at maximum of 640x480, which is enough to capture every nuance of standard definition video material. When connecting from a remote location, the SOLO behaves no differently, so streaming resolution falls back to a more conservative 320 x 240, which requires less upstream bandwidth. You can manually set your encoding parameters to stream remotely at full resolution, but you'll need to disable SlingStream to do it. If you don't have a significant amount of bandwidth both upstream and down, disabling SlingStream is not recommended.

Remote performance isn’t much different than the other Slingboxes. For most, the performance bottleneck of all Slingboxes (including the original) hasn’t really been the hardware, but the upload bandwidth of your internet connection and current network conditions. If you’re slinging from a busy hotspot, or you only have 256K of upstream bandwidth at home, the end result won’t be as good.

HD performance is on par with Slingbox PRO, and regardless of the new player and firmware, doesn’t appear to handle HD scaling any better than the PRO does. Down-converted HD images look good overall, but there are still several nagging image artifacts, jaggy lines on fine details, and other anomalies present. I’ll continue to push my opinion that there could be considerable improvements made to improve the image quality of high-definition images, particularly with sports and fast moving video video.

SD material looks fantastic. I’m not sure if it’s the new hardware or the recent SlingPlayer 1.5 upgrade, but in network performance has seemed a touch better. Then again, I might just want to believe its better, too.

Slingbox SOLO is using a different TI chipset from other Slingboxes in the family. My guess is that the new chip provides functionality for the USB jack, but what (if any) other advantages this provides over other Slingboxes is currently unclear. Perhaps in time future firmware revisions may tap into any yet unseen improvements in video quality or performance, but for now, I haven’t been able to tell any significant performance differences between the SOLO, AV, and PRO.

Final Thoughts

As it stands today, the Slingbox SOLO is far from a dramatic improvement over the Slingbox models released last year. That’s not a horrible thing either, the current crop of Slingboxes are pretty darn nice. While it’s considered to be a new part of the line, I’d call it a replacement to the AV. With component video and pass-through outputs, there’s enough reason to skip right over AV and go straight to SOLO. PRO is still the only model in the lineup with multiple video inputs, so it still has value in my eyes. However, given the new regular component video connectors on the SOLO, I can see many folks with a high definition DVR or set top deciding they can live with only that one device hooked up, thereby skipping the cost of getting the PRO and HD Connect.

From an upgrade perspective, PRO users have no reason to feel left out, as theirs does everything the SOLO does at the moment. AV users would probably like the addition of pass-through for all connections, but it’s hardly enough to upgrade for. I’m intrigued by the USB port, but it’s not doing anything at the moment other than giving me another choice to charge my cellphone accessories… hardly a must-have feature. Once we know what it’s for, it could turn out to be a very good reason to ditch the AV and move up to SOLO.

Not trying to sound like a broken record, I need to make my standard Wi-Fi complaint. I would have liked to finally see a Wi-Fi solution unveiled… either built in to Slingbox SOLO or something to plug into that tasty looking USB jack. It’s getting difficult to see how Sling can continue to avoid providing an affordable, simplified, and branded solution to get Slingbox going on the one networking protocol people seem to like. Considering most homes don’t have the router near the people’s DVR or cable box, the ability to wirelessly connect makes a lot of sense.

At $179 MSRP, there’s a lot to like about Slingbox SOLO, and with any luck, even more to like will be unveiled in the future. Many folks only have one device they’d like to access on their computer or handheld, and they can get HD support and all with the Slingbox SOLO for $100 less than the PRO. Just keep in mind that if you want to Sling a second device, that means dropping at least $123 for another Slingbox. But on the bright side, two Slingboxes would mean less fighting family members for control.

What do you think of the Slingbox SOLO? Post a comment here.

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