Styling and Aesthetics

Touching on looks above, Sling has brought the PRO-HD's aesthetics into line with the rest of the current Slingboxes. Gone is the red/transparent plastic shell in favor of a gray (instead of black) perforated metallic look on the front and back, and a solid plastic top and sides (opposite from SOLO, which has the perforated metal on the top and sides). All said I find the design much more pleasing the PRO, particularly since it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in a rack of gear.

The build quality seems to have gotten a notch up compared to its predecessor. The PRO was often accused of feeling somewhat flimsy given the all plastic shell, but I never thought it was all that bad personally. Even so, PRO-HD does feel more solid than the PRO.

Setting Up the Slingbox PRO-HD to Your Sources

If you're replacing a Slingbox PRO that had all its inputs full, you'll immediately notice the one and only negative change about the PRO-HD - the move from four full audio/video inputs to three.

For me, this meant having to give up having my HD cable box, basic cable line, DVD player, and Reply TV all being connected at once. Giving up the DVD player was an easy choice (it's a single disc model anyway), but those TV lovers out there with two DVRs and a 400-Disc mega-changer may have a tough time choosing. Of course, for those currently upgrading from a PRO or any other Slingbox can take solace in knowing that you can have multiple Slingboxes on your network. Keep your PRO for SD devices, and move that HD device to the PRO-HD.

If you're new to the Slingbox or are upgrading from the Classic, AV, Tuner, or SOLO, you shouldn't have much trouble getting your new PRO-HD wired in. Thankfully, all inputs include pass-through outputs, which means the Slingbox can be easily wired in to existing installations on devices that only have one output. Knowing which input to use should also be straightforward. Your HD device needs to plug into the component video input, your cable or antenna into the coax input, and any auxiliary SD device into the composite OR S-video input.

Unlike the PRO, the PRO-HD takes a step back to the Classic's design. The composite and S-Video connections share a common audio input, which means it's a one or the other proposition. There are ways to jerry-rig the audio inputs to accept sound from two devices, but the additional connections would have been appreciated. Since the unused video input is selectable on its own, video-only devices like security cameras can go there without being in the way.

One of the major changes in the PRO-HD is the inclusion of a digital HD tuner, which now supports ATSC terrestrial broadcast, ClearQAM cable signals, and NTSC cable. Having the tuner adds a lot of flexibility to those who typically rely on a cable box. If a spouse or child is watching something on the cable box, you can flip through QAM HD cable stations without interrupting them.

Connecting to the Network

Sling Media continues its tradition of being allergic to Wi-Fi, once again foregoing to include any built-in wireless networking support for your typical g/n type home routers, or any accessory capable of doing so. Like a broken record, I'll say that I understand the possible reasons behind this (it adds complexity during first time setup, not needed by everyone, cost, etc). However, Wi-Fi is easily a checkbox feature for nearly all Internet connected gadgets these days, and folks just expect everything to have it. Ethernet over powerline (SlingLink) is superior for reliability (in my opinion), but wireless N has proved capable enough to handle the bandwidth requirements and then some.

For those with wired networks, connecting the Slingbox to your network router is as simple as plugging in the Ethernet cable. If you're like many others out there without a wired connection near your AV components, you'll need to look into making a connection using an Ethernet over Powerline device (like the SlingLink) or a Wi-Fi to Ethernet bridge.

The Mysterious USB Jack Returns

Like SOLO, the Slingbox PRO-HD sports a USB connection on back panel, which is still (from what I can tell) does nothing. Looking through the included user guide yielded no information, as it doesn't even list the USB port as a connection. To repeat my previous test, I grabbed anything with a USB cord and plugged it in to see what would happen, and still the best I could do was charge my phone and my Jawbone Bluetooth headset.

There are many theories behind what this USB jack will be used for, one of which was a Sling branded Wi-Fi adapter, but no one really knows for sure.

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