OK, no - that is not what I have.  Here is a picture of what I bought:

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2006/09/new-slingbox.jpg

The model number of the unit, I believe, is SB240-100 A/V.  I bought the unit at a Best Buy in South Florida.

I am not near the box nor the unit at the moment, but IIRC, the box it came in was jet black with some red trim.  Inside was another box, which was red, which contained everything. 

tivoboy said: cool if you can access the box remotely, can you give us some details of the FW and device version of that new box?

Product Signature: 00:00:03

Hardware Version: 1.2.0

IR Blaster Version: 2

Firmware Version: 0.9.7

Firmware Release Date: 8/22/2006

tivoboy said: all I can say is, that thing looks cool! As for the post. I haven't had the issue you reported using SPM.  Mine seems to work just fine, on the LAN or remote, and it certainly knows it is on the LAN since it is streaming at 700 kps, which is more than my upload bandwidth.  My outside upload cap is 512 kps, and I get about that over DSL. 

Well my observation was not so much about performance, but the "discovery" method found in SPM.   From reading the forum, I believe ryandh had the same issue here, where we have to create two entries on the directory (one for internal, one for remote).  What I found is that if you did not create two entries, you may get a "unable to connect" message.

 With those speeds, I get VERY nice video, and still down to about 240kps or so.  As you note though, at 200kps the video quality does start to fall off. This is the achiles heal of ANY remote streaming product, UPSTREAM bandwidth, which most people have not focussed on in the past. 

Indeed....and, like I said, at 200 kbps, it is acceptable for things like news or talk shows - but for things like ESPN, it doesn't quite cut it.

Most consumers that is.  Over the LAN with either the SP pc client or the SPM, I get 2000kps and up to 700 kps repspectively.

I top out at around 1630 kbps with my client over a wired connection.  Using wireless-b on the LAN, I get around 1200 kbps.  Why the difference? 

  I find that at 700+, the video quality is just excellent.  30 fps, nice color, audio, etc.  In the house, we use PC's as TV replacements. Optimization can take some time, but I don't notice the times that you report.  Usually, it takes about 1-2 minutes to full optimization, but I find that I am streaming at good speeds up to that point and then beyond.

Yes, over a wired connection, it does optimize at around the 1.5 minute mark.  However, when I was accessing the stream from a Tmobile hotspt, it took quite a bit longer.  I will have to try it again. 

  There is no SWITCH that goes on after optimziation is completed.  It just locks in.  you are correct though, when you change something, channel, pause, etc.  The optimization can start again.  This of course makes total sense.  It usually only takes about 10 seconds though to lock on again.

I wonder why an optimization has to take place everytime a channel changes? 

  Questions: I'm not sure what this box here is exactly, but the original slingbox, as you know, had a coax/cable in/tuner, an s-video and the mini plug composite dongle.  Less than this might mean fewer overall inputs?

According to the box, Slingmedia will be releasing three flavors: tuner, A/V, and Pro.  Feature-set wise, it seems that the A/V model seems to be in the middle on the number of features.  But my question is, essentially, do you think I should get the regular silver Sling tuner?  Am I missing out on something important? 

  couldn't say for sure about image quality, but I am sure comparissons will come at some point.

Yea....the box says a 400% improvement over the older Slingbox units, but we all know that is just market-speak.  I'd like to see a head-to-head challenge.

 The original slingbox certainly had a FW updater and SW updater and sling continues to upgrade and improve their video codes, and such so I would IMAGINE that this would continue with any new box they were to release.  It just makes sense. yeah, the seriel connections were nice on older cable/sat boxes,  I don't know why more company's don't make use of them, other than IR is ubuiquitous on every device and the code base for IR codes is contantly updated by many, so implimenting that into a product is pretty easy.  I must say though, my original slingbox has no problems changing channels very quickly and being controlled VERY quickly either on the LAN or remotely.  so, I think you gotta learn to love the IR blasters, they will remain a while for sure. Personally, I'm not holding my breath for a browser based player, not that it wouldn't be SWEET, but I don't think it is really going to be possible for this type of application.  I think there is too much going on with the HARDWARE and CLIENT that it would overload the browser.

I think it can be done.  At the very least, how about putting a simple webserver that you can log into from anywhere, where the player resides and can be downloaded automagically via an active-x or Java control.

In the meantime, I have the player installed on my USB key - works wonderfully.

  As well, the codecs now appear to be proprietary, and I don't know how that would fly if it was over an HTTP stream? That is one nice looking slingbox though, BLACK is well, the new black! 

Yea, it looks OK.  It is significantly smaller than the original silver Slingboxes as well.

tivoboy said: Oh, and as for the SPM, I would download whatever latest version there is available there.  Beta or no beta.  Also, I think you maybe still qualify for the FREE SPM software if you register in the next day or so, so that would be a nice 30$ savings over any cost/benefit decision. Can't hurt.   

I think I just missed the offer by a couple of days.  Ill see if I can sneak in, but I doubt it.

Also, I am running at 1600x1200 on the desktop. Is this resolution going to adversely affect the quality of my stream?