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September 28, 2006 11:58 AM

Categories: PRO

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bpaskin

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Joined: 01/15/2006

What is the difference between my old Slingbox and the new Pro, besides the HD?  Does anyone know?  Thanks, Brian

Discussion:    Add a Comment | Comments 1-11 of 11 | Latest Comment

Matt Whitlock Avatar
  Editor
September 28, 2006 12:12 PM

Go check out our coverage of the new Slingbox Family. Since you're specifically interested in the PRO, start with The Slingbox PRO Review.

Mind Over Matt'er - Technology musings, opinion, and more straight from TechLore's head geek.

picopir8 Avatar
Member
September 28, 2006 6:39 PM

Wow, looks like the biggest disappointment of the year.

1) HDMI port does not do HDMI, instead you plug in some $50 adaper to get component inputs (after already spending upwards of $250 for the device.  Not like you get HD anyway, the slingbox downconverts.  I see no need for this since most (all???) HD cable/satellite boxes, blueray, and hd-dvd already downconvert (and odds are, if you have one of these devices, the HD outputs are already connected to you TV).

2) New slingboxes monopolize the inputs so someone at home cant watch when someone slinging is watching... unlike the old slingboxes.

Matt Whitlock Avatar
  Editor
September 28, 2006 7:27 PM

picopir8 said:  2) New slingboxes monopolize the inputs so someone at home cant watch when someone slinging is watching... unlike the old slingboxes.

 

 

?????????

Mind Over Matt'er - Technology musings, opinion, and more straight from TechLore's head geek.

NA9D Avatar
  Moderator
September 28, 2006 7:28 PM

As for number 1, the advantage is that you can use a 1080i input, second, it gives you yet another input.  The port looks like HDMI, but if you read Jeremy's blog, apparently an HDMI cable will not fit.  The HD adapater also gives you another IR blaster.


I don't understand your second point.  The rev 1.0 Slingboxes forced the person Slinging and the person at home to watch the same thing unless you use the tuner.  Same thing goes for the pro.  Don't know how that has changed...

Slinging with a SlingCatcher, a ProHD, a Pro, a Solo, an AV, and a Slingbox Classic. 3 Replay TV units, a Roku Photobridge and a Roku M2000 Soundbridge, an AppleTV, a Vudu, and digital cable. www.na9d.net

bpaskin Avatar
Member
September 28, 2006 8:27 PM

The review says that they have made performance enhancements?  Could someone elaborate on that?

Matt Whitlock Avatar
  Editor
September 28, 2006 9:25 PM

bpaskin said: The review says that they have made performance enhancements? Could someone elaborate on that?

 

 

Looks like you may have overlooked the entire review that just talks about performance: "Slingbox PRO, Slingbox A/V, & Slingbox Tuner Performance Review" Wink
 

Mind Over Matt'er - Technology musings, opinion, and more straight from TechLore's head geek.

gweempose Avatar
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  • member since: 05/03/2006
  • rank: 27401 of 29960
  • 2 comments
September 28, 2006 11:40 PM

I don't understand why the new PRO model doesn't allow you to sling remotely at 640x480, assuming you have the available bandwidth. What about people with super fast FiOS connections? Isn't 5000 kbps more than enough upstream bandwidth for 640x480 remote slinging?

shaunp (Sling Media) Avatar
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  • member since: 08/21/2006
  • rank: 25740 of 29960
  • 66 comments
September 29, 2006 12:47 AM

If you do have a constant  5mbit upstream you can always set the manual encode settings to that. They override the WAN settings.

I.e you can set 640x480 and 5mbit in the manual encode tab.

 

Hope that helps.

 

Matt Whitlock Avatar
  Editor
September 29, 2006 12:52 AM

shaunp (Sling Media) said: If you do have a constant 5mbit upstream you can always set the manual encode settings to that. They override the WAN settings. I.e you can set 640x480 and 5mbit in the manual encode tab. Hope that helps.

 

 

Really? I suppose I'll need to update the reviews. I guess I didn't try to set the encoding parameters manually during mobile testing, but if the bandwidth is available, why doesn't SlingStream pick up on this and push the highest res possible?

Mind Over Matt'er - Technology musings, opinion, and more straight from TechLore's head geek.

picopir8 Avatar
Member
September 29, 2006 6:48 AM

$300 to get one more input is a bit steep.  My HD devices already downconvert so why would anyone need to use the hd input (especially since it does not stream in hd).  There is no real advantage.

tivoboy Avatar
Member
September 29, 2006 9:00 AM

Well, I know that in Matt's excellent reviews, he might not have really covered it, but in my testing of the PRO box I find that with at least 450 kps upstream, I get a better picture coming from the HD source than from the SD source.  I just compare my SD tivo to the HD tivo, and the HD tivo wins no question.  On the home LAN, yes the HD box looks much nicer, but wants a lot of bandwidth, like 2.5kps or above.  It works fine below of course, but at 2.0-2.5+ it just rocks.  

But, when I am remote, it still trumps the SD tivo box.  This could be due to the original content looking better (duh, of course) to begin with and even though it is being downsampled it is starting with a better sample?

I think, one should be able to save a bit on the PRO boxes though.  I have already seen then online for 220$, the cable cannot be far behind for discount. 

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