Slingbox reviews roundup

Yep, Sling Media officially rolled out the Slingbox today, their new place shifting box which lets you stream TV from your cable, satellite or DVR box to pretty much any Windows XP PC with Windows Media Player on it, and the first reviews (which have been mainly favorable) are already popping up online. Here are the first few we've found,  if you spot any others, let us know:

Read - Walt Mossberg
Read - GigaOm
Read - PC Magazine

[TIMMAH! @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Okay, so who did the industrial design for this product. UUUHHHgggglleeee!!! Kinda looks like something I'd expect Auric Goldfinger to do (except that it's not gold...)

[Stan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Ye I have been enjoying that concept with my Sony Locationfree TV. Works great!

[cDub @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

your right timmah. that looks like braile on top

[ThomD @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Looks like a cool idea. I wonder how hard it is to get through my broadband firewall/router. ARGH! Only wired networks! No wireless connection.

[TCM @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

It's cool, except for the fact that multiple people can't be viewing it at the same time. Ruins our idea of Slingbox for everyone at work.

[Rocket Punch @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

This opens up a lot of stuff that can be done in terms of blogging or casting.

"Sling"cast!? anyone?
Now you CAN have your very on internet show.

[Jay Brewer @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Slingbox 411 has a review up at http://www.slingbox411.com

[mas @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Ok, I love new toys. But can someone tell me why I'd want this? Do I really need to watch TV at work? Don't hotel rooms have TV's? Maybe some day it will work with a Palm PDA so I can watch TV while I'm driving to work.

[Jeff @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Yeah, just about every hotel has a TV. But how many have decent content? The high speed net access is often free but the better TV content is pay per view. Why not watch your Tivo content on the road without having to remember to copy it before you leave? Perhaps your local sports teams in real time. Your Sunday Ticket games. This is a great option for business or casual travelers.

As high speed wireless options expand, this will become even more useful. Watching what you want on your wireless PDA or smartphone while waiting in a waiting room. There are lots of possibilites.

And yes, you do need to watch TV at work. Who the heck needs to be productive? ;-)

[Dave @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

I still can't get a sense of how big this thing is. Anybody have the dimensions? Looks like it'd be completely out of place in my entertainment center.

[David @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Windows only? Here we go again. Why couldn't it use some streaming standard that would allow people using OS X and other OSs view the stream?

[Nareau @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Has anyone been able to locate this at Best Buy? I'm itching to grab one, but nobody at BB seems to have heard of such a thing. It's not even available on their website (at least, that I can tell.)

If you've found one, where are they displayed? Can you find out and post the SKU?

Nareau

[Jason @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Just picked up my Slingbox and got it up and running in no time. As for dimensions, it is shockingly small. The box is no wider than my DirecTV receiver. Video quality is perfect for the intended use and the setup was a snap, even with multiple routers.

[Jazzay @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

because Windows needs something to prevent people from switching to OSX :p

[Toby Udstuen @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

I would like to see a comparison review between the slingbox device vs the Orb media software.
I setup my desktop PC with a dual tuner TV PCI card, and with Orb Media's software at my apartment. Let me tell you straight out that the Orb software is TOP NOTCH. Since I started using orb all my live TV channels stream almost flawlessly no matter where I am at. I can stream all my media over my home networks wireless G connection to my laptop or to any pc connected to the net. I have even tested streaming live TV over the web to a friends PC that uses a 56k modem, of course the video was low resolution yet it still worked thanks to ORB. In my experience ORB is really tough to beat!!!!

[Samuel @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Ya, i stopped at best buy too, and nothing. But CompUSA seems to have them in stock.

[DM @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

How long befor the entertainment industry scums jump on it

[David Van Virden @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

How does this compare to the elgato and miglia products for the mac?

[sliu @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

These reviews are next to useless. They don't cover the bw vs rez at all, just generalities of video taking time to adjust to bw. This is the CRITICAL item when you're trying to run a server over the internet. I see that this is a waste of $$ product.

[John @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

I spend about 7 months a year overseas on business. This Slingbox apparently will now allow me to view the DirecTV NFL Ticket, which will allow me to follow my home town team, whose games are otherwise rarely shown where I work, in Moscow, Russia. I'm going to try it.

[Tie Guy @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

I found a community site devoted to the Slingbox! http://www.slingcommunity.com There's a great review there... lots of pictures! http://www.slingcommunity.com/article/10062/

[Thomas Mueller @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Nice gadget but the software needs major rework!
I bought the unit beginning of June '05 right after it came out. When I installed it I was disappointed that it didn't have the remote control codes for most of my equipment. For the few devices that were in the list, the codes didn't work. The technical support was not able to give me any hints.
Another problem is that you can only watch the stream on one computer at the time and you need to install their software. I am asking myself why there is no browser plug-in.
A major flaw in the design is that the box has 3 inputs, but the software doesn't let you switch them on the fly. How stupid is that!!!
In my opinion the software sucks! They need to have a broser plug-in that allows you to have a interface to control multiple devices and switch the inputs.

[Clement Uba @ Dec 19th 2005 12:17AM]

Dear Sir,
I would like you to email me all the handball teams in France, in order to contact them for training tour of our team from Nigeria.
Waiting for your urgent reply.
Thanks