New Slingbox A/V unveiled by FCC!

Sure, the FCC has never been in the business of snapping glamour pics, and those Slingbox kids have always been a bit "edgy" in the design department, but we can't say we'd find this new Slingbox A/V (or Slingbox AV, if you will) attractive anywhere other than on a Babylon 5 set. Hopefully it'll look better on second glance. On the slightly more objective and relevant front, the new box is a whole lot smaller than its predecessor, and we're guessing there's some new processing power to compete with the higher-res HAVA. Sadly, the manual included with the FCC docs makes no mention of WiFi capabilities, but we're not giving up hope just yet. We also assume this little bugger will come packing support for the Mobile and Mac versions of SlingPlayer, but otherwise we'll just have to wait and see just what Sling Media has planned for this device besides the oligatory composite I/O and S-Video ports.

[Via Zatz Not Funny]

[Scoobydoo @ Sep 14th 2006 1:20PM]

Still no HD :(

[Walkin' @ Sep 14th 2006 1:25PM]

Figures. I just bought one last month.

[QmanChoo @ Sep 14th 2006 1:50PM]

I've never understood the desire to have an HD Slingbox. The Slingbox does a great job of streaming medium and low rez video over available bandwidth. Do you think there is enough upstream bandwidth to stream HD video over the net? No way. Not unless you have a high end business class connection. Most of these boxes run over consumer DSL and cable connections.

This box is noticeably lacking a coax cable input. I use that feature on my box. Perhaps this unit doesn't have a cable ready tv tuner?

[Chris @ Sep 14th 2006 1:55PM]

This looks like a slimmed down version of the current offering. Doesn't appear to have a coax input like the current version. It also doesn't feature any output, which means you can't just use it as a pass-thru type device.

[The Steven @ Sep 14th 2006 2:17PM]

And what's wrong with Babylon 5?

[Jermaine @ Sep 14th 2006 2:28PM]

I give up. What do you mean "unveiled by FCC" ?

[Jermaine @ Sep 14th 2006 2:35PM]

I give up. What do you mean "unveiled by FCC" ?

[Kevin @ Sep 14th 2006 3:12PM]

Maybe this box is a set top reciever that will connect to your slingbox over the internet and play back the video on a TV, that is why there is no coax and only has one output.

[Kris @ Sep 14th 2006 3:25PM]

Sure I getting when the price is high :(

[thoughtfix @ Sep 14th 2006 3:39PM]

Speak for yourself! I think it's slick :)

[Brian Verenkoff @ Sep 14th 2006 3:53PM]

Actually, an HD Slingbox is somewhat compelling. I have a Sling and love it, and you're 100% correct about the upstream bandwith. However, I also use my Sling around the house. For instance, when I'm BBQ'ing or working on something in my garage, my notebook with a 15.4" widescreen goes with me.

There have been times where having more than 2Mbps video would be nice. Using modern codecs you could make a nice HD video stream in the 5-10Mbps range, but it'd take A LOT of processing power to accomplish that, and I mean A LOT. Remember it's encoding analog to digital in real-time!

However, if you look at it from the manufacturer's standpoint, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a handful of reasons:

1) Not many people would use it in the use case I've described, meaning they'd either have to have two products (less ideal) or just sell the HD version at a higher price (effectively reducing the size of the target audience).

2) They'd have to tactfully market it the product as HD because many people would expect to see HD when they're on the road and would be extensively disappointed (to no fault of Sling, but to the fault of the internet connections).

There are other similar issues.

I wouldn't mind seeing Wi-Fi in there, but that can be easily and possibly more reliably taken care of with an Ethernet Bridge or SlingLink. Existing Sling users already have wired, wireless, or powerline networking hooked up so adding the extra cost to add Wi-Fi might not be entirely worth it, however, as a huge advocate for wireless, I'd like to see it in there.

Chances are it's just an improved model with higher performance and lower cost structure.

-BrianV

[Jim @ Sep 14th 2006 4:05PM]

1) It looks like they made it about twice as deep as the current Slingbox. The current sling is only about 4 inches deep, I have no idea what additional function could be driving this.

2) It is a shame if they have removed the co-ax input, that let you use the sling native on a cable-tv connection without a TV or Tivo in the room, that was very convenient. But this points to a loss of function, not an add, so again why the size increase ?

3) It also looks like they have put standard RCA jacks on it for video and audio out, the original Sling just uses a special purpose cable that plugs into a single connector on the sling, to save panel space I assume. This may save them a coupla' bucks and let users substitute their own length cable but no big deal.

[Bill @ Sep 14th 2006 4:52PM]

Slightly paraphrased from my Sunday school teacher of long ago... This new design makes baby Jesus cry.

[casca @ Sep 14th 2006 5:41PM]

I was all excited ... for nothing. To _me_ this looks like a step back. Unless, of course, this is WAY cheaper than the current boxes.

As for wireless ... it would be nice. I dealt with this issue by transplanting the slingbox and a WRT54G, running dd-wrt, into an old Panasonic tuner case. It's black, looked like "it belongs" in my brother's A/V rack and it provided LAN access to some other devices in his rack.
Once I get my hands on another cheap tuner I will probably do the same with my sling. If I feel like it I might even document and blog about the transplant.

[glacia @ Sep 14th 2006 7:06PM]

Edgy? When I first saw a Slingbox I litterally thought the device was just the box it came in with the My This & My That written in huge letters on top. Is it supposed to look like 3 keyboard keys strung together? And if so why? The picture looks a million times better than the Slingboxes I've seen.

[Evan @ Sep 14th 2006 9:43PM]

All I care about is when will it be available for the mac. Although it's currently in beta stage right now, they're having some serious beta management issues so it's going to be a while, IMHO, I'm sure........ damn....

[TomTom @ Sep 14th 2006 11:07PM]

People,

Obviously, this is NOT a new slingbox, but a Slingbox receiver to hook up to your TV.

Notice only video & audio OUTPUTS, no inputs...DUH!

This is so you can bypass the PC/Mac for viewing your Slingbox on your TV via your home network or the internet. Also, pictures can be decieving - again, clearly it is about half the width of the actual slingbox - just seems to be deeper (one would hope due to picture processing internals) but still within acceptable AV equipment sizes (set top boxes, etc)

TT

[Steve @ Sep 14th 2006 11:25PM]

It looks to me like the RCA and S-video jacks are labeled "A/V Input" at the bottom -- not outputs.

[Steve @ Sep 15th 2006 6:20PM]

Looks to me like this is a slimmed down Slingbox for composite/S-video sources only, leaving out the RF tuner. Probably good for those who want to Sling from satellite receivers, cable boxes etc. and don't need the RF tuner.

Don't think it is an OUTPUT device - it has an IR blaster connector (to control said set top boxes) and the phono connectors seem to be labelled INPUT not output.

I suspect the use of Phonos rather than the custom 3.5mm jack connectors is to allow ease of connection.

[puddintank @ Sep 18th 2006 11:02AM]

Kvanvig has a Slingbox!

[leo @ Sep 20th 2006 8:01PM]

Are you people kidding. This can't posibly be a new slingbox. This is complete bs. that looks so fugly they can't possibly be serious. give me a break.