Slingbox Solo devices no longer streaming for some users?

According to Slingbox's message boards, some Slingbox SOLO owners are experiencing a slew of issues with their devices, the most concerning of which is the failure to stream content after a brief period of use. Understandably, that's more than a bit frustrating for users who purchased the set top box exactly so they could stream TV content remotely. The particular thread in question was started back in May, and as of now has not been universally resolved by Slingbox's engineering team, who claim the problems have yet to be nailed down to a single issue -- despite many owners discovering their issues are related to bloated capacitors. Unfortunately for users, that means Slingbox hasn't announced a blanket replacement program. Instead, Slingbox is asking those affected by the problem to contact their support team: if your device happened to fail within 90 of purchase or you purchased an extended warranty, they'll handle for free. Otherwise, those still within the device's hardware warranty can pay a small fee for service which will be refunded only in the event the problem is found to be hardware related. From a consumer standpoint, this definitely sounds like a raw deal, but we'll avoid taking sides until more details surface... or a last minute press conference is called to claim it's a problem with all streaming boxes.

[brandonc1234 Posted Jul 19th 2010 6:32PM]

There is not only talk on the Sling Media forums but lot's of issues and pictures of the capacitor problems here.
http://placeshiftingenthusiasts.com/forum/slingbox-hardware/slingbox-solo-freezing-stuck-optimizing-losing-connection-check-the-capacitors/

[harley3k Posted Jul 19th 2010 8:52PM]

This exact thing happened to me and I posted a negative review about their bait-and-switch warranty, everywhere I could find to do so.

Including here.

[brandonc1234 Posted Jul 19th 2010 9:37PM]

@harley3k
Did they keep it up on the Answers.Slingbox.com site or did the mods delete it there?

[DZ Posted Jul 19th 2010 9:03PM]

So far, so good. I bought a Solo off of eBay and it's been working for a month now. Watching the Cubs game on it as I write this.

However, If I weren't technical myself, I probably would not have purchased one as I've read stories about the abysmal customer service/support offered by Sling.

I sunk $30 into Slingplayer for iPhone, so I'm probably a Sling customer for life now. It better last :-)

[Nn4458 Posted Jul 19th 2010 11:47PM]

Instead of the kin jokes we get the iPhone jokes.

[themyst Posted Jul 24th 2010 10:07PM]

I had this issue. I replaced the bulging capacitors soldering in new ones from Radio Shack and it works like new. For those who want to DIY it:

http://placeshiftingenthusiasts.com/solo-bulging-capcitors-repaired-with-images/