Comments on: Hands on with the Slingbox PRO-HD

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:43:14 +0000

is this for one PC only?, say I have 3 computers, can everyone logged on each can slingwatch a tv? If ever than can, can they watch different channels? If possible at all/

By: pastafazoule

pastafazoule — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:16:19 +0000

So dave your saying that you have streamed 1080i with vmware fusion,also does anything disabled when your running it.

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:04:26 +0000

Got close to HD in the hotel, but couldn’t sustain high enough speeds. It was either low frame rates in HD or 640×480 at normal fps.

pastafazoule, Yes I’m running an XP virtual machine in VMWare Fusion which I feel handles video better than Parallels (I have both). I probably wouldn’t recommend it full time, but I can verify it works (and suspect the minimum system requirements for HD streaming are overstated) so I hope they get native Mac support out this year.

By: pastafazoule

pastafazoule — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 05:01:18 +0000

dave did yo say your running slingbox pro hd with Mac virtual machine, can you tell me if your streaming hd with the virtual software,and what software is it vmware fusion with xp

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:57:34 +0000

Davis, There’s been talk of a “God box” that would do something like that, however I believe that idea has been ported to EchoStar’s hardware – their next DVR (722-S) will be a DVR with Slingbox and SlingCatcher capabilities. But I don’t know the status of the project… doubt we’ll see it this year and who knows which features ultimately make the cut.

Dan, it’s entirely dependent on your upload and download bandwidth. Sling says you need at least 1.5Mbps upstream. At the moment, I don’t have a traditional “office” environment and can only stream over EVDO (which comes close) or Starbucks WiFi (which does not). So I haven’t done thorough WAN testing at this time. :/ I’ll be in Florida this weekend and if the hotel has solid Internet connectivity, I’ll give it a shot and report back.

By: Dan S

Dan S — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 13:57:02 +0000

Hey Dave, you said it could sling your content over the net in HD? How well does that work? Does it compress it to death, or require a super fast net connection? Or maybe there is some type of voodoo it does where it actually works well?

By: Davis Freeberg

Davis Freeberg — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 12:20:34 +0000

It would have been neat if the Slingbox Pro and the Slingcatcher were embedded in the same device so that you didn’t need to buy both boxes. Are there technical reasons for why the Slingbox pro couldn’t swing both ways or is it just two different needs that they are trying to solve?

By: Dave Zatz

Dave Zatz — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 11:26:38 +0000

When connecting via a mobile device, the video is encoded at smaller resolutions (currently up to 320×240). Sling’s working on an iPhone/Touch App, but I’d say it’s a 2009 offering. Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Palm devices are already supported and a Blackbery client is expected this year. If your primary target device is a handheld, I’d opt for the Slingbox SOLO and save some money. It’ll take your HD video off the S3 and broadcast it at standard def resolutions – what I’ve been doing the last year.