[hugh]

Almost nine months after it was first announced, Sling Media today said its next generation Slingbox PRO-HD device is now shipping to retailers across Canada.

Slingbox PRO-HD will retail in Canada for $330

 

[aqua]

I'm still using my slingbox tuner that can only hook up to coax (which is fine for my purposes) but this looks pretty sweet.

What would the USB connection be used for? My guess would be that perhaps you can stream videos off of a USB harddrive (like the SlingCatcher apparently will do when released)

 

[TotalDistinction]

Although the box is pretty sweet, remember that you need at least a 1.5 Mbps upload connection if you want to view full HD remotely (outside of your house). Since most ISP's upload speeds are far below this, it might be worthwhile to stick with the Solo (I own the Solo) unless you need the additional inputs.

You can get the Solo for half the price of the HD-Pro so you may want to consider that in your decision.

 

[aqua]

I have the tuner and, like I said, it fits my needs so I actually have no intention of getting this item but I am impressed with the stuff they continue to offer. I agree though that the older products are still very serviceable.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

I just got my hands on one of these ... in the process of setting it up. My main purpose is in-home streaming (accessing my PVR from another room) so I'm hoping for a noticeable PQ improvement (not that I am complaining about the SOLO ... it's a good unit). I'll post up my thoughts once I've played with it for a while.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

My first observations are ... the minimum PC requirements for HD streaming are probably not enough.

My laptop is a dual core 2GHz with plenty of RAM (3GB), but HD streaming to it is choppy with dropouts. Not a bandwidth issue ... bitrate is fine. Simply put, the laptop doesn't have the horsepower. Streaming at 640x480 works flawlessly. While that is the same resolution as the SOLO, PQ is better with the PRO-HD (there is a new streaming engine apparently in the PRO-HD). I wouldn't say it's worth the upgrade if you don't have the horsepower to handle the HD stream.

My desktop has no problem with an HD stream and it looks gorgeous.

I may check out the SlingCatcher at some point to get actual HD streaming in the bedroom.

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

Things that make you go hmmm ...

Changing my power options profile to High Performance has improved HD streaming significantly. Not quite good enough to watch live sports at full HD, but other stuff seems fine (and the picture looks great).

 

[Sgt_Strider]

I'm new to Sling and its products. So if I connect this to a Shaw HDPVR, can I watch shows stored on the PVR? Since the Shaw HDPVR is a dual tuner receiver, can the Slingbox watch any of the two channels that the HDPVR may be receiving? Is it one computer/laptop that can connect to each Slingbox?

What's the resolution of the HD streaming from the Slingbox? Are there any lag when changing channels?

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

The Sling uses an IR Blaster to control your Shaw PVR. All the commands that are on your Shaw remote are available through the SlingPlayer (although the remote profiles are incomplete so some of the commands need to be entered through SlingPlayer menus).

You connect the Slingbox to the PVR (component outputs from the PVR and the Slingbox is a passthrough device to the component inputs of your display). You can then access the Slingbox via any PC on your home network by installing Slingplayer on the PC. You only need one Slingbox.

The resolution for HD streaming is 1080i ... however, you really need to have some horsepower to make it work. My laptop (Turion 2 GHz Dual Core) does not have quite enough to provide a stable stream. My desktop (Athlon 4800+ (2.5 GHz Dual Core)) manages quite well. My laptop has to stream at 640x480 to be completely stable.

 

[Sgt_Strider]

JohnnyCanuck,

I have a E8400 OCed to slightly more than 4ghz so I'm pretty confident in its ability to handle just about whatever I want to throw it at it.

Is the HD streaming at true 1080i? Can more than one computer connect to the slingbox at a time?

I get the feeling that changing channels will have some lag. Or I'm misinterpreting your post?

Thanks!

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

The HD streaming is 1080i (and 5.1 sound if that is of any value).

There is a definite lag in executing any command to your PVR from SlingPlayer.

More than one computer can connect ... not sure on the impact that has to streaming quality.

 

[Sgt_Strider]

Hi Johnny,

Have you tried connecting to the slingbox with more than one computer? What I mean by true 1080i is whether it's 1920x1080i or it's 1440x1080i?

 

[JohnnyCanuck]

The reviews I've read say 1920x1080i. I haven't figured out a way to actually measure it with my current setup.

I just tried to connect from two PC's and it wouldn't work. I was forced to choose one.

 

[Ruski]

I am picking mine up this afternoon. Should be interesting to see how well it works.

Lucky for me I got 8-10MBIT upstream from home. Shouldn't be a problem streaming 1.5mbit in HD to several places.

I guess i will need to grab a 2nd HD box if i want to stream one channel, but watch another on my pc.

 

[cyclo]

I picked up the Slingbox HD yesterday, was on sale for $299 at FS... The PQ on the LAN is a big improvement over the PQ from my PRO and Classic. I have had no problems streaming HD quality video from it to my desktop and 2 laptops. Despite the Slingbox HD being tethered to a wireless G router running in client-bridge mode, I was still getting stream rates of around 8000 Kbps on the desktop (wired to the gateway router) and up to around 4-6000 Kbps on the laptops.

The only problem was when I played the HD stream on an MSI Wind netbook. The Atom CPU is not powerful enough to enable smooth video and audio HD quality streaming. I had to "downgrade" the stream to "VGA" or SD quality (640x480) for the video and audio stream to play smoothly. Despite this downgrade however, the video still look good... still much better than the PQ I got streaming from a Slingbox PRO to the netbook.

I thought the SlingPlayer 2.0 software was better than version 1.5. I only had to set-up my Slingbox HD, PRO, and Classic once (from my desktop) and SlingPlayer 2.0 then uploaded these config settings to my SlingBox online account. I was then able to run SlingPlayer 2.0 from 2 laptops and the netbook without the need to reconfigure my slingboxes and my favorites... neat.

 

[Painlessprod]

SLINGBOX with Windows Media Center

Is there a plug in for media center here or is a stand alone app for the computer. Looking at connecting from a shaw pvr to my htpc in my living room and would like to if possible run it in media center. Correct me if i'm wrong there is no physical remote here is there? looks as if i will finally have to get that logitech mini diNovo.
another question, since I will be connecting from a shaw pvr I suppose there is no way to play different channels show of recording one and streaming another .

 

[cyclo]

Is there a plug in for media center here or is a stand alone app for the computer. Looking at connecting from a shaw pvr to my htpc in my living room and would like to if possible run it in media center. Correct me if i'm wrong there is no physical remote here is there? looks as if i will finally have to get that logitech mini diNovo.
another question, since I will be connecting from a shaw pvr I suppose there is no way to play different channels show of recording one and streaming another .

The Slingbox has its own application called the SlingPlayer that has versions that run in Windows, Mac, and certain mobile platforms. Yes there is no physical remote... there is a virtual remote but most common commands have a hotkey so you could basically bypass the virtual remote and just use your keyboard (to show the program guide, change channels, etc.).

Not sure about recording and playback in a DVR since I don't use one.

 

[Painlessprod]

thanks cyclo

 

[hugh]

I am now streaming HD from the Slingbox to my computer

Check out those streaming rates!

 

[daymz]

hugh, 1920x544 ??