Sling Media Slingbox SOLO (SB260-100)

I'll be sincere; hopefully this will help somebody like myself struggling to find a solution. Anyway, it's ony my taste.

I bought Slingbox Solo with the hope that I would be able to listen to(/watch) financial news (Bloomberg or CNBC) at work. My (new) company doesn't allow employees to streemline audio/video. So, I can't listen to free bloomberg TV or radio online. However, I soon recognized that the Solo is not the solution because it requires a lot of MB download.

My Solo is connected to a regular digital box (not HD box). To me the quality is very poor on a 15' Dell Lattitude D630 laptop. It's rainy (like you try to zoom in a low pixel picture). The color is dead. I wouldn't use it around home and don't need it for home. I have Verizon Fios service for my TVs. Verizon gave me enough boxes for all my TVs in different rooms. Even movie online (Netflix) on this same laptop or to 42' TV is many times better.

One thing I hope to be able to make use is the Slingmedia Mobile. I've been searching for smartphones/PDA for this purpose. Disappointingly enough, the software don't support iPod Touch, Blackberry Storms, Samsung Omnia, even Verizon Wireless XV6900 or XV6800 (it works on XV6700 though) and lot of other recent mobil devices. Well, I would get an Ipod touch and purchase SlingMobil sofware if the sofware support the device...

I didn't test the quality on HD box, though.

We are RVer and for many years used DirecTV. With my packages it cost us about $95 a month. With the Sling Box I just hooked it up to the DircTV DVR at home then to my broadband modem and that was it. We camp where there is WIFI and the service is free. I still can't believe how well it works.
I need to buy the bridge too since my DircTV DVR and my broadband modem are in different rooms. Still works like a champ.

This review is for the purpose of remote viewing only. I only use the HAVA and Sling Box on a completely separate internet connection from where they are stationed. Sometimes this is across town and sometimes it is on the other side of the world. These devices do allow you to stream locally, on your local network, but I do not do that often enough to comment on it.

I bought these devices so I could get all of my local cable channels when I was away from home, whether that is at the office, traveling for business, or on vacation. Many times I like to catch a local sports game, football, basketball, soccer, and no matter how hard you try you can't get it in other locations of the country. ABC, NBC, and CBS all have regions, and different games are broadcast for each region. So even though the game you want to see is on regular TV in your home town, it might not be on that same station on the other side of the country. I also use the On Demand portion of my cable box quite frequently. This is nice because I can remotely watch anything that is in the on demand section.

I have had the Sling Box Solo for about 2 months now. It has the 2.0 software with all the latest software and firmware updates. I have had the HAVA Titanium HD Wifi unit for about a week. I bought the HAVA because of the ability to plug a separate hard drive into the unit to record remotely for viewing at a later time. The HAVA also has the latest software, 1.8 latest firmware etc... On a side note, if you buy the HAVA, you must be hooked up by cat 5 or Ethernet to update the firmware. It will fail over wifi.

Comparison - Both of these units do what they are designed to do. One does it much better in my opinion than the other.

Streaming - I am talking about this first because this is the most important capacity of any of these type of units. If you can't stream properly, the unit is worthless, or at least very annoying to watch. The internet connection where the units are located is through COX, and I believe it is rated at 768K up and around 15mbps down. The only number you need to be concerned with is the UP speed of the location where the units are located. The Sling box blows the HAVA away in this area. If you were to watch these units for an hour each, this is what you would see. The HAVA unit will have about a 5 to 10 second delay from the live stream. While watching, the picture will cut in and out for about 10 seconds every 2 to 5 minutes. This might not sound like much, but it gets very annoying, especially if you watching a game and you miss a big play. Every time the picture cuts out, it comes back on at the lowest bitrate and works itself back up, so the picture quality is very poor for at least 10 seconds from the time it comes back on. The audio does cut out as well, but not as often. The Sling box is quite different. If you watch it for an hour, it might stutter once or twice for a second, but it has never cut out on me with a solid connection. Even with fairly slow internet connections in some hotels, once the Sling box has fully buffered it very rarely cuts out.

Picture - The picture clarity is very close on these two units. When I hook up my laptop to a Samsung A750 LCD 52" it appears as if the HAVA has a slight edge over the Sling box when the HAVA is not cutting out. Keep in mind this edge is so small that most people will not notice it. On a laptop you can't see any difference.

Sound - This is a huge area to myself. I generally buy the best or very close to the best audio equipment available, whether it is for my house, car, mp3 player, or headphones. If you are an audiophile in the slightest way, you will be severely disappointed with the HAVA unit. It sounds like an AM radio station on a 1970's car. The highs and lows are missing, and what you are left with is a very bland and dull sound. The Sling box again is the opposite. It is very clear, about 95% of the original broadcast sound, and has a full rich sound to it. If you would like to get a better idea of what I am talking about, go to you car and turn the radio on. Tune it to a strong FM channel and listen for a minute. Then switch it over to an AM channel. Hear the difference? That is at least the level of separation between these two units.

Software - The Sling box software is nice because it gives you an entire TV guide for your local cable provider. You can double click on what you want to watch and the Sling box changes channels. The HAVA does not have this guide. The Remote control interface is similar on both units. The only difference I have notice is that on the Sling box the A B and C buttons do not work correctly with my Motorola cable box. This doesn't come into play very often but it can be a pain to function in some screens.

Changing Channels - Again, the Sling box blows the HAVA away. The Sling box takes about 1 to 2 seconds to do what you tell it to. When I first started using the Sling box I thought this was slow until I received the HAVA. The HAVA takes anywhere from 5 to 15 seconds for the channel to change. A lot of this has to do with the longer delay in the stream on the HAVA, but either way, it is a long process. If you go to watch something On Demand, it my require ten or more button pushes of the remote to get to where you want. This can take upwards of 5 minutes on the HAVA. On the sling box, you could do the same thing in 30 seconds.

Recording - This is really the only area where the HAVA truly wins. The Sling box currently does not have the ability to record. It will give you a buffer, so you can rewind the show you were watching if you missed something, or pause it for a few minutes but that is all. The HAVA functions as a true DVR. You have to hook up a separate hard drive to the unit through a USB port, but once you have that it works great. This feature runs independently, so you don't have to have a computer on for it to record. The other thing you can do is record directly onto your laptop. So if you were watching something and wanted to record it to watch later you could. You can even view those recorded shows that are on your laptop when you don't have internet, like on a plane or in a car.

Mobile Phone - I have an HTC Touch Pro on Sprint. EVDO rev A, windows mobile 6.1 I have only tested the HAVA on my phone. It works ok. The phone must be in portrait mode, not widescreen, and you get about 2 frames per second. The audio comes through uninterrupted for the most part but the video continuously cuts out. I have not used the Sling box software on this phone but I have seen it run on a HTC Mogul, and it ran great, much better than the HAVA.

Overall, I believe the Sling Box wins hands down. If you are really into recording then maybe the HAVA is for you, but with its stream and sound issues, the recordings are not very fun to watch. I find the Sling box pleasurable to watch. The HAVA I find to be annoying and irritating which is not good considering I am watching it to try and relax. My HAVA will be getting sent back for a refund.

The reason I am giving the Slingbox 4 stars instead of 5 is for the lack of recording ability, and that you have to pay $30 additional for the mobile software.

This little invention is probably the best thing since sliced bread. It does what it says it does. Moreover, the customer support is fabulous. I had a problem setting up my IP addresses and in five minutes support was able to diagnose, find, and solve the problem. You gotta get one of these!! I can now watch TV at work while handling my business.

I was able to watch my beloved Baltimore Ravens on my laptop while sitting in a parking lot Cody, Wyoming. 4-stars only because the picture quality could have been better, but, it worked as advertised.