After nearly six months of waiting, my Slingbox is back up and running. All it took was my visit to Portland, a quick run to Fred Meyer for a splitter and cables, and a hosting location (thanks, Derek). I’m so excited to stream cable TV from the US, real time in Asia.
Essentially, a Slingbox connects a TV source to an existing internet connection. The video source can originate from the regular coaxial cable, or for a more sophisticated installation it can connect to a DVR or cable/satellite set top box. With either source, there is a customized remote control to operate the respective device. I really appreciate that the virtual remote control looks exactly like the actual one… no need to learn a new device.
Plus, I’m impressed with the new SlingPlayer 2.0 software. The programming guide represents a big improvement over the last version where all the channels needed to be inserted manually. And there just was not an actual guide available. Also, the video buffering capabilities drastically improved with the ability to pause, rewind and fast-forward up to 60 minutes of video.
Screen capture while streaming Slingbox video
