Slingbox - Stream your TV service anywhere in the world

Alright everyone brace yourself. You can now stream your cable, satellite, U-Verse or digital over the air broadcast from your home to your phone, your computer and your vacation home in Italy or Aruba or anywhere in the world. Imagine this, you are away on a business trip to China and your there for 1 month and you don't speak Chinese and you don't have any means of entertainment other than Chinese TV. Yikes! I think that would drive anybody insane. Now there is a way to watch your regular American TV in China. Yes that's right, you heard me, American TV in China.

A Slingbox is a device that allows consumers to watch there cable/satelite TV service anywhere there is an Internet connection. Slingbox was created by Sling Media of San Mateo, California, and is now becoming a very popular product for consumers all over the world. A Slingbox can redirect up to four live Audio/Video signals from a cable box, satellite receiver, PVR, or other Audio/Video source to the viewer's PC or Cell Phone when using a broadband Internet connection, anywhere in the world.

A Slingbox connects a TV source with an Internet connection. A slingbox can control Digital video recorders and cable or satellite set top boxes through a separate infrared (IR) cable that can allow users to change channels with an onscreen virtual remote control which is provided for controlling almost all connected devices. The software that is on a user's computer or mobile device connects to the Slingbox and provides the user interface for viewing the video stream and changing channels. You can download this software for free on sling medias website. After you setup your slingbox you can start streaming your video.

First and foremost I would just like to give a round of applause to Sling Media for coming up with a very intriguing and innovative idea. This is a very user friendly device that has simple software provided by Sling Media. It offers you several options and settings to choose from so you can tweak your video quality and sound. Sling Media also has a product line of different slingbox devices. You can check them out on your own time on their website, I have not tested all products as of yet, but will in the future. I have my PC hooked up to my HDTV and I use a Slingbox HD PRO to stream cable television service to my laptop and my Treo 755.

My Slingbox is hosted with a company that offers slingbox hosting. I use them because they can support my high bandwidth (upload) needs so I can stream my video steadily. The experience has been very exciting and well worth every penny. The Slingbox device is a one-time fee and prices vary depending upon what retailer you purchase from. If you want to go the route I go, you can seek out companies that offer cable or satellite TV service along with hosting services and just pay one monthly fee. There are several companies that provide this service which you'll have to do heavy research on before selecting the right one. One worth a mention is FlipTube, they offer a wide range of service options for anyone looking for a hosted service. They have a few types of plans which are reasonable if you are familiar with what it takes to get actual live streams of American TV.

Slingbox Pro HD Score : 9/10

While this product delivers a phenomenal level of service there are still things that can be improved upon and tweaked. I would suggest one thing for sure, get an HDMI port on the Slingbox PRO HD. As of right now they do have the component HD option along with digital audio.

I'm sure that every slingbox user can agree, they haven't thought everything, just yet.

Stay tuned for reviews and ratings on Sling Media products!