Customer Ratings & Reviews

I live in Chicago and work in New Jersey and the hotel only has limited channels so this is a life saver!! I can watch my games and DVR shows wherever! The only part that sucks is that two people cannot watch at the same time and that the app on the iPhone AND iPad are 15bucks each! But if your clever like myself just buy the iPhone app and you can still watch it on the iPad with the 2x zoom still looks great. I have unlimited data on my iPhone with Sprint and it even works on 3G!!! This is a MUST HAVE! Will give 5stars when the allow at least two people to stream at the same time.

I wish there can be more than one user at the same time, maybe at least two users. But overall this is a good product to have if your always on the go.

I purchased the Slingbox 500 to sling my TV signal to a Roku. Slingbox support told me that it does not work because I have too many Rokus. I unplugged all my Rokus except one and the Slingbox 500 still does not sling the TV signal when there is just one Roku. Slingbox support is unable to tell me why this does not work.

I have xFinity and was looking for a solution where I can watch shows recorded by the DVR downstairs and cable in general upstairs. Also, I was intrigued by the prospect of watching my home cable anywhere in the world. I didn't want to purchase another DVR and shell out $19 in monthly rental fees. So, I came upon Slingbox 500. At first I was very skeptical but decided to give it a try. I also needed a media player that would play Slingbox stream and found that WD TV Live does in fact play it. The setup was somewhat easy as I pretty much figured out the wiring process going from DVR to Slingbox and then from Slingbox to TV. The Slingbox was set up next to our DVR downstairs. It immediately found my home Wi-Fi, I connected to it, then it took another 10 minutes to update the box firmware. It asked me about my current cable provider, my zipcode and the make and model of my DVR and that was that. Keep in mind that you need to create an online account with Slingbox website. This way it knows how to find your Slingbox on the internet and in case you have set up more than one, it gives you a list of available devices. Then, I set up WD TV Live upstairs to my bedroom TV. It asked me for my Slingbox login and magically it worked. Now, I can watch my DVD downstairs upstairs in our bedroom in HD perfectly streaming. What I was not happy about is in order to watch Slingbox on your mobile device, they charge you $15 for each while streaming to a laptop/desktop is free. But it really works. We recently went to Mexico and 99% of the channels are in Spanish which I do not speak. I had my phone hooked up to a room TV thru its HDMI input using room Wi-Fi at about 1Mbs and it worked flawlessly, giving me my home channels in Mexico. This is a wonderful device that works as advertised.

Compared to the competing products (Monsoon Vulkano, Belkin @TV...which is just a rebranded Vulkano, by the way), Slingbox blows everything away. While a computer with a TV tuner card presents an interesting opportunity to stream media and a TV signal, the options with TV tuner cards are limited, and the price of building a computer capable of doing that well exceeds the price of a Slingbox. The issue with slingbox is the price. The 350 model can be had for as low as $130, which matches well with Vulkano or @TV, but feature-wise it does not stack up (solo HD input, no wifi, no hdmi-output, must setup device over internet, no USB). For the full range of features you need this 500 model, but it runs at a cost. $300 is steep, considering that both the 350 and 500 stream at the same quality. Then add in the fact that no Windows application exists (viewing through a web browser). Windows 8.1 has a Slingbox app (SlingPlayer) in the market but it does not sound promising from the reviews, especially at the $15 cost for the app. Both a tablet and phone version of the app are available in the Google App market for $15. The phone app is noticeably more polished than the tablet app - even using the tablet app on a 1920x1080 screen fails to show all the content in the window. Very odd. Using 2.7+ versions of the phone app lets you integrate with Roku. I was having trouble getting it to work with my friend's Roku - you click the button in the app, and it auto-detects the Roku on your network. You have to have the Sling channel installed on the Roku and it is supposed to auto-load, but I was not having success. There are no controls on the Roku channel to load anything - quite stupid in my opinion. The device has an HDMI input, but, because the device is not HDCP certified, you cannot use it with HDMI-output from a cable box or the sort. You are limited to devices that are not protected. An example of where it would be useful is an ATSC-over-the-air device, like a DTA converter box or an ATSC DVR box. Which brings up an interesting point: compared to the earlier HD product from Slingmedia (the ProHD), this is a step down. They have removed the built-in ATSC tuner. I never had the ProHD product, but I saw pictures of it on the web and certainly would have utilized the port if it was on the 500 model. I can't give this a 5/5 because the price is steep, ya know? $300, plus $15 for a Windows App, plus $15 for an Android app. It starts adding up. The product itself is high quality and is recommended for anyone looking to stream TV outside of their home, but just be ready to pay the price. You can sometimes find it on sale for as low as $260 on a lucky day,.

Easier setup than the older sling box. Much needed improvements, such as hdmi capable, and wireless network. Better quality on computer. Must have high speed internet( should be a given but one can never tell). Wish the technology was with Tivo, direct tv, dish , or cable. Only downside I have ran into is that the system reboots at various times, not every day, but maybe once, and sometimes twice a week.

Easy set up as long as you follow the instructions. Requires a solid internet connection to work. The only snafu that I've found after 30 days of solid use is when my cable company updates their box and turns it off. Not a frequent event, but it does happen on occasion. However, make sure to turn off the power setting on the cable box or dvr.

We have a second house with internet but no TV service. The Roku offers plenty of viewing options, but my husband wanted to watch live TV and asked for a Slingbox 500 for Christmas. It was easy to use, and works great once you understand how to use the app on your mobile device (that was a bit challenging). The one frustration that I have is that Slingbox charges $15 for the app to be downloaded to each mobile device. Also, my husband does not want a "smartphone" and keeps asking me to leave my phone behind when I go out because it has the app on it.

Well I was surprised that I needed a HDMI wire and Composite RCA jacks to hook it up to my Tivo. Also don't listen to the sales people as they told me I could hook this device up to 2 separate devices at once. No it is only for 1 device streaming is nice but if you want HD make sure your upload is high.

We recently bought our 2nd Slingobox and are thrilled with the updates of the latest model. Out first model was many years ago. We had a daughter living in Sweden who was homesick for American TV. We hooked up a Slingbox to our router and she was able to use her computer to watch our TV and even tape her favorite shows using our DVR using the remote through her computer. The latest model no longer has to be tethered with cables to a router. Easy peasy hook up and you can tune into your home TV or DVR from anywhere in the world. Everyone should have a Slingbox!!

While I can get most of my televisions fixes online, it is still difficult to get good quality and live time viewing of most local sports teams. To remedy this, I purchased the slingbox 500 and inserted it in to my network. The device works exactly as described, and to date I have had no issues. Setup took just a little time - just identifying the correct cable provider and location (so many similar xfinity locations) took any time. And not more than a few minutes at that. Of course, everything is based on your internet connection strength. At home, i have a very strong and robust network. On the road I am usually limited to the strength of the hotel internet - often wifi. Still, other than one dropped connection for a few seconds at a particularly spotty marriott, I have had no issues at all.

This product does what it promises. I was a little disapionted I had to purchase the ap to use along with it. Also, I am disapointed that the sling installed tv and portable device are locked together. Live tv is going to be the same on both TV and Tablet. I can move the slingbox to another tv (a less watched location) but I only have premium channels on one tv-where I installed the sling. I should have done more research. Overall, good product.

I bought the sling tv with the intent to install on my brothers extra direct tv box, so i could cancel my contract with them. I hooked it up on my geni mini first to work out the bugs before i canceled my contract. It was fairly easy to hook up and works as billed, but not as good as i need. the picture is great streaming from phone to apple tv with little to no loss in quality. I use charter internet and high speed router, but it still pauses at times for loading and the lag time between functions makes surfing channels or skip forward(over comercials) impractical. So now i just use it for shows on my dvr or sporting events when I'am away from home. It's very cool and I didn't have to miss all the world series just becouse I had to work, but I't won't replace my direct tv.

This product is difficult to install. The standard setup requires use of the uPnP protocol on your firewall/router. This protocol is widely disabled due to the very significant security issues surrounding the protocol, and is not available on all routers. The setup will not complete unless it can use uPnP. The undocumented workaround is to use the web config on Slingbox' website. I was able to get the device working using this method. Lastly, the HDMI connection only works for channels that do not have DRM (Digital Rights Management) enabled. Slingbox could have installed a vChip in this device to alleviate this issue, which was a significant oversight. Slingbox' workaround for this is to use the ancient Component Video, which is no longer supported by many content devices, including many DirecTV devices. I attempted to use an HDMI splitter to fool the DRM, but had very poor success as the Slingbox lost sync frequently with the DirecTV source. I still would recommend this product primarily due to the main competition being a do-it-yourself PC setup using Open Source software which is even MORE difficult to setup.

Easy to set up and use with DirecTv. Remote functions with App is difficult to understand, but after time it works well.

Replaced the first Slingbox that I'd purchased several years ago. The new one was easier to set up, it stays connected, and the the picture that is streamed is a lot brighter than what the older slingbox was sending out.

If your looking to take your home cable wherever you want this is the solution. Hooked it up to my cable box and hooked it up to my laptop. Brought my laptop to work hooked up a HDMI cable from my laptop to a led tv at work and Bam! cable from my home cable box at work. Very cool! Way ta go Slingbox! Now i'm not saying it's that easy buy all and all it was simple. We had to hook both HDMI and the red gree and blue component cables also for it to work.

We are very pleased with the new slingbox. I truly enjoy the ease of use. This product out performs the old model we had from 5-years ago.

I love sling box! Nice to be able to watch any channel from anywhere. Such as when I go into the hospital waiting on my newborn. But I dislike the fact that you have to pay for th app on both android and iPhone. I own both OS and paid another $30 for apps on each. Only thing negative I can say about my slingbox experience is the delay when changing channels using Apple TV or in the app. But overall, great buy!

This a great device to stream cable from one location to another where there isn't cable service (ie: a lake house, media area, outdoor patio or anywhere you desire to watch TV or movies.) You can also stream to other devices (iPhone, iPad or computer.) Please be clear that you must purchase the apps. to have the capability to stream to these devices. Also, important to note, the Slingbox should be connected to a TV (in any location) that has minimal use, as the same program or movie must be viewed If both are in use simultaneously. It should also be noted that this only streams to one device. That being said, it requires the purchase of additional Slingboxes to utilize its functionality to more than one device. Although, this is expensive @ $299.00, it's well worth the investment over the cost of paying for expensive cable service.