Sling Media Slingbox Solo

[ Music ] >> I'm John Falcone, senior editor at CNET.com and this is the Slingbox Solo. This is the third generation Slingbox and, like the past models, its basic mission is to get your TV content and stream it to your PC, or your smart phone, basically anywhere in the world where you can get broadband Internet access. This third generation model isn't that much different than what we've seen in previous versions, it does allow HD video and it does have pass-through outputs so you can just throw this in your equipment rack and leave it there and just let it do its thing. This one also has a USB port on the back panel and Sling hasn't said what that's going to be used for yet. So that might signal that there is some sort of future functionality for this Solo as well. Now the big advantage of this Slingbox is pretty much exactly what the past models have offered, which is just the additional number of platforms that you can actually view your home TV programming on. That includes Windows and Mac computers, Windows mobile Smart phones and handhelds, Palm OS smart phones and coming soon and also many Simian Smart phones models. As far as downsides, to this Solo has the same problems that previous Slingbox models have had, one is that it monopolizes the device is attached to, so if you are switching channels remotely, anybody sitting at home is going to see those same channel switched as well. The second problem is that this is Ethernet only, so if you want a WiFi kind of activity, you are going to need some sort of workaround such as a wireless or power line bridge. Otherwise, the Slingbox is a really easy recommendation, I'm John Falcone, and this is the Slingbox Solo. ^M00:01:56 [ Music ]