Today I am unboxing the new Slingbox 500.
Remember, Slingbox?
It's like the little box that you can take with you anywhere and stream your own TV to where ever you are.
It's an awesome gift for college kids who wanna share their parents' cable subscriptions, and it's also a big hit with sports fans because if you're on the road you can still watch the home team play.
All right, let's check it out.
Plus, in a sea of set-top boxes that bring you like a whole bunch of content,
this one just brings you your TV, at your house from your DVR, from your DVD player; it's pretty sleek.
Watch your TV anywhere, good old fashioned bubble wrap, not the greenest packaging, plus to open our bubble tape.
Okay, Slingbox 500, now the big change between
the old Slingbox and this one is that this one streams in 1080p, so high-def streaming which is pretty sleek.
Oh, look at this, aren't you a funny little shape?
It's like Infinity or [unk].
See, I'm not actually a fan of this.
I understand that you want components to maybe stand out a little bit or you're tired of building block boxes, but this is a home theater component.
You know where it's gonna go?
On a shelf with a bunch of other black boxes, so why don't you make it
stackable.
Let's get to the specs.
The Slingbox 500 has built-in Wi-Fi, the 1080p high-def streaming I mentioned earlier.
It can connect to your DVR, your cable set-top box or your satellite receiver.
On the back, you'll find a USB port, a network port, HDMI in and out, component inputs and composite inputs.
It's also compatible with your DVD or Blu-Ray player, and this is handy;
video security cameras.
It does not have a monthly fee, and like Apple TV, you can use it to send photos and music on your mobile device to your televisions, although you cannot stream video.
It costs $299.
One bummer, even if your DVR has multiple tuners, Slingbox still can deliver only one output; so, if someone else is home and watching the view, you're gonna have to fight for viewing rights.
The mobile apps costs $15, also kind of a bummer, they're available for IOS and Android.
I got so distracted by the unusual shape that I forgot to look what else is in the box.
So, 'cause I know it comes with a lot of cables, I wanna dig in here.
We have our Quick Start Guide, let's see what we have in terms of cables, power that's an easy one.
Do you come with HDMI?
You do.
That's actually pretty nice, so it comes with an HDMI cable.
You've got component and
composite cables, also pretty nice.
So, you pretty much have everything you need, plus your remote control which even comes with batteries, nice touch.
So, over here, some more audio and optical cable-ry, it looks like.
This appears to be possibly an AUX cable, maybe I'm wrong.
And then your network cable.
So, this is a pretty impressive little package.
You
definitely have everything in this box that you would need to get up and running once you download your $15 apps.
I will say that $299 is a little expensive for Slingbox considering all the set-top boxes out there, but deliver content and all the ways to get content on the go via apps.
That said, like I mentioned earlier, any college kid on your Christmas list is gonna love this guy.
