Sling Media Slingbox Pro review

The original Slingbox (search for 90585 at www.computerbuyer.co.uk) cunningly allowed you to watch your home TV from any Internet-connected computer.

As well as a built-in Freeview tuner, the new Pro offers more video inputs, so you can connect up to three home entertainment devices. You can also attach an HD source via a non-standard connector, but the Slingbox doesn't handle HD resolutions. The Slingbox Solo, which is also new, and black rather than red, costs just over £100, but lacks the tuner and only allows you to connect one video source.

While it's great to be able to watch live (and recorded) shows from your Sky+ box when you're on holiday, assuming you have a fast Internet connection on holiday, the Slingbox is also useful for beaming TV around your own house. Your home network will be much faster, so it's good that the new Slingboxes offer almost three times better quality than the original. Even watching an HD DVD movie on a laptop screen is surprisingly sharp, even though the Slingbox's maximum video resolution is a relatively lowly 640x480 pixels.

Whatever your broadband connection's nominal speed, in practice it'll vary, but we were impressed that the SlingStream optimising technology could deliver watchable video with clear audio over a fairly slow connection. Text gets a bit fuzzy, but otherwise it's as good as VHS, which isn't bad.

Setting up the Pro is simple. You connect your equipment and a cable between the Pro and your router. The software then steps you through configuration and helps set up remote access, the only tricky part. An image of the remote control is shown on screen for popular set-top boxes, so it's easy to find or schedule a recording. Two infrared emitters allow you to control two of your video sources when accessing the Slingbox remotely.

We were disappointed by the lack of built-in WiFi, which means the Slingbox has to be sited near your router, and it's slightly annoying that you can't pause live Freeview TV.

If you only need to be able to watch video from one device, you're better off with the Solo, but otherwise you should choose the Pro. We'd wait until the prices get discounted a little more.

Author: Jim Martin