Living without cable can be a real hassle... especially when one's job depends on it. "TV blogger" kind of implies the need for TV. I recently moved into an apartment where there is absolutely no option for cable television and had no choice but to look into alternative methods of getting quick access to TV. Enter Slingbox, about which I have been hearing nothing but glowing reviews. It's been around for a while, sure, but I haven't had any need for it until now.For those of you who don't know what a Slingbox is, here's the short explanation: It's a box that you hook up to your home's cable and Internet. Once you grant that Slingbox remote access, you can watch your home's cable TV and access TiVo or DVR on your computer, from anywhere in the world. No subscription is required; it's a one-time purchase. The only catch is that if you're watching your home TV with your laptop in a hotel states away, your family back in the house cannot change channels on that home TV. Not too big of a deal, I think, unless you're already an inconsiderate TV hog. Anyway, since my current apartment isn't my permanent residence, I have cable set up in my house in Florida and I'm doing this whole Slingbox thing.
I was originally going to buy the basic tuner from the official website for about $129, but then I checked out Amazon and saw the same thing for $99.99. Just as I was about to buy it, my family in Florida insisted that they look around in stores before I buy anything, to save on shipping and handling. So here's the best part...
Office Depot. Slingbox clearance. $69.99 tuner. Come on.
Okay, so I'm not sure if this is nationwide or a Florida thing or just in the three Office Depots that my family checked. Apparently the store isn't carrying Slingboxes anymore, so they had to get rid of them. If you've been meaning to get one for a while, it might be worth a call or a stop to your local Office Depot.
Also, it's worth mentioning that set-up seems to be ridiculously easy. My family isn't particularly tech-savvy and they occasionally need assistance with English manuals and instructions. However, I didn't receive a single call asking for help and the entire Slingbox set was put together in an evening. Beautiful.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-06-2007 @ 2:01PM
boomfoxx said...
How's the quality? I've been thinking about one for a while to catch Flyers games on TV now that I've moved out of the area. I've got an HTPC setup so it would be easy to watch the games on my TV, I'm just not sure how the quick camera movements of a hockey game turn out.
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9-06-2007 @ 2:05PM
Nahid said...
I do this for free using orb.com. I leave my old desktop with a TV Tuner that I don't use anymore at home while I'm in college and I can watch TV over the internet anytime I want. And the interface is slick, with a program guide and everything. I can even record shows like with TiVo and stream them later.
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9-06-2007 @ 2:26PM
rickrick said...
Sling will soon be coming out with there sling catcher. it will let you go from the slingbox at your familiys house to tha tv at your place. no need for the laptop. also you don't need to be a tv hog, get another cable box from the cable company put a spliter in the line and connet that box right to the sligbox. You don't have to have it connected to a tv to get picture, just need a video source feeding the sling box.
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9-06-2007 @ 3:04PM
Vito said...
Ya know, this would also be useful for anyone without cable who knows anyone at all who has a spare cable outlet. Offer a buddy 10 bucks a month to jump onto an outlet they'll never use, get cable.
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9-06-2007 @ 3:26PM
david said...
hmmmm.... so at your new apartment complex there is NO possible way to get cable television but high speed broadband internet is readily accesible. Interesting.
thank you for also providing us with the official website of the product, the retail price, and the fact that we could probably find on clearance while they try to clear out stock (to release a new product).
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9-06-2007 @ 3:53PM
Annie Wu said...
David:
Yes. That's what I said. It's not like I'd make up something like that. What would be the point?
And I'm sure not everyone is holding out for that bigger, badder, newer Slingbox and find that this basic tuner is just fine, thanks. I only shared this information because I noticed that the mark-down seemed to be contained to only Office Depot. Both Best Buy and Circuit City had regularly priced Slingbox products. So there's no need for teh attitudz.
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9-06-2007 @ 3:43PM
Dustin said...
boomfoxx, the quality depends on your home broadband connection. The faster the upload speed, the better quality you can recieve from the slingbox. I have only a 768 up and I think it does quite well for good quality web streams. Very comparable to most video streaming you see online.
Orb is a great tool as well, but you still need a computer, tv tuner, ir hardware, all coming in at over the price of a slingbox. But if you already happen to have all of that, its a great piece.
I love my original slingbox, and I use it to watch my Dish network VIP622 HD-DVR at work.
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9-06-2007 @ 3:44PM
Keith McDuffee said...
david -- What's with the 'tude? I can attest that Annie asked us what her options were with her not having cable TV at school, so a bunch of us suggested the Slingbox to her, since we had them and they do the job. I mean, we frackin' write about TV, so why is it so strange to think we'd have one of these?
I've already done a post here about my issues with the Slingbox, so it's not like we're trying to be shills about it. Chill out, and if you don't want to go look for the deal, then don't.
Oh, and be good to the environment and recycle that hat you're wearing when you're done with it. kthx
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9-06-2007 @ 4:19PM
Nahid said...
"david -- What's with the 'tude? I can attest that Annie asked us what her options were with her not having cable TV at school, so a bunch of us suggested the Slingbox to her, since we had them and they do the job. I mean, we frackin' write about TV, so why is it so strange to think we'd have one of these?"
Yep, all of the dorm rooms in my school don't have cable either, and this is very common at most universities in my area. You just get a LAN port and a phone port, no cable.
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9-06-2007 @ 4:40PM
Vito said...
Not to mention that some people might not be able to pay for both high speed cable and cable TV, and this aids in that decision.
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9-06-2007 @ 11:25PM
Kesey said...
How about the legality of this? Doesn't really bother me, but it should be mentioned that this is illegal or at least borderline illegal. Are you paying for the cable bill at the home base and is there nobody there watching it?
When this thing came out there were people in the US selling cable to people in Europe. Incredible idea.
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9-08-2007 @ 11:22AM
pahles said...
Thanks Annie!
I found one for $71 at an Office Depot (also in Florida). I installed the software at work and it's great. I also tried the mobile software on my Samsung Blackjack, and that's working. As for quality, there are some skips sometimes, but for the most part it works. The sports on ESPN look great.
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9-11-2007 @ 3:52PM
david said...
sorry about the 'tude, brah. I just still cant figure out how a living complex could offer high speed internet but have NO choices for cable/sat television. I apologize if you thought i was raining on your parade, i personally have wanted one of these for a while.
If this is a legit review, GREAT! I enjoy reading about new tech gadgets and others experiences with them. But coming from an industry where you cant believe anything you read because everyone is on someone elses payroll i think blogs like this need to stay impartial. What do others think? Of course ads that are clearly marked as promotional (ex. those weird blurbs that are all over perez hilton) are completely different. Does tvsquad (or weblogs inc.) have any policy on "cash4blogging"?
annie -
the point of lying (not saying you were) would be to use your status as a blogger on tvsquad to reach billions of people through the intraweb and tell them about the wonders of the slingbox. In turn they compensate you financially (you asked).
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