 | Much better than I expected
rating: 5
I'm not a techno geek or anything. I recently moved to Spain from the US and my kids were REALLY sad that they were missing most of their favorite shows (that on top of their old school, friends, etc.) Doing research on how to watch American TV in Europe, I stumbled over the Slingbox (and later the slingcatcher). I pre order it (it IS expensive) and received it with no problems in the US and brought it back in one of my trips.
I was expecting poor image, slow jerky connection, complicated setup. Instead I found a very easy to use system and very decent picture quality. I'm amazed that I'm actually controlling a box that is nine time zones away (I set up the service at a friend's home in Oregon).
Of course is not HD and is a long way even from your regular TV service. But definitively works and rescued me from the disastrous (at least from my perspective) Spanish TV.
I also tried the Sling Projector feature. It works very well with one caveat: You need a pretty fast processor in your computer, otherwise is a disaster.
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Slingcatcher 11 08
rating: 5
Works Great, bought a RF modulator to enable it to work with an old TV.
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Buggy software, still a BETA product.
rating: 2
I found so many bug in the software for this product, you should at least wait 6 months from now (Oct 2006) to buy it.
Otherwise you will run into sound sync issues, menu errors, and missing advertised features.
Personally I think it is fraud to release a product that is not finished.
Slingprojector can NOT steam HD-DVDs or Blueray content.
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works great for slingbox-to-catcher...
rating: 4
feels like i waited 2+ years for the slingcatcher. happy to have it in hand. no regrets. has worked flawlessly thus far for my application.
i pre-ordered @ amazon, and have now set it up in california to catch signal from a slingbox pro in asia and another slingbox pro within california.
BUMMER:
-> as other reviewers have noted, no mac os support (yet?) for using your computer as a signal source.
PLEASANT SURPRISES:
-> picture quality is good. other reviewers complaining about picture quality may not have adjusted the "resolution" settings within the menus, i.e. you have the option of specifying the "hoped-for" resolution from your slingbox. my slingcatcher by default set this resolution to a lower quality setting. for now (after i switched the resolution to the higher setting) i feel that the picture quality is essentially on par with the average picture quality i have achieved using the pc and mac os software clients.
-> the learning remote: comes with a basic learning remote (for TV on/off, input select etc.). nice touch.
SUGGESTIONS:
-> wish it were cheaper: $199 or less would be ideal. or add some local, on-board DVR (tivo-like) functionality (fine if you require we add an external HD) and i will gladly pay the $289.
overall, two thumbs earnestly up.
five stars if pricing is revisited (as above) and for incremental UI improvements (current UI is good, not great. granted, it's a difficult challenge. steal what you can from mac os). others: show your support to ensure good tech like this keeps coming.
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Great Product! Works even better than I thought!
rating: 5
Super easy connection to my tv and without wires! Finally!
OK sure there's a little difference in quality but what do you expect when viewing on your big screen?
This is the product I've been waiting for and with the sling website broadcasting its own content, I couldn't be happier.
This product also replaces my Ipod dock, since I can use my laptop to wirelessly play music on my home theater system.
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