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Review on Sling Media SB500 100 Slingbox 500 by Kevin Williams

Revainrating 5 out of 5

sling box! The ideal solution to watch American TV from abroad.

We bought this almost a year ago and have had all sorts of configuration problems. It turns out that the issues we encountered were due to the way we approached setup, and not Slingbox's fault. We live in Costa Rica, so a family member rented an extra cable box from a cable TV provider. They followed all of the installation instructions to connect the slingbox to the cable box, but we were never able to connect for longer than 60 seconds. Then I had an aha moment. In the Slingbox configuration settings, we tried selecting a PVR box with manufacturer's make and model from the drop-down menu. After thinking about it, I realized that the box was probably configured specifically for the cable company's proprietary system. I change the configuration to get the state and zip code, then choose the standard cable box. Suddenly there was an option for the right cable company and their special remote control. All streaming problems are gone and we can watch any channel as if we were sitting in our family member's living room. We also installed the free SlingPlayer app on our Revain Fire Stick, which eliminated all of the ads commonly seen on handhelds and PCs. Reception is great, there is no buffering and we can control everything with the remote from our Revain FireStick. For the first time since we moved abroad, we have the ability to pause and rewind. This is very important as we get older and our hearing isn't as good as it was when we were young. This is the perfect entertainment solution when we live abroad. No VPN required, reception is excellent if you have an internet connection with an average bandwidth of, for example, 2MB or more. My non-Spanish speaking husband is in heaven because he can see all his rocks, branches and historic channels in English again.

Pros
  • Quality finish
Cons
  • Piggy bank Price