Sling Media Slingbox review

In the US, where the Slingbox has been available for nearly a year, there's also a SlingPlayer for Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC and smartphone devices (for $30). A UK version should be out "soon". That's good news, as it's even more successful on smaller devices, with the video quality more suited to lower resolutions. Both portrait and landscape modes can be used. While it may sound like a novelty, the actual experience of watching live TV on a PDA is compelling and, as Wi-Fi becomes more pervasive, mobile TV suddenly doesn't seem so fanciful. When at home, you'll also be able to use any network-connected PC or PDA on your LAN as a TV, and we actually found this genuinely useful in itself.

There are restrictions: naturally, you'll need a TV licence to own a Slingbox, and there's no way of recording the stream it transmits. You can also only use it to access one stream at a time, although there's nothing stopping you from using multiple Slingboxes. You'll also have trouble through many corporate firewalls, although manually configuring the ports in use may get round that.

While the Slingbox isn't cheap, it's currently unique, and bear in mind that you're getting a Freeview tuner as well (albeit one that your actual TV can't access). Sony will be introducing its similar LocationFree product shortly, but this will be a good deal more expensive, adding wireless into the mix at the expense of the TV tuner. If you're a TV fan, you won't need much more encouragement.

Author: Ross Burridge