Sling Media SlingCatcher

Let me preface by stating that I know almost nothing about A/V and bandwidth required to get a picture to my TV screen, so my ignorance may automatically devalue my post.

I purchased the recently released (Oct-2008) Slingbox Pro HD with a SlingCatcher to sling my HD cable service from DC to Atlanta in an effort to permanently get rid of one of my two monthly cable bills (one bill in each city). I have both devices connected directly to 100MBPS routers over short cables in both cities, using HDMI between device and respective TV/Cable box. I use Comcast in both cities and get their standard Internet package (6Mbps download/384Kbps upload).

I hooked up both devices very easily with no help from Tech Support.

I tested the Slingbox HD Pro on the local network in DC and, as expected, got a pretty decent HD picture on Slingplayer running on my laptop; I'd say the equivalent of nearly 720dpi with up to 2000kbps throughput on the local network to my 15 inch laptop screen.

I also tested locally in Atlanta between my laptop running an Apple HD Movie Trailer (as the SlingCatcher can display any video content, though it refuses to catch and sling sound for videos played in QuickTime). The resolution was good at about 720dpi, though the contrast or aspect ratio was a bit off; it was more than acceptable for my purpose if I could get that quality from my DC Slingbox HD Pro. Again, I'm using HDMI between SlingCatcher and TV, and TV max resolution is 1080i.

I was hoping to get slightly less decent resolution when slinging cross-country to a 37-inch television. To my disappointment, the kbps between DC Slingbox HD Pro and Atlanta SlingCatcher maxed at around 1200 (not bad, but not what I'd hoped, and the picture suffered as a result. The picture ended up looking like a grainy VHS tape, even at the highest firmware-limited resolution setting (more on that in a sec). An HD-quality picture may not be possible with the SlingCatcher over long distances, but if it is it definitely requires greater than a 384Kbps upload connection speed on the Slingbox (as many might expect, although I figured with compression and buffering they could get further than they did).

Worse, though, were three very annoying features of the SlingCatcher that must be revised.

1. The SlingCatcher defaults it's own resolution to 320x240 (equivalent of 275~ kpbs) every time I turn my SlingCatcher on. The picture quality is horrendous in this setting; unwatchable to anyone used to HD. It must be changed every time I turn the SlingCatcher on; it's not a sticky setting for my SlingCatcher. Annoying as hell, but acceptable in the short-term.

2. The highest resolution setting the SlingCatcher allows is 640x480. This is ridiculous as to get close to a high-resolution HD picture from that size your TV picture has to be around 12"x15" or something no one wants to watch on a TV, but which is perfect for watching.......................on a laptop. I NEED a higher resolution option, even if it means I need greater bandwidth from my devices to necessitate this requirement. This is a show-stopper for me; even if I supply greater upstream bandwidth the limit to resolution prevents the device from serving my purpose as a result.

3. In order to accommodate this technical limitation, the SlingCatcher also defaults the SCREEN SIZE to....... 12" x 15", leaving a huge black border larger than the screen around my 37" tv. This also happens EVERY TIME I turn on the SlingCatcher, as if the techs at SlingMedia realized I would want to watch my TV at its normal size but also knew that technical limitations insist that I try to enjoy it at a size I haven't watched since I got my first color TV over 20 years ago. I can change the screen size to Full, but then I get a picture that was grainy enough that I might as well have bought a SlingBox Classic; HD was nowhere to be found. The SlingCatcher produced no where near an HD picture at this size, even when watching HD channels.

This device works. It's fabulous for some uses, and perfect for getting rid of a cable box or two within the same house. But the software must be improved to support higher resolutions in order for SlingCatcher to support remotely slinging an HD picture from an HD Slingbox. In other words, if you get a SlingCatcher for remote (not network-local) viewing, don't expect to Sling an HD image.

Update:  Apparently SlingMedia plans to deliver an update to the SlingCatcher firmware that'll support Slinging an HD picture, but they haven't delivered a drop date for this update as far as I know.