14 DAY TRIAL // Most people know what a set-top box is – an electronic device that picks up a cable operator's signal and allows you to watch television channels on your TV or Smart TV. Sling, however, has a certain technology that lets you watch TV on any Internet device.
Called Slingbox, the technology, or rather the multimedia box, takes the cable TV and/or shows you've recorded and makes them available on smartphones, tablets and notebooks, no matter where you are.
It's similar to Internet TV, only instead of actually accessing websites with this or that movie or show, you access the live feed (or, as we said, recorded shows) you would be watching if you were at home.
Sling revealed its first Slingbox two years ago, but has since been working on newer, more refined versions. The Slingbox M1 has now been completed and will replace the Slingbox 350.
And the Slingbox M1 is not just an entry-level, more compact replacement, but one that brings with it some very important benefits that were not accessible before.
One of them is that you can configure the device from the Android / iOS app you could previously use only for streaming purposes. The other, more relevant advantage over the Slingbox 350 is the presence of built-in WiFi.
Previously, you needed to connect the Slingbox to the Internet via a LAN cable, and that limited the spots in your home where you could put the thing, and the associated TV for that matter.
Now, though, you can hide the box anywhere and still be able to remotely access it from anywhere in the world, as long as your phone, tablet, laptop or whatever else has a decent web link (Wi-Fi hotspot, 3G/4G connection, physical LAN in hotels, etc.).
The only thing still missing is HDMI (you still need to use normal, component cables to get the television broadcast feed to pass through the box).
The Slingbox Sling M1 has a price of $150 / €110, a fair bit less than the $180 / €132 of the Slingbox 350 that it is filling the shoes of.
In addition to the Slingbox M1, Sling has upgraded the Slingbox 50 into the SlingTV, though it's only a software improvement/cosmetic change. The UI has changed, you see, with a better gallery view and easier to navigate than the normal TV grid. Live sports scores and stats are shown via Thuuz as well. Sling just needs to persuade developers to make new apps for Slingbox, because the software changes made sure the existing ones didn't work well, if at all.
App updates and new releases are scheduled for late August, by which point Slingbox 50 owners will get a software upgrade to SlingTV too.
