Rather than this just being a "bash the Slingbox" post, it's supposed to serve as a wake up call for Slingmedia and something to pay attention to for possible owners. I am one of the very first owners of the Slingbox. And I've been an enthusiastic supporter until recently. (I even asked them if they were taking investors, ... as I was interested that much .... also, I one of the people who tried to get a special forum for Sling owners at the AVS forum site)

I've met several of the Slingbox folks at the CES show in Vegas last January, and discussed a few issues that were popping up with them. To be totally candid, I felt as though they tried to brush me off when I tried to talk with them. I don't know why they chose to act this way, as I was extremely polite to them. But I got the very distinct feeling that they just wanted me to go away.

At CES, there are literally thousands of companies attending, and I would assume that all of them would appreciate hearing from an avid supporter. Well, Slingbox didn't. Actually, they seemed annoyed, that someone wanted to talk about their product ....... odd. Was this a foreboding of things to come? ...... Unfortunately, yes .........

I have been asking Slingbox to provide in one of their upgrades, the IR codes, for the most popular FTA satellite receiver in the world. I even offered to send them my remote, to make their job easier. Bear in mind, I've been asking for this for OVER a year. I'd pay the shipping ..... whatever got it done.

As of this writing, still no codes. Unless it's come out in the last three weeks or so, I wouldn't know, as my Slingbox is dead. The customer support has been a true disappointment. My box has been dead for over three weeks, and I still don't have what I need to fix it, despite repeated calls to the service center.

They seem to have an internal communication issue or they don't take the calls seriously. Regardless, mine has been dead for three weeks, and I still don't see the end in sight. This is unacceptable. While the box is currently being heavily discounted, I paid "full boat" for mine at CompUSA. You'd think that they would have more appreciation for the early adopters who helped promote the Slingbox. Now comes the word of encrypting the stream ....

Why?

Do they expect that others will rush to steal copyright protected videos that aren't suitable for anything but the most undemanding, casual viewers? Do that many people really want to steal a video of the local evening news from my hometown? If I want to record my videos from my ReplayTV, to my laptop, while I'm away from home so that I can watch them when I don't have internet access, why encrypt it to stop me?It's become obvious (at least to me) that something has changed at Slingbox. And it's not positive.

I find myself telling people that there are other ways to do what the Slingbox does for the first time. I don't want them to have the issues I've had and blame me for Slingmedia's neglect. I wouldn't have bet money that the customer service would have deteriorated to such an extent. Would I buy any future Slingmedia products? At his point, I'd have to say no. Nor would I recommend them. There's got to be serious Slingmedia changes first.

I am asking them to give me IR remote support for FTA receiver Dreambox since Aug 2005, still no fix for Dreambox-owners :(
UK Slingboxes have it supported, US Slingbx. owners do not. :(

Bentl1, you're post read like a jilted relationship turned stalker, but your points are valid. Remember though, these companies attend trade shows not to talk to customers, but to talk to investors and media about the product. Small firms also have limited resources and tend to make investments carefully; and can't take every single fanatic user request and incorporate it into the developed product. Sling should allow users to to learn their own remote codes. Seems that would be a smarter solution to the problem?? And they should have encrypted the stream to begin with to avoid this latest problem entirely.

They seem to have an internal communication issue or they don't take the calls seriously. Regardless, mine has been dead for three weeks, and I still don't see the end in sight. This is unacceptable. While the box is currently being heavily discounted, I paid "full boat" for mine at CompUSA. You'd think that they would have more appreciation for the early adopters who helped promote the Slingbox.

Check out http://www.slingcommunity.com/forum/thread/14078/
for the rest of the story and their recovery.

I was ready to buy one of these until I found out only a single user can watch.
That means if I want to stream to 2 PC's in my home I can't. Same for over the
internet.

Anyone have any ideas if the sling stream could be captured and sent to something
like VLC or Windows Media Encoder 9 ??

thanks
ken

While it may be possible to capture and re-encode the video area from the Slingplayer app for rebroadcast, I doubt you would like the results. Re-encoding can be rather intesive on a PC and won't offer you some of the on-the-fly optimizations that Slingboxes offer. Personally if you need two streams I'd consider 2 Slingbox AVs, especially as they are about $100 now. That will give you more flexibility and not tie up a PC with some rigged up setup. Just my 2 cents. (FWIW I have an old Slingbox Classic and a Slingbox Pro)

Does anybody know of any alternatives to using a slingbox?

Well, if you need to capture component, you could try an ADS PYRO A /V Link :
http://www.adstech.com/products/API-557-EFS/intro/api557_intro.asp?pid=API-557-EFS
(Firewire not network connected)

If you want to stream HD ATSC OTA streams you could try the HDHomeRun. I have one and love it.

Does anybody know of any alternatives to using a slingbox?

sony location free, it even lets you stream to the PSP.

and ofcourse there is orb. they really made it look nice for version 2.0

Does anybody know of any alternatives to using a slingbox?

The Snappy Multimedia Hava box is an alternative.

http://www.snappymultimedia.com/index.php

I'm really sorry to hear/read about someone who's become disenchanted w/ Sling and their customer relationship vibe.

I just had a really great customer service experience w/ them and have had nothing but good response times and assistance from them in the past. They can't be/do everything for all people, which I understand, and their product isn't perfect...but I've always gotten the distinct sense that they try their best and do care about their customers.

It was a BIG reason that I ended up chosing their system over the Sony LocationFree, even though I have a PSP and yadda yadda. That so many folks speak so positively of them, especially on forums where that truly matters, means a lot.

I hope you haven't given up on them yet.