Customer Reviews

Sling Media SlingCatcher SC100-100 Universal Media Player for TV

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(24)

 

 

I have been waiting for this product for 22 months, having seen the announcement and demo at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronic Show in January 2007. I have long been a fan of Sling Media and have used its products for close to three years. I have also recommended them to many friends and colleagues. I am a technologist and a "gadget freak" and seldom return products. Even less frequently I write reviews.

I received the SlingCatcher yesterday, after pre-ordering it on Amazon, and I could not have imagined, 24 hours ago, that I would now be packing it to return it. In a word, this product is a disaster. It is expensive for the features it offers (I paid $299 at Amazon, and I note that the product is already discounted two days later) and it is poorly implemented.

The installation was the only positive part of the experience. It was very simple to install (even simpler than a Slingbox) and recognized the network immediately. I have a wired, 1 Gigabit network available at the right location. The SlingCatcher does not have WiFi. The only peculiarity is that it took several minutes to download a software upgrade. Given that I have one of the first units to come off the boat, I wonder how many bugs were discovered during the trip from China to the USA. I should say that I did not experience any of the installation problems mentioned by other users.

The SlingCatcher lets you do three things (according to what's written on the box): watch video from the Internet; watch video from a Slingbox; and watch video from a PC. But be careful about making assumptions about what these descriptions mean!

Watch video from the Internet -- while you might think that this feature would allow you to browse the web and stream videos from it, it is not quite so. You have to have a computer on your network running a software program called "SlingProjector," which allows you to "project" whatever you can play on your computer onto the SlingCatcher (and your TV.)

I downloaded the SlingProjector software to my laptop (which I operate wirelessly) and to my home computer which sits on my 1Gig network (iMac running Windows because there is no SlingProjector software for the Mac OS yet!) I was able to go to the web from my laptop and stream software which in turn was streamed from my computer to the SlingCatcher and my TV. In order to stream a Hulu or Youtube video, the software lets you capture the portion of the screen where the video is being shown via a "cropping" feature. This works reasonably well, but the resulting quality is not that great. Part of it is a function of the quality of the incoming video, but I think that the fundamental problem is that as you stream the signal twice, you lose quality. In addition to that, you are showing the video on a large screen TV, and that is bound not to look as good as on the computer. So, expectations are high and quality is lower than it could be. Not a good outcome.

I then streamed videos from my home computer on the 1G network, with similar results. Note that in order to do that, you better have the SlingCatcher, your computer and your tv in the same room, otherwise you have to go back and forth all the time. I was watching a video and all of a sudden a computer message popped up right in the middle of the screen, which required going back to the home computer to click on the message.

But the worst part of the SlingProjector was that it did not work in some instances. I wanted to show a PowerPoint presentation on the tv screen, and in order to do that I did not use the "cropping" feature, but I put the SlingProjector in full screen mode. After opening the PowerPoint file, it was not possible to get the thing going from my laptop to the SlingCatcher. I managed to see a screen, but then the whole thing would freeze and I could not make it work even after restarting and resetting the box. After a while I gave up.

The second feature is the ability to connect to a SlingBox and watch on a TV what you would until now watch on your computer. That feature seems to work, though I found the menu system quite cumbersome. The quality also did not seem that great. I would have thought that having two hardware boxes talking to each other would allow Sling to optimize protocols and provide high quality and speed. Not so. Perhaps you can get better results with the HD box, which I do not have (it would have been the next purchase probably.)

Finally I thought I would get good results with the third, "slam dunk" feature, "Watch Video from your PC." Note that even this description is misleading. Watching video from your PC means implementing the Sling version of "Sneakernet" -- copy your files on a USB stick from your computer and walk it over and plug the stick into the SlingCatcher. But much to my surprise, this did not work at all. I tried both a USB stick with a few files, and then attaching a 500GB USB external hard disk full of media files. In the first case it found nothing, in the second case it told me that the files were unreadable. So much for the slam dunk feature.

So, I am disappointed at two levels. First, because the product is buggy and does not work as advertised. I knew what I was buying, because I have been reading about this for almost two years and despite the misleading descriptions, I knew enough not to be surprised. Even so, however, the product just does not work!

At another level, I am very disappointed in Sling. This was a huge opportunity to corner the market as the "media center" device of choice. For $300, why didn't the company include a web browser, so that I could go on the web directly and stream video from there as opposed to having to do it twice, with the additional inconvenience of having to use a computer in the middle? Was that not possible, given that the product is 2 years late and they charge $300? How much more would that cost? Some additional memory maybe?

Second, what's the deal with Sneakernet? Have we gone back 20 years? If you can read from a USB device (which you can't even make work) can't you allow me to read from devices on my network? I have several computers on the network as well as a NAS. My Playstation allows me to browse all these devices, retrieve and stream videos in HD, retrieve pictures and music and play it at high quality and flawlessly on my TV. If you can do it from a USB device, why can't you do it off the network? Even if it requires people to upgrade to a 1Gigabit network for HD video, it is still better than not having the feature at all.

In conclusion, I am very disappointed. The SingCatcher is under-featured and overpriced. Most importantly, it is a buggy product, which is incredible for something that's been in the works for over two years.

This is an amazing piece of technology if you use it for the things it is meant to do. Those "things" are as follows: (1) Sling (place shift) your TV from one location to another; (2) Watch video from an external source (external hard drive or thumb drive etc); and (3) view your computer screen on your TV connected to your SlingCatcher.

If you have been using your slingBox for what it is meant to do--- sling your TV this device will revolutionize how you watch you slingbox. I live outside the United States and have used my SlingBox everywhere I have lived (Africa, Europe, and Asia). Before buying the SlingCatcher i had to either (1) watch my home TV on my computer or (2) go through the hassel of connecting my computer to the VGA port on my TV and attach an audio cable to the TV. This was cumbersome and time consuming.

Now with the SlingCatcher all i have to do is leave the SlingCatcher Connected to my TV (now in Asia) and watch my live TV in the US any time right on my main TV. Absolutely amazing because how many people want to sit at their computer to watch a basketball game etc? With my 2MB upload connection at my house in the States and a similar connection in Asia the picture is good enough to watch any fast moving sporting event EVEN ON A 50" PLASMA! Even when my connection in Asia goes down to 500kbs the TV is still watchable!

The second great thing about the SlingCatcher is watching Videos you have on a hard drive directly on the SlingCatcher w/o a computer! This is awesome for those of you who download a lot of videos from the internet and want to watch them on your TV (again no more connecting your computer to the TV now you just plug in the USB cable into the back of the SlingCatcher). NOTE: it plays every video file I have thrown at it: AVI, XVID, MPEG etc I have never had a video file not play on the SlingCatcher.

Lastly you can "Project" your computer screen to the SlingCatcher. I agree with the other reviewers in some respects that quality and hassles here are far worse than the other features of the SlingCatcher. However most people that are using a SlingCatcher are pretty technologically savy and therefore should know how to "save" all internet video to a file and then watch it using a hard drive directly connected to the SlingCatcher. Therefore you can use the Projector only for PowerPoint Presentations etc which work flawlessly on the SlingCatcher.

NOTE: one other benefit is that if you have parents living abroad who want to use SlingBox but hate the computer, this is a perfect thing for them. Once you have it set up they just have to learn how to use a new remote which is pretty simple with the simple SlingCatcher Remote. My parents now have since they also live abroad and also absolutely love it!

ALSO NOTE: a lot of the bad reviews that were written here were written before many of the firmware updates that are available now had been made available. SlingCatcher makes updating easy: as soon as you connect it to the internet it lets you know that there are updates available and then installs them for you. Do this and I can guarantee that if you use it for one or all of the above uses you will absolutely love this device!

BUY IT IF YOU NEED IT!!

feels like i waited 2+ years for the slingcatcher. happy to have it in hand. no regrets. has worked flawlessly thus far for my application.

i pre-ordered @ amazon, and have now set it up in california to catch signal from a slingbox pro in asia and another slingbox pro within california.

BUMMER:
-> as other reviewers have noted, no mac os support (yet?) for using your computer as a signal source.


PLEASANT SURPRISES:
-> picture quality is good. other reviewers complaining about picture quality may not have adjusted the "resolution" settings within the menus, i.e. you have the option of specifying the "hoped-for" resolution from your slingbox. my slingcatcher by default set this resolution to a lower quality setting. for now (after i switched the resolution to the higher setting) i feel that the picture quality is essentially on par with the average picture quality i have achieved using the pc and mac os software clients.
-> the learning remote: comes with a basic learning remote (for TV on/off, input select etc.). nice touch.

SUGGESTIONS:
-> wish it were cheaper: $199 or less would be ideal. or add some local, on-board DVR (tivo-like) functionality (fine if you require we add an external HD) and i will gladly pay the $289.

overall, two thumbs earnestly up.

five stars if pricing is revisited (as above) and for incremental UI improvements (current UI is good, not great. granted, it's a difficult challenge. steal what you can from mac os). others: show your support to ensure good tech like this keeps coming.

*** 090329 UPDATE **
as of march 29th, 2009 the price has dropped to $160ish.

haven't seen any software updates that have drastically improved the product. however, i still use it daily: 2 units at my place for local and remote streaming and 1 unit at my in-laws. i would never say this is a perfect product, but it certainly is a good value for $160ish.

would love to see:
+ update that provides higher picture quality and punchier control response times (e.g. a local HD slingbox over gigabit switches and cat6 cabling should yield better results than currently observed)
+ how about the option to purchase a universal remote? the included remote suffices, but is weak. imagine a $100ish remote with backlit, touchscreen lcd that rendered the various remotes you need. or how about this 80/20: an iphone universal remote app.?

I really wanted for this gadget to be useful. I have been waiting for it to release for a long time now and was particularly interested in the slingprojector capabilities to be able to stream Internet video from sites like Hulu, Netflix etc. to my TV.

I hooked it up via HDMI and gigabit ethernet to my router. The setup was pretty painless. I was able to connect and view my slingbox at a remote site effortlessly. I was a little disappointed at how bad the video looked but attributed that to upload bandwidth from the remote site as opposed to any deficiency with the slingcatcher.

Then the problems really began. The slingprojector software recommends projecting a window at a time as opposed to the entire screen since this is supposed to improve video performance. Window sizes however are limited to 1024/768 which means you have to resize etc in a non-intuitive manner.

Video quality despite various performance changes I made was choppy and unwatchable. I stream video to my apple tv all the time so I know that the network supports high quality streaming. There is nothing I could do to render a decent video image. Even the regular computer screen i.e. non video tasks exhibited a lot of lag between the keystroke on my machine and when it showed up on the monitor. The slingprojector software is also a performance hog and noticeably slowed down the machine.

Finally, to add insult to injury the computer lost its connection to the slingprojector and despite reboots would not connect again. it took a reinstall of the client software and then a factory reset of the slingcatcher to get it to work again.

I will be returning it promptly. I guess it is fine to use as a standalone client to watch a remote slingbox but if you are buying for the sling-projector functionality as I did, I would be wary.

I was at the CES where the SlingCatcher was first announced, and like others have noted here, the wait from launch to release seemed to last forever. However, for what I needed, the wait was worth it.

Background:

I have a Series 3 Tivo in my living room and a second TV in another part of my house. I never wanted to pay for a second cable box or Tivo for the other room, which limited my viewing there to analog cable.

I've also had a Slingbox for a couple of years and have never used it as much as I thought I would. While I enjoyed having access to my TV from anywhere, the upstream on my broadband connection has always been lackluster, which left me with picture quality that was only fair at best. However, the idea of being able to use the Slingbox within my house to extend the Tivo to the second room really appealed to me.

On The Plus Side:

-The SlingCatcher does exactly what I want it to do. Very easy to set up, and the picture quality, with an average 4MB stream, looks great.

-The SlingCatcher remote maps perfectly to the Tivo remote, so much functions (Menu, Guide, Info, Clear, etc. are transparent.

-Many functions of the remote (TV Power, Volume, Input) are programmable, making it an acceptable universal remote.

On The Minus Side:

-Not HD. Even if you pass though the signal, the end result is still SD. Rumor is that will change, but for now, its SD only.

-Quality over the internet is limited by your connection at both ends. Even the most robust consumer services usually have a much lower upstream than downstream, and that leaves most video sent over the net looking very, very compressed.

-SlingProjector software is lousy and crashes my PC. This is the software that lets you watch non-Sling programming over the internet, and its a waste.

In the end, this is first generation technology that isn't everything Sling claims, but if you are using it within your own network to place shift from one TV to another, particularly for Tivo owners, you won't be disappointed.

Update: I purchased a second SlingCacther and it had major issues. It's now been replaced but I have a bad taste in my mouth. Customer support was horrible. 3 Weeks and 9 phone calls later I ended up returning it to the retailer.


I have setup and used just about all Sling products since the first Sling Box came out years ago. The concept of the Sling Catcher is great. The implimentation into the real world is a little disapointing. My laptop plugged into my large HDTV does a much better job than the Sling Catcher. The Sling Catcher has the advantage of the remote control. The last software update to the Sling Cacther made some marked improvements to the picture quality. The Sling Catcher has had problems staying connected to one of my Sling Boxes on the other side of the world, where my laptop just runs and runs. I would say that with a few more updates to the software I will be able to change my review from a 3 to a 4. Like most people I think it's over priced. I could nearly purchase a laptop and keyspan remote for the same price. There are some positives with the Sling Catcher. It's fairly easy to plug in and setup. The menus are easy to use except when entering passwords, emails addresses etc. It takes some time to scroll through and enter the correct characters. In all it's a great product but needs a little work with the firmware. If I was thinking of buying this product today I would. Just be aware that it needs a little improvement.

After rushing to order the Slingcatcher when it came out, I finally received the product today. Reading all the one star reviews on this site, I was worried the product would be a real dud. However, after installing the catcher tonight at a remote viewing location, I am quite happy with it and delighted that it meets my needs.

I agree with others who rated this product-- it definitely comes across as a first generation item that has definite kinks to yet work out and does not awe me the way my original Slingbox purchase did. However, I bought the product primarily as a means to view my Slingbox remotely without having to always tie up my lap top computer. In that sense, the Slingcatcher seems to do its job quite well with a picture/sound quality which does not seem to be noticeably different from my laptop's. In addition, I copied some television shows that I had on my laptop hard drive to a USB stick, connected the stick to the Slingcatcher and it works beautifully, as well as viewing on my laptop.

So what don't I like about the Slingcatcher and why am I not in awe:

(1) A fan of the Slingviewer version 2.0 with the internet TV guide that lets me quickly choose the station I want to watch, I am disappointed that the internet guide is not compatible with the Slingcatcher (hopefully it will be in the future). It is definitely a step back to have to pull up the cable TV box's guide on the Slingcatcher with the delays involved with sending signals to the remote cable TV box. [...]

(2) The SlingProjector seems to work as advertised between my lap top and Slingcatcher, but I would use it for a slow moving presentation or a video that is incompatable for the Slingcatcher. There seemed to be too much picture degradation and fast moving football players did not flow smoothly when I tested the projector. In that sense, my rule of thumb will be, if I plan to have my computer turned on to obtain a streaming video cast anyway, I might as well connect the laptop directly to the TV and not bother with the Slingcatcher.

(3) Learning to control a cable TV box using the Slingcatcher still takes time, even for those well-experienced with the Slingviewer program. The option menu in Slingcatcher is different from Slingviewer and the accompanying instruction guide really makes no reference about the detailed options required to control a box remotely. (Perhaps that is because the option are tailored to match the individual's respective box, but the options are still different from the Slingviewer.)

The Slingbox technology wows me with the ability to watch home television wherever I travel, even internationally. The product made me realize that internet TV is the wave of the future. Subsequently the Netflix Roku box wowed me-- watching movies and TV shows on that Netflix box are amazing because I cannot tell from the picture whether I am watching an internet video or a DVD. Unfortunately, Slingbox during my usage has neve reached Netflix's picture quality-- not sure whether the reason the quality does not match up with Netflix is based on the limits of my Verizon FIOS home internet's upload speed, the fact that I have to use a Slingturbo to connect the Slingbox to my router (rather than hardwire) or whether it is internet connectivity at my remote location -- and whether some or all of these issues contribute or are responsible to the varying Slingbox viewing speeds I experience between 247kbps and 1200kbps . (At the same time I cannot complain when I see these speeds in a remote location 7 time zones away from my FIOS TV box.) In any case, Slingbox is a great product and the Slingcatcher is a useful addition for those who want consistently to watch remotely at a particular location without dedicating a computer. The Slingcatcher just does not appear to add any quality to streaming and is not a product I would normally use to connect video/audio streams on my laptop to the TV. Hopefully the product and its accompanying software will continue to improve in the future, just as Slingviewer 2.0 for Windows is a definite improvement over the original version. I'm also disappointed that Slingmedia would release a Slingcatcher product that is advertised as not compatible with 64bit Visa.

For the moment, I still rate the product 4 stars because it adds the basic conveniences that I wanted when I purchased it.

I just moved to Germany and I'm using Slingbox with the SlingCatcher to watch my TV back in the USA. Before purchasing the SlingCatcher I was using my laptop hooked to my TV which was OK but it left a lot of room for improvement. Now, watching the same broadcast using the SlingCatcher is almost like being at home. You can connect it to your TV using standard RCA connections or by using the HDMI connection. There is a slight delay when sending commands (like changing channels) which is expected and the signal isn't HD quality but these two devices together make for an excellent TV viewing experience. When traveling I'd stick to watching Slingbox video on my PC rather than carrying an extra piece of equipment in my luggage but if you're going to be in one spot for an extended stay I would highly recommend the SlingCatcher as a companion to the Slingbox.

I have been interested in the Slingcatcher since its release and I am now the very happy owner of one due to some recent price drops. This product does exactly what I was hoping for. I am an expat in West Africa and tv here is not the greatest. I have been a Slingbox user since last year but was hoping that this product would give me a more natural television watching experience. It does that and more. Now you have to understand that this product will not produce the same quality as your HD Cable Box running directly into your 42" HDTV. However, it will allow you to very comfortably watch what is playing on your Cable Box (or other devices) via your Slingbox on your TV hundreds (or more) miles away. The people at Slingmedia have come up a great product to compliment the Slingbox. In addition to the "catching" function the device can also "project" what is on your computer (think Youtube, Hulu, etc.) using a very friendly little app called Sling Projector. In spite of some earlier reviews this function seems to be working fine. I believe it was fixed with a firmware update though I am not sure. The other big function is the ability to attach a USB storage device and play various video formats (divx, wmv, etc.). If you are an expat with a good internet connection this product will be great for you. Mine is about 1Mbps and it works fine (the upstream on the other is 1Mbps). Buy the Slingcatcher and you will not be disappointed.

Sling Media SlingCatcher SC100-100 Universal Media Player for TV

Sling Media Slingbox SOLO (SB260-100)

The Sling Catcher allows you to view multiple media sources on your TV through the internet or wirelessly. I am currently using the Sling Catcher in conjunction with a Sling Box to send my Satellite and HD DVR from my living room TV to the TV in my bedroom. This saves me a minimum of $17 a month as opposed to paying for a second receiver and line. It also circumvents the need for me to have a cable jack installed in my room. The Sling Catcher works in conjunction with a program called Sling Projector which enables you to click on a video screen on a computer or laptop and have just that video projected to the TV wirelessly, this allows you to watch internet clips and movies on your TV. It also allows you to project the entire screen. This would be ideal for using a TV as a monitor since it would eliminate the need to have a cable connecting your TV to the computer. The Sling Catcher is nice and small and takes up very little room. It is easy to set up, you only need to hook up one cable to your TV and then you hook up the Sling Catcher to the internet. If you don't have an internet connection in the room you wish to use the Sling Catcher in you can use the Sling Link to hook up to your internet through your house's power lines. The remote and the unit are both stylishly designed. The remote is exceptionally easy to use and program. It has all the buttons you might need in order to control almost any device and also has several programmable buttons. The only downside I have found is the delay in operating other devices since the signal first has to navigate the internet before being sent to the device being watched.

Overall, this is an excellent device that allows you to use your existing cable or satellite hook-up in any room while also offering a host of other interesting features.