Intel 240GB SSD 530 Series: Irresistible Price & 5 Year Warranty!

Intel is probably the most reputable SSD drive on the market right now. I bought 2 of them to convert my sluggish desktops and breath new life into them. More than any other upgrade, going from conventional hard disk drives to SSD will give you the most performance gains. You will not regret this purchase!

SSD do have the well-known drawback of failing after extended writes. Newer write algorithms do balancing to ensure that no area of the drive disproportionately gets over-written to. In addition, unlike conventional hard drives, when SSD fails it, you will not be able to write to it, but should be able to read from it. So failures are generally more tolerable. Since these intel drives come with 5 year warranties, (a lifetime in computing years) you should have good assurance and piece of mind.

Installation from scratch was completely painless and went without a hitch.

5 stars. $160 on Amazon = must buy!

Logitech TK820 combo keyboard & trackpad:

For original full review, see Amazon.   Please "Like" or leave comments.

I'm a long time happy user of the Logitech K400 wireless keyboard for my HTPC, after trying many, many keyboard/mouse combinations. I honestly thought my search for a keyboard had ended, but I happened to see this keyboard at my local Best Buy and after picking it up, I knew I had to try it!
Setup
Getting the TK820 started is a breeze. Just plug in the USB wireless dongle and let Windows auto-install the basic software and you will be ready to go in a few moments! It even ships with 4 AA batteries included, so nothing more to buy. It is not required but you can also install Logitech SetPoint software which gives access to a broad range of multi-touch gestures compatible with Windows 8.

Function
The first thing that drew me to this keyboard was the generously sized click-pad! Wow, its surprisingly awesome to have so much space to work with! The click-pad is similar to the ones on Apple MacBooks. Left click is a one finger click, right click is a 2 finger click. To drag, just hold your click and move your finger. Beware that the click pad has a hinge at the top, so the closer you approach to the top, the harder you may need to push. (not so different from my experience with apple). Supported gestures include all the favorites such as pinch-to-zoom, scrolling and swiping.

For your media center, there are convenient controls for volume, mute, play/pause/seek. I especially like the sleep button function to wake my HTPC (a must have function for any power efficient media rig). With my SSD hard drive, in 4-6 seconds I'm ready to browse my media! There is a conveniently placed on off switch for the keyboard itself, easy to see unlike the k400. Sure the keyboard is already a miser of power, running on normal AA batteries, but why not turn it off when not in use? It would be nice to have a backlit option, but I guess it would consume too much power. But why don't they make keys glow-in-the-dark?

Finish & Durability
Although this has a plastic shell, there is no doubt it has a much improved finish over the k400 (which has a much cheaper toy-like look). From the moment I picked this keyboard up, I was impressed with the rigidity and heft which gave a solid feel in the hand.

There are subtle features on the keyboard which are nice, like the indentations that let your fingers sink into the key centers. The stroke depth is shallow but the recoil gives a very pleasing tactile feel to typing. It is unfortunate but Logitech decided not to do etched letters on keys, but rather stickers which may not withstand long-term typing wear. Logitech has also done away with the USB dongle holder in the keyboard for stowing during transport.

All the things I liked about the k400 to complement an HTPC setup, namely the size and function, apply to the tk820 too. I've tried almost all the wireless keyboards, but the size and function are the two driving features that has made this form factor so popular among media center users. For the longest time I thought a handheld keyboard would be the way to go(Lenovo and Logitech both make decent ones) but they turned out to be just too small to be useful. K400 and now TK820 are juuuuuust right! (See them side by side below)

Other tidbits
Note that this is NOT a Bluetooth device, but rather Logitech's proprietary "Unifying" protocol. If it were anyone but Logitech, a proprietary system wouldn't fly. I'm not crazy about it, but they make a lot of good products so I've learned to live with the weakness. If you have several devices you can pair them to one dongle. (You cannot pair individual devices to multiple dongles.)

Raspberry Pi Users!
Works with my Raspberry Pi too! I'm running Wheezy Raspbian and tried OpenElec as well. The combination keyboard and trackpad is fantastic because it only takes up only one precious USB port! I would recommend getting a decent power supply for the pi (greater than 1amp, like the PowerGen dual) if you are running a wireless keyboard and wifi dongle together.

Summary
I didn't think I would be replacing my K400 this soon, but it doesn't suprise me that it would be a Logitech product to surpass it! Just the right size, function and durability in a sleek package!

5 stars! Will update as my impressions evolve. While I'm sad to retire my trust K400, I'm very impressed with it's upgraded cousin!

Buffalo WZR-600DHP: built-in DD-WRT for easy VPN Server

See my original full review on Amazon.  Please"like" or leave comments!

I've been a big fan of Buffalo, who produces a huge selection of products in Japan, and starting to have a larger presence in the US. I actually bought my first WZR-600DHP in Japan when I just started getting into DD-WRT. Previously all my routers had been Netgear, but with my expanding needs for a more powerful router, the built-in convenience of the DD-WRT in the Buffalo makes this an easy choice.

DD-WRT
If you are unfamiliar with this software, it is an open router interface that can be installed on compatible routers by "flashing" the router's original firmware. DD-WRT opens up powerful functionality of your router to do some pretty amazing things. My personal objective with DD-WRT was to setup a VPN for private web browsing and obtaining access to location specific online media. (Some of you may be aware of the limitations of Netflix and Hulu in certain regions...well, this is your solution to that problem!) Thru a tremendous wealth of information on forums and wiki pages, I was able to build 2 types of VPN server on this router (PPTP and OpenVPN). I am extremely happy with the results! In a way this is a plug for DD-WRT, mostly because Buffalo has embraced this open standard as it's core router engine. Here are several of the features that I found particularly useful:

1. Dynamic DNS: Perodically checks your external (public) IP address and updates various services to keep alive any free dns acounts you may have. I personally use no-ip.org which is free, easy to update and has a nice looking domain name. The one glaring exception is dyndns.com, previously one of the most popular services, which has stopped allowing automatic updates, now making it difficult to use.

2. USB/Network Attached Storage(NAS): You can plug in a USB flash drive or hard drive and make it accessible anywhere on your network. Thru built-in SAMBA support, you can access the device thru windows like a network drive. Very nice feature indeed.

3. USB/Printer Server: Have an old USB printer without ethernet support? You can attach it to the router and make it accessible to all network devices.

4. VPN (PPTP or OpenVPN): THIS is why I got interested in DD-WRT in the first place! You can setup your own personal VPN server with great ease. Since it running on your router, it is ON 24/7 without need for an additional computer. Used in conjunction with Dynamic DNS, you never have to worry about what your external IP address is! I recommend PPTP if you are new to VPNs, it is fast and sufficiently secure (but not 100% impenetrable). If you're an advanced user with some networking understanding you can setup OpenVPN which allows the strongest encryption available, virtually 100% secure. However, OpenVPN takes some work to setup properly. What can you do with VPNs:
a) Make your internet traffic appear to originate from another location.
This is particularly useful for getting around media streaming sites (Netflix, Hulu and one other that rhymes with Bamazon) which do not allow streaming beyond country borders. You can try signing up for Public VPNs to do this, but the streaming sites track down Public sites and block access from them, rendering them useless. You need a Private VPN to get around that. Mine is setup in Japan where I have accounts, and I can stream to anywhere in the world I have internet access. Clearly a handy feature for international travelers who pay for online content!
b) Establish secure connections around company firewalls and public networks.
Does your company block certain websites, forbid certain words in searches? Are you afraid to use public networks at Starbuck for mail and transactions because you don't know who else is sniffing on the network? Once you signin to your VPN, all traffic between your device and your home VPN server is encrypted. That is, network administrators and other rouge users on the network cannot peak into your web browsing. So browse that network with confidence!
c) Use it with any device that supports VPNs.
That includes PCs/Laptops, iPhones/iPads. PPTP is natively supported on Windows 7/8, iOS, MacOS, so setup is a breeze!
d) VoIP?
One area that I would eventually like to explore is the use of VoIP phones which would allow you to connect an iPhone to your home phone so that you can receive home phone calls on your iphone. With VPNs this is possible, but I still have yet to explore. (There are blogs on the internet about setting this up.)

Wireless
Supports 2 bands of Wireless-N traffic. This is extremely useful for load balancing your wireless devices and ensuring the best antenna signal given device placement. Remember that the wireless bandwidth is not limit-less, so this router essentially doubles that bandwidth.

Gigabit
Not much to say about this feature other than it's fast!

CONS
Really don't have much bad to say about this. I've been using 2 of them (one for testing and one for production) for about 4 months now in various configurations with very few issues. However, I will say that the base plate is not particularly sturdy. I ended up mounting it flat on my wall, as the screw holes conveniently lineup to outlet base plate holes! I can't imagine that's co-incidental. I posted a picture of it under customer photos. It seems much sturdier in that configuration, slides up and off the bracket for accessing behind the unit.

Overall, this is a great router that allows users to really make the most of their router by shipping with DD-WRT pre-installed. I highly recommend it!

Raspberry Pi: Finally a cheap AirPrint server...and so much more!

My full review can be seen on Amazon.  Please see the original and "like" or make comments!

Amazing little board!

Background
The Raspberry Pi is a "fit in your shirt pocket" linux box! Brilliantly designed to meet a simple goal: putting open technology within affordable global reach. There are many Pi enthusiasts who use this inexpensive platform to build some pretty cool projects including home automation, running media centers for videos/music, robotics. Just search under raspberry pi projects on the web and prepared to be amazed. After that, let your imagination run wild!

To clarify, this is the Model B (latest) version of Raspberry Pi with 512MB. The one I received from this seller was made in the UK, not China. Furthermore, the cat /proc/cpuinfo command confirms this as revision '000e'. These are all the versions released thus far, and their manufacturer: (Note that some Model B's that only have 256MB)

'0002' => 'Model B Revision 1.0',
'0003' => 'Model B Revision 1.0 + Fuses mod and D14 removed',
'0004' => 'Model B Revision 2.0 256MB', (Sony)
'0005' => 'Model B Revision 2.0 256MB', (Qisda)
'0006' => 'Model B Revision 2.0 256MB', (Egoman)
'0007' => 'Model A Revision 2.0 256MB', (Egoman)
'0008' => 'Model A Revision 2.0 256MB', (Sony)
'0009' => 'Model A Revision 2.0 256MB', (Qisda)
'000d' => 'Model B Revision 2.0 512MB', (Egoman)
'000e' => 'Model B Revision 2.0 512MB', (Sony)
'000f' => 'Model B Revision 2.0 512MB', (Qisda)

Setup
I purchased the kit that includes the board, clear case and wifi adapter. I used an old cell phone charger, and 4GB SD card (the bare minimum) that I already had lying around. From my Windows 7 PC, I installed the free SDFormatter software (from the SD Association) to format the SD card, and installed the NOOBS (New Out of Box Software) on the SD card. Once I booted up the Raspberry Pi, the NOOBS software presented me with a choice of operating systems. (Depending on your final application(s) you may want different OS). I selected the Wheezy Raspbian for my OS (as I planned to make an AirPrint Server). I may also consider the XBMC OS's in the future, but what I really wanted this for was AirPrint. The GUI walked me thru an installation process that was virtually completely automatic.

A note about Power Supplies:
Although I am getting by with a cellphone charger (rated to deliver 0.7A) this is really the absolute bare minimum. Many pi hobbists have reported unreliable function with weaker supplies (mine would be included in that category.) So far I haven't encountered any problems, but if I did, I would go straight to a decent 2A USB charger. (There's no sense fiddling with questionable equipment.) PowerGen sells a very nice 2.4A dual USB power supply for $10 which I have tested on the Raspberry pi. This would be my first choice.
http://www.amazon.com/review/R1L22QFNB6AO5D/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0073FCPSK&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=

AirPrint Server
As I've been garnering more iOS devices, and the iPad is becoming more popular, the lack of available print function has been more intolerable. AirPrint (apple's communication protocol for printing) is only available on certain printer models, and there are no drivers for older (and otherwise fine printers). I personally own a Brother HL-2170W, that has been performing great for me. I didn't want to have to replace it, just to be able to print from another device. I considered the Lantronix xPrintServer, but it costs about $90. I wasn't to interested in paying that much considering a new printer would not be much more.

It turns out that there are several "how-to's" on installing and configuring software on the Raspberry Pi to make a cheap airprint server. They use the CUPS (Common UNIX Printing System) spooler and print scheduling system, which Apple has been using in MacOS X since 2002. The instructions are pretty straight forward and can be implemented in a couple of hours. The particular website I used was:
http://rohankapoor.com/2012/06/configuring-the-raspberry-pi-as-an-airprint-server/

So happy to be finally printing from my iOS devices!

VPN Server
There are many examples on the web on setting up a low-powered, always available VPN server. This allows you to privately browse the internet on any network (work, pulic wifi) with total encryption. Another benefit from VPNs are the ability to change the source of your internet traffic. For instance I have a VPN server in Japan that I use to obtain Japan-only streaming video content in the US. Hulu, Amazon and another that rhymes with Bamazon have this restriction, which the VPN can circumvent. You can make a PPTP (simple to make) or OpenVPN (more complex but more secure) servers.

XBMC
Another application I'm very interested in is attempting to make a media server based on the popular XBMC platform. The reviews I've read on the Pi implementation have been very positive, so I'm looking forward to trying this out!

A very enthusiastic 5 stars!

Slingbox 500: Not bad, but not ready for Primetime

Slingbox provides a major source of TV content for me.  Mine is setup in Japan so I can stream broadcast Japanese TV to my TV in the US. There are no reasonable alternatives to this among the cable packages or online content available. 
Please see my full review on Amazon and "like" or leave comments. 

Introduction
Slingbox is the original "place-shifting" device.  It allows you to watch a video source (over the air broadcast TV, cable TV, TiVo, DVR, satelliteTV, DVD/Bluray, HTPC, etc) anywhere there is an internet connection.  Hence the term place-shifting.  Essentially users access the video stream from the slingbox website that connects to your home where the physical slingbox is kept. Only one stream can be accessed at a time(multiple users cannot access the same box simultaneously).  The video stream can be seen thru PCs, mobile devices (with purchase of a separate app), and select media players thru which Slingbox has created a SlingPlayer.  (More on this later)

I'm a long time slingbox user. I currently keep a SlingBox in Japan, and watch in US on the web slingplayer. I'm really excited about a new product from slingmedia, but I can see the placeshifting community will have a little time to wait until this is a fully functional system (which in my mind includes the remote home theater experience). 

Here's what I've noticed so far:

1. Utility of HDMI feature: This is probably the #1 concern. All the documentation cautions you to use component as a backup because HDCP content will not be allowed on the box. I don't completely fault slingbox for this implementation. I pretty much expected it. It's not a technical challenge as much as it is a legal one. I suspect this is the reason an HDMI product from ANY company has taken so long. That being said, I tested it with most of the channels I get thru my "Extended Digital Cable" package thru Comcast. I received all channels so far(about 70 channels) directly from the HDMI of the Motorola cable set-top box. I can't comment on premium channels because I don't have them. There do seem to be some handshaking issues when I'll get a blank screen to start, fiddle with some inputs, and it will work. I'm not entirely sure about what the specific process is that gets it working, but once it works, it is nice. If I figure it out, I will post it. Component has not had any issues at all (again, as expected). On both HDMI and component, I must say that the picture quality is almost indistinguishable. Another unfortunate drawback to inputs is the lack of a separate digital coaxial audio input that used to exist on the Pro-HD, so if the HDMI doesn't work, you also lose the digital sound.

Continuing on the HDMI. There are no products that I'm aware of that remove the HDCP and go from HDMI to HDMI. (You can go HDMI to component or to DVI) with some dongles but HDMI to HDMI is basically non-existant. Correct me if you know otherwise. Other theories I have that remain to be tested, if a the source signal is split between the slingbox 500 and a HDCP-compliant device, it is possible that the one HDCP-compliant device will provide the handshaking that allows the signal to be passed to both signal splits. Again, I'm new to this, so feel free to jump in and set me straight.

A couple of remarks on quality:
When I first hooked up the 500, I had an extraordinarily difficult time distinguishing any picture difference between the 1080i stream that my Pro-HD was sending and the one from the 500. I recently became convinced that there has been a slight improvement in the picture quality with regards to refresh rates. The difference is subtle, but probably best appreciated when watching scrolling stock tickers and sports that have alot of camera panning. The movement seems a little smoother. The fact that it's really taken this long to appreciate that speaks to the really marginal improvement in quality (which was already excellent to begin with).

2. SlingPlayer for Connected Devices & SlingCatcher: Want to watch your slingbox on a real TV or home theater? Surprisingly this segment has very few supported platforms including the SlingCatcher(now discontinued), BoxeeBox(recently discontinued), Western Digital TV HD Media Player, Logitech revue(discontinued) and Sony NSZ-GS7. Of these platforms the SlingCatcher is considered to be the best and most reliable. However, the new 350/500 does not work with SlingCatcher(confirmed by SlingMedia) and possibly not with the other slingplayer platforms listed above(unconfirmed, as there have been reports of it working for some and not for others). This could be because slingbox no longer uses port 5001 for internet traffic, but uses 5201 instead(not changeable, see network bullet below). In the SlingCatcher, my Slingbox500 appears in the directory of available devices, but it requests a password to access it. Since there is no manual setup with the Slingbox500(see above) there is no place to assign a password. Therefore you cannot gain access.As announced at CES 2013, The Netgear line of media players (NeoTV series) will be adding SlingPlayers, including the soon to be released NeoTV Prime which is GoogleTV based (and therefore will run the same software as Logitech Revue and Sony NSZ-GS7). I have amazon reviews for most of the slingplayer enabled devices. While the list of compatible players is increasing, none have functioned as seamlessly as the original SlingCatcher. Additionally, there are two glaring omissions from this segment: Roku and AppleTV which probably hold the number 1 and 2 spots of marketshare of this segment.

EDIT(4/8/2013): I reviewed the NeoTV Prime and left a review on Amazon. It basically is the same as the Sony NSZ-GS7 in terms of software interface, however I found the remote to be not as good yielding 3 stars. I think the Sony is the best of the lot right now. Please see my other review for more details.

EDIT(5/3/2013): I have recently decided to forgo my loyalties to the venerable SlingCatcher (at some point we have to cut our loses, right?). It still remains as the best "off-the-shelf" solution for watching your slingbox on an HDTV screen. The qualifier of "off-the-shelf" is important as the emergence of home-built HTPCs has started to gain traction and become more mainstream. I built my first HTPC which uses the Web SlingPlayer as my streaming engine, in large part because it is the most supported solution by SlingMedia. I'm very happy with the results, but it has not been a cheap solution ($700) compared with other media players that generally do not exceed $200. I suspect HTPCs will continue to gain popularity as computing power becomes cheaper, smaller, more power efficient, and easier to use.

EDIT(11/30/2013): This month Slingbox announced a SlingPlayer for Roku. This is a long requested addition that is very welcome. I will be reviewing the SlingPlayer experience on Amazon shortly. Of course the big elephant in the room is when will SlingPlayer be available on AppleTV (currently only possible thru AirPlay which is not a true solution.)

3. IR Remote Setup: The previous online setup is abandoned and replaced by a handheld IR remote. Why was this done? Perhaps so people without computers could set it up? I'm not sure. That said, the setup process is relatively painless(not that the previous online method was bad): choose a wireless network, put in the access code, then just follow instructions. It takes a little while to punch in addresses with the remote. I'm fine with having remote, but it's a huge mistake to drop the online setup. Here's the problem: The whole point of the slingbox is to watch tv while AWAY from home, so limiting the setup functionality to a handheld controller makes remote administration virtually impossible. With computer based setup, you could login to your home network with a free package like LogMeIn to perform administration setup tasks & resets on the Slingbox. Let's face it, you're going to be away from home when you discover something broken. The remote controller isn't going to help you at all when you're thousands of miles away. You'll be stuck until you get someone at home to rerun the setup or reset the box. What happens if the dog gets the remote, or it breaks? Furthermore, I found that my Slingcatcher remote uses different codes too(I checked), so there's no backup. I hope this gets added back, because it's a major oversight. My understanding is that the 350 has a web-based setup(someone please confirm), which would be better.

EDIT: As of 10/19/2012, there is a working web-based setup

4. Network settings: you can use either hard-wire ethernet or wireless. The setup for both was easy to do, but lacks transparency in what it's doing. For most people this is probably OK, but for people who want more control of their home networks, this can be a problem. What really disappointed me about the setup is that I can no longer manually configure the IP address and the ports used. It appropriately picked up IP addresses from my DHCP server, but didn't let me assign one manually. I can think of a work around by reserving an IP address for the MAC address on my router, but that shouldn't be the way to do this. Without configuration ability it seems that the port will be locked on 5201. That could be a problem for people who have it blocked for whatever reason. I really think Slingmedia needs to make this configurable like before.

5. There is a bug with detecting valid email addresses of slingbox accounts. I tried logging into my long-held slingbox account thru the new IR remote setup interface. For some reason, it kept saying that my email address was invalid. I think it has something to do with a syntax checking routine which has some poor rules programmed. The acct it was refusing was in the format xxx@xxx.xxxxxxxx.edu. I'm not sure what the issue was(maybe .edu is bad?) but it accepted my yahoo acct. Slingbox confirmed to me that it is a bug and they are working on a new update that will fix it.

6. Controlling your devices: It seems all the previous device remotes(PL binaries) that have been amassed over the years are still available(many thanks to the user community who spearheaded this). I use a somewhat obscure tuner/dvr in japan that was added sometime last year, and it's still available. Unfortunately the capability to "teach" new controls is missing in action. The website that allowed this with the Pro-HD was taken down several months ago. There has been no word if the site will be revived (although we know there is a physical IR eye on the box that could potentially be used to "learn codes"). In the meantime there doesn't seem to be anyway to manually upload NEW PL binaries(quite a handy function with the previous boxes). This leaves a big question as to how NEW device codes will be uploaded to the new box. Don't count on Slingbox staying on top of this in a timely manner, as they have been notoriously slow for adding new devices. Without the generous user community creating these on request from other users online, many of the existing codes would not be available. It is unfortunate that we as users can no longer tap into this self-supporting resource.

UPDATE: Fixed! As of 12/4/2012, there is was a new webplayer that allowed the uploading of custom remotes.

7. Basically inconsequential observations: the new power supply is 12V. (The previous plug was 5V). I know there were alot of problems with the previous supplies, so I don't know if this is better, but it's unfortunate that they aren't compatible with the older models. (Previously the slingbox pro-hd, solo & slingcatcher used the same plug). Also, it's been pointed out that there is no longer a coaxial tuner on-board but as far as I understood this would prove to be useless now that all tuners must be digital. I don't miss it at all, I don't need another tuner.

8. A couple of nice things: it looks like the built-in IR blaster(built into the unit itself) is pretty strong. My cable set-top box didn't need any specific pointing or angling to see the signal. Although there is an external blaster included in the box, you probably won't need it. This makes for an easier and cleaner installation. Also, the box doesn't seem to get very hot as compared w/ previous models.

Overall, I think this product can only be considered a minor enhancement to the Pro-HD in terms of Wifi-access and possibly HDMI (which seems dependent on your channels and source hardware). In terms of accessibility it is a major stepback due to lack of support for SlingCatcher, SlingPlayer for PC, and now one less supported media player(recently discontinued boxeebox). I think the network and email problems I pointed out could easily be fixed with a firmware update. Overall, I am very disappointed in this product. Until these items are addressed, I find it difficult to give more than 2 stars for now. I would like to give more, but not in it's current state. I will update my review as the situation changes. In the meantime, my trusty Pro-HD will continue to be my main streaming device.

UPDATE(5/3/2013): I gave one extra star to my original assessment due to the slight (and I stress slight) improvement in picture quality (which notably has taken me 6 months to discover). However, given the importance of picture quality to the viewing experience, I am weighting this factor very heavily. My assessment of the other features of the Slingbox 500 still stand. I would therefore likely recommend the 350 over the 500, unless you absolutely need wifi. In addition, there have been several minor bug fixes since the original release.

UPDATE(11/30/2013: I'm glad to hear this month's announcement for Roku support, however you must be aware getting the SlingPlayer to work on Roku REQUIRES A PAID application on a mobile device. Not really the kind of solution I'm interested in. If Slingbox can work out a deal with Roku and Apple for an real application on the Roku & AppleTV, I may be able to raise my rating by half a star.

Looking for a great price?

Here are 2 price tracking services that will tell you if you're getting the best bang for your buck:

www.camelcamelcamel.com
www.pcpartpicker.com

Both are great!

Roku 3: Simply a great media player, but a Slingbox users must look elsewhere

Well, the search continues for the ultimate media center console....
See this review in full on Amazon and "like" it or make comments

I picked up the Roku 3 following the announcement by SlingBox that there would be support for SlingPlayer.  I was really excited about the announcement.  However what you should know is that getting Slingbox to work on the Roku REQUIRES the paid SlingPlayer application(about $15) on mobile devices (iPhone or Android devices).  The other media players have built-in free standing applications for SlingPlayer included on the device (Sony GoogleTV, Netgear, WD Media Player).  Frankly these options are not as polished as the SlingCatcher (not compatible with the new Slingboxes) or the Web based SlingPlayer (now the BEST way to watch).

So even if you have paid for the Mobile SlingPlayer app, you still may think twice about the Roku being your home theater solution for Slingbox. The application ends up residing on someone's personal device, therefore that person must be around to watch, which is a terrible solution for families.  Let's not forget that this is on your phone, so it will certainly impact your ability to make calls, check email, or websurf while you watch TV.  This is the same complaint I have with AppleTV for which Slingbox has the same requirement.

It is truly regrettable that Slingbox still hasn't developed true solutions for AppleTV and Roku, arguably the best and most popular media players on the market.

Having said that, the rest of the Roku applications (Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, HBOGo among others) all work smoothly and flawlessly.  The user interface is excellent and easy to use for anyone!  Thus "simply" a great media player for playing your paid online content on your home theater. 

 

4 stars, only one subtracted for the slingbox experience, admittedly not Roku's fault, but what counts here is how everything works together.