Review: Slingbox Solo media streaming device

We recently looked at the Slingbox Pro, one of the latest in the line of devices that allow users to watch home television (including satellite and cable channels) anywhere in the world.

The Slingbox Solo is a cut-down version of the same, with fewer features but including the same ability to connect a high-definition device such as a Sky HD box or even a Blu-ray player.

It offers only one input, unlike the Pro which has four, but otherwise the devices are similar. It was easy to set up the box, which comes with a pass-through Scart connection so you don't even need a spare Scart socket to use it.

There's no software CD, so you need to download the Sling player from the company's website, and register at the same time. The Slingbox Solo was automatically picked up when we ran the software on our home network, and we were quickly watching cable television on a notebook in another room.

Watching in another house was a little more problematic - once we'd downloaded the software again, we had to enter a serial number to get to our Slingbox, but we had no idea what this was. It turned out we had to log in to the Slingbox site again and copy the number from a page there. Once that was done, the box was picked up and we were able to control our cable box from the other location (the software displays an image of the cable box's remote control so you can even click the same buttons).

Quality while at home, on the same network as the Slingbox, was very impressive for both sound and vision. While away, it was much worse, although still just about watchable. That's a function of the fact that in this mode the box has to transfer data over the internet, which is much slower, rather than just over a home network. If you have a faster broadband connection, quality should be better.

Vista compatibility: Yes