Hands on: SlingPlayer for iPhone review

The Apple iPhone and SlingMedia's SlingBox has always seemed like a match made in heaven - enabling you to watch your favourite TV programmes live from anywhere in the world.

SlingBox fans have been slavering over the idea since the iPhone launched in 2007, and SlingMedia honchos even demoed a beta of the iPhone version at Macworld Expo in January.

But then it all went quiet. Too quiet.

Last month, TUAW speculated that SlingPlayer for iPhone was dead, but we're happy to report that it's not and we've been using it on our iPhone for a few weeks. These are our first impressions so far.
Installation and setup

First of all, getting SlingPlayer on to your iPhone is a breeze - provided you've already got a SlingBox of course. You can download the 2.2MB app directly to your iPhone from the App Store, or download and sync it via iTunes on your Mac or PC.



To get it to work, of course, you'll need to create a login on SlingMedia's website and then associate your SlingBox's 32-character ID with that account so your iPhone can access it remotely.

It's then simply a case of logging into your SlingMedia account using your iPhone and - bingo! - you should be able to enjoy live TV or other video content available on your Sky+ box, hi-fi, DVD player, and so on.
Unfortunately, while we were able to use both our iPhone's 3G and Wi-Fi connections in the test, we've now been told that the 3G option will be disabled for the release version.

Word is that the mobile networks, concerned about bandwidth issues, wanted the video streams to be compressed even more than it is already. And so the decision was made to preserve video quality and take 3G access out... for now. Expect 3G connectivity to make a come-back sometime soon.

As you'd expect, the SlingPlayer for iPhone UI is pretty straightforward: you're presented with a series of translucent pop-up menus that appear over the top of whatever you watching. These enable you to access and tweak various SlingPlayer for iPhone features and functions.



The first of these menus appears the first time you log in and launch the app. It offers you Settings, Connect, Directory and Help options.

These enable you to do anything from tweaking audio-video playback to picking which SlingBox you want to connect to. The Help menu should help solve any problems you have.

Menu options

Once you're connected a different menu pops up, this time offering Favourites, Remote, Guide, Menu, Options and Disconnect options.
Here's a quick rundown:

Favourites: Enables you to store your most frequently used channels for easy access. The channels are presented in an A-Z list from which to choose, but disappointingly your favourites don't yet appear to have any easily recognisable icons like the the desktop Mac or PC versions do.

You just have a black box with the channel name in (usually truncated so it's a bit nonsensical) and then the name repeated again underneath the icon. Setting up a favourite can be tedious too as you not only have to pick the icon, but you then have to assign a channel number as well. It's all a bit fiddly, to be honest - hopefully things will improve as the app matures.

Remote: This enables you to change channels on your home device (typically a Sky+ box or DVD player / recorder), enabling you to play, pause, fast-forward, rewind, record or stop your content. Clicking on the keypad icon enables you pick a channel directly - so if you want to watch BBC on Sky+ for example you just type '101' and press enter.

Guide: If you're connected to a Sky or Freeview box, this brings up the TV Guide with a translucent D-pad overlay that enables you to scroll through and select individual channels, genres, and so on.
You're also given the option to remotely record your selections too.

Menu: Since we only hooked up a Sky+ box for the purposes of our test, selecting this option just brought up the TV Guide again. We assume it enables you to access other devices, such as a DVD player, for example.

Options: This pop-up is more interesting in that it gives you a whole new range of options to choose from: Audio Only allows you to listen to audio-only versions of your content.
SQ / HQ enables you to choose between standard and high quality video playback; Standard enables you to change the aspect ratio so your content doesn't appear squished on the iPhone; and Change Device enables you to switch from the home device you're currently watching to another that you have hooked up to your SlingBox. Phew.

Disconnect: Obvious this one - it severs the connection between your iPhone and your SlingBox.

None of the options presented so far should be of any surprise to other SlingPlayer Mobile users - Blackberry, Symbian, Windows Mobile Smartphone, Windows Mobile Pocket PC) and is coming to Blackberry users soon - but it's great to be able to explore them on the iPhone at last. It's been a long wait.

Once you're up and running and have played around with the various menu options, it's time to get watching in earnest.

The first thing you notice is that is that there's a short time delay (3-5 seconds, or so) between what you can see on your TV and what your iPhone presents.

If you're away from home or watching in another room, that's no biggie - unless you and your family happen to be watching the same game of footy, for example, and you start hearing cheering before you actually see the goal.

Your family is also unlikely to thank you if you decide to change TV channels remotely using your iPhone, since it'll also change what your family's watching too - but that's something that's common to all SlingBoxes anyway.

Good sound quality

Sound-quality is fine for remote viewing - proving clear and easily comprehensible, but video quality is a little disappointing. There's obviously a fair amount of live video compression going on, which can result in a lot of blocking and other video artefacts.

If you're used to so-so quality from web video, or just like the idea of being able to watch TV when you're away on holiday, this is unlikely to bother you.

However the picture quality does fall considerably short of what the iPhone is capable of - something that's a little disappointing when you can watch live streams using BBC iPlayer or download fresh, quality content from iTunes.

Settings make no difference

Toggling the SQ (standard quality) / HQ (high quality) options don't appear to make any discernible difference either.

The results are certainly watchable and we noticed very few dropouts - although that largely depends on how good the signal strength is where you are.

It should be obvious that we're pretty impressed with SlingPlayer for iPhone so far - it's easy to setup and use, offers the right mixture of features without bogging you down in too much detail; and serves up a watchable viewing experience.

Ideal for anyone travelling at home or abroad, SlingPlayer for iPhone is a great, low-cost way of enjoying your favourite TV, DVD or other video content.