The Slingbox was a TV streaming media device made by Sling Media that encoded local video for transmission over the Internet to a remote device (sometimes called placeshifting ). It allowed users to remotely view and control their cable , satellite , or digital video recorder (DVR) system at home from a remote Internet-connected personal computer , smartphone , or tablet as if they were at home.
50-752: On November 9, 2020, Sling Media announced that all Slingboxes had been discontinued, and that the Slingbox servers would close on November 9, 2022, making all devices " inoperable ". The Slingbox was first developed in 2002 by two Californian brothers, Blake and Jason Krikorian, who were avid sports fans. They supported the San Francisco Giants , a Major League Baseball team whose games were broadcast regularly by their local TV station. However, when travelling away from their home state, they found they were unable to watch their favorite team because their games were not carried by television stations in other parts of
100-434: A cellular network ( mobile phone ) provider. This costs only a few hundred dollars for each site, versus well over ten thousand for a setup with a remote pickup unit and auxiliary broadcast licenses . However, the system is not yet reliable or broadband enough to handle live remote broadcasts . Cable TV providers are also using it to provide proof of performance for companies that run TV ads on their systems. It
150-545: A Nielsen-like weekly report of the top shows. Viewing content from a Slingbox requires a client application on a PC or mobile device. Sling initially offered a desktop application for Windows and the Macintosh, which was deprecated when the Slingbox Watch website was released. Watch is a NPAPI -based browser plug-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome and Apple Safari. This website experience includes
200-408: A circuit may explode, thus stopping the flow of electricity and bricking the device. More complex examples involve permanent damage to integrated circuits and processors . Fixing such hardware bricks involve replacing these components entirely or fixing them by either bypassing if the circuit allows or other methods. Most devices can be hard bricked in a variety of ways. Resolution generally follows
250-475: A decision believed to have been made at the behest of incumbent iPhone network operators such as AT&T and O2. AT&T later relented to allow the app to stream over its cellular network. This change was made externally by AT&T as the SlingPlayer App already features quality scaling of content based on connection type. In November 2010, Sling Media announced the release of a Slingplayer Mobile app for
300-474: A network was difficult if a customer did not have an Ethernet jack near their set top box. To address these needs, Sling released the SlingLink line of power line adapters . With the release of a Wi-Fi-enabled Slingbox 500, the product was discontinued and is no longer supported. When the original Slingbox Classic was launched, customers used free downloadable software for Windows or Macintosh to access video that
350-472: A new device when the memory is still empty. This kind of "bricking" and "un-bricking" occasionally happens during firmware testing and development. In other cases software and hardware procedures, often complex, have been developed that have a good chance of un-bricking the device. There is no general method; each device is different. There are also user-created modifier programs to use on bricked or partially bricked devices to make them functional. Examples include
400-425: A particular region , can also cause bricking. Devices can also be bricked by malware (malicious software) and sometimes by running software not intentionally harmful but with errors that cause damage. Some devices include a backup copy of their firmware, stored in fixed ROM or writable non-volatile memory , which is not normally accessible to processes that could corrupt it. Should the firmware become corrupted,
450-401: A power failure, user intervention, or any other reason, the existing firmware may be partially overwritten and unusable. The risk of corruption can be minimized by taking all possible precautions against interruption. Installing firmware with errors, or for a different revision of the hardware, or installing firmware incompetently patched such as DVD firmware which only plays DVDs sold in
500-545: A power outage (or user impatience) during the upgrade process. It is sometimes possible to un-brick such a motherboard, by scavenging a similar but otherwise broken board for a BIOS chip in the hopes that the BIOS will work even halfway, far enough to boot from floppy. Then it will be possible to retry the flash process. Sometimes it is possible to boot from a floppy, then swap the old presumably dead BIOS chip in and re-flash it. On some Gigabyte boards, it can also be possible to re-flash
550-406: A process of analyzing the boot process, determining the sub-type of hard brick, and making changes with the help of external (non-bricked) devices. Some devices that become "bricked" because the contents of their nonvolatile memory are incorrect can be "un-bricked" using separate hardware (a debug board) that accesses this memory directly. This is similar to the procedure for loading firmware into
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#1732852843600600-401: A screen instructing the user to plug it into a computer to perform an operating system recovery using iTunes computer software. In some cases, soft bricked devices are unable to be repaired without physical repairs being carried out; an example of this would be an iOS device locked with iCloud Activation Lock, of which the only solution is to contact the owner of the iCloud account the device
650-539: A similar "Activation Lock" feature via the " Find My iPhone " security software, where a device can be remotely prevented from operating (even after it has been erased), protected by the owner's Apple ID . Devices that have a strong dependency on online services in order to function may be bricked after services are discontinued by the manufacturer, or some other technological factor (such as expired security certificates or other services quietly becoming unavailable) effectively prevents them from operating. This can happen if
700-403: A solution for mobile viewing of licensed content and the integration of Smart TV technologies. These capabilities include an SDK , cloud infrastructure and engineering resources . Sling's technology is currently embedded in the following products: Early in its history, the Slingbox caused widespread speculation of its possible legal implications. High on the list of issues cited by critics,
750-465: Is a mobile device , game console , router , computer or other electronic device that is no longer functional due to corrupted firmware , a hardware problem, or other damage. The term analogizes the device to a brick 's modern technological usefulness. Bricking a device is most often a result of interrupting an attempt to update the device. Many devices have an update procedure which must not be interrupted before completion; if interrupted by
800-399: Is also used with Amateur television transmissions. There are also hosted Slingbox services where the slingbox and set top box are hosted in a data centre on behalf of the user. This means that the management of the devices is done by the host and that the user can access TV streams from their hosted Slingbox wherever, whenever and whatever device ( PC , Mobile , TV ) they want. During
850-646: Is based in Foster City, California, and was a subsidiary of Echostar (acquired in the fall of 2007). Their initial product, the Slingbox , debuted on the US market on July 1, 2005. The EchoStar business unit was part of a corporate assets exchange with Dish Network at the beginning of 2017 and now operates as Dish Technologies Corporation under Dish Network . The company was founded in 2004 by brothers Blake and Jason Krikorian from San Francisco , along with Bhupen Shah, who had
900-771: Is deemed "non-infringing fair use". Furthermore, Sling Media's technology limits access to a single authorized user, which prevents unauthorized or multi-user access thereby maintaining the personal nature of the placeshifted content, and keeping it within the "private use" terms and conditions set by most copyright-protected content. Ironically, given the controversy, the retail Slingbox hardware has found an unexpected niche market in television broadcasting . Broadcast engineers at several TV stations have installed them at remote "towercam" locations to observe traffic and weather conditions. KPIX-TV in San Francisco has several connected with wireless networking , using EV-DO via
950-467: Is locked to, or to replace the entire logicboard with a non-locked board (or swap some integrated circuits from a donor board which is usually not economical). Hard bricked devices generally show few or no signs of life. A bricked device may not power on at all, or it may power on, but never boot to the OS or firmware, the closest getting to a warning screen. Some kernel bugs have been known that affect
1000-637: Is only compatible with the Slingbox M1 models. In addition, Sling has also added banner ads and periodic pre-roll video ads when using the Watch website. Customers can also purchase the Slingplayer apps for their mobile smartphones and tablets. Supported platforms include iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android (phones and tablets), Kindle Fire and Microsoft Windows 8.1 tablets. Previously supported platforms include Blackberry, Palm OS and Symbian. Slingplayer apps also have
1050-529: Is the only Slingbox to include an ATSC tuner for over-the-air HDTV broadcasts. The Slingbox SOLO was also later repackaged as the Slingbox 120 for special vertical and international markets. An unknown number of the third generation Slingboxes were susceptible to the capacitor plague . While many enthusiasts replaced these capacitors on their own, Sling later addressed these issues in support. Remanufactured and refurbished third-generation Slingboxes have been fixed as well. In October 2012, Sling Media launched
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#17328528436001100-660: The /data partition in the eMMC chip, which becomes corrupted during certain operations such as wiping and flashing. Recovering from a hard brick is generally considered difficult or impossible and requires the use of a more direct programming interface to the device; such an interface often exists, as there must be a way to program the initial firmware during the manufacturing process. However, additional tools or connections may be needed, such as low-level programming devices. Hardware hard brick recoveries are also considered difficult and require electrical knowledge to find and fix hardware issues. For example, an overloaded capacitor in
1150-583: The PlayStation Portable and Nintendo DS , video game consoles like the Wii , Xbox 360 , PlayStation 4 , and Xbox One , many SCSI devices and some lines of hard disk drives and routers . Electric cars such as the Tesla Roadster (first generation) can brick if the battery is completely discharged. Sometimes an interrupted flash upgrade of a PC motherboard will brick the board, for example, due to
1200-591: The Sling Television OTT service, the SlingTV box reverted to the Slingbox 500 product name. In 2008, Sling introduced the SlingCatcher, a hardware device to view content from a remote Slingbox, as well as personal media. The product garnered mixed reviews from its limited capabilities, including no support for HDTV, complex nature and its price. Because early Slingboxes did not support Wi-Fi, connecting them to
1250-531: The Wiibrew program BootMii used to fix semi-bricked Wiis, the Odin program used to flash firmware on Samsung Android devices, or the fastboot Android protocol which is capable of re-flashing a device with no software installed. A soft bricked rooted Kindle Fire can be un-bricked by using unrooting tools. A personal computer may be un-bricked by using various means of restoring techniques, from internal ones through
1300-592: The iPad . The iPad-specific app offers a higher resolution stream than on other devices with smaller screens. In November 2013, an update added second screen capabilities. Historically, Microsoft Windows Mobile and Windows Phone 7 platforms were supported. Sling released a native version for the Windows 8 platform in December 2013. This version supports both Windows RT and Windows x86 for tablets, laptops and hybrids. Brick (electronics) A brick (or bricked device )
1350-580: The "Backup and Reset" feature, or external one using an external OS image. In principle any device with rewritable firmware, or certain crucial settings stored into flash or EEPROM memory, can be bricked. Many, but not all, devices with user-updatable firmware have protection against bricking; devices intended to be updated only by official service personnel generally do not. Amongst devices known to have bricking issues are: older PCs (more recent models often have dual BIOSes or some other form of protection), many mobile phones , handheld game consoles like
1400-568: The 2007 Consumer Electronics Show , the firm announced a future feature named Clip+Sling. It allows users to share clips of their favorite TV shows with each other through a hosted Web service. The announcement was made during Leslie Moonves ' keynote speech. On December 2, 2008, Sling Media announced the public launch of Sling.com, an online video entertainment destination. Users can go to Sling.com to watch clips, TV shows, films, news and sports. This includes video programming from over 90 content providers spanning 150 content brands. In addition to
1450-623: The Internet via the ASF streaming format. Later Slingboxes also support Apple's HTTP Live Streaming , which requires support for H.264 . The Slingboxes up until the Fourth Generation (or Next Generation Slingbox) used a Texas Instruments chipset. Current generation Slingboxes and OEM products are built around a ViXS chipset. Control of the hosting video device, usually a set top box, is done through an IR blaster , which, on older Slingboxes, required
1500-559: The Internet. The Slingbox 500 was positioned as a platform for next-generation Smart TV capabilities. In addition to placeshifting, the Slingbox 500 included streaming apps from Dish Digital, including Dishworld and Blockbuster On-Demand, as well as the ability to manage and view personal media, including video. The Slingbox 500 had Wi-Fi networking and HDMI passthrough capabilities. However, because of restrictive HDCP DRM , Sling still recommends that customers use component cables for placeshifting. In July 2014, Sling Media launched
1550-761: The Slingbox 350 and 500 to replace the Slingbox SOLO and PRO-HD. With the digital television transition in the United States , the desirability of a standard definition focused product no longer existed in Sling's main market. Therefore, both boxes include HDTV capability, though the ATSC digital tuner that was included in the PRO-HD was not included in either Slingbox. The Slingbox 350 is the base product, with one SD/HD audio-video input (composite or component) and an Ethernet port to connect to
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1600-648: The Slingbox AV, the Slingbox Tuner, and the Slingbox Pro. While the Slingbox AV became a simplified unit with s-video and composite inputs only, the Slingbox Tuner provided service for the other end of the spectrum, with only a single coaxial input for use by basic cable and antenna-only applications. The Slingbox Pro introduced a four input design, combining the capabilities of the AV and Tuner units while also allowing for
1650-547: The United States and could not be found for free online. The first edition of the Slingbox came to market in late 2005. Slingbox hardware is getting a second life thanks to the Open source Slinger project, written in Python . The traditional Slingbox embeds a video encoding chip to do real-time encoding of a video and audio stream into the SMPTE 421M / VC-1 format that can be transmitted over
1700-580: The Watch Slingbox website, customers can purchase a SlingPlayer app for their mobile device. Supported platforms include iOS (iPhone and iPad), Android (phones and tablets), Kindle Fire and Microsoft Windows 8.1 tablets. Previously supported platforms include Blackberry, Palm OS and Symbian. The launch price for SlingPlayer apps was $ 29.99. The price was reduced to $ 14.99 when the Slingbox 350 and 500 were launched in October 2012. Slingplayer Mobile for iPhone
1750-470: The ability to "cast" their video stream to a TV screen through a Smart TV streaming box. Supported platforms include: There were several native apps for Connected Devices that can view and control a remote Slingbox. Those devices included: These apps have been deprecated as of July 2014 and will no longer be supported. In addition to developing products and services for consumers, Sling also provides multiple-system operators and set top box manufacturers
1800-436: The ability to view and control your set top box, an integrated electronic program guide (US/Canada only) and the ability to manage your connected Slingboxes. A registered Sling account is required to access the Watch website. The Dish Anywhere website is based on this technology. In July 2014, Sling announced the return of the Slingplayer for Desktop application with the launch of the Slingbox M1 and SlingTV. In addition to
1850-453: The award-winning Slingbox M1 to replace the Slingbox 350. With the introduction of this Slingbox, the entire line of Slingbox hardware now support Wi-Fi connectivity. In addition, users were now able to configure a Slingbox M1 using the Slingplayer for iPad, iPhone and Android phone, as well as the Slingplayer for Desktop that was reintroduced at the same time. Also introduced in July 2014, SlingTV
1900-463: The bricked main BIOS using a backup BIOS. Some vendors put the BIOS chip in sockets, allowing the corrupted BIOS chip to be removed and reprogrammed using an external tool, like a universal programmer or an Arduino . Mobile phones have a fixed identification code, the IMEI . A telephone reported stolen can have its IMEI blocked by networks , preventing them from being used as mobile devices. iOS offers
1950-519: The company in January 2009. On August 3, 2016, Blake Krikorian died of a heart attack at age 48. (see also Slingbox ) The original Slingbox, now referred to as the Slingbox Classic, was released July 1, 2005. It was designed by Yves Béhar , and had the appearance of a "foil-wrapped chocolate bar." Improvement came with the introduction of the second-generation line of Sling Media products:
2000-531: The connection of high definition sources with the use of an accessory cable adding component and digital audio inputs. In 2007, Sling introduced the Slingbox SOLO, a third generation box that was a "streamlined version of the Slingbox Pro". It provided a high quality standard definition video stream and a lower price point. This model was followed up in 2008 by the Slingbox PRO-HD, a high-end device that supported placeshifting HDTV (1080i) video and currently
2050-407: The device can copy from the backup memory to its main memory, restoring the firmware. Bricking is classified into two types, hard and soft, depending on the device's ability to function. A "soft bricked" device may show signs of life, but fails to boot or may display an error screen . Soft bricked devices can usually be fixed relatively easily; for example, a soft bricked iOS device may display
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2100-546: The final updates of OS X Sierra and High Sierra have expired as of 20 May 2022. The practice has especially been scrutinized within the Internet of things and smart home markets. Bricking in these cases have been declared a means to enforce planned obsolescence . Sling Media Sling Media Inc. is an American technology company that develops placeshifting and Smart TV solutions for consumers, multiple-system operators and set top box manufacturers. The company
2150-598: The on-demand offerings, Slingbox owners could connect to their Slingbox through the website, making their Slingboxes available without a software client download. However, Clip+Sling was never launched and Sling.com eventually became the home of the web-based Watch player. This signaled Sling Media's intent at the time to migrate users from using desktop software to Sling.com to access to their Slingbox. In January 2013, EchoStar and Sling Media sued Belkin and Monsoon Multimedia for infringing on five patents related to placeshifting . In March 2013, Sling Media also initiated
2200-532: The product has been succeeded by a newer model and the manufacturer no longer wishes to maintain services for the previous version, or if a company has been acquired by another or otherwise ceases operations, and chooses not to, or is no longer able to maintain its previous products. For example, Apple dropped support for OS X El Capitan in October 2018, and on 30 September 2021 the built-in security certificate expired, rendering users unable to connect to or use any iCloud services. The security certificate issued with
2250-541: The relationships to help establish Sling's presence in Bangalore. The idea for Sling originated during the 2002 Major League Baseball season, when the Krikorian brothers, who are dedicated San Francisco Giants fans, often traveled far from home, and faced missing the best games of the season. On September 24, 2007, EchoStar announced an agreement to acquire Sling Media for approximately US$ 380 million. Blake and Jason left
2300-875: The use of an IR blaster dongle . Current generation Slingboxes have built in IR blasters on the box itself, though customers can opt to continue to use the IR blaster dongle. All Slingboxes include an Ethernet port that connects to a local network and out to the Internet. The Slingbox 500 was the first to include built-in Wi-Fi . Sling used an Amazon Web Services -based infrastructure to support encoding, relaying streams and analytics. It also sourced data from multiple repositories to help guide recommendations to users, including social networks ( Facebook and Twitter ) and specialty services like Thuuz for sports. This infrastructure also allowed Sling to report on aggregate television watching behavior. They have released several infographics and provide
2350-481: Was a free upgrade to the Slingbox 500 that provides a graphical user interface and information overlays for living room TV viewing in addition to providing place shifting capabilities. The interface also provides recommendations based on aggregate viewing data, popularity and social activity. It was released in September 2014 to current Slingbox 500 customers. With the licensing of the Sling brand to Dish Network for
2400-569: Was demonstrated at Macworld Expo 2009 in January and became available in May of the same year. On May 12, 2009, the Slingplayer App became available at the Apple App Store, but only for US, Canadian and UK accounts, and was originally restricted to Wi-Fi for streaming content. Sling's promotional email confirmed that the Slingplayer for iPhone works with Wi-Fi connections only "at Apple's request" –
2450-536: Was streamed from the Slingbox. That application was phased out with the introduction of the Slingbox Watch website, which utilized an NPAPI plug-in for video streaming. Because of the discontinuation of the NPAPI support on Chrome and demand from customers, Sling reintroduced the Slingplayer for Desktop application for Windows and Apple Mac OS X with the launch of the Slingbox M1. However, the relaunched desktop application
2500-420: Was the ability to provide a loophole around proximity control, potentially allowing people outside the approved viewing area for events, especially sports, in which distribution traditionally has been restricted by time and region. However, the practice of placeshifting is not unlike that of timeshifting, which has been upheld in courts across the world due to the personal nature of a timeshifted rebroadcast, which
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