Slingbox Is Slowly Dying; Will Be Dead In 2 Years

Slingbox

You might not even be able to use it for that long.

What once was cutting edge eventually falls into decay; entropy is a law of the universe. So, too, is Slingbox.

Slingbox revolutionized the the idea of being able to take your media on the go. While TiVo allowed you to timeshift your shows, Slingbox allowed you to “placeshift”: stream media from your own devices over the internet to wherever you were at the time. All you needed to do was plug it into your cable box, connect it to the internet, an you could watch whatever, wherever,via a personal internet stream. And naturally, eventually you could watch it via your mobile devices.

Alas, the time to part with your Slingbox has come. The company announced yesterday that they plan to discontinue the service that made them a name in the market:

Effective November 9, 2020, Sling Media’s Slingbox products will be discontinued.

To find a list of the Slingbox models subject to this decision and for additional details, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) below.

Sling Media will continue to support existing users who remain under warranty.

24 months from now, the servers will go down, and that will be that. Though per the FAQ, the number of devices that you’ll actually be able to use the devices with in the meantime is diminishing, and has been for some time.

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Granted, there may be some hope for that little box of yours:

That said, your other option may be something like Channels. Indeed, Sling Media is themselves now known more for Sling TV. I suppose it’s just a sign of the times.

Source: Engadget

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B. Simmons

Based out of Glendale California, Bryan is a GAMbIT's resident gaming contributor. Specializing in PC and portable gaming, you can find Bryan on his 3DS playing Monster Hunter or at one of the various conventions throughout the state.

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