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Perhaps with future updates, the Slingbox 500 will grow into more than just a media streamer with WiFi. For the time being, though, we'd recommend you go with a Slingbox 350.

While you'll pay a premium for its extra features, the Slingbox 500 is an excellent way to watch your TV or DVR video content anywhere.

The nicely updated Slingbox 500 remains the best way to watch cable TV channels and recorded content on the go from PCs and mobile devices, but the Slingbox concept is beginning to show its age.

However, before we can give the $299 Slingbox 500 a higher rating, we need to know that the features that will make it unique actually work. Until then, this is an above-average premium place-shifter with an above-average design.

It is launching with new devices that out of the box don’t add that much functionality over the previous generation. Sure, 1080p is nice, but matters little on a phone screen, and just a little more on an iPad.

Ultimately, the Slingbox remains the ultimate tool for folks who want the experience of watching live TV at home when they’re not at home. ... But the price seems out of whack relative to its capabilities, especially in this age of on-demand everything.

I really, really liked the Slingbox 500, but I’m not sure if the $300 is low enough for non-enthusiasts.

The Slingbox 500 is more of an investment in a potential combination place-shifting device and media streamer—or for people who need to use a Wi-Fi network.

A Slingbox is still the simplest way to watch it when I’m not at home–or even when I just happen to be in another room. It’s good to get reacquainted with this gadget, in an incarnation that’s simpler and more capable than the version I got addicted to back in the last decade.