[Xoom Themes and Apps] GeekyGuy:
Full disclosure, I will be posting this same review over at the Xoom forums (http://xoomforums.com) site as well under the username JustDroid.

My set up at home is as follows: Time Warner Cable with a Cisco (formerly Scientific Atlanta) Explorer 8640 HDC DVR and a Slingbox SOLO. I have to 30/5 internet package.

The Good

Video quality is excellent. I have watched HD shows both on my home wi-fi and at work accessing across the internet and the picture and sound quality is astounding.

The Bad

I was not able to get an on screen remote other than the default remote. I tried several different settings via the online set up at http://setup.slingbox.xom. I tried the Scientific Atlanta Explorer 8300 HD, the Time Warner Explorer 8300, the Time Warner Universal Remote, and the Cisco Explorer 8640. The TWC Univeral and the Cisco Explorer 8640 remotes even show the default generic remote control on the website in addition to on the Xoom. With this generic remote, I have no way to access the recorded shows list on my DVR.

There is an 8 to 10 second delay in the function of the remote on screen and something actually happening on the DVR. This makes fast-forwarding through the commercials next to impossible. This wouldn't be a problem if you were watching a commercial free movie but for network TV this is a major pain in the a$$.

The Ugly

I purchased the Android tablet SlingPlayer app last Tuesday. After messing with it for a day, I gave up and called Sling support. The gentleman I spoke with did an OK job overall but was not able to help me. I gave him my Sling account username and password and he logged in to my account via the web interface and went through the same steps I did. This gentleman put me on hold for a couple of minutes while he looked for a tablet he could test on, but came back and said he didn't have one available. He had me test on the Xoom a couple of times, but there was no change to the on screen remote.

Friday afternoon, I still had not heard anything from Sling support so I called back. The gentleman I spoke with explained that this case was escalated and said he would transfer me to the team it had been sent to. After several minutes of me being on hold, the same gentleman came back on the line and explained that the second level team told him there was no resolution at this time. So I got the big brush-off. As of this morning I still have not heard anything from Sling support, however I did get a customer satisfaction email this morning, asking for my feedback on my recent support call. I explained that there has been no contact nor resolution in this case and left my contact information in the online form.

I have been in the customer support field for 15+ years, and I would never let my customers go 6 days with

no contact

after I had escalated an issue. And I would have followed up had I been the one the issue had been escalated to, even if there was no resolution, at least I would let the customer know we were still looking in to the issue.

My Impressions

This tablet version of SlingPlayer mobile was a beta product at best, and should not yet have been released to general availablility. It should have been tested on more tablet devices, it's not like the Xoom isn't a popular device.

I have always been pleased with Sling hardware and the phone version of the SlingPlayer software, both Windows Mobile and Android. This is the third Sling device I have owned, and I upgraded to better versions as I got HD cable at home. This experience has left me bitter and angry. I am not sure I could recommend Sling products in the future.

Thanks for listening to my rant and feel free to comment or if you have a suggestion to resolve this, I would be glad to hear it.