DISH Network's forthcoming DVRs get detailed: hints of Sling all over
[Via GizmoLovers]
Posts with tag Slingbox
First spotted in FCC pics back in August, the Slingbox SOLO has finally hit the review circuit. Lacking the hardware-assisted HD streaming output of the just announced Slingbox PRO HD, the SOLO brings the original Slingbox Pro's HD inputs and VGA-res output to a dongle-less existence. The people at PC Magazine hooked up the 'box and found plenty to admire in Sling's software and easy setup, pausing only to lament the short included ethernet cable and lack of WiFi. With its $180 MSRP, this Slingbox is a good option when your HDTV is far away, at least until the PRO HD hits the streets.

You can now watch NFL football over the interwebs, free from regional restrictions! Excited? We thought so -- here's what you'll need. First, sign up for DirecTV's Sunday Ticket ($269/year). Second, add in the "SuperFan" program (an additional $99/year). Third, you'll need a Windows PC (sorry Mac users). Once all that is squared away, you can enjoy watching live games webwide in Internet Explorer. Meh, says we, especially when you look at MLB.TV. Admittedly, the SuperFan package is required for HD delivery of the games on DirecTV anyways (which the internet feed definitely won't be), so chances are that football nuts may already have these packages lined up. The NFL is keeping tight control over their content, but this is a step in the right direction. Meanwhile, "misplacing" a Slingbox at your buddy's place in another region is looking better and better.
So we just got it straight from the horse's mouth -- the horse in this case being Sling Media's and Zatz Not Funny's own Dave Zatz -- that the company is hard at work on adding Apple's Apple TV to the growing list of devices compatible with your SlingBox. As Dave points out, not only will Apple TV compatibility allow you to placeshift your video content, you'll also be able to stream your entire iTunes library thanks to the 'Box's audio-only mode; who needs an iPod when you can access all your music directly from your Windows Mobile, Palm, and possibly J2ME-equipped cellphone sometime in the future? As usual, we'll let you know when you can start slinging your Apple TV swag, and of course, if and when Team Sling does decide to build a Java client (hint hint, nudge nudge).
It took them a while, but Sling Media has finally seen fit to officially release its current batch of Slingboxen in Canada, carting its Slingbox Pro, Slingbox AV, and Slingbox Tuner across the border. Canadians hoping for a little something extra given the delay, however, will likely be a bit disappointed, with the only changes coming in the currency. In Canadian dollars, the Slingbox Tuner will set you back $180, while the Slingbox AV carries a slightly higher $200 price tag, and the Slingbox Pro tops things off at $300 -- the HD Connect cable and SlingLink Turbo 4-Port will also both be available in Canada, running $60 and $180, respectively. In addition to the hardware, Sling also took the opportunity for officially announce its SlingPlayer Mobile software for Windows Mobile and Palm OS devices in Canada, with the former version now available for $35 Canadian and the latter still open for beta testers.
Although Sling Media's first CES announcements aren't until Sunday night, thanks to GigaOm we have a few details of Sling's latest product: the SlingCatcher. This is another device designed to bring more media to your TV; not only will it allow you to view content from your Slingbox like you can with your PC, but it also will allow you to view whatever is on your PCs screen, on your boob tube. The box is about half the size of a Slingbox Tuner and includes S-Video, Component, HDMI and a couple USB ports. It also includes a hard drive -- a first for Sling -- this will allow you to eventually buy content from Sling, although they haven't announced any deals with content providers just yet. Also, the device doesn't include WiFi, but it is capable, making it the first Sling product with wireless connectivity. We'll keep you updated as we learn more and of course a few pics when we get 'em.
When we first heard of the Slingbox PRO we thought it was interesting that Sling Media didn't jump on the HD marketing band wagon and call it the Slingbox HD, after all it has HD capabilities. Once the dust settled it all came together, the PRO's HD capabilities are pretty limited. The $50 component dongle allows HD input up to 1080i as well as component pass through, which is great for all those STBs with only one component output, but the Slingbox can only stream 640x480 at 16x9, uhhohh there go those rectangular pixels again that everyone gets in such a tizzy about. This gets down converted even more when streaming over a WAN connection. This isn't all bad as anyone who downloads HDTV sourced BitTorrent shows can tell you HD still looks better than SD when down-converted to 320x240. It is important to note that this is the first consumer product that can encode HD via component at 1080i, previously this has been too expensive for a consumer product. The other miss here is the lack of ATSC tuner, maybe they are saving the Slingbox HD name for a box that supports HD streaming from ATSC, Component, HDMI and hopefully CableCARD support, if CableLABs would ever approve such a device.
Although we love Sling Media's Slingbox for helping us place-shift television from our homes to any
Internet enabled display, we've been waiting for the evolutionary next slinging steps. Perhaps today's news will shoot
us forward so that we can start Slinging some HDTV through our home (or to someone else's) as Sling Media just received
$46.6 million in funding from Goldman, Sachs & Co., Liberty Media Corporation and Echostar Communications. Is this Charlie's next move in helping DISH
Network slingshot past DIRECTV in the HDTV satellite space? Could we see some Slingbox integration with new DISH
receivers and DVRs?


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