Three new Slingbox devices from Sling Media

Monday, October 02, 2006

At the end of last week Sling Media, Inc. announced the availability in the US of three new Slingbox models: the Slingbox tuner, the Slingbox AV and the Slingbox Pro. The first two devices are priced at $179.99 while the latter costs $249.99 and they are differentiated by the type of input signal they can handle.

The Slingbox Tuner is used for cable television channels while the Slingbox AV for standard definition cable set-top box, satellite receiver or DVRs. The more advanced version (Slingbox Pro) adds the support for multiple devices (four inputs and outputs), High Definition set-top box, widescreen and remote control of the connected devices. The Slingbox Tuner is the only version that does not allow to control other A/V devices.

Sling also announced that later this year the HD connect, a HD accessory for the Slingbox Pro, will be available for $49.99. It will include a component input and a pass-through output to take full advantage of the High Definition. It allows a high definition signal with a resolution of 720 p or 1080i to be passed through the Slingbox Pro device.

All the three models allow the user to control and watch TV anywhere in the house (and in the world) using PCs, laptops, Windows Mobile smartphones and handheld devices (plus the obvious Internet connection). To use the devices with Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs an additional software, the SlingPlayer Mobile, is required and it costs $29.99.

Currently Palm OS devices are not supported but before the end of the year Slingbox should release a client that will be able to add that. Within a month they will also release a version for the Symbian OS so that customers will be able to use Symbian systems too.

According to CNET early review the new devices supports a vast array of A/V devices, the software that controls them is very user friendly both in the setup and in the use and lastly the video quality thanks to the SlingStream technology is very good both on LAN and on the Internet.