At the 2007 Consumer Electronics show in Las Vegas, Sling Media unveiled their newest revolutionary device, dubbed the “SlingCatcher”. No, it’s not another addition to the Slingbox family of products, but instead a whole new animal all together… though it does significantly enhance the Slingbox experience.

At first glance, the SlingCatcher would seem similar to a Media Center extender, given that it’s primary focus is to bring digital entertainment to a television screen. However, that doesn’t come close to describing the flexibility SlingCatcher provides. In fact, when coupled with a Slingbox, I would say it’s the first true television transporter. Slingbox and SlingPlayer are a lethal remote streaming solution, but sometimes it’s nice not to be bound to your laptop’s display or even use a laptop at all. For this purpose, SlingCatcher is like SlingPlayer in hardware form, allowing you to access your Slingbox on any television set without the need for a computer, and effectively transporting your home television to another.

Hardware

On the hardware side, SlingCatcher has just about everything. For starters, there’s a wide variety of video output options, providing maximum connection flexibility. There’s HDMI, component, S-video, and composite video outputs, plus analog and digital coaxial audio jacks for sound. Maybe Sling could be convinced to add in an optical digital audio output and RF coaxial jack (for those looking to connect SlingCatcher to a much older TV), which would ensure that there’s no TV SlingCatcher couldn’t easily connect to. Also present are three USB ports, an Ethernet jack, and power connector.

This will also be the first Sling Media product to integrate wireless network capabilities directly into the unit. It’s reasonable to assume that you’ll rarely have Ethernet near the TV you’re trying to connect to, but the integrated wireless should make getting your SlingCatcher online a snap… and without having to carry around a wireless bridge or powerline adapter.

Sling Media has also mentioned that there will be a hard drive attachment for SlingCatcher, but whether it will be a pre-purchased or DIY solution is unknown at this time. Adding a hard-drive to SlingCatcher may mean that time-shifting television content remotely may finally make a Sling Media debut. Tough it’s currently unknown what flexibilities the hard drive will provide, it could make it possible to load up your SlingCatcher with your favorite TV content and play it back offline from a remote location. I’m sure Sling Media’s new Entertainment Group may also have some ideas in the pipeline… so only time will tell.

Software

SlingCatcher will come loaded with two different applications. The first is SlingPlayer for TV, and its function should be familiar to any Slingbox owner. SlingPlayer is the application that connects to your home Slingbox and place-shifts your television content to wherever you happen to be. According to Sling Media, integrating the SlingPlayer application directly into the SlingCatcher will allow you to setup the SlingCatcher to any television and broadband internet connection to stream shows from your Slingbox without the need for a computer.

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