Sling Media today unveiled SlingPlayer for Windows 2.0 Public Beta, a preview of the next generation SlingPlayer software for desktop PCs. It's been almost two years since Sling Media released SlingPlayer for PC 1.4 - their last 'significant' upgrade to the software that Slingers rely on to watch their home television on a computer screen anywhere in the world.

The latest version of SlingPlayer software for PC brings a whole new level of functionality to Slingbox owners. The new software allows you to watch and control your living room TV on your PC with more flexibility, fun, and even greater control than ever before.

SlingPlayer for Windows 2.0 marks the introduction of two new major features: A 60 Minute Live Buffer that adds DVR-like abilities to pause and rewind live television, as well as an integrated program guide that makes browsing current listings a breeze compared to virtually controlling a set-top box or DVR.

Noticeably absent in SlingPlayer 2.0 is Clip+Sling, Sling's YouTube-like feature for cutting out clips of whatever you're watching and uploading it to a portal site to share with others. Sling Media showed a working demo of Clip+Sling back at CES in January, and expected to release it and the portal site with the SlingPlayer 2.0 launch.

The current beta is limited to Windows users, though Sling Media is working on bringing these features to OS X sometime in the future.

Read SlingCommunity's review | Download SlingPlayer for Windows 2.0 Public Beta

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