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SlingPlayer 2.0, Symbian UIQ, PRO-HD & Catcher Pre-Orders, and more...

 
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by MegaZone September 10, 2008 12:24 AM

Categories: News, Rumors and Gossip Sling Media Hardware PC SlingPlayer Mobile Symbian

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Well, this has been quite a busy day at Sling.  When it rains it pours.

First, SlingPlayer Mobile for Symbian UIQ has been released to the public - see the press release for all the details.

The UIQ handsets that will support SlingPlayer Mobile at launch include:

  • Sony Ericsson P1i
  • Sony Ericsson P990i
  • Sony Ericsson W960i
  • Sony Ericsson W950i
  • Sony Ericsson M600i
  • Sony Ericsson G700
  • Sony Ericsson G900
  • Motorola Z8
  • Motorola Z10
I ran the beta for that, so I'm especially happy to see it hit the streets.

Speaking of betas, SlingPlayer for Windows 2.0 Public Beta 2 (Build .457) was released tonight.  If you're already running Beta 1 (Build .447) you should receive a prompt to auto-update.  If you're not yet running SlingPlayer 2.0 you can download Beta 2.

But that't not all - tonight the product pages for both the Slingbox PRO-HD and the SlingCatcher went live on the Sling Media website.  But more than just product pages, you can now pre-order the Slingbox PRO-HD and the SlingCatcher direct from Sling Media or from Amazon.  Both units are priced with a $299.99 MSRP.

And what else...

Oh yeah - we are in Apple's iPhone Developer Program, and have been for a while.  Just so you know.

Read More In: News, Rumors and Gossip Sling Media Hardware PC SlingPlayer Mobile Symbian

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Discussion:    Add a Comment | Comments 21-40 of 88 | Latest Comment | « Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next »

MegaZone Avatar
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September 10, 2008 11:51 AM

The Slingbox PRO-HD and SlingCatcher have been in beta for a while now actually. But since they're hardware betas they're fairly limited because we only have so many units to distribute. So there isn't going to be a 'Public Beta' like we have right now with SP2.0 - can't do that with hardware.

As for Blackberry and iPhone, I can't give any dates just yet, sorry. But we had a conference call just yesterday to discuss the plans, they're coming.

-MegaZone, GizmoLovers.com
Slingbox PRO-HD w/TiVo Series3, Slingbox SOLO w/TiVo Pioneer DVR-810H, SPM Treo 680, SP WinXP
(Former Sling Media Beta Program Manager.)

tank Avatar
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  • member since: 07/23/2008
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September 10, 2008 1:56 PM

It looks like the sling catcher has USB ports on the back.. what is that for? can we say DIVX support for a external HD or thumbdrive

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 10, 2008 3:47 PM

The SlingCatcher can play content off FAT32 formatted USB mass storage devices. And with SlingSync it will copy content from a PC to locally attached storage.

-MegaZone, GizmoLovers.com
Slingbox PRO-HD w/TiVo Series3, Slingbox SOLO w/TiVo Pioneer DVR-810H, SPM Treo 680, SP WinXP
(Former Sling Media Beta Program Manager.)

Generic Member Avatar
Member
September 10, 2008 4:03 PM updated: September 10, 2008 4:41 PM

Newegg has listed a release date for both the Slingcatcher and Slingbox HD as:

Slingcatcher (10/2/2008):

Slingbox HD (9/25/2008):

Pre-orders via Slingcommunity here (free shipping):
http://www.slingcommunity.com/page/shop

Generic Member Avatar
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September 10, 2008 11:48 PM

Thanks for some kind of comment past the cryptic / generic statement regarding the iPhone... glad to hear it's

Generic Member Avatar
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  • member since: 09/11/2008
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September 11, 2008 12:33 AM

Now we just need the blackberry client..

davsm Avatar
  Member
September 11, 2008 7:40 AM

Mega Zone

You wouldn't, by chance, have any idea when all of the above will be available in the UK ? (Beta and Pre-Order)

I'm no expert (EXSPURT), because an "EX" is a has been and a "SPURT" is a drip under pressure.

Generic Member Avatar
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September 11, 2008 9:41 AM

Will the Slingbox HD transmit better quality video over the Internet with the same upload speed as a SB Pro?

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 11, 2008 11:07 AM

It is probably going to be of comparable quality. With the mobile clients it will be using the same codec as the other Slingboxes, and with the same codec and the same bitrate, the end result is going to be pretty much the same.

-MegaZone, GizmoLovers.com
Slingbox PRO-HD w/TiVo Series3, Slingbox SOLO w/TiVo Pioneer DVR-810H, SPM Treo 680, SP WinXP
(Former Sling Media Beta Program Manager.)

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 11, 2008 4:51 PM

davsm said: Mega Zone You wouldn't, by chance, have any idea when all of the above will be available in the UK ? (Beta and Pre-Order)

I believe the SlingCatcher will be available in the UK either at the same time as the US or soon thereafter, as it is the same box.

The PRO-HD I don't know, but probably not real soon.  That will require new hardware with a DVB-T tuner, the current box is ATSC for the US, and we're just focused on that box right now.

-MegaZone, GizmoLovers.com
Slingbox PRO-HD w/TiVo Series3, Slingbox SOLO w/TiVo Pioneer DVR-810H, SPM Treo 680, SP WinXP
(Former Sling Media Beta Program Manager.)

Generic Member Avatar
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September 12, 2008 1:11 PM

MegaZone said: It is probably going to be of comparable quality. With the mobile clients it will be using the same codec as the other Slingboxes, and with the same codec and the same bitrate, the end result is going to be pretty much the same.

I thought the new SB uses a higher quality (more CPU intensive) codec? Was hoping I'd get better pix quality when at work on my laptop...

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 12, 2008 1:24 PM

There are two pieces, the Slingbox and SlingPlayer (or SlingPlayer mobile). To date all Slingboxes have used the WMV codec. The PRO-HD supports H.264 *and* WMV. For anything over 640x480, which includes all HD streaming, H.264 is used, period. For SD streaming, if you're using SlingPlayer 2.0 then currently H.264 is used by default. But all the mobile clients - Palm, WinMob, Symbian - still use WMV and likely won't switch any time soon. (If it ain't broke...) Even the new Blackberry and iPhone clients will probably use WMV since we have to have it to talk to all the other Slingboxes anyway, and at the resolutions you get on mobile devices there really isn't an advantage to having H.264 in there too.

Also, while you need new desktop software to setup and configure the PRO-HD, the last few revisions of the older clients are also able to connect to and stream from a PRO-HD once it is setup. But that's all WMV as that's all those clients understand.

-MegaZone, GizmoLovers.com
Slingbox PRO-HD w/TiVo Series3, Slingbox SOLO w/TiVo Pioneer DVR-810H, SPM Treo 680, SP WinXP
(Former Sling Media Beta Program Manager.)

tank Avatar
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  • member since: 07/23/2008
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September 12, 2008 1:27 PM

WHERE IS E71 SUPPORT..lol

i cant stop

Generic Member Avatar
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September 13, 2008 10:18 AM

MegaZone said: There are two pieces, the Slingbox and SlingPlayer (or SlingPlayer mobile). To date all Slingboxes have used the WMV codec. The PRO-HD supports H.264 *and* WMV. For anything over 640x480, which includes all HD streaming, H.264 is used, period. For SD streaming, if you're using SlingPlayer 2.0 then currently H.264 is used by default. But all the mobile clients - Palm, WinMob, Symbian - still use WMV and likely won't switch any time soon. (If it ain't broke...) Even the new Blackberry and iPhone clients will probably use WMV since we have to have it to talk to all the other Slingboxes anyway, and at the resolutions you get on mobile devices there really isn't an advantage to having H.264 in there too. Also, while you need new desktop software to setup and configure the PRO-HD, the last few revisions of the older clients are also able to connect to and stream from a PRO-HD once it is setup. But that's all WMV as that's all those clients understand.
So to a desktop client, not  mobile, H.264 should deliver better quality with the same bitrate, no?

tank Avatar
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  • member since: 07/23/2008
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September 13, 2008 5:13 PM

new slingplayer beta sucks. sound keeps cycling up and down. now idea what is going on. doing it on all my slingboxes

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 13, 2008 11:25 PM

MetsFan said: So to a desktop client, not  mobile, H.264 should deliver better quality with the same bitrate, no?
Probably, but there are a lot of variables - each codec has its unique qualities and WMV is roughly comparable to H.264 overall, but it could be a little better on some kinds of content.  It gets into black magic, outside my depth of knowledge on the specific codecs and how they're tuned.  But I would not buy a PRO-HD expecting a huge visible quality increase on remote streaming of SD content.

-MegaZone, GizmoLovers.com
Slingbox PRO-HD w/TiVo Series3, Slingbox SOLO w/TiVo Pioneer DVR-810H, SPM Treo 680, SP WinXP
(Former Sling Media Beta Program Manager.)

Generic Member Avatar
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September 14, 2008 6:29 AM

Is it correct that the old Slingbox's har a limited upload speed (2Mbit upload limit) when it comes to WAN?

tank Avatar
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  • member since: 07/23/2008
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September 14, 2008 11:34 AM

new slingplayer beta sucks. sound keeps cycling up and down. now idea what is going on. doing it on all my slingboxes

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 14, 2008 8:19 PM

Ampro said: Is it correct that the old Slingbox's har a limited upload speed (2Mbit upload limit) when it comes to WAN?
By default the Slingbox limits WAN streaming, but you can change the settings to boost the bit rate and resolution above the defaults.

-MegaZone, GizmoLovers.com
Slingbox PRO-HD w/TiVo Series3, Slingbox SOLO w/TiVo Pioneer DVR-810H, SPM Treo 680, SP WinXP
(Former Sling Media Beta Program Manager.)

Generic Member Avatar
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  • member since: 09/10/2008
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September 15, 2008 12:43 AM

By default the Slingbox limits WAN streaming, but you can change the settings to boost the bit rate and resolution above the defaults.
 
How would I do this?  Is this a feature in the new version of the software?  I run that at work and on my laptop (mac) I run the latest Mac version.

Discussion:    Add a Comment | Back to Top | Comments 21-40 of 88 | Latest Comment | « Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next »

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