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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 41-60 of 88 | Latest Comment | « Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next »

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 15, 2008 12:45 AM

It has been in the settings in SlingPlayer for as long as I can remember, it isn't new in SP2.0. But if you set it to manually and force higher bit rates it may not work well if you don't really have a connection that can handle it.

-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 16, 2008 7:12 AM updated: September 16, 2008 11:11 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.

I sling from the Netherlands to Thailand. Mostly, I have a bitrate of approx 700 kbps, which is not enough to watch in the 640x480 resolution. I read on several sites that the H.264 codec requires only half of the data range of the older codecs

Am I correct to assume that my 700 kbps download would be sufficient to stream in 640x480 using the PRO HD ?

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 16, 2008 10:23 AM

Singha said: I sling from the Netherlands to Thailand. Mostly, I have a bitrate of approx 700 kbps, which is not enough to watch in the 640x480 resolution. I read on several sites that the H.264 codec requires only half of the data range of the older codecs  Am I correct to assume that my 700 kbps download would be sufficient to stream in 640x480 using the PRO HD ? 
Probably not.  While, as a rule of thumb, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 is twice as efficient as MPEG-2, existing Slingboxes use WMV, which is also already more efficient than MPEG-2, and closer to H.264.  So H.264 is not a huge leap over existing Slingbox encoding.

-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.)

Itay2 Avatar
Member
September 16, 2008 1:30 PM

MegaZone said:
Singha said: I sling from the Netherlands to Thailand. Mostly, I have a bitrate of approx 700 kbps, which is not enough to watch in the 640x480 resolution. I read on several sites that the H.264 codec requires only half of the data range of the older codecs  Am I correct to assume that my 700 kbps download would be sufficient to stream in 640x480 using the PRO HD ? 
Probably not.  While, as a rule of thumb, MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 is twice as efficient as MPEG-2, existing Slingboxes use WMV, which is also already more efficient than MPEG-2, and closer to H.264.  So H.264 is not a huge leap over existing Slingbox encoding.
Does SC do any upscaling?

View unverified member's comment - posted by chance

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 17, 2008 11:40 AM

Sorry, we're not announcing any dates for iPhone just yet. We are in Apple's developer program for the iPhone and we don't expect there to be a problem offering SPM in the App Store. *IF* there is, then we're re-evaluate our options at that point.

-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
  • member since: 09/17/2008
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  • location:  Georgia, United States
  • 1 comments
September 17, 2008 1:06 PM

when can we expect a ver. 2.0 Slingplayer for the MAC?

AMcBroom81 Avatar
Member
  • member since: 08/19/2008
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September 22, 2008 11:29 AM

Megazone, I for one just want to say a big thank you to you and your team there at sling.

I have been defending sling on the macrumours boards for a long time now. I for one have had faith in sling from the begining.

I have pointed more people to this sling site to prove that sling is in the works to develop an app for the iphone.

Thanks for your posts and answering our questions. Big ups to you and your team.

Drew

Generic Member Avatar
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  • member since: 09/10/2008
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September 22, 2008 11:41 AM

I guess what I don't understand (regarding the mac products) is all the secrecy surrounding them. You can tell us that something is happening and you're in the iPhone Dev program but that's it... why the secrecy? Sling Player on iPhone will be THE killer app for the iPhone, why not share the love/info?

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 22, 2008 11:59 AM

AMcBroom81 - Thank you.

AngeloAlberico - There are competitive considerations. You don't want to tip your hand fully to other vendors. And we don't want to set too many expectations, look at the backlash over SlingCatcher and SP2.0. We're trying to avoid giving any dates until we're close to release and there is little risk in there being delay or any change. From our side there really isn't anything to be gained from sharing more info, and there is the potential for trouble if we do.

-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: 09/22/2008
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September 22, 2008 8:56 PM

MegaZone

Come on???

Generic Member Avatar
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  • member since: 09/18/2008
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September 23, 2008 11:05 AM

MegaZone, when is the player for the iPhone going to be released?

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 23, 2008 11:07 AM

When it is completed. (Really, folks, I'm not going to give out any dates at this time. Sorry, but that's how it is. I will say Blackberry will be out before iPhone.)

-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: 09/18/2008
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September 23, 2008 11:33 AM

MegaZone, we really apreciate the information you've given us...can we know when is the Beta (iPhone) going to be released? Is it going to be before Xmas, next summer...just an idea!!!

Very much apreciated are your posts!!!

AMcBroom81 Avatar
Member
  • member since: 08/19/2008
  • rank: 21806 of 41904
  • 22 comments
September 23, 2008 11:39 AM

People of this Thread, Please read all post's before you post a reply. Your question may have already been asked and answered.. ie. ( When is iphone app coming?) he has answered this atleast 3 times that I can think of off the top of my head. So again please read all post's. This will save you time from having to keep checking to see if there is a responce. It will save megazone time to keep working on that sweet iphone app so when it is ready to come out we will all say " Man this app is awesome, it was worth the wait."

Keep it rockin megazone.

Drew

Generic Member Avatar
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  • member since: 09/18/2008
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September 23, 2008 12:00 PM

Sorry AMcBroom81...but did you check the beginning of my post?
does it go to u?...I don't think so...!!!

MegaZone Avatar
  Member
September 23, 2008 12:01 PM

But he was right - I'm not going to give out any dates or time frames, rephrasing the question won't help.

-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: 09/18/2008
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  • 11 comments
September 23, 2008 12:04 PM

Thanks MEGAZONE...u rock man!!! (AMcBroom81= not at all).

AMcBroom81 Avatar
Member
  • member since: 08/19/2008
  • rank: 21806 of 41904
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September 23, 2008 12:07 PM updated: September 23, 2008 12:13 PM

Littlemo, Can you not read other post to see if it had already been asked? Do you like it when some one asks you the same question over and over and over. soon enough you get tired of answering the same question and I dont want that to happen to megazone. My responce was not geared right at you but to all the people who post try not to repeat questions that have already been answered. Is it really that hard to read only 3 pages of post's?

I have no hard fellings littlemo, I think you rock though!!!

MikeD Avatar
  Member
September 24, 2008 8:02 PM

I'm just happy that an iPhone app is in the works. I preordered the pro-hd with hopes. Now that I see one is really coming... I'm happy. And as for the multiple questions on release dates... sheesh.. I'm a high school teacher and believe me, after you've said something once only to be asked again and again... You'd want to shoot yourself!

Discussion:    Add a Comment | Back to Top | Comments 41-60 of 88 | Latest Comment | « Previous 1 2 3 4 5 Next »

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