SlingCatcher Update Adds Near-HD and Network Streaming From "Sling in the News: Sling Community

SlingCatcher Update Adds Near-HD and Network Streaming

Sling Media recently took the wraps off their latest update to the SlingCatcher hardware, dubbed ".57," adding in several fixes and enhancements as well as two major feature additions that's sure to please many SlingCatcher owners.

The two most important additions, higher quality streaming from the Slingbox PRO-HD and support for media playback from network shares, were first shown at the 2009 International CES show earlier this year and was expected to be released sometime in the first quarter. The near-HD streaming upgrade allows the SlingCatcher to receive a higher resolution (1280x540) stream from the Slingbox PRO-HD. The network streaming upgrade allows the SlingCatcher to playback digital audio and video files directly from SMB network shares or shared folders on a Windows XP, Vista, or Mac OS X 10.5 computer.

The SlingCatcher update coincides with the just released 2.0.2 upgrade of the SlingPlayer software, which includes an important PRO-HD firmware update enabling 1280x540 streaming to the SlingCatcher. Slingbox PRO-HD owners that wish to stream in near-HD to a SlingCatcher need to download and install the latest SlingPlayer software to enable this feature.

For full details, screenshots, and setup instructions, check out the SlingCommunity article, "SlingCatcher .57 Update - Near-HD and Network Streaming Arrives!"

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Discussion: Add a Comment | Comments 1-2 of 2 | Latest Comment

sambeckett

Member

member since: 02/17/2007
rank: 255 of 41895
location: Atlanta, United States
60 forum threads started
297 comments

March 22, 2009 1:18 PM updated: March 22, 2009 1:21 PM

I disagree with the description of this release. SlingCatcher still does not stream HD.

First I would like to tell every I am sorry. I know most of you will not like this comment, but it just has to be said.

How can a company just simply create a new display resolution and call it HD?

SlingMedia say the SlingCatcher is now HD at 1280 x 540. They just invented a newer (and lower) screen resolution just so they can market the device as HD.

Imagine Sony creating a new HD tv with the resolution of 1280 x 540, people would go crazy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screen_resolution says,

SDTV: 480i (NTSC, 720Ã480 split into two 240-line fields)
SDTV: 576i (PAL, 720Ã576 split into two 288-line fields)
EDTV: 480p (NTSC, 720Ã480)
HDTV: 720p (1280Ã720)
HDTV: 1080i (1280Ã1080, 1440Ã1080, or 1920Ã1080 split into two 540-line fields)
HDTV: 1080p (1920*1080 progressive scan)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/Aspect_Ratios_and_Resoluti...

putting this new so called HD resolution between SDTV and HDTV.

The lowest HDTV resolution is 720p or 1280x720 which the slingcatcher can not do.

Why should we be happy about this? Why should we accept this?

Would we let other TV manufactures get away with this?

Mad_Hatter

Member

member since: 03/17/2009
rank: 335 of 41895
14 comments

March 25, 2009 8:03 PM

Sam has a good point. I've been waiting on this HD upgrade for a while now. I thought that with the HDMI, the SC would be able to do 1080p straight out of the box. But it didn't, and so I waited.

I upgraded my SC, the HD channels look like crappy analog at best. It would be nice if they would put a Video Birate adjustment with the next firmware... along with the ability of using a proxy. Oh yeah, NTFS HDD usage would be nice too. Just my 2 cents on this new upgrade.

Discussion: Add a Comment | Comments 1-2 of 2 | Latest Comment

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