CEO of Sling Media Blake Krikorian has confirmed that the Slingbox Personal Broadcaster will be available from CompUSA and at least one other national retailer as of June 30. In case your memory has waned since they announced the product last year, Slingbox is a solution that will allow you to stream TV content from your cable, satellite or DVR to any computer with a high-speed internet connection. They expect to make the official announcement on Thursday, with product available in stores the same day. According to the website, price on this box still comes in at $249.
http://www.slingmedia.comFeatures and Benefits
* Placeshifting, the next revolution in TV viewing: the SlingboxTM lets consumers shift the place they can watch TV the same way a VCR shifts the time they can watch.
* Low cost: the SlingboxTM is low-cost ($249 retail price) and requires no additional monthly or yearly service fees.
* Enjoy your home television programming on your existing devices: the SlingboxTM is the only device on the market capable of redirecting any live video or broadcast feed from the home to devices the consumer already owns.
* Watch your home television programming from wherever you are: the SlingboxTM enables consumers to enjoy their home TV programming from remote locations such as the office, a hotel room, the airport, any WiFi hotspot, etc.
* Get TV on all of your in-home PCs: the SlingboxTM delivers live TV to all of a consumers' in-home PCs without the hassle and cost of adding new hardware and software drivers (e.g., TV tuner cards) to each computer
* It works like a long-distance remote control: the SlingboxTM provides full control of virtually any type of A/V device, including PVRs, digital cable boxes, and satellite TV receivers.
* High quality video: the SlingboxTM is powered by a high-performance digital signal processor from Texas Instruments and leverages Microsoft's latest Windows Media Video technologies to provide the best possible video quality.
* Optimized viewing experience: the SlingboxTM utilizes Sling Media's proprietary stream optimization technology - code-named "Lebowski" - to smooth and further enhance the video stream over a wide range of networks and devices.
* Easy to use and set up: Automatic device discovery and setup wizard simplifies the set up experience. Works with all existing A/V components and PC technologies.
* Works without dependence on a host PC: The SlingboxTM is a simple, standalone device that connects directly to a home network, without dependence on a host PC.
Id be willing to bet its compressing down to 276 or 340 horizontal lines... but for PC display, thats not bad for a half screen high image. It doesnt do HD yet, but Id like to see something doing this at 540 lines which would be NTSC standard, and would look good in most full screen applications.
Very cool idea though, TIVO is also working on thier TIVO2GO interface, but I havent heard too much about that right now.
