Slingbox PRO-HD: Yes, You Can Finally Stream HD
I’m no stranger to Sling Media’s Slingbox offerings and when I reviewed their HD-device-friendly Slingbox Solo in October I was a bit disappointed with the video quality. The main reason for that being I was expecting the Slingbox Solo to actually stream content in high-definition. Unfortunately, I misunderstood the point of the Solo - an affordable gateway to the Slingbox world, all while supporting devices that output in HD although the stream maxed out at 640×480.
The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first Slingbox to stream actual HD content.
The Slingbox PRO-HD will solve the shortcomings I saw in the Solo with the ability to stream 1080i content and 5.1 surround sound audio to another computer on the same home network and, get this, another HDTV with their yet-to-be-released SlingCatcher. It comes equipped with a slew of connections including a digital (ATSC/QAM) tuner for all your equipment. If you have a fast enough connection you will also be able to stream such content to a computer across the country. This privilege comes at you for $399 in Q3 2008.
Sling Media also announced SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry ($29, later this year). That’s something I would be ecstatic about if I still had my BlackBerry.. which begs the question, when is SlingPlayer Mobile coming to an iPhone near me? I read something about that months ago and the answer had to do with no third party app support and no Flash support on the iPhone so a custom streaming video website couldn’t be made. If my calculations are correct, when the iPhone SDK hits eighty-eight miles per hour comes out in February… you’re gonna see some serious shit.
Will the HD aspect of this latest Slingbox get you to finally pick one up for your ever-growing HD device trove?
there’s gonna be some serious usability issues having flash on the iphone
Don’t get me wrong - I understand exactly what the SB does, and think it’s pretty cool - I just can’t see a need for it for my house, anyway, and that’s despite the following:
*Media Center PC connected to LCD TV via DVI, with 1.2TB ‘media’ drive storing predominantly HD content, since I can’t (yet) format shift to HDDVD.
*XBox 360 to (same) TV via HDMI
*HD cable STB via HDMI
*HD DVD via HDMI
So it’s not like I don’t have potential uses for it. Actually, now that I think of it, I /can/ think of one use, but it might require more than the SB may offer (though I may be mistaken). I want to be able to use it as a ’smart terminal’ to my media for the bedroom TV, with perhaps an intelligent remote/keyboard so I can do what I want from bed - not a lot of fun if I need to go downstairs to get 90% of it playing… (although, scratching my chin now, could be a good time to do the whole ‘extender’ thing since my entire setup is managed through a Harmony remote)… Ponder, ponder.
Paul, “begs the question” isn’t right.
I wonder what reminded you of the ‘Back to The Future’ quote…
Slingbox is clever, don’t get me wrong- streaming actual HD content is a great, but like Robert I can’t see an immediate use for it in my life. At the moment I’m happy with my DVD quality played on my iMac screen, but then my job is to watch telly all day long- I can’t say I’m in the mood for it when I get home.