The player and page for Arrested Development on Sling.com.
(Credit: CNET)Last week, we reported that Sling.com, the streaming site of Slingbox maker Sling Media, was moving from the private beta phase and launching to the public. Well, that move is now official, as Sling has sent the site live to the world--though the "beta" moniker remains.
Much has been written about the impending launch of Sling.com. A partial list of partners has been circulating the last few weeks, but Sling's PR reps wanted to use today's announcement to showcase the full list, which naturally is "growing each and every week."
I'd list all the partners, but it would make for one ugly blog post and it's easier to just give you these links if you're interested.
Full list of shows available on Sling.com
Full list of channels available on Sling.com
Those of you waiting for a review of the recently released SlingCatcher--we're working on it now. Unfortunately, that product was pushed onto the market a little early (we assume to hit some sort of self-imposed deadline) and was basically still in a beta state. We'd been waiting for a couple of key software updates/fixes to arrive before passing final judgment.
Comments anyone? Does Sling.com live up to the hype? How could it be better?
Sling Media no longer wants to be put into a box--the theoretical kind, anyway.
Previously just a maker of hardware like the Slingbox, and related software, the company is now thinking bigger. With the official launch of Sling.com fast approaching, the small Silicon Valley company--bought last year by EchoStar--is making a bid to be taken seriously as an entertainment company.
Currently in private beta until November 24, Sling.com is a shiny new video portal that pulls in TV episodes, clips, full-length movies, and professionally produced Web videos to a single destination. The free content is provided by the NBC-Fox partnership Hulu, along with CBS (parent company of CBS Interactive, CNET's publisher), PBS, BBC America, and Web video sites like College Humor and Break.com, to name just a few. There are short ads before and during the videos.
Up until now, Sling had been mainly in the business of creating hardware and software that allow consumers to get their TV channels from remote devices.
The Slingbox, which allows owners to watch their own subscription TV channels remotely from a computer, marked the first introduction to Sling Media for many consumers. Then the company began releasing the SlingPlayer as downloadable software for Symbian, Palm OS, and Windows Mobile that lets Slingbox owners also get their TV channels on mobile phones. BlackBerry and iPhone versions are on the way.
The player and page for Arrested Development on Sling.com.
(Credit: CNET)Sling then turned from just moving TV to the Web, and began pushing the idea of moving Web video to the TV with its SlingCatcher product, which started shipping last month.
Now, by creating a new Web destination, the company is turning the Internet into yet another destination for its customers to watch the channels they subscribe to along with a host of free, ad-supported content.
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(Credit:
Sling Media)
You can finally remove the SlingCatcher from the vaporware list. Following reports that it was popping up on store shelves around the country, the $300 product officially begins shipping today, ending a wait that began more than 18 months ago when it was first unveiled at CES 2007.
The SlingCatcher is a playback device that's designed to pull digital content from three sources and display them on your TV. It can play a variety of digital video files from an attached USB storage device (anything from a thumbdrive to a hard drive); display anything on your PC screen (including full-motion video) via the SlingProjector "screen scraping" software; and stream video from any source connected to a Slingbox (elsewhere in the house in high-resolution, or from a remote Slingbox source over the Internet at lesser quality).
While the SlingCatcher may sound like a niche device, there's strong indication it will gain more widespread appeal with forthcoming feature upgrades. Enter Sling Media's Sling.com Web site, which recently entered a closed beta phase. Originally intended as a home for the YouTube-style "Clip-n-Sling" snippets (another Slingbox feature first demonstrated months ago), the site appears to have morphed into a more Hulu-like "premium library of movies, TV shows, and Web videos" (to quote the site splash screen), with content from NBC, Fox, CBS, Showtime, Break.com, National Geographic, and MGM highlighted on the homepage. (Also mentioned: the capability to watch your Slingbox in the browser, directly through the Sling.com portal, presumably without the need for a software install.)
How does the eventual launch of Sling.com tie into the SlingCatcher? Blogger Dave Zatz--a former Sling employee-- writes, "SlingCatcher will eventually tap directly into Sling.com for some web video, perhaps partially taking the PC out of the mix." In other words, the need to have your PC nearby and be running the SlingProjector software may be more of an intermediate step to a direct pipeline to Web video for the Catcher. Sounds intriguing indeed.
We'll have a full review of the final SlingCatcher hardware as soon as our sample arrives. In the meantime, check out our hands-on preview of the product from September, and our full review of the recently released Slingbox Pro-HD.
Editors' note: Sling Media and CBS (the parent company of CNET) are working together on Sling's Clip-n-Sling project and the CBS' Interactive Audience Network.
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