(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.
(Credit:
Sling Media)
When Sling Media released a trio of second-generation models in the fall of 2006, the Slingbox Pro was at the top of the line. Unlike the entry-level Slingbox AV, the Pro had pass-through outputs, an analog tuner, multisource capability, and the ability to accept high-def video sources. Unfortunately, it also came with a handful of caveats: While it could accept HD video, it downcoverted that to 640x480 for streaming--and you needed to invest in a $50 dongle if you wanted to use a component video (HD) source. It was also an ugly maroon color, ensuring that it contrasted with everything else in your home-theater equipment rack. The third-generation Slingbox Solo appeared the following year, co-opted nearly all of the Pro's key features, making the need for an upgrade to the Pro even more apparent.
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(Credit:
Erica Ogg/CNET)
Last week, the folks from Sling Media stopped by to give us a hands-on look at the SlingCatcher. Originally due in 2007, the long-delayed product looks to be finally ready to ship this fall. (The video below is Molly Wood's preview of the SlingCatcher when it was reintroduced in January 2008.)
As the name suggests, the SlingCatcher is a hardware version of the SlingPlayer software that's available for various devices. Connect the SlingCatcher to your bedroom TV, for instance, and you can access the live TV and recorded programs from your living room DVR (which, in turn, is connected to a Slingbox).
So, instead of being limited to the small-ish screens of a laptop (or even a mobile phone), you're back to watching TV on...a TV.
The SlingCatcher can access any Slingbox that you've added to your Sling.com account, but the same caveats apply to it as with the software SlingPlayers. Most notably, only one client can access a given Slingbox at a time.
Bandwidth constraints apply (streaming within a home network generally looks great, but remote Slingbox resolution will be limited by upstream bandwidth at the source location). And the Slingbox monopolizes the AV source to which its connected (if you log in to your DVR and start playing Desperate Housewives while somebody's in the living room watching football, they'll suddenly see Eva Longoria instead of Eli Manning.
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Will we actually see the SlingCatcher before 2009?
If you've been waiting been patiently waiting for the SlingCatcher, we feel your pain. We first saw the device back at CES 2007 and were impressed, but then it never came out. Then we saw it again at CES 2008 and we were told it would be out in the second quarter of 2008--and Sling missed that deadline. Now it's September and still no SlingCatcher.
With all these delays, we're about as skeptical as you can be, but Dave Zatz (of Zatz Not Funny and former SlingMedia employee) recently noticed that both the SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD are available for preorder on Amazon. And quick zip over to SlingMedia's site shows that the company is also offering up the units for preorder, and we have to imagine Sling is close to delivering the products if they're starting to take money for them.
Maybe the bigger question is whether the SlingCatcher still appeals to us as much as it did back in 2007. The device is capable of streaming media, transmitting your PC's display to a TV and "catching" a stream from your Slingbox, but a lot of those functions are pretty limited in real-world use or already done by other devices. We've already reviewed one device--the ZvBox--that aims to bring your PC and internet video to your TV, and we were less than impressed. Sling has a good reputation for a solid user experience, but at $300, it's yet to be seen if the SlingCatcher can appeal to larger than a niche audience.
Are you still excited about the SlingCatcher or Slingbox PRO-HD, or is the thrill gone after all these delays?
This is just getting silly.
The makers of the popular Slingbox have been promising the SlingCatcher for almost a year and half now. And once again, the projected release date will come and go quietly.
Sling Catcher delayed again. This time, they're crossing their fingers for a release date sometime before the end of this year.
(Credit: Sling Media)Gregg Wilkes, vice president of sales for Sling Media--which is now owned by EchoStar Communications--told a frustrated customer in an e-mail that the goal to release the device during the second quarter of this year will not be met.
Wilkes writes: "Will the catcher ship in Q2? No. We are upgrading the user experience and making enhancements to the feature set. These may or may not all ship at the same time. Will the Catcher ship in '08? All indications point to this happening in 2008."
The SlingCatcher is a set-top box, separate from the Slingbox, that brings video content from a Slingbox to another TV in a house, or from an external hard drive. The SlingCatcher also lets users project Web content to a TV screen, either wired or wirelessly, through an application called SlingProjector.
The device was originally introduced at CES 2007, and shown again at CES 2008, which was when Sling was floating the Q2 time frame.
What's the opposite of the Slingbox? The new SlingCatcher.
The SlingCatcher is a set-top box that will let users project Web content to a TV screen, either wired or wirelessly, through an application called SlingProjector. Navigation can be done with either the included remote or through a PC.
SlingCatcher
(Credit: Sling Media)The device is set to be announced Sunday at CES 2007 by Sling Media, the same people behind the Slingbox, which lets you watch your home TV channels on a laptop or a smart phone. The SlingCatcher retains the Slingbox's familiar trapezoid shape.
With an eye on Apple's upcoming iTV, Sling Media CEO Blake Krikorian said announcing the new device for bringing Web content, such as YouTube videos, to a living room is his company officially "throwing our hat in the ring there."
Krikorian said the SlingCatcher will be available for "less than $200" sometime in the second quarter or as late as this summer.
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