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We're constantly hearing that seamless integration of television and broadband video is fast approaching, but nobody's gotten it right yet. That hasn't stopped new companies from jumping into the mix.

Enter Sezmi, the latest start-up hoping to capture the market: on Thursday, the venture-backed company unveiled a piece of hardware that it claims will be able to handle broadcast and cable TV, as well as streaming and downloaded Internet video content.

Currently in testing, Sezmi has already inked partnerships with a number of broadcasters, content companies, and broadband service providers. The ambitious company hopes to start putting its wireless boxes in U.S. residences in a number of major markets by the end of 2008.

Sezmi, formerly known as Building B, isn't naming those partners yet, so it's not clear exactly how many channels or how much Web content will be accessible on the box. But the company nevertheless is willing to call its offering "a complete TV 2.0 solution." In addition to content, a Sezmi box allows for up to five personalized accounts and lets members share their video playlists with friends.

It's able to bridge the gap between television and broadband, according to Friday's announcement, thanks to an in-house technology called FlexCast.

"To deliver the full range of content that consumers expect at an affordable cost, we had to create a network that overcame the limitations of broadband and better aligned with mass-market content consumption," co-founder and president Phil Wiser explained in a release. No pricing information has been provided yet.

"Sezmi focused on the television consumer and built an entirely new television offering from the ground up to meet the needs of viewers that want a premium experience at an affordable price," co-founder and CEO Buno Pati said in Friday's release. "We have rallied support across multiple industries, and are excited to work with our partners to offer a new and differentiated TV choice to consumers."

Hey, Sezmi: Feed us more detail, and maybe we'll be more enthusiastic.

Trips to the video rental store may be a thing of the past sooner than thought.

Netflix and Blockbuster are already offering DVD rental service by mail. Amazon.com, Microsoft's Xbox Live, and Netflix deliver movies directly to the PC. TiVo, Vudu, and Apple TV--not to mention cable and satellite companies--are doing the same for TV sets. Local independent stores notwithstanding, the only major brick-and-mortar options left for renting discs are Hollywood Video/Movie Gallery, which is close to bankruptcy, and Blockbuster.

But The Hollywood Reporter says Blockbuster may be giving customers more reasons not to visit its stores. The rental chain is said to be making a set-top box that will allow video content to be streamed directly to a television. The announcement should come sometime later this month, according to THR

A Blockbuster spokeswoman said it is "talking to numerous companies" about ways it can provide "access to media content across multiple channels--from our stores, by mail, through kiosks, through downloading, through portable content-enabled devices--so it's not surprising that there are rumors out there."

The service would take advantage of video-on-demand technology from Movielink (which Blockbuster bought last year) that allows movie downloads from Universal Studios, Paramount, Sony Pictures, MGM, and Warner Bros.

There was no mention of price or how such a service would work in the report. But let's think about this: to compete with Apple TV or Vudu, the device would have to cost around $200, and rentals of movies and TV shows should be around $3 to $4 each, which would be slightly cheaper than rentals of new releases from Blockbuster currently. The big advantage Blockbuster would enjoy over Apple TV, Vudu, and TiVo, it seems, would be selection. Considering its longstanding relationships with the studios, it would likely have the largest library of films and TV shows to choose from. See my colleague John Falcone's excellent comparison of set-top rental boxes.

No matter the details of the how the device would work, this represents a new direction for Blockbuster and the video rental market. Money spent on DVD ownership and rentals has been decreasing steadily for the past four years, according to the Digital Entertainment Group, which tracks sales of disc media. And though there's no indication Blockbuster would eliminate its brick-and-mortar stores, a streaming video service would clearly cannibalize some of that business.

Assuming the report is spot-on, and Blockbuster attempts to make this transition to digital content, it's time to wonder how much longer physical media will be a factor for mainstream movie renters.

After hitting a veritable grand slam with its sale for $380 million Monday, Sling Media is back at the plate already, hoping to connect for another hit with its next Slingbox.

Still buzzing from the news of its acquisition by EchoStar, the Foster City, Calif., company is expected to release a new model of its place-shifting gadget on Thursday. This version will be called the Slingbox Solo, and its features and price fall right between the high-end Slingbox Pro and low-end Slingbox A/V, both released exactly one year ago. (Sling also confirmed that it will not be refreshing the Slingbox Tuner, the previous lowest-end model, which connects only to a TV, not a set top.) Like its siblings, the Solo allows TV subscriptions to be transmitted wirelessly to remote devices like mobile phones and notebook PCs via its SlingPlayer software.

The Solo is a slightly tweaked version of the original Slingbox, but with a new combination of features. First, what will stand out to anyone familiar with the traditionally red Slingbox is that the Solo comes in shiny black. It keeps its recognizable trapezoid form, but will likely blend a little better with the average home theater enthusiast's setup.

It's also going to be HD-compatible. It has composite and S-video inputs and outputs for standard-definition connections to set-top boxes, as well as a component video input and output for users with high-definition boxes. There is only one audio input, however.

Sling says it aims to position the Solo as its mainstream product. Place-shifting is still a concept that the less-than-technical consumer may not understand, but now that the company is part of a high-profile satellite and DVR company, it's likely to get a lot more visibility coming into the holiday season. As broadband adoption and the availability of HD channels and services grow, and more consumers become accustomed to watching video on mobile devices and computer screens, the concept will likely begin to make more sense to a wider group of retail shoppers.

Sling is also taking a more global focus: The new Solo will be available tomorrow for $179.99 in the U.S., but also Canada, United Kingdom and The Netherlands simultaneously. It usually delays its international releases until well after a product's American debut.

While the actual product isn't groundbreaking compared with the company's previous releases, it is the first Slingbox in a year. Now that the company is part of EchoStar, it's likely that the infusion of capital and access to more technology--which Sling CEO Blake Krikorian is now gleefully eyeing--will ratchet up the speed with which it can release both updated hardware and new software and services.

For example, the Clip + Sling software is still supposed to be released by year's end, Sling says, but it won't be more specific. First announced at CES in January, Clip + Sling shows how Sling sees itself as a media company, not just a hardware hawker. The device will enable users to take clips of live TV and send to anyone, not just fellow Slingbox owners. The likely hang-up with the software's rollout is content partnerships--as of January only CBS had signed on to allow some of its shows to be used.

Again, latching onto a company like EchoStar, which has long-established relationships with content owners, could make those partnerships that Sling is looking for fall into place that much faster.

An in-depth hands-on evaluation of the Slingbox Solo--including a video of the product in action--is available at CNET Reviews.