DailyTech - Slingbox Finally Goes Mainstream

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Internet Slingbox Finally Goes Mainstream
Tuan Nguyen (Blog) - January 19, 2007 6:38 AM

10 comment(s) - last by UnFaZeD.. on Jan 21 at 10:52 PM

Meet the Sling family

Slingbox becomes more available to consumers worldwide

Sling Media's Slingbox has been in the news for quite some time now. Now, however, the Slingbox is going mainstream as Sling Media lowered the price on the device quite a bit. The Slingbox was available for most of 2006, but up until now has been very difficult to find, especially when most major cable providers do not carry the product.

The Slingbox allows users to watch their cable TV programming on any device that is able to access the Internet. By providing an IP based streaming setup that connects directly to a user's cable TV tuner, a viewer can remotely control channels and watch TV as it happens on anything from a laptop to a PDA. DailyTech last reported that filings with the FCC from Sling Media indicated that a new Slingbox was in the works. No word yet on the development of the new revision.

Joining the Slingbox is Sling Media's new Slingcatcher. The device does exactly the opposite function that the Slingbox is used for. Users will be able to watch videos streaming online directly onto their TV sets. As far as the Slingcatcher goes, Sling Media has some competition. Apple officially announced the Apple TV set-top box last week at MacWorld 2007. Of course, users can directly attach a small computer to their TV sets with a dedication Internet connection for the same effect. Whether or not the Slingcatcher will allow users to watch online streaming video from remote devices remains to be seen.

The Slingbox now goes for $180 USD and when released, the Slingcatcher will be priced under $200 USD.

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Where is the proof?

By tmok2007 on 1/19/2007 11:17:23 AM , Rating: 2

The article doesn't present any evidence of Slingbox having gone mainstream.

RE: Where is the proof?

By stburke on 1/19/2007 11:35:09 AM , Rating: 2

The Slingbox was available for most of 2006, but up until now has been very difficult to find , especially when most major cable providers do not carry the product.
Gee I dont know, maybe there

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RE: Where is the proof?

By tmok2007 on 1/19/2007 3:39:54 PM , Rating: 2

There must be a typo somewhere. By cable providers, do you mean companies like Time Warner, Cablevision, and alike? I don't know why the author would expect the cable providers to carry this product, and not carrying it means the product is not in the mainstream. There is no additional clarification on this in the article.

To me, going mainstream is when the product is sold in national consumer electronics stores, such as Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA. As far as I know, this has happened a long time ago. So, where is the big news? Perhaps the big news should be about the price cut and the addition of the Slingcatcher product.

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