Sling Media Ships Slingbox Pro HD along with an Updated Player

If you’re a Sling fan like I am, then you’ll be excited to hear that Sling has started to ship the Slingbox Pro HD. The Pro HD hardware allows you to stream high def content in HD. While the regular Slingbox will stream your HD channels, it doesn’t offer HD quality.  So the Pro HD is a welcome addition for HD fans. If you’re confused over the different versions of Slingbox and what each one offers over the other, you should check out this comparison guide on Sling’s website.

Along with the new hardware, there is a new version of the SlingPlayer Windows software available. Version 2 adds support for the new Pro HD hardware along with an updated interface, live video buffer, and the new SlingPlayer Guide. The new software doesn’t require the Pro HD hardware, so feel free to download it and run it against your existing Sling hardware. You can see more details about this release, along with screenshots over at Sling’s website.

Keeping In Touch with the Olympics Thanks to SlingMobile

I know I’ve talked about it a couple of times around here, but I’m going to mention it again - I’m hooked on watching the Olympics. Unfortunately, today we had plans to take the kids to Canada’s Wonderland (the Canadian version of Disneyland). That means leaving early and missing out on watching the Men’s 100m race. The current Olympic record was still held by Canada’s Donovan Bailey from his race 12 years ago when he won Gold. This time, a Jamaican runner by the name Usain Bolt almost broke that record in the qualifying and he wasn’t even running full speed. So there was a huge chance that this record might fall and I wanted to watch that. The solution was easy - SlingMobile.

I was able to watch the moment live on my cell phone thanks to SlingBox. We stopped for gas and to grab some cash from the ATM machine shortly before the race was to begin and just across the street from our destination. Using SlingMobile I was able to tune into my TV back at home and watch the race live. As expected, Usain Bolt blasted down the track smashing Donovan’s previous Olympic record of 9.89 from the 1996 Olympics with a 9.68 run - AMAZING. It’s a really great feeling to know that I can be out spending time with the family and still keep track of what’s happening half way around the world. SlingMobile rocks!

Going Mobile with the 2008 Summer Olympics

There’s no hiding it - I’m addicted to the Olympics. The challenge for me has always been how to keep up with the action from my mobile phone. Four years ago I posted about a site called mOlympics.com - Today, the site is nothing more than a spam trap on the information super highway. Two years ago, I took the 2 weeks off work and watched everything and anything I could find about the Olympics.

This year, things are different. First off, NBC is powering a mobile version of the Olympic site - http://Mobile.NBCOlympics.com. It looks like the site is being updated pretty quickly with news and headlines from the games. Unfortunately, the site’s been down for a couple hours now. Hopefully it will be back online soon. Google is also showing the schedule and results for an event when you search for any Olympic sport from the mobile version of their site. Both sites have their pro’s and con’s.  At this point, I’ve been using a little of both to get my fix, with the primary focus being NBCs effort.

My second solution is my Slingbox’s. Yes, that’s plural. I have one setup on the standard port for Sling. This works great from my smartphone, but that port is blocked by many organizations firewall. So the second Slingbox is setup on the much more common port 80. For reasons only my carrier knows, using Sling on port 80 from my smartphone doesn’t work. Anyway, with this setup, I have the best of both worlds.

SlingBox Mobile Player - The Boredom Saviour

Have you ever been stuck at the airport? I’m sure you know just how boring it can be. I was sitting in the airport waiting for my plane to board the other day with no laptop! Shocking, I know. Thankfully, I’ve got the mobile version of SlingPlayer on my phone. With a couple button presses, I was dialled into my home TV and surfing the channels as if I was right in front of the TV.

The question I am often asked about SlingBox is in regards to the quality of the picture. It’s a fair question given the small nature of mobile devices. But the key thing to remember is the speed of 3G network. While it will work on an Edge device, the picture isn’t as nice as a higher speed device. The algorithm used by Sling is always adjusting to reflect the variables in network coverage. So if you have 3G, EVDO, or a WiFi enabled device, you’ll be much better off.

Another very common questions is how hard is it to setup? Well, if you’ve ever connected a VCR to your TV, you can connect a SlingBox. It works in the exact same way. Coax from the wall goes into the back of the SlingBox and then out to the TV. The only other thing you need to do is plug in an Ethernet cable into the back of it. Run some software on your computer and your done. Maybe I’ll do up a post some day that walks you through the process. But for now, trust me, it’s pretty easy.

One thing you really need to enjoy SlingBox from your mobile device is an unlimited data plan, or something very close to unlimited. Why? Well the answer is pretty simple, if you are going to be streaming an hour long TV show across the internet to your device, you’re going to chew through a 5or 10 MB plan pretty quickly.

I’ve included a couple screen shots of what you can expect to see when running in a Windows Mobile 3G enabled device. Full screen is the best viewing, but I included the other picture (up at the top of this post) so you can see the optimization numbers and what have you. The speed and fps will adjust over time. The number you see in that picture is what was displayed a minute or so after launching the player and connecting to my TV.

And this last picture is just because I thought the expression on his face was priceless.