Sling Extends Cellphone App To Smartphones
By Joseph Palenchar -- TWICE, 6/19/2006
San Mateo, Calif.— Sling Media has extended the cellphone compatibility of its place-shifting set-top SlingBox to smartphones based on the Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone platform, including the new Motorola Q phone.
The company's SlingPlayer Mobile Smartphone application is in beta form and will be available for $29.99 for a commercial launch around July 1, including a free 30-day risk free trial. Earlier this year, the company launched SlingPlayer Mobile for PDAs and PDA phones based on the Windows Mobile PocketPC 5.0 platform and Windows Mobile 2003 Second Edition platform.
Sling Media's cellphone software lets consumers control and watch their home theater systems from a cellphone if the home theater is connected to a SlingBox, now available at an everyday $199. Until the arrival of the cellular applications, SlingBox let consumers remotely watch their home TVs and DVRs only from an Internet-connected Windows PC or laptop loaded with Sling Media software.
No monthly service fees are required to access media through a PC or through a cellphone, other than normal cellular phone charges.
The 1.6-inch by 10.6-inch by 4-inch Slingbox is equipped with NTSC tuner, analog audio and video inputs and outputs for connection to home theater video components, an Ethernet port for connection to a broadband modem and an IR emitter to control a connected video source. It permits remote control of up to three connected video sources, although a user can stream only one source at a time.
Like before, the Sling Box converts analog audio and video into WMV for Internet transmission.
