dvrbulletin.com

Sling Media (now owned by EchoStar) announced that it was now supporting BlackBerry smartphones.

The Slingbox allows customers to watch and control their home TV on an Internet-connected computer, or mobile phone including those based on Windows Mobile, Palm OS and Symbian operating systems. Having support for BlackBerry was a long time coming and it should bring some more users to Sling. BlackBerries, however, were never known as multimedia friendly devices, which is probably why it took so long to support them.

There are other ways to get your TV content on the go, but Slingboxes are the best way to actually connect and control your home TV, DVR and other components while you’re traveling or away from your home. However, you must have pretty fast broadband connections in order to make it work. Since you don’t have the videos saved locally to your PC or phone, you do save on storage space, which can be a premium for older smartphones. However, the streaming, live nature of Slingbox makes it only for those with fast connections, like broadband cards or unlimited data plans for your phone.

Here are the ways how I see how to watch your home DVR/TV shows while on the road.

Transferring to Portable Devices. Rather than use a Slingbox, I use Tivo’s Desktop software to transfer shows to my PC. From there, I can burn videos onto a DVD or transfer it to my portable device, like my Windows-based smartphone. The downside? It’s a slow and clunky process–I have to wait for Tivo to transfer the file over my home network, then wait while I burn the show on a DVD. The whole process can take about 1 hour or more.

Portable DVRs. Comcast’s upcoming portable DVR is going after the same market–those who want complete access to their DVRs while away from the home. But the Comcast portable device is the actual set-top. So what happens when you un-dock the device from your home and take it on the road? Will you miss recordings? Will your family that’s not traveling be able to watch TV? Or should this portable DVR be relegated as a second set-top and not the primary one for the home? I guess it’s still too early to tell since the Comcast DVR isn’t out yet.

Network DVRs. This would seem to be a great option since you theoretically wouldn’t need to buy anything. Network DVRs save your shows on your TV provider’s hard drive so you don’t actually need to buy a separate set-top box like a Tivo. Everything is saved out there in the network. The benefits are that you get unlimited storage (well, almost), and access from anywhere. Imagine recording a show like American Idol, traveling to another city, then just logging in to your cable provider’s network DVR via your laptop (or smartphone) and streaming it. All your shows would be available and you don’t need to buy a Slingbox. Unfortunately, here in the U.S. network DVRs are available because of a lawsuit between Cablevision and the TV studios and networks. Things are different in Europe, and maybe things will change here in the future.

I think network DVRs are a great idea and wish that consumers were able to use them. In the short term, I would really like it if Tivo started offering place-shifting (Slingbox functionality) in its boxes. I just don’t feel the need to go out and buy and hook up yet another device to my TV/DVR right now. Perhaps if I traveled more often I would feel differently.

At CES, Comcast and Panasonic teamed up to unveil a portable HD DVR player that also functions as a regular set-top box for the home.

Some specs: The AnyPlay P-DVR TZ-LC100 has a 8.5 inch LCD screen that folds down when not in use. It also has stereo speakers, a docking station that charges a battery, and 60GB of storage. Reports say that the device can also play DVDs and CDs.

This is somewhat suprisising news from Comcast which hasn’t come up with anything really exciting in the time-shifting or place-shifting arenas. The partnership with Panasonic was crucial because Comcast focuses on software.

Generally, this looks like a great little player. The biggest downside is the storage capacity. Although 60GB is a lot for a portable player, most regular set-tops have about 160GB, which will make it less than ideal for storing lots of HD content.

The portable player will be available in early 2009 but did not disclose pricing.

EchoStar currently offers PocketDish and SlingMedia makes software that lets customers view TV shows on their set-tops via PCs and many models of smart phones.

Some questions about this device:

Is it networked? Can it grab music or videos stored on my PC?

Will there be any Wi-Fi capabilities? Having Wi-Fi would be a great for grabbing content on the go. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck with whatever you recorded on TV.

Can you transfer videos to other devices? Sharing TV shows or movies with friends would be a great idea, but something the networks or movie studios probably wouldn’t allow.

[Via Engadget]

[tags] Comcast, Panasonic, CES, AnyPlay, DVR, cable, portable DVR, HD DVR [/tags]

Fresh from announcing their acquisition to EchoStar, Sling Media announced a new lower-priced product called Solo. The solo works with SD and HD video and costs about $179.

Sling now has the basic Slingbox AV, the HD ready Slingbox Pro and now the Slingbox Solo.

Sling also announced a new version of its SlingPlayer Mobile software for Symbian OS smartphones, including the Nokia N95. Sling users can watch their TV on smartphones like Windows and Palm Treos, and now Nokia’s N95 running Symbian.

I think it’s worth mentioning that Sling Media went beyond its hardware roots and is starting an entertainment division called “Sling Media Entertainment Group”. It was officially announced last year, and there hasn’t been much news since.

A press release says: “It is Sling Media Entertainment Group’s mission to introduce solutions that delight the consumer and drive new value for content owners and distributors.”

There are multiple job postings in New York, where the entertainment division is headquartered. Plus the group is also spearheading Sling’s Clip+Sling application, which will allow users to create short clips of what they’re watching and trade them with other people over the Internet.

In November 2006, Sling hired two executives to head the entertainment group: Jason Hirschhorn and Benjamin White.

Essentially, the division is looking to create content and community around its Sling products. And why not. If you thought the Sling boxes were a disrupting technology, wait until Sling unveils their entertainment group and video sharing.

[tags] Solo, Sling, Sling Media, place shifting [\tags]

On Monday, EchoStar announced it was acquiring place-shifting company Sling Media for $380 million. Although many people expected Sling Media to be acquired, it seems many were shocked that it happened so soon.

Sling was one a pioneer place-shifting company, makers of the Slingbox. The device connects to the TV/cable box/DVR and lets users watch their TV shows anywhere there’s a broadband connection. A new feature, called Clip and Sling, allows users to create clips of their favorite TV shows and share them with friends.
The relationship between EchoStar and Sling go back a few years since EchoStar was an early investor. And teaming with Echostar means that Sling now has  deeper pockets. Says GigaOm:

Sling has established a nice brand, but in order to grow further the company needs deep pockets of a corporate master.

Meanwhile, EchoStar just asked the Internal Revenue Service if it can separate its technology and infrastructure assets by forming a spin off. The Sling acquisition will fall into the spinout.

You may also recall that EchoStar is in the middle of a lawsuit with Tivo. Tivo filed a lawsuit against EchoStar in 2004 saying that the operator of the satellite-based DISH Network, was infringing on its DVR patent.

Overall, I’d bet that Tivo is miffed now that EchoStar owns Sling. A combination of Tivo and Sling would have been a killer combination since many customers already own both a Tivo DVR and a Slingbox.

So some questions:

• Will EchoStar continue to allow Sling’s place-shifting from non-EchoStar devices?
• Will innovation be stifled at Sling now that it’s owned by a major provider?
• Will Sling move to a more ad-based model?

A company called Inxstor, based in Scotland, received $1.2 million in funding for its TV place-shifting technology. Investors included Scottish venture firms Braveheart Ventures and the Scottish Co-investment Fund.

Inxstor was founded in 2006 as a spin-off from Infinite Data Storage.

It said it has already signed a deal with set-top box maker Pace Micro Technologies.

According to PaidContent:

“But Inxstor’s unique selling point is that it claims to be the only one of these that allows content to be accessed remotely in a secure way, writes the Scotsman.”

Competition will come from other place-shifting companies like Orb, a relative newcomer and Sling Media, which already has a huge market lead. Another new place-shifting company is CMWare, which announced in September 2006 that it received an undisclosed amount of funding.

From: Digital Media Wire and PaidContent.

[tags] Inxstore, Orb, Sling Media, Slingbox, CMWare, Place-Shifting, TV [/tags]