As with the Slingbox PRO-HD two weeks ago, since I work for Sling Media now it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to review it, but the SlingCatcher officially shipped yesterday. Instead of reviewing it, here’s a roundup of coverage I’ve seen:

Sling Community - Blog
Sling Community - Review
Sling Community - Review: SlingPlayer for TV
Sling Community - Review: MyMedia
Sling Community - Review: SlingProjector
ZatzNotFunny
Engadget
EngadgetHD
Gizmodo
CNET - Crave
CED Magazine
Obsessable
SlashGear
NewsFactor Network
HD Update
SFGate
Wired
Register Hardware
TG Daily
Stuff.tv
TechWhack
Electronista
Silicon Alley Insider
Electronic House
Pocket-lint
PC World
BLORGE
BroadcastNewsroom
Sci-Tech Today
Gearlog
TrustedReviews
Coolest Gadgets

Both the Slingbox PRO-HD and SlingCatcher MSRP at USD$299.99, but the best deals I’ve seen on both are from PROVANTAGE - currently Slingbox PRO-HD for $241.70 and SlingCatcher for $240.47.

The Slingbox PRO-HD just started shipping a week ago, on 7/25, and most sites and stores are still selling it at, or very near, the full $299.99 MSRP. But I’ve become aware of two deals on it right now.

Buy.com has it for $249.99 + $9.85 shipping, $259.84 total!

But that’s not all, PROVANTAGE has it for $235.11 + $6.95 shipping, just $242.06 total!

PROVANTAGE is also listing the SlingCatcher, also $299.99 MSRP, for only $241.03 + $6.95 shipping - $247.98! The SlingCatcher isn’t shipping just yet, but will be shipping very soon.

PROVANTAGE offers faster, and more expensive, shipping options. And if you order both at once you save a little bit on shipping ($11.35 for ground together).

I’m really surprised to see them discounted so heavily already - especially before the official release of the SlingCatcher.

Disclaimer: I work for Sling Media and I am the beta program manager on the PRO-HD.

The Sling Media SlingCatcher (and the Slingbox PRO-HD) went up for pre-order recently, so we know it is coming soon. Now it is starting to show up in the press, the San Jose Mercury News and CNET’s Crave blog have both posted stores on the new box. These aren’t full reviews, just first impressions of the unit from a recent press tour ahead of the launch. But if you’re interested in what they thought of the unit in their preview, check them out.

Disclaimer: I’m a beta manager for Sling Media.

Sling Media has just unveiled the product pages for the long anticipated Slingbox PRO-HD and the even longer anticipated SlingCatcher.

The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first Slingbox capable of streaming content in high-definition, up to 1080i, across a LAN. Replacing the Slingbox PRO at the top of the Slingbox lineup, the PRO-HD supports three inputs: component video, S-Video or composite video, and RF. The internal RF tuner is digital, capable of tuning NTSC, ATSC, analog cable, and Clear QAM digital channels. The PRO-HD has another trick as well, it can stream 5.1 audio - from the internal digital tuner, or from an SPDIF coax digital audio input associated with the component video input.

The SlingCatcher, first announced in January 2007 and intended to ship last year, has been hotly anticipated due to the delay. It is the yin to the Slingbox’s yang, a hardware receiver instead of a sender. The SlingCatcher can stream content from your Slingbox - on the other side of the house, or the other side of the world - and put it on your TV. It can also access content from your PC as well as content from the soon-to-be-launched Sling.com online portal and the Internet.

The SlingCatcher has a number of connectivity options, with HDMI, component video, S-Video, and composite video out as well as SPDIF coax digital audio and analog stereo L/R audio out. In addition it has an Ethernet port for the required network connectivity, as well as two USB ports which can be used to connect USB mass storage devices to store content.

Supported media formats:
* Video: WMV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264, Xvid
* Audio: MP2, MP3, WMA, AAC, AC3
* File formats: .avi, .vob, .ifo, .ps, .ts, .mpg, .wmv, .asf, .mov, .mp4,.m4v, .mp3, .wma, .mp4a, .m4a, .wav

But it is more than just product pages - both units are available for pre-order now! You can pre-order the Slingbox PRO-HD direct from Sling Media or from Amazon, it is $299.99 in either location. The SlingCatcher is also available direct from Sling Media as well as Amazon, and is also $299.99. Though if you’re an Amazon Prime member you may save money on shipping by ordering from Amazon.

I’ve also added both units to this site’s store, which is powered by Amazon.

Disclaimer: I work for Sling Media as a Beta Manager. Guess what I’ve been doing.

Dish Network just held a ‘Team Summit’ and some interesting news is making its way out. SatelliteGuys.us posted a report from the General Assembly which includes an overview of upcoming Dish Network DVRs, including what I think is the most interesting - the 722s, with built-in Slingbox!

Then Mark and Leslie introduce something that blows me away… The 722s. Its a 722 with Sling technology built in. Besides having Slingbox technology built in it also has Clip and sling which will let you send clips to friends. The 722s has a totally new interface, it has a guide with channel logos plus a totally new UHF remote, which features a touchpad and a trigger below it. This s a amazing unit. The front of the 722s also features al touch technology with no buttons and is backlit instead of using LCD’s. They are looking at having 1TB drive at launch, however 500 GB will be used by Dish and the DVR will come loaded with name HD movies preloaded on the drive. The 722s also has a built in browser (although Jackson said it will only go to certain sites and will be tightly integrated with Yahoo.)

But it is more than just a Slingbox with Clip+Sling - it is a SlingCatcher too!

Out comes Sling CEO Blake Kerkorian and he talks about the Slingbox and talks a little more about the 722s. The 722 will be able to do Clip & Sling and Slingcatcher, plus it will be able to run more applications as well.

So it is a Dish PVR, Slingbox, and SlingCatcher all in one. And from a follow-up post in that thread, it will be an HD Slingbox, like the upcoming Slingbox PRO-HD.

This isn’t really surprising in general, since EchoStar purchased Sling Media last year, but I think this is the first time we’ve heard of this as a real product and not just speculation. And being a SlingCatcher too wasn’t something I’d seen discussed before. The built in web browser is interesting, though it is a shame they have it restricted. (And I’d presume that only works for boxes connected to broadband, same with the Slingbox capability.)

That’s not all they talked about at the summit. The 700MHz spectrum Dish picked up at auction recently was mentioned, unsurprisingly, as a carrier for Dish Mobile. So you’ll be able to access Dish Network content in your car, on your boat, etc.

There are other new Dish STBs as well, the 222k and 722k lack OTA tuners, but a tuner module can be added. And apparently the module provides dual OTA tuners, instead of the single OTA tuner in today’s ViP722. And the tuner module also adds an RF modulator so you can distribute the output through the home over existing coaxial cable on channel 2 or 3. As well as some new two-way remotes, which apparently can store all of your DVR settings and resend them to a new box if you have to have your STB replaced.

Check out the thread at SatelliteGuys.us for all the details.

Disclaimer: I’m currently employed by Sling Media, which is owned by EchoStar.

On Wednesday, Engadget and CNET each published an email from Sling Media Vice President of Sales Gregg Wilkes, sent in reply to a user’s inquiry about the SlingCatcher, the company’s planned hardware receiver to accompany the Slingbox line. Mr. Wilkes says the unit will not ship in the second quarter of this year, as the company announced at CES earlier this year, but sometime later in 2008. Here’s an excerpt:

Will the catcher ship in Q2? No. We are upgrading the user experience and making enhancements to the feature set. These may or may not all ship at the same time.

Will the Catcher ship in ‘08? All indications point to this happening in 2008.

The SlingCatcher hardware, which first appeared at the 2007 CES and was shown again at CES ‘08, will provide a way of watching your Slingbox from another TV, as opposed to the SlingPlayer software, which requires a computer and fast network connection; it can also bring online video to a television. See Engadget’s post or the Crave post at CNET for the full user email and Gregg’s reply.

Check out more of Mark’s recent writing at Mark_TV and TidBITS.

OK, so I was in the shower this morning getting ready for work, after a vigorous round of snow blowing - my welcome home present from New England, thanks - and I was thinking. Specifically I was thinking about the CES posts I’d made recently, and the things I have yet to sort out and cover, and the mountain of email waiting for me at work, when it hit me… Now, this is definitely an ‘out there’ idea, but I felt the need to share it.

What if the SlingCatcher supported TiVo’s Home Media Engine protocol? The SDK is openly available and the protocol is documented. The SlingCatcher has the hardware to handle MP3s and JPEGs, as well as MPEG frames which HME can use for backgrounds.

The SlingCatcher would immediately be able to benefit from existing HME applications like Galleon, AudioFaucet, Apps.tv, PlayTeeVee.com, etc, etc. And with a second platform supporting HME it could give HME development a shot in the arm for both platforms.

Yeah, it’ll probably never happen.

On Wednesday at CES I managed to spend some time in Sling Media’s booth, including a nice sit-down with Dave Zatz for a demo of the SlingCatcher and the new SlingPlayer 2.0, including the Clip+Sling functionality. See my previous posts on the Slingbox PRO-HD and SlingPlayer Mobile for Blackberry and the SlingModem, SlingCatcher, SlingLink Wireless, and SlingPlayer 2.0 announcements. Of all the things I saw at the show the products I’m most interested in for myself are Sling’s. I definitely plan to get both a Slingbox PRO-HD and a SlingCatcher for my own use.

I’m not the only one with an interest in Sling’s products, TiVo founder Mike Ramsay also dropped by for a demo while I was there. I also caught one of the Monsoon Multimedia executives getting a demo of Sling’s latest offerings. Monsoon produces the HAVA, a Slingbox competitor. Sling’s booth was really hopping, and was still busy when I passed by just before the end of the show on Thursday when most of the booths were quiet.

I’ll start with the odd-man-out, the Sling TR40 Digital-to-Analog Converter STB. I was a bit surprised to see it, since it doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of Sling’s product line, but got a decent explanation. The TR40 was developed by EchoStar, which recently acquired Sling Media. While Sling has a retail presence and a strong retail brand name with consumers, EchoStar does not. Most consumers probably aren’t even familiar with the EchoStar name, and if they are they associate it with DISH Network. So EchoStar is planning to use the Sling brand name for some other consumer products, and the TR40 is the first of those. It sounds like EchoStar’s hardware business, at least the consumer focused products, will probably carry the Sling brand. But it remains to be seen just how the plans are fleshed out and which products end up under the Sling banner. You can see in the photos that the remote on display still carried the DISH Network brand, which would change before retail distribution.

The TR40 is one of the new raft of converter boxes to convert OTA ATSC signals to analog input for older televisions. It is a very simple box with a clean design. There is a single coax input and output as well as a composite video and stereo audio output set. The TR40 is notable because it will have a $39.99 MSRP, and with the $40 NTIA coupon the box is effectively free. Most of the other converter boxes have a $50-$70 MSRP, making them $10-$30 with the coupon. So the TR40 may be quite popular with those who need a converter box.