The folks who let us watch our TVs wherever we happen to be are offering Windows users a sneak peek at the next version of the software that makes it all work. Sling Media this morning announced a public beta of SlingPlayer for Windows version 2.0, which will be available on the Sling Media Downloads page for anyone who wants to take it out for a spin. Key features of the update include an integrated program guide, a video buffer right in the SlingPlayer client software, and centrally managed Sling Accounts.

Sling’s integrated Guide feature puts a schedule right on the user’s laptop or desktop computer, making it easy for those who want to watch live programming from their Slingbox-connected home TV to see what’s on and choose a program without the delays of accessing a distant set-top box’s program guide and squinting at text that’s traveling halfway around the world.

A live video buffer right in SlingPlayer will let users pause, rewind, or fast-forward through up to an hour of video, whether or not there’s a TiVo or other DVR hooked to the Slingbox on the other end. Those who do have a DVR can still use its capabilities, but will have the option of pausing, etc., locally, without the delays involved in remote-control signals being transmitted over the net.

Sling Accounts will allow users to store their personalized program guide settings and channel line-ups, favourite channels, and Slingbox IDs and passwords on Sling Media’s central servers. This should eliminate the need to reconfigure SlingPlayer’s settings each time it’s installed on a new laptop, office desktop, or even cybercafe kiosk.

The company says the long-awaited Clip+Sling feature, announced over a year and a half ago at CES 2007, didn’t make it into the public beta. The release of Clip+Sling, which lets Slingbox owners create and share short segments of video from what they’re watching with anyone, is still pending while the company negotiates with content owners and distributors. The 2.0 software, though, will provide the underlying flexibility the company needs to release Clip+Sling and other new features.

Sling Media is also working on a new version of SlingPlayer for Macintosh, which will bring these features to Apple’s platform, but no time frame is available for a Mac update.

It seems that for every gizmo and gadget that is released these days a community of hackers and after-market vendors springs up to offer add-ons to power users and geeks to soup them up. Of course, most people are familiar with automotive after-market add-ons, but your tech gadgets aren’t left out of the picture. TiVo users have offerings from DVRupgrade, WeaKnees, and 9th Tee, as well as numerous community projects such as TiVo Decode and WinMFS/MFSLive. iPod & iPhone users have many add-on vendors as well as hacking and jailbreak sites. Many DVD players have 3rd party firmware loads, or hack sites with back door codes to disable region locks, etc. So it shouldn’t be any surprise that the Slingbox is no different.

At commercial option comes from Applian Technologies. Early on Applian Technologies released At-Large Recorder, which allowed users to record the streams from their Slingbox. However, Sling Media later made changes to their SlingStream which blocked recording from Slingboxes with newer firmware, so users could only use it with un-upgraded, older units. However, Applian eventually sorted out how to make their software with newer Slingboxes, and they released At-Large Recorder 2. At-Large Recorder 2 works with any Slingbox, and allows for scheduled recordings, turning your Slingbox into a remote tuner for recording on your PC. You can download At-Large Recorder 2 and try it out as a demo, which allows you to record 5 minutes per recording. Which is probably enough to grab clips if that’s all you need. If you like it, you can purchase the activation key for $49.95. The full version allows recording without limitation.

At the other end of the spectrum is the open-source Slingbox SDK developed by Alexandre Lefebvre. Completely free, but really for the geeks. The project includes an SDK for communicating with any model of Slingbox, a basic recording application, and a plug-in to access the Slingbox from within VLC.

There’s another free application, which is a bit more user friendly. Actually, a small suite of applications - Slinger, SLR Recorder, and VSLR Player. Much like Applian’s At-Large Recorder 2 these free applications allow for recording of the SlingStream, including schedule recordings. They’re a little rough around the edges, without the polish of the commercial At-Large Recorder, but that’s $50 and these are free. So take your pick.

And there is another player just entering the field. Reader Natasha Silverfoote tipped me off to them back on March 24th, which is what started the wheels of my brain turning to pull this post together. She let me know that mReplay had just opened up their mReplay Live product for public beta. This is a different kind of application, it is an ActiveX program that runs from within Internet Explorer to allow you to record from any Slingbox from within the browser. It also allows you to edit the recordings and product clips, much like Sling’s own forthcoming Clip+Sling. However, while Clip+Sling will upload the clips directly to Sling.com, mReplay Live allows you to share the clips on YouTube, via email or IM, etc.

Right now it is, frankly, fairly rough. I’ve played with it and it crashed IE a few times. But that’s not unusual for a first beta release. As a Firefox user, needing to run IE in the first place bugs me. But while it is rough around the edges, and is clearly an early beta, it does work. I was able to stream from my Slingbox SOLO and make recordings and clips. The good news is that mReplay intends to bring the same functionality to Firefox via a plug-in, and they also intend to bring mReplay Live support to the Mac and Linux in some fashion. They’re also working on support for the iPhone using the just-released SDK. As well as bringing the software to additional platforms, a planned feature addition is ‘DVR functionality’ to allow scheduled recordings. And to top it off, mReplay Live is a free application.

After I tracked down a contact, mReplay’s founder and CEO, Patrick Riley, was kind enough answer my questions via email. mReplay is based in Orinda, CA, just outside of San Francisco. mReplay started back in 2005 and grew out of Patrick’s Masters Thesis at the UC Berkeley School of Information, and it seems that the folks at mReplay are big fans of the Slingbox, but just felt limited by the capabilities of the official software. That’s generally how all of these things start, when someone thinks “This is great, but wouldn’t it be cool if it could do X?” The founders are sports fans who really wanted a way to use their Slingboxes to grab highlight clips.

Their original effort in 2005 was to develop mobile client software to allow accessing the Slingbox from mobile phones. However, that effort ended up taking a back seat to developing the PC client that has first surfaced as the free mReplay Live application. The next step is for a commercial application called GameDay Professional which will expand on the basic recording and clipping functionality of the Live application to include automatic sports highlight detection and recording and ‘VCR-like’ recording scheduling. While watching a sporting event the professional software while automatically compile a highlight reel of the game. It is still in private beta, but Patrick told me it will be available in June 2008 and pricing is planned to be $30 for PC and Mac.

The mReplay Mobi effort hasn’t been dropped either, it is still in the works for ‘Summer 2008′ with the aforementioned iPhone support as well as support for Google Android planned. The mobile client is planned to go beyond the standard SlingPlayer Mobile client software by supporting the same clipping and sharing features as the mReplay PC software.

mReplay received a Cease & Desist letter from Sling Media last year, relating to their early efforts, and this delayed their work and software releases a bit. But they’re now represented by the law firm Fenwick & West LLP and feel that all of their current products are 100% legal. mReplay hasn’t heard more from Sling Media about their current work, and when I contacted Sling Media about mReplay they officially had no comment at this time.

Patrick sees mReplay as a ‘value add’ for the Slingbox, and not really a competitor. As he put it in email: “We are only going to help Sling Media, by making their hardware more valuable by providing additional free and premium services.” He’d like to see Sling embrace third party vendors who can add features and functionality to the standard Sling products for the power users. He’d really like to see Sling Media release an official SDK for third party developers to use in extending Slingbox and SlingPlayer feature set. mReplay plans to release some of their code as open source to help fuel community development efforts around the Slingbox. When I asked about producing a client that isn’t tied to a browser Patrick said: “[I]t’s just a matter of making a PC and Mac Client that isn’t reliant on the limitations of a browser.”

I asked Patrick if he is concerned about Sling Media updating their products to block third party software such as mReplay, and he replied:

I think it would be a great disservice for Sling to technically or legally tweak user’s Slingbox (their firmware) as to prevent any other companies from making software for this piece of hardware.

I don’t really see the likes of mReplay, or Applian and the others, as competitors to Sling, so I hope they allow the third party vendors to establish a Slingbox ecosystem to support the power users and geeks who look for more than the average user. As we’ve repeatedly seen with other products, community hacking efforts really can’t be stopped, so it probably isn’t worth spending resources on trying.

While the third party applications may offer additional functionality, none of them really feel as user-friendly as SlingPlayer. mReplay Live is still in its first public beta release, so I do have to cut it a lot of slack, but I did have some trouble figuring out how to use it. I didn’t find it very intuitive. But hopefully those issues will be worked out during testing - that’s what betas are for after all.

Personally, I’m looking forward to the release of SlingPlayer 2.0 with Clip+Sling as well as SlingPlayer Mobile updates. I got a taste of SP 2.0 and C+S at CES in January and what Sling has done is really polished and easy to use. I really do wish Sling Media would add recording functionality, as I said back during CES they’re so very close already with SP 2.0:

SlingPlayer 2.0 is an evolution of today’s SlingPlayer software. The new software adds a 60 minute local playback buffer which allows you to pause, rewind, and fast-forward the program locally. The UI has been spruced up and there are a number of updates, including an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) source from Zap2it.com (which is run by TMS, the same company that provides TiVo’s guide data). At this point a Slingbox with SlingPlayer 2.0 is a hair’s breadth from forming a DVR. All they need to do is add recording capability to SlingPlayer and they’d have a functioning DVR. I asked Dave about that, but Sling has no plans currently to add recording. Maybe at some point in the future. While it wouldn’t replace TiVo, I do think they should do it. And it is clear that not doing it is a deliberate choice, as everything is in place for it in 2.0 aside from allowing the buffer to be saved.

Perhaps once the ongoing lawsuit between TiVo and EchoStar (which now owns Sling Media) is settled Sling will be able to add DVR functionality.

In the meantime power users looking to record, and more, might want to check out one of these add-on products.

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.

Getting into the things Sling is better known for, they had examples of all of their major hardware and software lines on display. In addition to the newly announced SlingPlayer Mobile for Blackberry, they were exhibiting a number of Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and Symbian phones running the SlingPlayer Mobile software. I asked about the iPhone, of course, as Blake Krikorian, Sling’s CEO, has made comments about it as a future SPM platform. Sling is looking at the iPhone, but is mainly waiting for Apple to release the promised SDK, which is due in February. Sling won’t really know what they can do with the iPhone (and iPod Touch, which will share the SDK) until the SDK is available for them to review.

I also asked Dave Zatz about the Google Android platform, both out of personal interest and because of the buzz around the platform. He said that developers have downloaded the early SDK that Google made available, but that it isn’t an official effort at this time. And, since Android is still a future platform that isn’t running on any phones today, the development efforts are rightfully focused on things like the Blackberry and expanding support to more devices using their existing platforms. And the iPhone would certainly take priority over Android development as a widely deployed platform.

And interesting thing about the Blackberry client, it is J2ME based, not a native application. I think that’s very interesting because there are other mobile platforms that support J2ME and it might make it easier to bring SPM to those platforms. But, even more than that, if Sling has SPM working on a Java platform, could they produce a browser-based Java client? Maybe accessing your Slingbox from any Java-supporting browser is in our future.

Sling also had the previously announced SlingModem on display. The SlingModem is basically a DOCSIS/EuroDOCSIS 2.0 cable modem and a Slingbox SOLO combined in one unit, though it lacks the SOLO’s pass-through connectors. It is really aimed at cable MSOs to offer to their subscribers as a value-added service. As I covered in my earlier post, Sling currently has no plans to sell the SlingModem at retail. They’re still pursuing deals with MSOs to offer the SlingModem via channel distribution, and you can see the ‘Your Logo Here’ box on the front the display unit. The idea is to make it easier for less technically savvy users. Since the Slingbox is part of the modem, there is no need to mess with router/firewall configurations to enable outside access. Though it would mean co-locating the cable modem with your video source.

Another new box on display was the Slingbox PRO-HD, which I’m personally quite excited about. Unlike the original Slingbox PRO or the Slingbox SOLO, which both accept component video input but down-sample to 640×480 for streaming, the PRO-HD will stream video up to 1080i. Additionally, for the first time on any Slingbox, the PRO-HD has a coax digital audio input to stream 5.1 audio as well. All other Slingboxes are limited to stereo audio input.

One thing about the Slingbox PRO-HD which wasn’t obvious until I saw the hardware is that it only supports three inputs, not four as with the old Slingbox PRO. The PRO has an internal NTSC/analog cable tuner, component video (via the HD Connect dongle), S-Video, and composite video, each with an associated audio input. The PRO-HD however has an internal digital tuner which supports ATSC/Clear-QAM as well as NTSC/analog cable, component video input with both the coax digital audio input and stereo analog audio, and S-Video and composite video inputs which share a single set of stereo audio input jacks. So the PRO-HD is designed to support an S-Video or a composite video source, and not both simultaneously as on the PRO. So the PRO-HD officially supports three inputs instead of the PRO’s four. There are tricks to support four devices - you could connect two devices to the S-Video and composite jacks, and use splitter cables to connect both the same audio input jacks. As long as only one device is feeding the PRO-HD at a time it should be fine. (The same trick can be used to support multiple devices on the classic Slingbox, the Slingbox AV, and the Slingbox SOLO.)

As a Slingbox PRO owner, I have to say I like the looks of the PRO-HD better as well. Not that I think the PRO is ugly or anything, but the PRO-HD looks more ’serious’, for lack of a better word. I think it may reflect some maturing of the Slingbox design cues, and perhaps of the company in general as they grow. I can’t wait to get my hands on one.

Also on display is the revised SlingCatcher. It has been a bit of a long journey for the SlingCatcher so far. Announced at CES 2007 for a mid-2007 release, then delayed until fall, an FCC leak, a packaging leak, and finally being delayed until 2008. The SlingCatcher being exhibited this year has grown up a bit from the model originally introduced last year, and I think the wait will be worth it. In the demo Dave Zatz gave me the UI looked very polished and I was impressed by the features, as well as the SlingSync and SlingProjector software. I do think Sling could do a few things to improve the product, and I’ll talk about that below, but it is a solid product and I’m sure it will evolve even further.

The SlingCatcher supports a wide array of video and audio codecs, making it quite a powerful STB. While DivX isn’t listed in the official codec list, note that Xvid is there - and basically everything you need to support DivX is in place. In order to list DivX Sling would need to have the SlingCatcher certified. In other words, read between the lines and I bet DivX will work just fine, listed or not.

The SlingCatcher will receive content from three primary sources - a Slingbox, your PC, or the Internet, such as Clip+Sling content from Sling.com. You will also likely be able to access content from Sling’s content partners, such as CBS. They’re still talking about the possibility of other partners for movies and the like. Just as an example the SlingCatcher could act as a client for Netflix’s streaming service. And since it supports storage it could also be a client for download services like Akimbo or Amazon Unbox. I think we’ll hear more along these lines in the future.

Speaking of storage, when the SlingCatcher was exhibited at CES 2007 it was shown ‘docked’ on top of a Sling branded hard drive. At this time that drive is no longer in the plans. The SlingCatcher’s chassis still retains the design to sit on top of the drive, in case they offer it in the future, but for now it is intended for ‘bring your own storage’. (I have an idea for that docking design, see below.) The SlingCatcher will support any USB mass storage device formatted with FAT32. USB Flash drives, USB hard drives, PMPs which support a drive mode, whatever. So you can attach your storage device directly and access the media stored there.

To facilitate this, the SlingCatcher has two USB ports on the back. For many users one of those ports will probably have a SlingLink Wireless connected. The other port is then available for your USB storage device. You can size the storage to your needs, as large as you require.

The SlingCatcher comes with a remote which has a unique design. It looks a bit angular, but I can attest that it is comfortable to use. And because of the asymmetrical shape you always know that you’re holding it correctly. The buttons on the remote will be familiar to those who use the SlingPlayer software. The SlingCatcher remote is basically a hardware implementation of the default SlingPlayer controls. Dave told me that the SlingPlayer Mobile software team was involved in developing the SlingCatcher software. It is well designed and very easy to use, even a novice user should have no difficulty. You may note the ‘Scissor’ button on the remote. Right now that doesn’t do anything, but it is intended for future use with Clip+Sling on the SlingCatcher itself.

The SlingCatcher remote also controls your TV. I’m not sure if it is a learning remote or if it is limited to a predefined set of IR codes. I think it is a learning remote, but I’m waiting to hear back from Dave to be sure.

On the software side, Sling was showing three new products. SlingSync and SlingProjector come with the SlingCatcher and provide access to media on the PC via the SlingCatcher. SlingPlayer 2.0 is the next generation of the SlingPlayer software, with a new UI and many enhancements, including Clip+Sling.

SlingSync, as the name implies, is meant to synchronize content from the PC to the USB storage attached to the SlingCatcher. So you can have it keep media folders on your PC synchronized with the SlingCatcher so you can access you media immediately. It is fairly easy to grasp the functionality.

SlingProjector is a bit different, and it looks fairly impressive. Unlikely SlingSync, which copies your files to the local SlingCatcher storage, SlingProjector, as the name implies, ‘projects’ content from the PC to the SlingCatcher. It is very nifty, basically anything you can play on the PC you can project to the SlingCatcher. YouTube, Google Video, Hulu, video from network websites, even DVDs playing on your PC - project it to the SlingCatcher. The software has some intelligence and it can automatically recognize areas of the screen, so you can rapidly select the region of the screen with the video you want to project. And, if it isn’t perfect, you can select the ‘box’ and manually resize it as required. So say the video you’re watching is letterboxed, you can select just the viewable area and project only that - cropping off the letterboxing.

SlingPlayer 2.0 is an evolution of today’s SlingPlayer software. The new software adds a 60 minute local playback buffer which allows you to pause, rewind, and fast-forward the program locally. The UI has been spruced up and there are a number of updates, including an Electronic Program Guide (EPG) source from Zap2it.com (which is run by TMS, the same company that provides TiVo’s guide data). At this point a Slingbox with SlingPlayer 2.0 is a hair’s breadth from forming a DVR. All they need to do is add recording capability to SlingPlayer and they’d have a functioning DVR. I asked Dave about that, but Sling has no plans currently to add recording. Maybe at some point in the future. While it wouldn’t replace TiVo, I do think they should do it. And it is clear that not doing it is a deliberate choice, as everything is in place for it in 2.0 aside from allowing the buffer to be saved.

The most notable addition in SlingPlayer 2.0 is Clip+Sling. It has been incorporated into the player very well, and it is extremely easy to use. There is a ‘Scissor’ icon which triggers the Clip+Sling functionality. When you open this, it stops the video and opens a slider with a highlighted region. You can then drag the start and end of this region to fine tune the clip. The maximum length of the clip hasn’t been decided yet, though figures in the 5 to 10 minute range have been bantered around. Sling wants to make it long enough to be useful, but not too long as to invite the wrath of content owners. You’re not going to see something like 30 minute clips.

Once you have it selected, you’re prompted for some basic info, such as title and tags. Some of the fields, like the title, are handily pre-populated for you if the software knows them - such as if you’re streaming Live TV and the program is in the EPG. You can edit them of course, but it makes things easier if you don’t need to.

Once you’ve selected the clip and filled in the fields it is automatically encoded and uploaded to Sling.com. Once it is uploaded you’re able to share the link to the clip with friends, in blogs, etc. And Sling will have moderators working to organize uploaded content into categories and ‘channels’, to make it easy for others to find it. They’re really planning to foster a social aspect around Clip+Sling and Sling.com. The one thing that Sling.com doesn’t allow is YouTube-style embedding of content, right now it is only linking. I really hope they allow embedding, as it would be more useful for blogging about content. And that would encourage the use of Clip+Sling, which in turn could fuel the growth of the site. So I think it would be the right thing to do all-around.

On a different note, Dave clued me in on something interesting. In the DISH Network booth they had a ViP622 DISH PVR connected to a Slingbox, which isn’t too surprising. But what most people would probably not notice is that there were no IR blasters. And that wasn’t just a trade show blunder. Now that Sling is under the EchoStar roof one of the first cooperative efforts has been to enable network control of the DISH PVR from the Slingbox. Since both units can be connected to the network they can communicate that way instead of using the IR blasters. Dave said Sling is willing to work with other STB vendors, such as TiVo, to so the same. Of course, there is the small matter of the pending litigation between TiVo and EchoStar that will need to be settled before the two can really cooperate on developments.

Overall it was a fairly impressive showing from Sling this year, and 2008 should be an exciting year for them. I suspect there is even more in the works than has been announced to date. Personally I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the Slingbox PRO-HD and the SlingCatcher.

Now, looking at everything Sling was showing gave me a few ideas. One thing I’d love to see is a Slingbox PRO-HD combined with a SlingCatcher. While I want a Slingbox PRO-HD to connect to my TiVo Series3, and a SlingCatcher to access it from the bedroom, it would be nice to have a SlingCatcher with my main set as well, to access the content. And one less STB is always a good thing. So I do hope they release an all-in-one box.

I also wonder if the Slingbox PRO-HD has the internal wiring to act as a digital converter box. It has an ATSC tuner, and it has the physical analog video output ports, but I don’t know if it has the wiring to take that tuned ATSC signal and feed it out the analog ports. Probably not, but it is just an idle idea really.

One thing the SlingCatcher is missing, and I think this is a big gap, is streaming media from a PC. (Well, and any Mac support - but I have to believe that is coming.) SlingSync will copy content from the PC to storage on the SlingCatcher. SlingProjector will project content playing on the PC to the SlingCatcher. But if you have media on the PC, audio or video files, there is no way to access them - to stream them - immediately. You either have to copy them to the local storage or play them on the PC and project the PC’s media player output. I think they really need to give the SlingCatcher the ability to access network content - music, videos, and photos - across the network.

When they do this (and I do think it is when and not if, it just needs to be done) I hope they allow access to network shares without the need for any special software. That would allow viewing of content stored on a NAS, which are becoming increasingly common for home users. And it would also make it easier to access content from all manner of devices. Another good addition would be DLNA support as an increasing number of devices have it. With DLNA support the SlingCatcher could even act as a client for XStreamHD.

Something else that I think would be a clever addition - recognizing TiVo Desktop. Since TiVo Desktop can publish music, photos, and video, and there is a fairly significant installed base (and I bet a lot of SlingCatcher customers will be TiVo owners), it would be very nifty if the SlingCatcher just automagically recognized the existing TiVo Desktop media. And since the protocol format is published and open, it should be quite possible. There is no need to work with TiVo, you just need to recognize the Bonjour server publication and support the TiVo Server HTTP/XML protocol. Even if they don’t make a big deal out of it, it would be a sweet Easter Egg of a feature to plug-in your SlingCatcher and find your existing published media waiting to be accessed.

The next logical step would be to make the SlingCatcher a TiVo Multi-Room Viewing or TiVoToGo client. To be able to copy content directly from a TiVo to the SlingCatcher, so it could access as a ‘thin’ client instead of needing a TiVo in the second room. However, since MRV and TTG are encrypted, Sling would need to work with TiVo to support this - and see the above comment about the lawsuit needing to be resolved first. Sure, the TTG protection has been cracked by 3rd parties in software like TiVo Decode, and Sling could technically use that work to support it without TiVo’s help, but that’s hairy legal territory. And it would probably sour any potential relationship between the companies, which is the important issue in the longer term. But it would still be a fantastic feature, so I hope the lawsuit is settled soon and they can get past it to work together.

And I had an idea for a piece of hardware. You know how I said the SlingCatcher was designed to sit on top of the Sling-branded drive, which has been dropped from the current plans? And how the SlingCatcher has two USB ports - one which may have a SlingLink Wireless, and the other storage? Well, the latter is a little inconvenient for attaching other devices. Say you have the SlingLink Wireless and a USB hard drive attached, you’ll have to disconnect one of them (probably the drive) to attach another USB device to access the content. During the demo Dave mentioned using a USB card reader to access digital photos from a digital camera, or attaching the camera directly via USB, which seems like a great idea. But not only will many users have to unplug something first, but the ports are on the back of the unit, making them harder to access.

That’s where the drive design comes in. Sling should recycle the hardware design work they did for the drive. They already have the design for it, making a nice base for the SlingCatcher to sit on top of so that it looks like one slick unit. It is a shame to waste. But I understand not wanting to deal with selling a drive, especially as USB storage devices proliferate and come down in price. So here’s what I suggest - recycle the overall design as a memory card reader and USB hub!

Take the same basic design and put a multi-format card reader on the *front* - Compact Flash, MMC/SD, MemoryStick, etc. Multi-format card readers are dirt cheap these days, even at retail, and I’m sure Sling could acquire a module wholesale for peanuts. Take the shape developed for the drive and leave the drive out. Put in the card reader so that the slots are on the front, along with a couple of USB ports for easy access from other devices. And put a couple of USB ports on the back as well, for permanently attached storage (since the base would be connected to one of the two USB ports on the SlingCatcher, and keeping the other one for the SlingLink Wireless). There you go - instantly increasing the usefulness of the SlingCatcher as a media access STB. And it is pretty much a hollow plastic shell with simple components - a USB hub and a card reader - so it shouldn’t cost much to produce, comparatively. C’mon Sling, you know it is a good idea.

OK, that’s enough out of me - for now.

The official press releases go out in the morning, but Dave Zatz of Sling Media dropped me an email to let me know about two new products. I also spoke to him by phone to clarify a few points and to get some additional information. First is the Slingbox PRO-HD, pictured here. As the name implies, it is a new version of the Slingbox PRO which supports HD streaming.

It has been fully updated. The internal tuner is now digital and supports ATSC and clear QAM. It no longer needs the HD Connect cable, instead it has integrated component video inputs, like the Slingbox SOLO. It also has a coax digital audio input and can stream 5.1 audio. (There is no optical digital input.) The biggest change of all is the ability to stream content at resolutions of up to 1080i, bandwidth allowing. All current Slingboxes stream at a maximum resolution of 640×480 progressive. Speaking with Dave, he believes it will stream at the resolution fed to the box (up to 1080i), so a 720p source will be streamed at 720p. And these HD streams are also available remotely for those with fast enough broadband connections, such as the higher end FiOS service options.

Not only will it stream HD content to the SlingPlayer clients, but it will also stream HD to the forthcoming SlingCatcher - more details of which will be coming soon. The Slingbox PRO-HD is slated for a 3Q2008 release with an MSRP of USD$399.99, so start saving those pennies today.

The other product announcement is SlingPlayer Mobile for Blackberry. Unlike the Slingbox PRO-HD, which has been a well kept secret, the BlackBerry software has been a known project. Sling will be demonstrating SlingPlayer Mobile on the Blackberry Pearl 8120 at CES. It is similar to the existing SlingPlayer Mobile clients for Windows Mobile, Palm OS, and Symbian, and will support viewing over 3G cellular networks and WiFi. SPM for Blackberry will be available later this year with an MSRP of USD$29.99.

Sling has more news yet to come when CES kicks off Monday. Though if you’ve been a regular reader of this blog you might have a good idea of what to expect.

EDIT: Engadget got some hands-on time with both products and have more photos.