New Slingbox Now Connects to HD Box

The newest Slingbox, a device that allows users to access their home TV set-top box of channels on an array of devices wherever there’s a high-speed Internet connection, can now also connect to HD boxes, too, according to Sling Media, based in Foster City, Calif.

In late September, Sling Media announced it would be sold to DBS firm EchoStar for about $380 million, and continue producing additional models. (See story in the Oct. 17 issue of TV Technology. The new Slingbox Solo works with home computers (PC and Mac), laptops and certain types of smart-phones, turning them, in effect, into conduits for TV content from the user’s home or office cable, DBS or DVR source.

Blake Krikorian, the firm’s chairman and CEO, said the evolution of the product (which is also being used by some local broadcasters to monitor fixed video cameras), is based on the consumer’s growing attraction to wider content access, place-shifting, increased mobility, and future-proofing when it comes to the coming transition to HD by TV users.

Krikorian said the Solo includes 4:3 and 16:9 video support and streams in VGA resolution (640x480).

(For more on how broadcasters are using the Slingbox, see the July 11 edition of TV Technology.)