Sling Media Debuts TV Place-Shifting for the BlackBerry and HD Content

Sling Media has announced two new place-shifting products for streaming live television to a BlackBerry handheld as well as streaming high-definition video to broadband connected computers. The product offerings come days before Sling Media showcases both to the public at the Consumer Electronics Show.

The new products are SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry and the SlingBox PRO-HD set-top box. The SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry will cost $30 and becomes available later this year. To receive content the BlackBerry you will need one of Sling Media's Slingbox place-shifting devices. Slingbox PRO-HD will be available for purchase in the third quarter of 2008 with a suggested retail price of $400.

The PRO-HD device is Sling Media's latest addition to its line of media streaming hardware. These devices are capable of taking steaming media content from a wide variety of sources and "slinging" it over the Internet. So, anywhere in the world you could enjoy media content from your very own home.

The PRO-HD is the company's first "truly" high-definition streamer. In prior Slingboxes, HD sources could be plugged into the SlingBox, but it would compress the video before sending it over the Internet. The PRO-HD will sling video at a full 1080i resolution. Because of the size associated with HD media files, a high-speed connection would be required to fully utilize the HD content.

With the addition of SlingPlayer for BlackBerry, Sling Media expands its streaming capabilities to almost any smartphone. SlingPlayer is currently compatible with Windows Mobile, Palm Treo and Symbian mobile operating systems. BlackBerry will be the fourth major mobile operating system to be supported by the SlingPlayer.

The Apple iPhone has yet to support SlingPlayer, but the lack of 3G data speeds put a significant burden on that porting process. The SlingPlayer and Slingbox require a high-speed Internet connection on both ends for maximum efficiency.