Bad News on Sling iPhone Client...

[Scott Greczkowski]

No Apple has not denied the application...

But many Slingbox owners are going to be pissed with this news as reported by Dave Zats. EchoStar at The Cable Show

n other Sling news today, EchoStar has drawn the line in the sand. Slingbox SOLO, Pro, and Pro-HD models will be the only units capable of running the upcoming iPhone client. Classic, AV, and Tuner owners are out of luck. Having said that, they’ve launched an upgrade program that knocks $50 off the price of new hardware. Which probably still comes in higher than Amazon.

 

[sampatterson]

I wonder if maybe it is because the Solo and Pro-HD use h.264 encoding, a codec already supported on the iphone?

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I dont think the regular Pro does h.264 and its one of the units that can be used.

 

[DJ Rob]

The Pro uses WMV/WMA.

 

[yourbeliefs]

Just sounds like another way to try and milk more money out of a devoted base of customers. If mobile capabilities worked with previous models, there's no reason as to why it can't work with the new ones. Including a particular codec doesn't sound like a dealbreaker to me..

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have been contacted by a number of folks who beta tested the iPhone application and have been told that the older equipment has run fine on the Beta Appication.

It appears that the idea to lock out the older Sligbox units is coming from Sling Media parent company Echostar. If this is true then it speaks volumes right there.

 

[tfultz]

It appears that the idea to lock out the older Sligbox units is coming from Sling Media parent company Echostar. If this is true then it speaks volumes right there.

Charlie involved in a scheme to rip-off existing customers shocker.

 

[Left Field Fan]

If this company comes out with their player at

www.mreplay.com/mobi

maybe we can use their player and let Charlie keep his newer boxes.

 

[Pepper]

The forums at Sling Community are quite active about this issue by the way.