Sling @ CES

[jcrandall]

There wasn't much new with Sling at CES this year, but here is everything worth noting outside the Sling enabled 922.

They are finalizing release of Mobile slingplayer for the Blackberry and iPhone platforms. These are out now or will be very soon for the 29 price like all the other mobile clients.

Interesting - they will let users cross upgrade (if you change phones and already own the mobile player) for no charge, your key should just work. But, the iPhone app will be throlugh the Apple store and will not have the cross functionality key system. They are working on a way for people who own it and then swith to a iPhone, but haven't finalized yet.

The clip-n-sling feature they showed last year is kind of tabled for now, no new developments.

Lots of hype over the Pro HD slingbox and slingcatcher, but we covered those in depth long ago.

More from CES later today...

 

[dfergie]

I have some shots from the sling booth taken yesterday that will be posted later...

 

[TheForce]

Learned today that while they are still working on the Blackberry version it has some major issues that are quite serious. RIM is trying to resolve them but no target date known to Sling. The newer Blackberry phones ( like the latest ones just now being released) will have a fix and should work. It's the older blackberries that are the issue.

Also, to note- There was some things said about the 922 and Sling capability in the Scotty chat that didn't sound right to me when I heard it live as I was video taping. So, today, I spoke with several people, including Leslie Harper about it and it appears that the first released 922's will have some Sling catcher like features, but will NOT have a true present design Sling Catcher built in. The way it was said in the Scotty Chat may be confusing. A number of unique Sling Catcher features will not be available in the 922.
e.g. it was explained to me that with true Sling Catcher, you can connect a media drive with mov files, avi files etc and play them on your TV. The 922 will not be able to do this. While the Sling Catcher and the 922 will be able to access the internet and play You Tube video on your TV. The Sling Catcher Will also be able to play the You Tube video full screen like a TV program but it looks fuzzy (my observation)

Also, please note that claims made on features at this time are always subject to change and this was something Leslie Harper wanted to make sure that I would keep in mind. As I speak to different people at the booth, it is that recognition that explains why so many of their people don't all have the same story. My goal is to try to get specific details from the engineers who are actually building the stuff, while others may not have all the details and last minute changes in order.