Features
SlingCatcher comes with three built-in applications: SlingPlayerTM for TV, SlingProjectorTM and My Media that combine to create a unified media platform capable of delivering content from disparate places for viewing on a single TV screen. This unique approach promises to give customers unprecedented control over their home television experience.
SlingPlayer for TV delivers one of the most requested features from existing Slingbox customers: the ability to watch and control their living room TV on another TV in the home or on a TV in a remote location without using a PC or custom cabling.
Customers today have on-demand access to a variety of video programming over the Internet that dwarfs the linear programming that comes into their homes from cable and satellite. This includes literally thousands of video sites streaming movies, TV shows, cultural and niche programming, sporting events, and much more, right to their PC. The SlingProjector software allows consumers to project any of this programming directly onto their TV via the SlingCatcher. Using SlingProjector, customers can catch up on back episodes of their favourite TV programmes without having to wait for them to air again, or they can sample new TV programmes online before scheduling them on their DVR. SlingProjector supports virtually any video streaming web site, media player and Internet video player and is designed to give the user control over how the video is projected to the TV. The SlingProjector software lets a user select a specific video playing within a web site or media player, projecting just the video and not the entire PC screen making for a much more enjoyable viewing experience.
My Media gives customers the ability to playback on their TV a broad range of media files from a wide variety of sources, including camcorders, digital cameras, personal DVD recordings, and Internet video downloads. With My Media, customers can play their favourite videos from their own personal media libraries using an external USB hard drive or flash drive that they connect to one of the SlingCatcher's two USB ports. Today the SlingCatcher supports a variety of native media formats including WMV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264 and Xvid as well as a number of file formats including .avi, .vob, .ifo, .mpg, .mov, .wma. Because there is a huge variety of media file formats on the market today, Sling Media has created and is currently testing a conversion utility called SlingSync that will convert incompatible files into a format that can be played back on the TV via SlingCatcher. SlingSync will also pre-scan a media library to determine which files are compatible at the outset saving the customer the uncertainty of whether their media will playback properly.
SlingCatcher includes both standard definition and high definition outputs to connect to a TV including HDMI, component video, S-Video and composite video, as well as both analog and digital audio connectors. SlingCatcher also features a standard Ethernet jack to connect to the home network, either directly or via SlingLink powerline Ethernet adapters.
SlingCatcher can be purchased in the UK from Amazon.co.uk and Micro Anvika for an MSRP of £199.99 as well as from www.slingmedia.com/uk with more retailers to follow.
