SlingCatcher will beam web video to your TV
The company behind the SlingBox, which lets you watch live and recorded TV on your PC via an internet connection, has launched a sister device at CES, which sends video in the other direction.
The SlingCatcher will allow you to watch web-based video from sites such as the BBC iPlayer, Channel 4’s on-demand service or YouTube on a TV screen. Users will be able to draw a box around the part of the PC screen that they want to send to the TV, so that only the video will be seen, without the content that surrounds it.
The SlingCatcher will connect to the TV either wirelessly, or using one of several possible cables including HDMI. It will also be able to play video from a USB stick.
The device is designed to convert web video from a ‘lean forward’ experience, where the viewer sits at a desk and hunches over a screen, to a ‘lean back’ one, with the viewer placed more comfortably on a sofa.
The device will be available in the US in the second quarter of the year for $250 (£125). The gadget was supposed to be ready in time for Christmas, but the Blake Krikorian, the chairman and chief executive of Sling Media, said the project was delayed. "We have been spending a lot of time perfecting new technology that is vital to the SlingCatcher's user experience but sometimes these things take longer than expected."
The company also announced plans for a version of the SlingBox capable of handling high-definition video.
Click here for full coverage of CES 2008 and here for a slideshow of images
Nice idea, but don't see it catching on for YouTube - the videos there are fairly low quality, so there's not much benefit in enlarging them to TV screen size.
Posted by: Gareth | Jan 9, 2008 2:33:25 PM
I'd rather buy the IPTV Plasma from Panasonic, also exhibited at CES
Posted by: | Jan 10, 2008 8:47:03 AM
Hah, Why not buy a Wii for $250 and a $5 browser purchase, you can watch streaming videos on your TV from most any website and play videogames..... lol. Slingbox is a wonderful product, but this new item is too little too late. They should have added the features to the existing slingbox line and sold it in an update.
Posted by: dingo | Jan 13, 2008 12:56:10 AM
That is stinkin Sweet!!!
Posted by: www.HDPl.us | Jul 9, 2008 11:05:19 PM