TVSquad

There's two major announcements out of the Sling Media camp today (can't you just imagine them sitting around the campfire shouting out news about new products?) Sling Media offers two types of products: A slingbox which you can plug into your TV, TiVo, cable box, or other video source to stream video across the internet. And the SlingPlayer client for watching that streaming video.

The first announcement was kind of predictable: SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry. Sling already has mobile clients for Windows Mobile, Palm, and Symbian phones, so I would have been surprised if we didn't see a BlackBerry client soon. SlingPlayer Mobile for BlackBerry will be available later this year and will set you back the usual $29.99.

The bigger news is that Sling Media is launching a hi-def version of the Slingbox. The Slingbox PRO-HD sports a digital ATSC/QAM tuner, and multiple HD inputs and outputs. It can also stream 1080i video and 5.1 audio over the internet. You're going to need a high speed internet connection in order to get the most out of the PRO-HD. And if you plan to do most of your TV viewing on the go using SlingPlayer Mobile on a device with a low resolution screen, the PRO-HD is probably useless. But if you want the clearest picture on your computer, or if you plan on picking up a SlingCatcher which will let you stream video from one TV to another, the Slingbox PRO-HD's $400 price tag might seem reasonable.