Slingbox owners now have the ability to watch and control their home television on Windows Mobile smartphones including Motorola Q, T-Mobile SDA and the i-mate SP5m
Sling Media today announced a public beta program for its new version of SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows Mobile Smartphones. The beta version of the software is available today as a free download from Sling Media’s web site. It’s said to be compatible with Smartphone Edition version 5.0 devices.
Any program that you can watch at home, you can now watch via your Windows Mobile-based device. In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile users can also control their home digital video recorder (DVR) to watch recorded shows, pause, rewind, and fast forward live TV, or even queue new recordings while on the road.
At the completion of the public beta period, SlingPlayer Mobile will be available for $29.99 and includes a free 30-day risk free trial.
There are no monthly or recurring charges for the use of the software. Users need a network connection to access their home television experience, whether that is 3G cellular, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or USB.
The Slingbox redirects, or “placeshifts,” a single live TV stream from a cable box, satellite receiver, or DVR to the viewer’s PC-located anywhere in the home or anywhere in the world, via the Internet.
Orb Network offers a similar service, routing home TV or PC media to distant PCs, handhelds and even cell phones.
TiVo will enable about 400,000 subscribers who have their “Series2″ DVR machines connected via broadband to use their TVs to watch Web videos from Brightcove. Specific programs to be offered — possibly as early as June — have not been named, but Brightcove clients include Discovery Communications, MTV Networks, Reuters, The New York Times, National Lampoon, SmartMoney and Farmers’ Almanac TV. Starting in summer 2006, users will be able to download their TiVO clips from the Verizon Wireless Get It Now onto applicable handsets.
Multicasting mobile television to millions simultaneously (like television broadcasting) is another route.
Aloha Partners will use two 6Mhz television channels in the 700 Mhz band utilizing the DVB-H system (HiWire), Verizon will use MediaFLO (on channel 54) and Cingular may use Modeo (at 1.6 GHz) for mobile tv.
The New York Minute Film Festival is the first major online film competition to showcase 60-second works of amateur and professional filmmakers. The second annual competition opens tomorrow, with entries accepted until early October and award winners announced in November 2006.
This Week in Media (MP-3), hosted by Alex Lindsey, is an entertaining and informative inside look at movie making. This Week, Alex opines that coffee shops could become microtheaters, showing 5 minute shorts or presenting thematic material without the usual distribution contracts. Content might be distributed free, with commentary and additional materials available for downloading in premium versions.
Thought provoking, articulate and knowledgeable, This Week in Media is must hear podcasting!
Related DailyWireless stories include; WiFi TV, NAB 2006, Theaters Go 3D, Open Revolution, Camphones for Journalists, Rebuilding Media, Newspaper Podcasts?, Portable Photostories, PBS + MovieBeam, MediaFLO Gets Satellite Backbone, Mobile TV: The Battle is On, New Mobile TV Flavor: TDtv, Verizon Goes with FLO, Global Mobile Television.
