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SlingMedia has announced three new models with a 4X performance improvement. New Sling Family Members 
Read More for a feature grid and details of the three new models - including one with HD.
According to company spokesperson Brian Jaquet, the three forthcoming Slingboxes contain new digital signal processing (DSP) chips, plus improved algorithms that increase the performance to 6,000 kilobits per second with 4 times the number of pixels. That gives you VGA resolution (640x480). All Slingboxes allow remote viewing of video content using Windows or Windows Mobile, and coming this fall, Mac OS X. The new Slingbox family includes:
Slingbox PRO - $249.99 MSRP
Designed for multiple inputs including the option for an HD component input. Slingbox AV - $179.99 MSRP
Designed for use with SD cable or SD satellite set-top box. Slingbox Tuner - $179.99 MSRP
Designed for a direct cable connection without a set-top box.
| Slingbox Feature | Tuner | AV | Pro | | Widescreen (16:9) support | • | • | • | | High quality programmable video compression | • | • | • | | Watch from PC or Mac | • | • | • | | Watch from Windows Mobile (additional software client required) | • | • | • | TV/analog cable tuner (not an ATSC digital or HD tuner)
| • | | • | | Pass through connections for A/V devices | • | | • | | Connects to set-top box (digital cable, satellite, DVR) | | • | • | | Remote control of A/V devices | | • | • | | HD component input (additional dongle required) | | | • | | Connect & control up to four A/V sources | | | • | From the announcement, our initial impression is that any of the new Slingboxes will be an improvement in quality and performance when compared to the original Slingbox. The Slingbox PRO model pushes the envelope by being the first consumer product to stream an HD component connection to the Internet. No, it doesn't stream HD, but HD down-converted to 640x480 will look better than an SD source at the same resolution. With the Slingbox AV and Slingbox Tuner, it appears both are an improvement in quality over the original Slingbox. The two new Slingboxes split up the connection options that were available on the original Slingbox. The original Slingbox can connect directly to cable/antenna, as well as to composite and S-Video devices such as DVRs and cable set-top boxes. By splitting that functionality between the AV and Tuner models, your purchase decision will be dependent on your connection needs. TechDigs.net has a Slingbox PRO on the way for evaluation and will soon provide a detailed review, a comparison with the original Slingbox, a quality assessment of the HD connections plus an overview of how it performs with products like the TiVo Series 3.
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