It was announced here a few days ago that Sling Media was working with the NFL and DirecTv to produce the NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ SuperFan™ DIRECTV SUPERCAST.
I don't have DirecTv but was fortunate enough to give it a test drive today. It's pretty darn cool!
You get live streams of every NFL SUNDAY TICKET game right on your PC, via your Internet Explorer. No software to download, not special codecs needed, nothing. Just go to your Supercast page and start watching.
They have live streams of every NFL SUNDAY TICKET™ game, plus the Red Zone Channel. Real-time player and team stats and scores.
You also get highlights from every game as they happen and after the game is over.
The site works pretty well. Except that I couldn't watch my home team even though they were on an away game. But I could Sling it and watch the other games all at the same time.
In fact if you were really into it you could open up several browsers and watch a bunch of different games at the same time.
Right now it is only Windows Internet Explorer capable, although Dave Zatz has mentioned he has ran it with Parallels. I also heard that Firefox capability should be coming soon.
This service is new, so I expected a few hiccups, but I only lost connection a couple of times. In fact it was extremely reliable.
I would love to have more info available at the click of a button, like team standings and their game schedule. That information is easy to find elsewhere, but it would be nice to have links directly on the web page.
The video is very clear and the feed is extremely good. They have an option to watch in full screen and even that was clean and clear. Maybe not as good as my PRO on my LAN, but pretty close.
They even offer you the ability to choose between Slow, Normal and High Speed connections.
The video interface, IMHO, could use a little work. The Full Screen button is not marked clearly enough and I would like a little "Press Esc To Return" reminder when going to full screen.
The Highlight section is great! You can go to any game, even if it's not over and catch a highlight of a touchdown, great run or play or even a game changing turn over. No longer do I have to say no when my buddies say "Did you see that play?"
From what I understand this service is only offered to DirecTv customers that sign up for their SuperFan programming.
It's a pity, I would sign up for it, even with a small monthly fee.
The question I had regarding all of this was - Why is Sling Media, makers of the Slingbox, hosting and creating a website? Why are they creating the User Interface? What's in it for them?
My guess is that they have been working on the Clip+Sling site and the user interface program for it and now they have the ability to do this for other companies.
They probably also see value in offering services for Slingbox and non-Slingbox customers. With the soon to be released Sling.com website and Clip+Sling program they are combining experiences for both Slingbox and non-Slingbox customers.
Imagine, a SlingCatcher hooked up to the big screen in your house. Your watching several games at the same time, via your Slingbox and your SuperCast. None of us would ever get anything done on Sundays!
