Well lookee here, both the SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD are now available for pre-order (!) from Amazon and SlingMedia.com at $299.99 each. While there’s no shipping date, I presume either would arrive in time for a holiday a delivery.
As you may recall, the eagerly anticipated SlingCatcher brings a variety of video content to the television in three distinct ways. First, it’ll play media synced and stored on a USB drive (some file format details here). Next, and similar to the ZvBox, software will project a PC display to the Catcher - either the entire screen or a specified region plus audio. Think Internet video, like Hulu. What makes the SlingCatcher most unique, of course, is it’s ability to directly receive a Slingbox feed. Essentially Slinging from television to television, with no computer in the mix, inside the home or out. Interestingly, the interface looks somewhat different than what was shown at CES.
The Slingbox PRO-HD is the first Slingbox to stream high definition content, around the house or beyond, to PC, Mac, mobile (or Catcher) in high definition (1080i, 5.1). PRO-HD supports multiple inputs. While I imagine most owners will utilize the component inputs to broadcast content from an HD set-top box, this is the first Slingbox with an integrated digital tuner - both ATSC OTA and clear QAM are supported. The PRO-HD was originally announced at $399, so the new lower price point ($299.99) is a nice suprise.
