WTF! Slingbox fanboy central??? LOL... Well, I tried to educate, and that's what counts....

I want it.

See, the problem I have faced with other products is the location of my home computer and the cable outlets available in my home. There is no cable outlet near my computer room. It's just physically impossible to run another cable line there without tearing up my entire house. But the Slingbox will allow you to plug it in to your TV wherever it is, even if there isn't a network outlet there using their Slinglink adapter. I'm certainly open to other platforms because who likes relying on Sling to dictate where and when you can use your box? But the fact is, the product does what it says it will do and it makes TV watching possible wherever you go. That's the reason us who have it bought it.

Regardless, Sling or any other platform for that matter would work on a Blackberry now because none of the berries support streaming media (or have high speed data connections).

Ok-- did a little more research-- it looks like the Sony LocationFree base stations still require some sort of "player" to be able to view the content, and of course, is only compatible with Windows Mobile right now.

Here's my take on this issue. I recently purchased a Slingbox Pro and it works as advertised. Sling Media is one of those companies that saw a need and developed a well designed product to meet the need. While not the only product that will do this, it is clearly the leader. Most people are not capable of, nor do they want to "piece meal" something to together to have this capability, thus for most people, the Slingbox is the product of choice to do this.

I believe Sling Media will develop a BlackBerry version if they feel the market is sufficiently large for them to make money doing so, or if they feel that this is necessary to preserve their market dominance.

Based on their product, the ease of installation, and so forth, I have the feeling that they are a progressive business that is responsive to customer needs and interest. With the introduction of the 8800, in addition to the Pearl, I hope we are getting closer to seeing a Slingbox for BB.

It's hard to be patient - I have my fingers crossed for Slingbox for BB.

Sure, but there currently is no company "Y" that is out helping the consumer out of goodness. None apparently see a way to make such a service work$. Open source would be great for some, but many(most?) want a sealed, easy to obtain and install solution, including hardware. Some will build their own systems from old hardware, etc., find, install and tweak open source software, but they(we) seem to be the minority

Linux is a wonderful product, even Apples are fine, but the market decided to go Microsoft for now. Why?

The market will give people what they demand, unfortunately most consumers don't always make wise decisions.

You guys make good points, and I do feel like Sling will likely come out with a client for the Blackberry...

The Sony unit does come with a proprietary client, but it is not necessary to use it; the unit streams standard MPEG, so you could use just about any client you wanted for it on any platform, including some I see that should work to stream video to a Blackberry right now. It's true that a few of the solutions I mentioned previously(PC, Network DVR) aren't completely plug and play, but they are fairly close. It would be interesting to see some sort of comparison of the various methods by which one could stream video to different non-standard devices...

Also, ARHYTHMATIK, I am curious what you mean by the TV outlet not being by your computer room and a network jack not being by the TV outlet. Do you mean that you use the Slingbox so that you are able to watch TV in your computer room? This is a very good use for such a device, but both the Dreambox and the LocationFree I mentioned before will do this. Also, if an individual only wanted to do this type of thing with their device, and never planned to use it for any other purpose, the Slingbox would be the perfect solution. The problem arises when one might decide he or she wanted to stream video to something that is not necessarily mainstream...

Anyhow, good dialog. It's always beneficial to discuss options...

Very interested .. Have a few clients who will love it.

Well, the reason I mention the computer-room-no-cable-outlet issue is just to stamp out the option of using certain desktop software, like Orb. It would be pointless for me to use a TV tuner card if I have no TV line running to the room where my computer is housed. Yes, Sony's LocationFree player does not require this, I just thought I'd throw it out there before anyone tried to use the Orb argument against Sling. I love Orb btw, but watching video on it is a pain if you ever need to pause a show. It takes like 15 minutes for it to restart again even on the fastest network connections.

I tether my tmobile pearl and slingbox. I have gotten speeds over 200 kbps. works fine if you keep the window around 6 inches.

The Slingbox software, whether desktop or handheld, contains remote control features.

From my desk or Moto Q I can program my TIVO to record, playback, pause, fast foward, etc.

This is an especially great application for anyone with kids. Mine watch the Disney Channel on long car trips.

For anyone who cannot wait, last I heard the Moto Q was $99 under the Sprint SERO plans (sprint.com/sero) - which gives 500 voice minutes and unlimited EVDO data for $30/mo.

Sling is one of my clients, and this is right on the money.

Slingbox + BB oh god please help to make this happen Please

Little baby jesus
help us

I would buy a slingbox if they supported BB

I would LOVE a BB version of SlingPlayer Moble for the 8800! Please Sling make it happen! That way I can totally retire my Cingular 8525.

I buy off the shelf solutions versus open sourcebecause 9 times out of 10 open source solutions have clunky user interfaces, that require an extened amount of learning to use. An off the shelf solution provides me with the ablility to imediatly get things rolling as well simple easy to use interfaces.

Not trying to get too off topic here, but it's the number 1 reason I use quicktime pro versus EVERY other freeware video encoders on the market.

Oh, and lastly remeber that we are all blackberry useres. We EXPECT our equipment to work out of the box with little or no set-up... Many of us left Windows Mobile, or Palm OS because we didn't want the complications they entail.

[making it personal] That and the whole open source scene is full of "me-too" programmers who make their own little peices of poo poo software. Where as an orginized company can get programmers to colaborativly work on a project and make a single polished program. Thats why open source sucks. There's too many scrappy hard to use programs. And sure, if we all got into open source, then the world would be a better place yada yada yada... Except one thing. I'm willing to lay down my money, in truckloads to buy software that comes with support, simple instructions, and a smooth interface. Something no open source can do to date.[/making it personal]

still no app to use the slingbox on the BB8800? The company i support is doing antoher BB refresh and everyone is getting an 8800 and im pretty sure they would love to stream TV from their offices. SlingMedia Get on this!!! it'll be worth it

My friend was able to watch his slingbox on his laptop while tethered to his Pearl. I didn't think the quality would be terrific on an EDGE signal but I've been proven wrong. If there's enough speed to "Sling" to a tethered laptop, then the device itself must be capable with a new Slingbox app.

Slingbox if your looking...

I'd buy a slingbox capable of working on the pearl 8100 in a heartbeat

Yeah,
I love the concept of slinhbox, but without BB support I wouldnt use it enough. With BB support I would purchase a slingbox NOW.
Wait,
I would buy two, one for my girlfriends place too.

Ah, I'm just waiting for the day...

Chris-
BoxWave Accessories

Hi folks,

I reviewed the Slingbox for a couple of web sites about five months ago. Since then, I have been using it on my Notebook and a Motorola Q. I finally ditched the Q and got a Pearl. I passed on the url of this forum to my contacts at Sling and I will let you know what they say. They are usually very responsive - let's all hope they work on this because the Slingplayer Mobile application is truly a killer app.

Definitely interested! The question has been brought up before ... is EDGE fast enough to support streaming video from the Sling? With WiFi in the upcoming 8300 and future 8800's this could possibly solve that dilemma. Sign me up!

Yes, EDGE is fast enough to stream media (Video & Audio) however I think it should have a somewhat buffer point ... something which may have licensing issues (QuickTime technology & Real use this) as well has a hardware limitation ? ( Free memory on a Pearl or 8800).

(RIM we need MORE memory in future models. Now with GPS & video/audio playback give us MORE memory 128MB will be quite sufficient).

I would purchase a slingbox in a second if there was support for the BB 8800

When 3G comes to Denver this will be a more interesting thread for me. I have a Slingbox and use the PC client all the time, via a Verizon broadband card. EDGE just does not move fast enough for

I carry WM Blackjack and have tried Sling's Windows Mobile client. It's not very good using EDGE. I was in Las Vegas a few days ago, 3G and Sling...very, very cool. Sling Media should get interested in the Blackberry OS when more devices are released with 3G type speeds.

I think we 8800 users would be disappointed in a Sling client for the 8800; it wouldn't be enjoyable without 3G or Wifi.

I use this and it work extremely well. My sling is next to my directTivo box, and the power line adapter is plugged in next to my router.

CompUSA.com: Sling Media SlingLink Ethernet Connection Bridge - SL100-100 - Networking » Wired » Media Players

Yep-- that's what I use. The Slinglink. Works great!

CHECK THIS OUT- an article about what platforms Sling has in the works, and where it will be headed next.

Where Should SlingPlayer Go Next? - The Top 10 Unsupported Platforms: Sling Community

I would be ok with just being able to control my dvr.
I want to be able to get access to my DVR and tell it to record Futurama for me while I am on the road so that I can watch it when I get home.

I'm very interested - would pay up to $50 bucks one time for the app.

Anything new on this yet?

This is the latest info available:

Where Should SlingPlayer Go Next? - The Top 10 Unsupported Platforms: Sling Community

Looks like Blackberry is #2 on the list. But there isn't even a BB out yet that can stream video via the internet.

I think no chance to get acceptable quality with GPRS or EDGE. You need UMTS or, better, HSDPA

Actually I have been waiting for slingbox on the blackberry. It's gotten to the point that I was actually looking for a new phone with 6.0 because I will never touch another one with 5.0, but my pearl is too perfect right now.

This would be a dream come true. They just released for Palm....so (fingers crossed).

Definitely INTERESTED!!

I'm very interested!

Man, this would be cool.
U would use a BB client.

In the unlikely event that SlingMedia would make us all happy with a BB client for streaming capable BBs, would the stream have to flow through the BES for corp users ?

I sent an email to Sling and here is the response I received (and it was fast as well!)

I'd throw in cash to any programmer who would want to give this a shot.
I have the detailed BlackBerry video specs on hand if anyone needs 'em.