I am sure you have seen the commercials from DirecTV. The guy who is stuck at work at a late meeting. He needs to set his Home DVR to record his favorite program – HellBoy. Or the Bank robbery that may turn into a hostage situation. “Record to Home DVR” from your cell phone – done. Cool!These are amusing commercials and capture the imagination of the viewer. I am sure there are many people thinking: this is the time to dump cable and get this cool new technology. It’s amazing what marketing can do.
Fact is, this technology has been available on the Slingbox for at least 2 years. And it has always worked with Cable or Satellite. SlingMedia has usually targeted a niche marketplace of geeks like me, whereas DirecTV are going for the mainstream. Shame, because Slingbox is clearly ahead of its time. One time purchase, no monthly fees, superb streaming technology, compatible with almost any system.
I wrote about the Slingbox in a previous blog entry. I travel a great deal and I wanted a system that could give me access to my DVR while I was away. Not that I watch that much TV. But when I do watch TV, I want to watch exactly what I want. Nothing more, nothing less. I am not a channel surfer. I don’t like commercials (except during the SuperBowl). I just want to watch my show. OK, it’s usually the Fox Soccer Channel or BBC1, but still, it’s what I want to watch. The Slingbox allows me to control my DVR back at home from my laptop and watch any live or recorded program via SlingPlayer.
Or now that I have a Windows Mobile phone, the Palm Treo 800w, I can control my DVR and watch my shows on my SmartPhone using SlingPlayer Mobile from anywhere. Really cool. Best kept secret in the business. I can also run SQL Server 2008 CE on my phone too. A SlingPlayer for the iPhone should be available soon.
OK, to be honest, setting up the Slingbox at home on my wireless network used all my networking skills with a Wireless Bridge and configuring the Firewall correctly for security. But like many network situations, once it works, it works. I have had the same setup for 2 years and have always been able to connect from the road. BTW, they now have a product called SlingLink that would have saved me buying the Wireless Bridge. I don’t have a wired internet connection in my living room and I didn’t want to drill any holes to create one, so Wireless was my choice. SlingLink now uses the electrical wiring in your house to make a wired connection from one room to another. Very clever.
DirecTV has good marketing, claims to be cheaper and has an emphasis on ease of use. Sounds a bit like Microsoft SQL Server, doesn’t it?
Cheers
Brian
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