Sling Media is pleased to announce that SlingCatcher is now available for purchase from leading retailers and online retailers in the U.S. as well as in Canada and the UK. The SlingCatcher is a universal media player that seamlessly delivers broadcast TV, Internet video and personal content to the TV.

The SlingCatcher allows customers to watch online video from any popular site on the internet including network television sites like ABC.com, video content sites like Hulu.com and CollegeHumor.com, community video sites like YouTube.com, and even online movie rentals from popular services like Netflix, directly from a PC to the TV for the ultimate lean-back, social viewing experience. The SlingCatcher, with its included remote control, also allows customers to access and control any device connected to a Slingbox – for instance a DVR, Cable or Satellite set-top box – located in another room in the house or even from a Slingbox in a remote location. And finally, connect a standard USB hard drive or USB flash drive and the SlingCatcher can playback on the TV most personal media stored on the hard disk, including home movies, personal videos, internet video downloads, etc.

SlingCatcher comes with three built-in applications: SlingPlayer for TV, SlingProjector and My Media that combine to create a unified media platform capable of delivering content from disparate places for viewing on a single TV screen. This unique approach promises to give customers unprecedented control over their home television experience.

SlingPlayer for TV delivers one of the most requested features from existing Slingbox customers: the ability to watch and control their living room TV on another TV in the home or on a TV in a remote location without using a PC or custom cabling.

Customers today have on-demand access to a variety of video programming over the Internet that dwarfs the linear programming that comes into their homes from cable and satellite. This includes literally thousands of video sites streaming movies, TV shows, cultural and niche programming, sporting events, and much more, right to their PC. The SlingProjector software allows consumers to project any of this programming directly onto their TV via the SlingCatcher. Using SlingProjector, customers can catch up on back episodes of their favorite TV programs without having to wait for them to air again, or they can sample new TV programs online before scheduling them on their DVR. SlingProjector supports virtually any video streaming web site, media player and Internet video player and is designed to give the user control over how the video is projected to the TV. The SlingProjector software lets a user select a specific video playing within a web site or media player, projecting just the video and not the entire PC screen making for a much more enjoyable viewing experience.

My Media gives customers the ability to playback on their TV a broad range of media files from a wide variety of sources, including camcorders, digital cameras, personal DVD recordings, and Internet video downloads. With My Media, customers can play their favorite videos from their own personal media libraries using an external USB hard drive or flash drive that they connect to one of the SlingCatcher’s two USB ports. Today the SlingCatcher supports a variety of native media formats including WMV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264 and Xvid as well as a number of file formats including .avi, .vob, .ifo, .mpg, .mov, .wma. Because there is a huge variety of media file formats on the market today, Sling Media created and is in testing on a conversion utility called SlingSync that will convert incompatible files into a format that can be played back on the TV via SlingCatcher. SlingSync will also pre-scan a media library to determine which files are compatible at the outset saving the customer the uncertainty of whether their media will playback properly.

SlingCatcher includes both standard definition and high definition outputs to connect to a TV including HDMI, component video, S-Video and composite video, as well as both analog and digital audio connectors. SlingCatcher also features a standard Ethernet jack to connect to the home network, either directly or via SlingLink powerline Ethernet adapters.