Toronto, ON – Sling Media today announced the immediate availability of the SlingPlayer for Mac OS X, a software download for Slingbox customers who wish to view their home TV natively on an Apple Macintosh computer.
U.S. and Canadian customers who have either just purchased a Slingbox to use with their Macintosh computer or prospective customers who have been waiting for Macintosh compatibility before purchasing, can take full advantage of this public beta, now via download free of charge, from the following two URLs:
US: http://us.slingmedia.com/page/downloads.html
Canada: http://ca.slingmedia.com/page/downloads.html
With SlingPlayer for Mac OS X, customers now have the ability to watch and control their home TV from any Mac laptop or desktop located just about anywhere in the world. SlingPlayer for Mac OS X includes Sling Media’s photo-realistic remote controls as well as the ability to program favorite channels, change viewing modes and of course using SlingStream to optimize the broadband connection on both ends to deliver the best possible video stream.
With any public beta there are some limitations and inevitably some questions. We have tried to answer many of these below, but if you have additional questions or comments, please feel free to contact us.
Q: What countries are supported with this software release?
A: Currently, we are making the software available to solely U.S. and Canadian customers. Support for other regions to follow in the near future.Q: Is Sling Media looking for feedback from Mac users? If so, how can we provide feedback?
A: Absolutely. We have a feedback form on Sling Community,http://www.slingcommunity.com/forum/topic/35, and we also invite feedback via email,macfeedback@slingmedia.com.Q: Is SlingPlayer for Mac OS X compatible with all versions of Mac OS, as well as both Power PC and Intel-based Mac laptops and desktops?
A: The initial public beta of the SlingPlayer for Mac OS X is compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 and is a Universal Binary application (meaning it runs natively on both PowerPC and Intel-based Macintosh computers). We plan on adding support for Mac OS X 10.3 as soon as possible.Q: Why hasn’t Sling Media included support for Mac OS X 10.3?
A: We wanted to deliver to our Mac users as soon as possible. To make the software available for the majority of our Mac OS X customers we have concentrated on making Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger support the priority of this initial public beta release. We plan on adding Mac OS 10.3 support very shortly.Q: I have an Airport Express as my wireless access point at home. Will I be able to connect my Slingbox?
A: Unfortunately, the Airport Express home router is just a wireless router without any local area network Ethernet ports. Apple discusses the limitation of the Airport Express in the Airport Express FAQ knowledge base article linked below.http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=108038#4
The best way to work around the situation is to upgrade your router to one that has multiple built in local area network Ethernet ports like an Apple Airport Extreme or other wired or wireless routers offered by Linksys, Belkin, Netgear, etc. Alternatively, you can connect your Slingbox to your home network using a wireless bridge.
Q: The SlingPlayer for Mac OS X skin has a very “Windows-like” appearance. Can users customize the skin similar to the PC version or will Sling Media offer a more Mac-friendly skin for download?
A: At this time SlingPlayer for Mac OS X does not offer customers the ability to create customizable skins. However, we will be incorporating a more Mac-friendly skin for customers to use in a future public beta release.
Sling Media is eager to hear your feedback on this new software client, so if you are interested in giving it a test drive, please feel free to download the client and test it out with your Slingbox. If you don’t have a Slingbox, we’d be happy to send you one so you can test it out.
About Sling Media
Sling Media, Inc. is a digital lifestyle products company creating a family of consumer electronics solutions that are a natural extension of today’s digital way of life. The first member of the Sling Media family is the award-winning Slingbox™, a device that allows consumers to access their living room television experience at any time, from any location, using a variety of different displays including laptops and desktop PCs, PDAs and smartphones. The Slingbox is now available in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong, Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Brazil through traditional retail channels and local service providers. For more information on Sling Media or the Slingbox, visit www.slingmedia.com.
About Keating Technologies
Keating Technologies, headquartered in Markham (north-east Toronto), Ontario, is a 2000, 2001 and 2002 winner of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies Program. As Canada’s leading branch outsourcing service to the high technology industry, the Company has been responsible for bringing more than $1 billion in technology products and services to Canadian enterprise businesses and consumers. Keating provides Total Market Management® services including sales, marketing, merchandising and customer support through its offices in Vancouver, Markham and Montreal. Since its inception in 1987, Keating has represented and continues to represent leading edge technology organizations requiring high-performance, cost-effective market capture within the Canadian marketplace. For additional information go to: www.keating.com.