Sling Media Announces Slingbox 350 and 500 Media Streaming Boxes

Sling Media, maker of the Slingbox set-top media streaming boxes, today announced its first new hardware products in four years, introducing the new Slingbox 350 and 500 boxes. The company has long been one of the leading vendors offering software and hardware solutions to allow users to stream live and recorded television programming from a user's television to their computers and smartphones.

The new Slingbox 500, which carries a retail price of $299.99, includes built-in Wi-Fi connectivity as well as integrated IR blasters for controlling a set-top box. The box also includes the new SlingProjector feature, which allows users to wirelessly transmit photos and other content from their phones onto their television sets.

The Slingbox 500 is the foundation of a growing set of features for Slingbox customers. The hardware platform not only has the ability to placeshift content, making a live content stream available anywhere, but can also receive content and display it on the TV. The first example of this is SlingProjector. SlingProjector makes it easy for anyone to wirelessly display their personal media, such as photos, from their smartphone onto the big screen.

The Slingbox 350, priced at $179.99, is a lower-cost option that forgoes the integrated Wi-Fi and SlingProjector functionalities but still offers 1080p streaming for improved video quality.

Sling Media has also released updated version of its apps for iPhone and iPad, with each app currently priced at $14.99, 50% of the standard prices.

The new Slingbox 350 and 500 boxes will go on sale in the United States beginning this Sunday, October 14, with Canadian availability scheduled for next month.