One of the more successful products of 2005 was Sling Media’s Slingbox.  The Slingbox is a small box that sits within your audio/visual environment and allows you to remotely view and control your television, Satellite or cable receiver, Tivo and DVR components.  By allowing your Slingbox to be available through your home network, you can view your local television and recorded programs no matter where you are located in the world.  All you need is an Internet connection! 

Seeing the need to take their mobile viewing a step further, Sling Media has created the SlingPlayer Mobile.  The mobile version of the SlingPlayer allows you to use your Windows Mobile Pocket PC (and soon Windows Mobile Smartphone) to view your local television and recorded content right on the device!  Further, there is no programming of the client required.  When you synchronize your device with your PC with ActiveSync, all of the Slingbox information is copied to your device.  Literally, you can be watching television from your Windows Mobile device within minutes. 

SlingPlayer Mobile is installed either by ActiveSync or by a direct CAB install on your Windows Mobile device and will require approximately 1.3MB of storage space.  The player can be installed either in your device’s main memory or on a storage card.  It is important to note that SlingPlayer Mobile requires Windows Mobile 2003 or 5.0 as well as ActiveSync 4.1. Previous version of Windows Mobile and Pocket PC are not supported.  Currently SlingPlayer Mobile will only work on Pocket PC devices and not Windows Mobile Smartphones.  There will be a version for Smartphones released soon.  You can connect to your Slingbox via high speed cellular networks such as G3 or EV-DO as well as 802.11x and Bluetooth.  As long as your Windows Mobile device can get to the Internet, you can get to your Slingbox! 

In addition, your Slingbox and SlingPlayer on your PC must be current as well.  Your Slingbox firmware must be 1.0.61 or later and in order to synchronize your Slingbox information from your PC, you must have SlingPlayer 1.0.5.140.  If you have registered your Slingbox these updates are free-of-charge. 

When you initially start SlingPlayer Mobile, you will be prompted if you want to synchronize with your PC’s SlingPlayer information.  By doing this, you will not have to enter any of the Slingbox’s information such as Finder ID or password.  Instead, this is all sent to your Windows Mobile device via ActiveSync.  You will also note that this information is constantly synchronized with your device via a plug-in in ActiveSync.

Despite the obvious different in screen size from your Windows Mobile device and PC, the SlingPlayer Mobile looks strikingly similar to the PC version of the SlingPlayer.  Like the desktop version, SlingPlayer Mobile optimizes itself constantly to provide the best quality video and highest frame rates.  While the top of the screen is occupied by the video itself, the lower part is where your favorite channels or the remote control is displayed.

If you choose not to have your SlingPlayer information synchronized with your PC, you will need to setup SlingPlayer Mobile to find your Slingbox.  To do so tap Player>Slingbox Directory>Add New Slingbox.  From here, you can enter your Slingbox’s information including the name, Finder ID as well as User and Admin passwords.  It is import to enter your Slingbox Finder ID exactly as it is shown on your SlingPlayer on your PC otherwise you will not successfully connect to it.  Once the Slingbox is added, tap the Play button to connect to your Slingbox.

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