http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/ Engadget Comments for The Engadget Interview: Blake Krikorian, CEO of Sling Media http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
That was a funny question. If anything, Windows Media is the most open of those standards—it has the best quality, performance and has the most straightforward licensing. H.264 we might support in the future, but licensing H.264 is kind of a nightmare because there are several patent holders and it’s not clear who do you pay."

Um, wow, that's complete bullshit.

Windows Media is completely closed. VC-1 (the WMV 9 codec) has been submitted to SMPTE, but until it's a standard, that means nothing - it has to go through the patent pool process like everything else.

H.264 (MPEG AVC, MPEG-4 Part 10) is a completely open ITU-T and ISO international standard.

And it's perfectly clear who gets paid with H.264 - MPEG LA: http://www.mpegla.com/avc/avc-agreement.cfm

It's all spelled out in black and white, clear as day. Apple had no problems doing this with QuickTime 7.

What a copout answer. Great, another Microsoft Windows Media lock-in with a total bullshit justification to back it up. Hooray.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
Otherwise great interview jd.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
"Just send an email to Apple! Get them involved!"

Um, huh?

Yeah, nice how he tries to lay the blame for them not having a Mac product off on Apple.

Perhaps they should have used an international video codec standard, like H.264, and then it would be as simple as writing a simple Mac OS X application that uses QuickTime 7, which of course supports actual standards, like, oh, I don't know, *H.264*. And they wouldn't have even had to worry about licensing, because Apple pays the playback caps to MPEG LA for H.264. The only thing they would have had to worry about was the server (encoding) end.

But instead, they went with Windows Media, and makes excuses about Apple being "hard to partner with" for why THEY didn't make a Mac version of their product. He should be a politician!]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
H.264 is the way to go.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
What would be inefficient is creating a place shifting device that DOESN'T work with the majority of PC's on the market right out of the box. Using the windows media codec was just smart business practice in their case, and I (for one it seems) applaud that choice (being a smartphone owner myself).

Besides the codec issue, I'll stand with a company who's CEO was working with General Magic. Never was there a PDA (or PIC for you who know what I'm talking about...you know who you are) operating system as stable as Magic Cap. (drops a parade label on the main street and watches the show :) )]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
There must have been 10 comments about it when they asked for questions. I can't believe there was no mention of it.

(cough)softball(cough)]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
I have family traveling in the middle east this summer. All I did was email them the links for the Sling player.

The reply to my email was only one word long....."WOW!" Now they are watching their Tivo just like they do at home.

cant wait for the windows mobile player.

Great product SlingMedia!!

If you need employees in New York..... sling me an email.

Steve]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
I hate when people call windows media a standard.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.sonystyle.com/is-bin/INTERSHOP.enfinity/eCS/Store/en/-/USD/SY_BrowseCatalog-Start;sid=CH3SAoBDNc7SJMKfL1TYCc9NMOvAy9umXWg=?CategoryName=tv_LocationFreeTVs&Dept=tvvideo
out of business. Take that you Sony F/ckers!
]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
No one has commented on the most interesting parts of the Q&A: about this startup's relationship with Hollywood, and whether the TV exec is on to something when he sees these new delivery systems as a way to extend their reach (and yes, I hate the "eyeballs" reference) by reaching us wherever we are. Will that stop the hemorrhaging that the networks have been experiencing over the past two decades?

What's most striking, to me, is how eager Sling Media is to hear from users and potential customers about what we want to see in their product. That's smart business. So let's hear it, Engadget readers, you have their attention.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
H.264 or bust.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
I think that all DVRs, by law, have their 1394 ports enabled. Which should make DRM a non-issue.That gives Sling Media great leverage to go forward with a 1394 and a Mac interface. They should really do it. Heck, give me a job.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Hey guys, ok, so i just read the interview and as about to send something to JD to qualify one of my statements on H.264/Windows Media...and then i just read the first post from Dave Schroeder on the same topic, so wanted to reply publically:

Dave says:
>Um, wow, that's complete bullshit.
>Windows Media is completely closed. VC-1 (the >WMV 9 codec) has been submitted to SMPTE, but >until it's a standard, that means nothing - it >has to go through the patent pool process like >everything else.

Sorry Dave, it's not complete bullshit. Windows Media is not completely closed. We have source code access, so it can't be that closed. go and check it out for yourself:
Windows Media Licensing: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/licensing/licensing.aspx
To Request a License: http://wmlicense.smdisp.net/LicenseRequest2/LicenseRequest.aspx

One of things I was just about mention to JD was that I don't beleive that WMV/VC1 is technologically superior in terms of quality compared to H.264. WMV/VC1 was the best choice for the first codec on the slingbox because it had the best quality/cost(MIPS)/robustness at the time.
]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
>And it's perfectly clear who gets paid with >H.264 - MPEG LA: http://www.mpegla.com/avc/avc->agreement.cfm

With all due respect Dave, your comment is complete bullshit. There are actually two patent pools...you only mention one. In addition to MPEG LA, there is also the VIA patent pool (a subsidiary of Dolby): http://www.vialicensing.com/news/via_pr_0503_AVC_PatentLic.html

As you may know, once you have two patent pools, things can get stickier.

Also, there are other large IP holders such as Thomson who refrain from joining any patent pool and then come with their own claims afterwards.

This is not to say that licensing VC1 is a total slam dunk, but clearly 264 licensing is no simple walk in the park.

>It's all spelled out in black and white, clear >as day. Apple had no problems doing this with >QuickTime 7.

While i don't know the details of Apple's deal, it would not surprise me in the least if there had been some private cross-licensing deals with the Thomson's of the world to make this happen.

>What a copout answer. Great, another Microsoft >Windows Media lock-in with a total bullshit >justification to back it up. Hooray.

Whatever dude. There is no Windows Media lock-in here btw...we have implemented our codecs in software (on a dsp) and hence will be supporting additional codecs in the future. Basically, like i said in the interview, we do not have religious issues when it comes to technology choice or business model...we are focused on how we can provide the best possible experience to our consumers.

]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
Posted Jul 18, 2005, 4:17 PM ET by Dave Schroeder
Conrad Quilty-Harper:

"Just send an email to Apple! Get them involved!"

>Yeah, nice how he tries to lay the blame for >them not having a Mac product off on Apple.

i am not laying blame on anyone dude.

>And they wouldn't have even had to worry about >licensing, because Apple pays the playback >caps to MPEG LA for H.264. The only thing they >would have had to worry about was the server
>(encoding) end.

you are right, we need to worry about the encoder end. do you think that Apple will pay for the playback caps on the Windows platform as well? I am asking this with all seriousness, because I simply don't know. If they would, that would be great. Sounds like you know a lot about this, so perhapse you can educate us.
]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
While i have no interest in being the WMV/VC1 poster boy that Dave seems to want to make me out to be, I do want to clarify one more thing about that codec:

Turbo Linux even licenses Windows Media.
VC-1 is currently part of the HD-DVD and Blueray spec.
I believe that SMPTE passed a vote last week on VC-1 (it now has acheived Draft Status).
Oh, and Verizon uses Windows Media for their vcast service...


again, we plan on supporting multiple codecs, so we are clearly not religious on this subject. i just dislike it when the facts are not clearly laid out and rants rule the conversation.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
i just got a postcard from Mr. Walking Lemon...it says "thank you Nick for your support" ;-)

for the 500 people on the planet who actually bought a Magic Cap device, you know what i am talking about.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
how did you know i was Armenian? was it the last name ('-ian') or my hunkin' nose? ;-)]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/This looks like a great product.

I am interested in the technical aspects of this (and somewhat interested in the legal aspects).

What are the system resources needed for this? Can I upload large files in the background while enjoying a streamed Washington Nationals game? (go nats!)
Or run a processor hungry program such as Media Cleaner in the background while watching tv?

What do small businesses, that run local commercials think of this?]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
I want to thank you for your responses. I must apologize if my response came across crass, as it was.

I was just surprised that you seemed to have blown off H.264 as easily as it appeared you had.

A couple of points:

Microsoft provides source to partners that it deems of strategic value. While this is beneficial to you, it doesn't make it open. Clearly, Microsoft is interested in pushing Windows Media. And don't think for a moment that I'm not aware at how well Windows Media 9 and 10 (and VC-1) do their jobs. The problem is that they're both not open. Microsoft's SMPTE submission and their source licensing to strategic vendors are an effort to quash the standards concerns: the problem is, it's not yet a standard, and may never be. VC-1 has yet to cross all the licensing hurdles, and its licensing will be administered by MPEG LA, just like the MPEG family standards are:

http://www.mpegla.com/pid/vc1/

Now, whether or not it becomes a standard doesn't preclude you from continuing your successful investment in Windows Media. It just means that you, and your customers, are beholden to Microsoft, and ever more so if the VC-1 standards bid isn't successful. And even if it is successful, Microsoft will ensure that its tools and future follow-on codecs that are not standards are the most attractive to your continuing development (e.g., with HD). I'm sure that you're aware of all of these things, and I'm sure that Windows Media was an attractive choice, but it means, to a certain extent, that you've compromised a commitment to open standards and have instead chosen a proprietary one. Make no mistake: that's a perfectly reasonable business decision; I'm sure you can understand that that's just disappointing to some from a standards perspective.

As for VC-1 being a part of the Blu-ray and HD-DVD specifications, yes, that's very much true. But you realize that H.264 (as well as MPEG-2) are part of both specifications as well, putting H.264 on equal footing in that arena. Microsoft's standards play with WMV9/VC-1 was, in part, to secure this arrangement. It appears to have been successful. Competition, as always, is a good thing - even with video codecs. But until VC-1 is an open standard, it's nothing more than an empty promise, and keeps Windows Media technologies firmly tied primarily to one source vendor: Microsoft.

(cont)]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
Apple's licensing relationships with QuickTime for both MPEG-4 Part 2 and H.264 are clear. Essentially, it involves paying encoding and decoding licensing fees, limited by caps that Apple originally fought for, to the appropriate licensing authorities. This enables Apple's encoding and client products - and in turn, its customers - to use MPEG-4 and H.264 encoding and playback capacities in an unburdened fashion. Other vendors can do the same with these standards.

My concern in this arena stems from the fact that we have rolled out an IPTV cable television network at a major public research university (University of Wisconsin - Madison):

http://tv.wisc.edu/

Information about our project, as well as presentations at various conferences, can be found here:

http://tv.wisc.edu/about/

Our project is based around open standards; namely, MPEG-4, H.264, and AAC. This allows a wide variety of encoders, delivery methods, and clients, and no ties to any single vendor. Playback is allowed on Windows 2000/XP, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, a variety of set top boxes...in short, anywhere an MPEG-4 or H.264-compliant playback solution exists. Encoding, delivery, and playback elements can be swapped and switched for the best solution.

I've followed your product with great interest, and was disappointed to hear that it's essentially a Windows-only Windows Media solution. Like Blu-ray and HD-DVD, it may be nice to consider a standards-based element. I'm glad to hear you're at least considering H.264 in the future, but I'm frankly very surprised that it wasn't your absolute first choice.

Again, I appreciate your comments and your willingness to respond. If you'd like to speak directly about this, I'd be more than happy. Contact information is below:

Dave Schroeder
das@doit.wisc.edu
http://das.doit.wisc.edu/
608-265-4737]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
Blake and Dave, you are my heroes. There is more than porno and photshops.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
One more thing I neglected to mention:

You talk about this industry being all about control. And indeed, it is: about control of the content and its associated advertising, and when, how, and where consumers view it. You talk of releasing consumers from the control of the content owners and providers, but you would do it while delivering them, and yourselves, into the arms of Microsoft's control, which is especially ironic, given that Microsoft and Bill Gates have publicly stated that they're angling for control of the living room and end-to-end content delivery. They're not going to do that themselves; they're going to do it by controlling the critical pieces of tools such as yours. While the tool is enabling, it is as such at the expense of being tied to proprietary Microsoft technologies. That's the disappointing part to some: your product itself is so innovative; it's a turnkey solution to a problem many are now - and many more will be - looking to solve, but you do it with a solution that doesn't release consumers from control, but rather simply shifts that control. That's the concern.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
remember, part of the reason we built the entire slingbox on a dsp (read: "software baby") is to
1) give us the flexibility to utilize our Lebowski stream optimization technology (SlingStream is now the much more boring name for it...i hope Rich, our VP of Marketing is reading this)
and
2) give us the flexibility to support additional / different features (including codecs in the future)

Btw, if we would have gone with something like h.264 out of the chute, we would have likely realized a shipment delay of another quarter at least (additional work on the decode side, especially in terms of testing).

And yes, we all know of Mr. Gates' plans for world domination...if that is truly Mr. Gates' plan, then I think he will start to see Sling as the snake to his mongoose, or mongoose to his snake...either way it's bad, I don't think he knows animals.

quick: the first person to post what movie i am referring to wins a free slingbox.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Please bring slingbox to Mac platform. Also, I appreciate your candor in the Q&A, although I think calling smething "bullshit" is probably not hte best PR move.


Dave,
Wow DATN is slick.
I wish I was still in the Madison area so that I could hop on the network.
cheers!]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/that's a classic blake, loved the interview btw
sounds like you have a bit more concern as to the actual benefits of the customers rather than the amount of $$ you can reap from them]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
Good try Eddy... :-)]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
OK, given the "A" for effort, you get one too.]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
BTW, what part of Magic Cap did you work on?

But, back on topic, do you know if you will ever be releasing a Windows Smartphone version of your software for the SlingBox? Right now that is the only thing standing between me and a SlingBox (I have to capture from my TV tuner card and run a script to encode to Windows Media to get my shows on my phone).]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
Now, qhen I see products like yours I think of one big roadblock to their adoption - the disgusting upstream caps the vast majority of ISPs impose on their users. Do you forsee ISPs increasing upstream speeds or consumers at least asking for increased upstream speeds because they wish to stream video from their StreamBox or similar devices/applications? I've seen devices for sale before that are neat home servers... and always wondered how the company would react when Jane Doe calls tech support saying they just got a letter from their ISP telling them their terms of service had been violated because they don't allow servers. ISPs do this, I've been told, because they think if you're sending data you're probably getting paid for it, and they want their cut... not sure if thats the whole truth...]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/Dec 19th 2005 1:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/http://www.engadget.com/2005/07/18/the-engadget-interview-blake-krikorian-ceo-of-sling-media/
This is the real danger of the Microsoft world -- getting everything to automatically use them by default, and everything else is a "tough conversion".

Yes, I've got a Mac. Yes, I currently live in Europe. No, I'm not even going to consider getting a SlingBox until you support cross-platform standards-based formats/protocols (as opposed to proprietary Microsoft ones), and you support the Mac.


I see another problem with this product -- most broadband providers I know of will not allow users on dynamic IP addresses to keep them for a long period of time. IME, 24-36 hours is about it. Most users don't have static IP addresses.

Short of registering with DynDNS.org (or some equivalent service), and having the router constantly monitor for network status and disconnecting/reconnecting and/or rebooting as necessary to automatically pick up the network connection again after it was dropped, and then re-updating your listing with DynDNS.org, how do you give people a single URL that will let them come into your SlingBox?]]>Dec 19th 2005 1:02AM