placeshifting
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Pinnacle rolls out PCTV To Go placeshifting box, bundles WiFi
If you're scouting the perfect placeshifting device to cure those television blues while stuck at your TV-less grandmother's house for Thanksgiving, the Slingbox might not be the obvious choice anymore. Granted, it'll probably be awhile before the current king is dethroned, Pinnacle is giving the shifting game its best shot with the PCTV To Go. Sporting built-in WiFi / Windows MCE support, this content liaison works essentially like any other timeshifting device out there, and channels MPEG4 video to wherever you're logged in (or MPEG2 if connected locally). It also allows full control over your attached DVR, giving you the opportunity to schedule a recording for that oh-so-critical rerun of Nick Arcade, Season One. It reportedly works seamlessly with your home entertainment system, acting as a pass-through device that won't complicate things when wiring it up, but there's no word on whether it supports HD signals. The Pinnacle PCTV To Go should be available just before Turkey Day for a very competitive $249.99.[Via PVRWire]
Sling Media to partner with major carrier soon?
Not a lot of info on this one just yet, but apparently Sling Media's reveling CEO made a potent announcement at the recent Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. While Sling has made accessing your time-shifted material easier than ever -- even on a myriad of mobile devices -- Blake Krikorian has reportedly claimed that a deal is in the works to partner with "a major mobile carrier" here in the States. He also made note of a few European deals that were also going down, but giving MobiTV such much-needed competition here in the US of A is certainly what's piquing our interest. mocoNews seems to feel that T-Mobile or Cingular (or Amp'd?) could be the lucky provider to get Sling's blessing, but as of know, we're admittedly being left in the dark about exactly who's in line to seal the deal.
Major League Baseball not a fan of placeshifting
After alienating fans with long strikes and doped-up players, you'd think that Major League Baseball would be wise to make moves towards recapturing its lost fan base; instead, recent comments by an executive from MLB's media division indicate that baseball may be intending to further sour relations with its customers by cracking down on the placeshifting of televised games. Speaking at this year's Digital Media Summit in LA, MLB Advanced Media executive VP George Kliavkoff went toe-to-toe with fellow panel member and Sling Media marketing VP Rich Buchanan, arguing that Slingbox customers are "violating the scope of their [cable and satellite] user agreements" when they rebroadcast content out of their home market. The whole issue seems rather silly to us, as baseball is essentially complaining that you're somehow screwing a local affiliate by watching an out-of-market game when you're traveling to its city, even though the sport as a whole is still benefiting from your viewership and the vast number of placeshifters probably ensure that no net eyeballs are actually lost. Note to MLB: Cricket is starting to look more and more attractive every day.
Orb works TiVo with DVR Everywhere
Orb (finally) just officially took a page out of the Book of SlingBox today with the release of DVR Everywhere, their TiVo-streaming and controlling Orb add-on (not to be easily confused with TiVoAnywhere, that other Orb / TiVo add-on which is now apparently DVR Everywhere). Basically you'll get the same easy-to-use no firewall adjustments necessary Orb experience steamed to your laptop or portable in Real, Windows Media, or 3GP, but with recordings culled from your Series2 TiVo (which is also controllable by said software -- something also available for a while). Not quite as versatile as your SlingBox, which can pull video from just about any DVR device you can throw at it, but hey, it's a start -- especially if you've been considering that new dual tuner TiVo that we've been dangling from a string.[Via PR Newswire]
