Ad: Manage updates with the Download App
ie8 fix

pro-hd

Plantronics Voyager Pro HD

SAN DIEGO--Plantronics has just announced its latest flagship headset, the Plantronics Voyager Pro HD. It's essentially a more consumer-friendly version of its Voyager Pro UC product, which is currently for sale in certain business channels.

Like the Pro UC, the Voyager Pro HD has a Smart Sensor technology that knows to automatically transfer calls to your headset once you place it on your ear. Other features also include A2DP audio streaming, noise cancellation, wind noise reduction, and more. The HD in the name points to improved high-definition audio for both streaming music and phone calls.… Read more

GoPro HD cam turns cats into videographers

The GoPro HD camera can be mounted to many, many things--helmets, surfboards, and cars. Apparently it's also small and lightweight enough to hang around your cat's neck. The movie above, which says it's the first movie filmed by cats, was shot using the GoPro HD and for a camera designed for shooting outdoors it handles indoors/low-light conditions quite well.

This movie was inspired by the results from a study conducted by Nestle Purina PetCare's Friskies brand. For that, 25 cats wore specially designed portable video cameras around their necks to capture daily clips for five … Read more

Hands-on: SlingPlayer Mobile for Android

Owners of Android-based smartphones have been clamoring for a version of SlingPlayer for some time now, and last week the streaming software finally made its way to the platform.

Sling Media had promised various improvements in overall performance, and these speed tweaks are immediately noticeable compared with the experience on Windows Mobile or even an iPhone. We were impressed to see how quickly the software loads, and once we configured all the appropriate settings, we were able to get video less than two seconds after hitting the application icon.

We used SlingPlayer for Android with a Slingbox Solo and an older Slingbox AV model. Even though Sling says the AV model isn't designed to work with the Android player, we had no issues getting a clear picture from our AV box. The only drawback we could find using a Slingbox AV is that we weren't able to get a full-screen video playing with the AV as our source. On the other hand, the Solo had no problem streaming video that fit our HTC Evo's entire screen.… Read more

GoPro HD Hero Motorsports sacrifices simplicity for flexibility

On paper, the GoPro HD Hero is hitting on all cylinders. It's rugged, it's compact, and--to top it all off--it shoots in five modes of video (four of which are HD) and high-resolution still photography. But then you go to use it and things start to run a little less smoothly.

The HD Hero's weakest point lies with its thumbnail-size LCD screen and pinhead-size icons. With only two buttons and a cryptic menu system, the Hero's options screen probably shouldn't be tackled without an instruction manual close at hand. How else are you supposed to … Read more

Slingbox Pro-HD: The Slingbox goes high-def

When Sling Media released a trio of second-generation models in the fall of 2006, the Slingbox Pro was at the top of the line. Unlike the entry-level Slingbox AV, the Pro had pass-through outputs, an analog tuner, multisource capability, and the ability to accept high-def video sources. Unfortunately, it also came with a handful of caveats: While it could accept HD video, it downcoverted that to 640x480 for streaming--and you needed to invest in a $50 dongle if you wanted to use a component video (HD) source. It was also an ugly maroon color, ensuring that it contrasted with everything else in your home-theater equipment rack. The third-generation Slingbox Solo appeared the following year, co-opted nearly all of the Pro's key features, making the need for an upgrade to the Pro even more apparent. … Read more

SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD finally on their way?

If you've been waiting been patiently waiting for the SlingCatcher, we feel your pain. We first saw the device back at CES 2007 and were impressed, but then it never came out. Then we saw it again at CES 2008 and we were told it would be out in the second quarter of 2008--and Sling missed that deadline. Now it's September and still no SlingCatcher.

With all these delays, we're about as skeptical as you can be, but Dave Zatz (of Zatz Not Funny and former SlingMedia employee) recently noticed that both the SlingCatcher and Slingbox PRO-HD … Read more

Sling goes high-def: Slingbox PRO-HD

Sling Media has unveiled the Slingbox PRO-HD, the first version of its video place-shifting boxes designed to stream true high-definition video. The catch? Due to the massive bandwidth requirements, HD video can't be streamed over the Internet--just to other locations on a home network. Still, that means that PCs running the SlingPlayer software--or TVs attached to Sling's soon-to-be-reannounced SlingCatcher--should be able to view a high-def stream at up to 1080i resolution with 5.1 surround audio. (To date, some Slingbox models have been able to accept HD video, but the output stream was limited to DVD-level standard-definition resolution.) … Read more