Sling has announced their new media portal to compete with Hulu, YouTube and other sites today. And of course when we read news like this, we ask – how will people be able to download or record these video streams?
At-Large Recorder is already working with SlingPlayer 2.0, so that’s one option, but I suspect they will use a different technology (Flash?) for their media service. Once we get our beta invite and try it out, we’ll let you know what we discover.
As far as the service goes, here’s our take. The Clip-and-Sling idea is moronic – I sincerely doubt people will take the time to make clips of TV shows, and also people will be less than likely to watch them. Of course, people DO this already in YouTube, but the effort involved in this acts as a natural filter for presenting interesting things to viewers. if it’s too easy to make clips of TV shows, there will be a lot of noise. Also – being tied to the content owners may limit the flexibility of end-users to make compelling clips. We’ll have to see how the service evolves.
However – if they can provide LiveTV over the web, I can see that as being a game changer. And with the new SlingCatcher boxes coming out which let your TV become the viewing hardware for any Sling stream, we may finally get true IPTV. This will open the floodgates for other similar services, as nobody wants to be left behind.