Sling Media finally today announced the start of shipments of its years-in-the-making SlingCatcher "universal" media player.

The SlingCatcher can connect to any SlingBox and display its content on a TV or video display via HDMI, component video, S-Video or composite video connections (as well as both analog and digital audio connectors). Network connection is via Ethernet; the SlingCatcher does not have a built-in wireless LAN support.

The SlingCatcher also can display content from a USB hard or flash drive connected to its dual USB 2.0 ports. Current supported formats include WMV, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, H.264 and Xvid as well as a number of file formats including .avi, .vob, .ifo, .mpg, .mov, .wma.

Sling is also developing (but not yet shipping) a "SlingSync" utility that will convert other files into a format that can be played back on the TV via SlingCatcher.

Finally, SlingCatcher can display anything that appears on a PC screen via its SlingProjector software.

SlingCatcher is available now at an MSRP of $299.99.

Tags: Media player, Sling,

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