The new HD Connect adapter has recently been released for the Slingbox Pro which allows you to placeshift video from HDTV sources.But don't start thinking "wow I can placeshift High Definition TV" because you can't. HD video takes up a lot of bandwidth so the HD Connect downgrades the 720p or 1080i video into a 640x480 video stream.
But don't despair just yet, the video quality is noticeably better than normal quality and when you stream within your home network you will get near HD quality.
When you stream over the internet the quality is lower at 320x240 but still looks better than your regular 'slinged' video.
According to Charlie White of ConsumerElectronicsNet the higher video quality was noticeable using the SlingPlayer Mobile for Windows software on my Motorola Q Smartphone.
1. If you look at the picture, he's using a pre-release version of the dongle. I don't believe it's shipping yet (and he probably shouldn't have photographed it). Currently the Slingbox Pro hardware offers up to 640x480 video resolution, but after speaking with their engineering team it is capable of higher resolutions - perhaps one day they'll implement them.
Posted at 9:25AM on Dec 1st 2006 by Dave Zatz