TV

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone Coming Up Soon

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

We've talked in the past about Sling and their SlingBox, a digital box you connect to your cable box, dish receiver, or DVR and allows you to grab either live or recorded video from that source, anywhere in the world that you can connect to the Internet.

It seems that Sling will be demonstrating SlingPlayer for the iPhone at MacWorld this week and they will be submitting their app to the App Store sometimes in the next few weeks. SlingPlayer will allow you to watch cable TV directly from your iPhone!

Here are a few highlights from the press release:

"SlingPlayer Mobile is ideally suited for the iPhone's large touch screen display and I know iPhone users are eagerly anticipating the application's availability," said Blake Krikorian, co-founder and CEO of Sling Media. "Add to that HD streaming support for Slingbox PRO-HD customers and live TV support on our video entertainment site, Sling.com, and you can see Sling Media is committed to delivering great solutions for Mac users."

SlingPlayer Mobile gives consumers their entire home TV experience, including local channels, local sports teams, video on demand, pay per view, etc. Any program that you can watch on your sofa back home, you can now watch via your iPhone using a standard network connection (3G Cellular, WiFi). In addition, SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone users can also control their home digital video recorder (DVR) to watch recorded shows, pause, rewind, and fast forward live TV, or even queue new recordings while on the road.

Pricing and Availability

SlingPlayer Mobile for iPhone will be submitted to Apple for testing and approval in Q1. The price has not been determined at this time. SlingPlayer for Mac HD will be available for free via the web-based SlingPlayer within Sling.com later in Q1. Mac customers will be able to use either Safari or Firefox web browsers to get both HD streaming and Live TV within Sling.com.

Live TV On Your iPhone

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated November 25, 2016

We already know about Orb, the app that allows you to stream TV to your iPhone. Although very impressive, Orb requires some extra hardware and seems more like a pain in the ass than a truly practical application. Here comes LiveStation, an application currently being developed by UK company Skinkers and that aims at making live TV on your iPhone as easy as it should be...

In the following video, CEO Matteo Berlucchi talks about Livestation and confirms it is currently being worked on. But most interestingly, Matteo shows a demo of the app and it is astonishing! Apparently, Livestation will only work on wifi to be in total compliance with the carriers TOS but I suspect a hack to become available as soon as Livestation is available, to make it work over 3G as well.

Check out this video. Skip the first two minutes if you want to go straight to the point.

Review: OrbLive

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 23, 2016

This review of the OrbLive [iTunes link] iPhone app is at least two weeks in the making. As soon as I saw OrbLive in the App Store, I knew it had to have it. OrbLive streams pictures, video, music and documents over your cellular or Wifi network. But, the REAL gem of the app is its ability to stream LIVE television! But, I had a couple of hurdles to overcome:

I did not have a cable television connection available for my computer. I did not have an MPEG-2 encoder that was compatible.

So, first I had to get a cable connection into my bedroom where my computer is. I went to Radio Shack and spent $50 for a really good 4-way splitter (yes, we have a bunch of TVs in the house) and a really long cable. That was the easy part.

Next, I went shopping for a new TV tuner card/MPEG-2 encoder. I decided to play it safe and get hardware I knew for sure is compatible with Orb, the PC desktop software that streams media to your iPhone. There was none in stock at the local stores, so I bought the WinTV-PVR USB2 off of eBay for $46. It's an external MPEG-2 encoder that can run more than $100.

After installing everything, I have to say that live streaming television iPhone through OrbLive is AWESOME! The picture doesn't looks as good as a digital copy of a movie on your iPod, but it's quite good for streaming TV over 3G and Wi-Fi.

Here's pictures I captured of live TV on my iPhone on 3G and Wi-Fi. Can you guess which is 3G and Wi-Fi?:

For the record, the top is Wi-Fi and the bottom is 3G. I have heard on message boards that the Wi-Fi picture used to look better but I cannot confirm that. Using EDGE for live television is not good at all.

To use OrbLive on the go, just make sure that your desktop PC running Orb is on. If you have an external encoder/tuner you need to make sure that is on as well. As far as I know, Orb does not make software for the Mac.

So, the money I spent on a cable connection, MPEG-2 encoder and a $9.99 app came out to a little more than $100. Was it worth it? I'd have to say that it's a resounding YES! But, like the MasterCard commercials, being able to watch your favorite live program on your iPhone when you're away from home is indeed PRICELESS.

i.TV gets an update. Now allows you to manage your Netflix queue

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

One of my favorite apps, i.TV got an update earlier today and it now allows you to add movies and manage your Netflix queue.

Here’s what is new with this update:

NetFlix

Search results now include over 100,000 DVD titles from Netflix, in addition to TV programs, in-theater movies and detailed show information and cast lists. Discover Netflix DVD titles by tapping the ‘Watch’ button from any TV or movie details screen. Easily reorder or delete items in your Netflix queue from within the My Media tab. Add movies and TV episodes to your Netflix instant watching queue, allowing you to instantly stream content to your Windows PC, Xbox 360, Roku box, TiVo® Series3, TiVo HD, or TiVo HD XL digital video recorders and select Blu-Ray players. (Mac support by end of 2008).

Wikipedia

Wikipedia articles now linked to most show, movie and actor screens.

TV Listings Improvements

Many new TV service providers added Over The Air digital sub channels now available Indicator when a show is NEW Display option to show only NEW programming

Movie and Theater Improvements

Movies can be displayed alphabetically, by star rating, by content rating, and now by location. Use device location services to find movies and theaters near your current location. Movie and theater data is now separate from TV listing data, allowing you to specify a different location for your theater and movie listings. Trailer quality improvements

Other Improvements

Reviews now easier to navigate Simplified account creation Bug fixes and performance improvements

i.TV [iTunes Link] is still free and still one of the best TV apps out there, if not the best. Give it a try!

Using your iPhone to Record Programs to your DirecTV DVR

Guest Author ∙ October 7, 2008

I was looking at a TV Guide app in the store the other day and I thought it was pretty cool, but because I am a DirecTV customer, it is often difficult to find TV Guides that are not aligned with zip codes but with Satellite Regions.

I remembered that the DirecTV page posted a great guide. So I tried to navigate to there page with my iPhone. I could see the page, but it wasn't formatted for the iPhone so it was really difficult to navigate. After a little bit more research I did identify a DirecTV mobile phone page that seems to work well on the iPhone.

This web app doesn't let you browse the DirecTV Guide, but it does allow you to do something even cooler. You can use this site to search and setup your DirecTV DVR to record shows remotely. You can also sign up to see Pay Per View shows and set up series. If you have more than one DVR, it lets you pick which ones to use to record a show.

This is a really cool feature because if you are away from home and you hear about a show you want to record you can now use this page and your iPhone to set it up remotely.

If you have a DVR, just go to the DirecTV.com page and create an account. Then navigate to the mobile compatible page and login.

It has a very basic menu, but pretty much lets me do what i wanted. It has "Search For Shows", and a "Manual Record" feature. No guide, but search is pretty useful.

The Search for Shows feature lets you enter a search string. It display a list of matching shows. Pick one, and it gives you a description and the option to "Record Once", "Record the Series", or see more show times. I have multiple receiver, so when i pick "record", I get a list of receivers. Once i pick the receiver, i can give it a recording priority. Since I can't see the list of what is already set up, I can say "record if possible" or "Definitely Record this".

The Manual Record feature lets you pick a channel, date, time, duration to record just like recording on your old faithful VCR. This is usually only useful when the guide data is not accurate, but neat to have.

Also, I had high hopes for the login part, because the sign in form has a "Remember Me" checkbox, but it doesn't seem to work. Each time I go to the web page, I have to enter it from scratch.

Finally a good TV guide application

Sébastien Page ∙ Updated January 27, 2019

I've been waiting for this since June 29, 2007; a good, useful, TV application for iPhone! It seems that i.TV [iTunes Link] made my wish come true, and even more...

Before i.TV (pronounce "i dot tv"), I used the mobile version of TVGuide.com and although it served its purpose, it was a very unpractical web app. Then came What's On, for which I had big hopes. My hopes just remained hopes as What's On wouldn't have some basic features such as setting channels as "Favorites".

All my past frustrations are now long gone thanks to i.TV. I downloaded this FREE app this morning from the App Store and instantly fell in love with it. According to the company's website:

i.TV is a TV and movie guide for the iPhone and iPod touch.

i.TV helps users discover entertainment options by providing up-to-date information on television shows and movies. Users also benefit from feedback and information provided by other i.TV users who utilize i.TV’s community-focused features. These features enable customers to write reviews and give star ratings to visual media. In addition to this, i.TV allows users to directly access entertainment such as television previews and movie trailers through their iPhone or iPod Touch.

Let's see how it works...