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V. Rishi Kumar

Hyderabad , Aug 25

A HANDFUL of techies based in the India design centre, along with their US counterparts, have developed an innovative convergence device. This takes your drawing room experience virtually anywhere, allowing access to your favourite local channel seamlessly over the Internet.

One can watch the latest cricket match or Harry Potter movie either on a laptop, desktop or any other convergence personal digital assistant or a GPRS-enabled handset, as if he were at home. All he needs to do is to connect a compact device, Slingbox.

In fact, he can install a camera at home and be in touch with his people and possibly also handle other interconnected devices on a wireless field.

A product of Sling Media, this device has been launched in the US recently and has received overwhelming response, and the effort is now directed to reach this to other parts of the world.

The General Manager of Sling Media India, Mr Manish Singhal, told Business Line, "The quest for this convergence device started when the founder CEO of Sling Media, Mr Blake Krikorian, missed his favourite baseball match while travelling."

So what is Slingbox? It is a compact electronic device that connects to the back of your TV and enables a consumer to watch live TV programming wherever they are, by turning virtually any laptop or Internet connected device into a personal TV.

The Slingbox connects to a consumer's personal TV source, including a TiVo, cable box, analog cable, satellite receiver, or virtually any other device, and to high-speed broadband network or Internet connection, including DSL (digital subscriber loop) and cable modem. Once connected, the user can watch and control the living room TV experience.

Under the hood, the Slingbox utilises a high-performance digital signal processor from Texas Instruments and builds on top of Microsoft's latest Windows Media technologies.

This is backed by Sling Media's proprietary stream optimisation technology to enhance the consumer viewing experience over a wide range of networks and devices. As opposed to TV tuner card in a laptop, this allows a user to watch a programme from home.

Slingbox costs $249.99 and just as in other consumer devices, as volumes go up, the prices will come down. The company is planning an international footprint and expects to rollout in the first half of 2006.

Sling Media, which has an R&D Centre in Bangalore, has raised $11.5 million in funding in Series A. Its main investors are Mobius Ventures, DCM - Doll Capital Management and The Hearst Corporation. Sling Media has also firmed up a growth capital line of $4 million from Hercules Technology Growth Capital.

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