The Slingbox Goes HD, Finally

The new $299 Slingbox PRO-HD started shipping on Thursday from Amazon and should be available in various retail locations in the next couple weeks. Among other new features, the PRO-HD now comes with a built-in digital tuner as well as a plethora of inputs to accommodate your DVR, digital cable or satellite receiver.

Sling Media also just completed a sizable update for its SlingPlayer software for Windows XP and Vista users, which adds the DVR-like ability to pause, rewind and fast forward live television streams, as well as a new built-in programming guide that lets you browse programming schedules outside the player window as you stream content.

A note for Mac users: While the core Slingbox features are still supported by both Macs and PCs, Sling Media says that HD streaming is currently only supported by Windows. Mac users will get the feature after an upcoming software patch, according to the company.