SlingMedia Challenger HAVA Coming To Symbian Soon
I already have a Slingbox Pro, which I’ve finally set back up in the new Casa Guru and am enjoying on both my laptop and my Nokia N95, though the SlingPlayer Mobile application. If you’re not familiar, the Slingbox is a hardware box that connects to your cable/satellite box or TV and allows you to placeshift the content, viewing it anywhere there is an internet connection strong enough for streaming video. Through a convenient interface, the SlingPlayer Mobile application allows me to watch live TV, as well as to fully interact with my DVR recorder, all from my N95-3.
The whole setup rocks, hard, but unfortunately there isn’t a client for my Nokia N810 Internet Tablet, which, due to the bigger screen, would easily be a much better way to view remote video like that. There have been rumors of an Internet Tablet client from Slingmedia, but I’m not holding my breath, either.
Enter the HAVA system, from Monsoon Multimedia, the company behind the Dazzle line of PC products. HAVA has a similar setup to the Slingbox, and is priced around the same, as well, starting at around $100 and going up, depending on the model you choose. There are 2 key differences, however:
1. The HAVA system supports WiFi in its boxes, eliminating Sling’s requirement of a hardline data connection.
2. The HAVA system currently supports the Internet Tablets, and gives its mobile client for free, while Sling charges $30 (except for the N95, which currently has a free promotion going on).
HAVA has mentioned that they plan on releasing a Symbian client in the 2nd half of 2008, while already supporting Windows Mobile and the aforementioned Internet Tablets. Thoughtfix has already tested the mobile client and checked out the hardware box, and Jonathan Greene of MaemoApps.com has recently snagged a review unit for his Internet Tablet.
Personally, I’m really excited at the possibility of a single company supporting both the Internet Tablet and the Symbian community. Which would you prefer, placeshifting on your Symbian-based handset or the Internet Tablet series?
I use a wifi ethernet bridge with my slingbox. That removes the hard wiring requirement.
Archos TV+ has got Symbian player and download link is pointing to HAVA. Also that S60 player is named as Hava product.
2. Please find the Symbian S60 3rd edition builds at:
http://monsoonftp.com/download/Archos/SymbianS60/0.0.0.20/HavaSymbian_N80.sis
This build is tested on N80 and requests for a lower maximum bitrate (200Kbps).
http://monsoonftp.com/download/Archos/SymbianS60/0.0.0.20/HavaSymbian_N95.sis
This build is tested on N95 and requests for a maximum bitrate of 300Kbps.
Both the above builds might work on other Symbian S60 3rd edition (FP1 optionally), ARM9 (or above in the ARM series) based phones also.
Download link:
http://www.archos.com/support/download/client_plugin_tvp.html?country=global&lang=en