Monsoon has announced the "general availability" of a new placeshifting box, the Vulkano Flow. As we learned during CES, this box has a $99 price tag and trims last year's Vulkano to just the placeshifting essentials. It's most similar to the Slingbox Solo in that it will accept HD inputs but can only stream video at a max 720x480 resolution, which could be passable watching on a PC with a small screen or one of the mobile apps (iOS, Blackberry, Android, $12.99/ea.) There are a few hands-ons and reviews out already, with ZatzNotFunny noting a few tweaks were still necessary to get things running while The Gadgeteer has a bevy of screenshots for you to check out the UI. Monsoon's other new box, the Blast, is still launching in "the near future," which builds on the Flow's specs (detailed after the break) with DVR recording capability and HDMI output for $199.
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Monsoon Multimedia Announces Vulkano Flow General Availability
Vulkano Flow Allow Consumers to Carry Their TV Anywhere on Smartphones, PCs, Macs, iPads and Tablets for Only $99
SAN MATEO, CA – April 6, 2011 – Monsoon Multimedia, a leading provider of video convergence products, today announced the general availability of the Vulkano Flow mobile accessory for TV anywhere. When connected to any set-top box, the new Vulkano Flow streams any TV channel a subscriber receives to mobile devices, tablets and computers inside or outside of the home.
The Flow has a simplified installation process and allows TV content viewing of any channel on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry smartphones and tablets, iPads, Macs, PCs and soon on Windows 7 and Symbian devices. The Vulkano Flow is now available as a mobile accessory for $99 at Fry's Electronics, Amazon, TigerDirect and other leading retailers or through Monsoon's website: www.myvulkano.com.
"According to analysts, 2.5 billion phones, tablets and other mobile gadgets will be capable of connecting to the Internet around the globe by 2015, and video is becoming a huge part of how people are communicating and entertaining themselves," said Colin Stiles, EVP of sales and marketing at Monsoon. "We wanted to provide consumers with an affordable TV streaming accessory for their smartphones and tablets to watch their television programming service during their commute, while they are out of town or wherever they are regardless of their TV service provider."
After moving through the intuitive set-up process, Flow owners can download Vulkano apps onto their devices from www.myvulkano.com or from the respective device app store. Users can then select channels from the integrated electronic programming guide (EPG) to watch and control their TV service through a wired Ethernet, Wi-Fi or 3G connection from anywhere in the world. Software players for PCs/Macs, iPhone and iPad devices also come with Pause/Live functions to provide users with the option to fast-forward and rewind the content they are viewing.
Summary of Vulkano Flow Features:
• Place shift television programming and view on smartphones, Android tablets, iPads, PCs and Macs
• Pause, fast-forward or rewind live TV
• Browse EPG for shows and episode descriptions
• Mark channels as Favorite for quick access
• Watch and control your live TV on the go via Wi-Fi or 3G
• Connect to all major TV sources - cable, DVD, satellite, DVR, TiVo
• Stream video at H.264 standards at rates as low as 150kbps
• Connects wirelessly through Vulkano's on board .11n WiFi to home router
• TV content is passed from the set-top box's analog output (component, composite) to Vulkano; using resolutions up to 1080i
Pricing and Availability
The Vulkano Flow is now available at www.myvulkano.com or from Fry's Electronics, Amazon, TigerDirect and other leading retailers and etailers for $99. The Flow comes pre-loaded with PC and Mac players, while iPad, iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, tablet and additional smartphone applications can be purchased for $12.99 each in the respective app stores.
About Monsoon Multimedia
Monsoon Multimedia provides advanced, standards-based multimedia products and convergence technologies for the PC, Mac, iPad, tablets and major smartphones. Founded by the founders of Dazzle and Emuzed, the company has offices in California, India, Russia and Singapore. For more information, please visit www.monsoonmultimedia.com.
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