EchoStar’s innovations ‘wowed’ the TMC (News - Alert) team at the SCTE show in New Orleans this week. I got to witness firsthand the new developments from the popular Slingbox models equipped with easier installation, cheaper offerings, and customizable features.

EchoStar, a company dedicated to the cable industry and devoted experience developing TV set-top boxes has been recognized through various award programs and contribution to the consumer electronics and content-provider industries. With the Homeplug features, consumers can essentially set up a “remote remote” as I like to call it, with a device that enables changing channels from separate rooms in your house.

Requiring not much more than a simple USB plug-in, the Slingbox 700U allows TV service providers to enable viewers to watch video content in HD on a laptop or desktop from any remote location in the world. Just some simple software integration is required.

The Slingbox 120 is the new hot item enabling users to watch standard-definition TV from any location including anything pre-recorded on their personal DVR’s. Margit Tritt, national accounts manager for EchoStar revealed in an interview that EchoStar’s driving force for these new products is the reactions from consumers in the marketplace. “They want it simple, and they want it all,” she noted. She showed me the Slingbox application on mobile phones such as Android (News - Alert), iPhone, and Blackberry – all very impressive.

The quality was remarkable, and she hit a soft spot when she made me realize that if I were watching a cooking show in my living room, I could just as easily hop into my kitchen, log on to my laptop, and watch the rest of the meal preparation in real-time while doing it myself with the chef. Paula Deen, here I come.

News from EchoStar as to developments with the applications for the iPad is soon to come. We await with bated breath!

Juliana Kenny graduated from the University of Connecticut with a double degree in English and French. After managing a small company for two years, she joined TMC as a Web Editor for TMCnet. Juliana currently focuses on the call center and CRM industries, but she also writes about cloud telephony and network gear including softswitches.

Edited by Stefania Viscusi