Signal re-transmission goes mainstream

At the risk of seeming a little geeky Echostar have just released a new piece of kit which will help your average IP pirate greatly.

Having bought Slingbox (the company) a while ago (fiddly to set up) they have now integrated the re-transmission capability of the slingbox with a set top box and 500GB of storage - for £350.

The HDS-600RS allows your average video pirate great scope and even has the capability to stream in HD. Previously to replicate the activities of this box much time / money needed to be spent sticking together unrelated pieces of kit from Maplin or Radio Shack followed by some gentle tapping with a hammer to make it all work.

Combine this with high speed upstream bandwidth (perhaps 5mbps) and you have a technical capability that would have cost millions (£) only 10 years ago.