Arriving completely out-of-the-blue at various Best Buy stores are Slingbox’s 350 and 500 units. Unfortunately, Best Buy isn’t allowing them to be sold, and prices are somehow showing up at the register as $1,000, but that’s probably just a temporary placeholder for when they actually go on sale.

New features primarily include built-in Wi-Fi, 1080p streaming support, and on-screen setup options. The 500 doesn’t seem to include an ATSC TV tuner (as the PRO-HD does), but fortunately, it supports HDMI (might have some HDCP issues). Lastly, the 350 doesn’t seem to support HDMI. All told, both models a fresh redesign. Official announcements are expected in mid-October. Check out some of the photos of the boxes, courtesy of Zats Not Funny, below.

Personally, I’m a huge fan of the Slingbox PRO-HD, however its sub-720p streaming quality, lack of integrated Wi-Fi, and expensive mobile apps are a real let-down when compared to other solutions, such as Belkin’s @TV. The Slingbox 500, so far, is looking to be a worthy upgrade.

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Source (Zats Not Funny!)