Monsoon Multimedia’s third generation of Vulkano placeshifters are nearly upon us given this FCC filing. While the current Flow, Lava, and Blast model names will be retained, the Vulkano 3 enclosure has been entirely redesigned. Dispensing with their elongated Slingbox-esque plastics, Monsoon is going with a square footprint this time around – perhaps in the neighborhood of 7.5″ x 7.5″. Presumably, the hardware internals will also see some revision as well… to bring down manufacturing costs and hopefully enable high def streaming, which is still notably absent. Then again, the Vulkano line offers perks Slingbox owners have yet to see – namely integrated WiFi and video recording capabilities.
The original Vulkano “God box” failed to meet my expectations, but the company rebounded with the barebones $99 Flow placeshifter — which I found to be a solid value at $99. Meanwhile, Monsoon has continued to refine the Vulcano placeshifting experience with updates including recent firmware (July) and Windows software (September) upgrades.
And, if all that wasn’t enough, the Vulkano Flow will be available in Canada any day now for $99 CAD (via Amazon, The Brick, and directly through Monsoon).