Slingbox is nice

I remember the release of the Slingbox. So when faced with the object in person, I just had to give it a whirl.

This thing is stupidly simple to set up. The idea is that you can plug the Slingbox between your TV and the source of your TV viewing. ANYTHING with a video output, and I mean ANYTHING. Most will plug their Tivo's, or cable boxes into it. You can plug game consoles, video cameras, or as in my case a DirecTivo. They put all the cables you can think of in the box, and yes, the Slingbox has ports IN and OUT. So unlike most other televisual electronics, it actually can plug in, straight out of the box. That includes stereo audio of course. Then just plug the included network cable into your home network. I used a wireless bridge, as I was not going to lay on eight million miles of CAT5 cable through the house just to reach my new toy research product.

The software comes with it, but I just went online and got the latest version of the Slingplayer. Upon installation you tell it what sort of video device you have plugged it into, and it even gives you remote control of your video. By way of an IR Blaster, which is a little emmitter which acts like the light that normally comes from your remote control in your hand. As you set up the device for the first time, you can tell it which model of electronics you have and it will make sure it acts like the remote control, so you don't have to run up/down the whole house to pause or stop the movie etc.

At the end of the setup you are watching your normal television on your computer monitor. You can size the picture as tiny or as large as you like, up to full screen. The magic happens when you go out of your house and watch it in another place over the internet. So the idea is you can watch (and control) your home tv from anywhere in the world.

It guides you through opening your firewall, which you need to do if you want to be able to watch it on the go. If you don't you can still use it within your own network of course.

As soon as I get on the road, I will report back, but so far the thing is amazing.

Of course, the idea is that when you DO go on the road, you will be probably watching on a laptop. So when the software setup starts, it asks you if you have already set up the hardware. If you have, it skips everything and gives you a completed customized setup for your chosen Slinbox. When on the road you can connect via IP or using your ID code of your Slinbox so you can 'find' it from where ever you are.

Groovy. So far the only weirdness that I can find with it (although I haven't taken it on the road yet) is that sometimes the audio seems to slow down ever so slightly. I assume the image does too, but it's harder to see it perhaps.


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