Slingbox Rules!

[encece]

I just bought a Slingbox at BestBuy last friday!
http://www.slingmedia.com

It rules. I watch TV on my laptop from anywhere in the house and now watch TV at work ocassionally from across the net. Controlling MY OWN cable box/DVR. Very cool indeed. Highly recommended.

[Mike Temporale]

Sounds like a very interesting device. Can you burn or move content from that device to something that can burn it? Also, what format does it record into?

[encece]

No....you can't yet record from it (probably to avoid lawsuits). But it is supposedly a Windows Media Stream so someone will figure it out once it (hopefully) is a bit more widespread.

It more like a location-shifter. Pumping the Video and Audio thru your router to anywhere in the world you want. (as long as you have their app on the other end and know your device's location and number).

The device doesnt record....but I can controll my DVR/Cable Box thru it (or whatever you have connected to it, VCR, TV, Stereo, Tivo, Sattellite TV or Radio, etc) So I can watch TV from work and decide to record a show. Or go thru my DVR's program guide and schedule recrdings.

Basically it is this:
You plug whatever into it's Audio/Video inputs. Then you plug the box into your router...in my case wireless.

Then you install the app on your pc and watch/control the TV from the PC. So I could carry my laptop outside on the deck and watch TV on it AND control all of my Cablebox/DVR functions. So in the end, I have hundreds of channels on my laptop.

I also installed the app on my work computer 25 miles away.....could be on the other side of the world.

Via the internet, I connect to the box at my house....and watch/control my home cable box. This is all without setting up a static IP address at my home. Just by entering in my Slingbox's ID number.

Nice!

So I watch CNN all day today while I worked. (Okay, I thru on Spongebob for a while t as well!) :)

[Mike Temporale]

So is this even location aware? Does it need to know who your cable provider is? I guess I'm asking if there is any chance it would work in Canada?

[encece]

Doesnt need to know ANYTHING!

When your setting up the software at home...to configure the device...it gives you a long code...probably the result of encrypring some information.

But when you install the software on ANY OTHER PC in the world...you tell it what that code is and it finds the box! Amazing. Especially since I dont really understand all the dynamics of IP addresses, ports, etc.