What is Slingbox?

Remotely Watch and Control Your Television via the Internet

Slingbox is a very cool product that routes signals from your satellite, cable box, or personal video recorder to your computer. The Slingbox can transmit signals to any computer in your house that has an internet connection, or to any computer in the world that has a broadband internet connection. Oh, and if you don't want to lug your laptop around, you can "sling" your signal to a Windows-based cell phone or PDA, such as the Palm Treo, HP iPaq or Motorola Q.

Sling Media, the maker of Slingbox, says it's all about staying connected to your favorite programs, wherever your life takes you. Choose the SlingboxTUNER, SlingboxAV, or SlingboxPRO, depending on your needs, and the type of programming and equipment you have at home.

The Slingbox lets you watch your home television almost anywhere, including any subscriptions, special programming, or sports packages you may have, with no extra fees. If you can watch it on your home TV, Slingbox will bring it to your computer, phone or portable device.

How Slingbox Works

The Slingbox device plugs into your television source (cable, satellite, set-top box or DVR) using a coaxial, component, composite, or S-video cable. The network connector on the Slingbox then connects to your Internet router with a standard ethernet cable, or wirelessly with a special bridge adapter. An infrared cable from the Slingbox, pointed at your TV or DVR gives you the ability to remotely control them from your computer. No matter how you connect the Slingbox, you'll need to install the SlingPlayer interface software on your computer or portable wireless device, in order to view the video programming remotely.

Slingbox Products

As mentioned earlier, Sling Media offers a great line of products. Each product is designed for a specific function. For example SlingboxTUNER is used to transmit regular television signals to your computer; SlingboxAV is used to transmit digital programming from satellites, DVRs and digital cable to your computer; and SlingboxPRO is used when you have several different multimedia configurations that you want to transmit to your computer.

Competing Products and Services

While Slingbox is a pioneer in this market, they are not alone. An up-and-coming product that will inevitably give Slingbox a run for their money is Hava Wireless. Hava Wireless offers consumers similar functions to the Slingbox, however, it also offers several unique features that make it a more versatile product. Some of the unique features offered by Hava Wireless include: easy wireless connections, it works well with Windows XP Media Center Edition which will allow you to record streaming video live on your PC, and finally, it allows up to four viewers at a time to access the streaming video signal within your household (Slingbox only allows the streaming video to be accessed by one receiver at a time.)

Another competitor of the Slingbox is Orb, which has been dubbed "Slingbox without the box" and is offered as a free download. To use Orb all you have to do is to install the software on your home computer, and install a TV tuner like Hauppauge's WinTV PVR-150ADS, or the Diamond XtremeTV PVR660. To view your TV programming, logon to the "MyCast" page at Orb.com with any device that has an internet connection and a streaming media player.