Word: slingbox
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Dates: during 2005-2005
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...More: slingmedia.com Every so often, a handy gadget comes along and changes our TV habits. In the 1990s WebTV married the Net with the tube, and TiVo famously began freeing us from network schedules. Now comes a new appliance to shift not when you watch your TV but where. Slingbox hooks up to your home set and beams whatever is onscreen to any Web-enabled device loaded with special software. Waiting for a plane in Paris? Use your laptop and the airport's wireless network to watch the local news from back home-or a DVD or an old show...
...Though I rank setting up a Slingbox as a much easier task than configuring a wireless network or, say, building a bird feeder, you are expected to have a wired or wireless network router already in place, and know a bit about networking. The best way to connect a Slingbox to your router (besides plugging it in directly) is via a powerline Ethernet bridge, like the Netgear XE102 ($60 each). You actually need two-one to connect to the Slingbox in your TV room, and another to pick up the signal in the room where your router is. The setup...
...Ironically, the most trouble you can run into is if you have one of the latest high-definition cable boxes. Telling an HD box to send out the old-style analog TV signal required by the Slingbox can be daunting, and in some cases, next to impossible...
...question, once it's all up and running, is, how's the video? Truth is, I wasn't bowled over. You're not going to get any pleasure watching Full Metal Jacket or The House of Flying Daggers on your Slingbox, but Family Guy and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart are passable. Think "sitcom" or better yet, "animated sitcom...
...Only time will tell whether the Slingbox turns out to be as addictive as an iPod. But just like TiVos before it, if you really love your TV, and I mean YOUR TV, Slingbox might just be your new best friend...