I actually just heard about this, Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal was on CNBC and has an article in the paper today about it. They just came out today.

Here's the WSJ article: http://online.wsj.com/public/articl...0060629,00.html

The official site: http://www.slingmedia.com/

CompUSA link: http://www.compusa.com/products/pro...29231&pfp=srch1

They are only available at CompUSA and Best Buy right now the way it sounds.

Mossberg seemed very impressed with it, saying the video quality was quite good. This sounds very promising and like a great gadget. $250 one time payment, no monthly fees.

Anybody planning on getting one, or already have one? I'll wait for more reviews, but this would be wonderful if it worked like it's supposed to.

Some folks calls it a Kaiserbox, mmmm hmmm.

I just picked one up, I'll let you know how it works when I get it going.

So I got my Slingbox hooked up and working last night. Basically it connects to your Tivo/DTivo/Cable box, whatever, and your broadband connection on the other end, so you can watch and control your device on your computer from anywhere there is a broadband connection (or over your network).

Setup was a breeze (I have it hooked up to my DirecTivo and a wireless gaming adapter), it came with all cables you could need (svideo, 2 a/v, coax), a software CD came w/it, but there was a sticker on it that said to go online and d/l the latest software. It was a big 25mb file, after downloading and installing the software, it was immediately ready to play.

Watching over the LAN, I was getting between 700 and 900 Kbps, over the internet, about 550-800 Kbps. When going through the Now Playing List and other menus, and when flipping channels, it was a little slow, but the reaction time was actually only a couple of seconds behind what it was on the Tivo. But once you were on a channel for a few seconds, things were fine and play was smooth.

This device would be especially nice for people who travel a lot but would like to watch the local news or sports or something recorded on their DVR (or to set up a recording from a thousand miles away ), or if you don't feel like working, you could just watch what's on at home from the office. Or in my case, I hate wasting a nice day sitting inside watching TV - so now I can sit outside and watch TV .

It's a bit pricey - $250. It also doesn't support multiple users at once or multiple inputs. And obviously if somebody is watching it online, the person at home in front of the actual TV would have to be watching the same thing or unplug the Slingbox and tick off the other.

I'm not sure if it's legal or how it will work, but I know you can setup guest passwords to let others watch temporarily. So if anybody is really interested but doesn't want to make a blind purchase, I might be willing to set up a temporary guest account for you to see how you like it.

i'd be interested. i've been trying to find a way to do what this device apparently does, which is to watch what's on my tivo/replayTV while away from home. email me at

edit: email removed

I just got one of these too. Pretty easy to set up and the picture ain't bad at all.

is there an app or plug in required to view the TV on the remote PC?

The box comes with a player to install on your pc

so you need to install on all comps that you want to use to watch tv (i.e. work comp, friends' comp, etc)?

Can you watch in realtime ...or near realtime?

Viewing on a LAN, the lag is maybe 3 seconds. Over the internet, I'd say about 6-7 seconds, no more than 10.

The nice thing is that they are always updating the firmware and SlingPlayer software, so while it is a pain d/ling a 25mb software monthly or so, it is nice that they are always updating. The most recent update has really improved PQ. They also now allow multiple inputs - so I can connect my DTivo and my DVD player. I can put a DVD in the player, leave, and watch it from school (obviously most people have DVD players in their laptops anyways, but it's still nice).

Worth $250? I'd say for most people here who watch a lot of TV and have Tivos, it'd be worth it if you work in an office where you could d/l the software (or use your own laptop).