I'm betting that most students have cable or satellite at home but not at their apartments or dorms. So if you're like me, a die-hard Lakers fan, you're probably missing your favorite TV show when it's on. There's always the lounge's TV, but who wants to share the TV with someone else, right?
Thanks to a new product called Slingbox, you don't have to anymore. You can watch TV right there on your PC, Mac or cell phone as long as it's connected to the Internet.
Slingbox is a box that connects to a video source, like your cable box, and broadcasts that input to your connected PC/Mac/phone over the Internet. Depending on which type of Slingbox you get, you can have different inputs.
The most basic Slingbox model is the Tuner, which only accepts cable and antennae inputs. Then there's the AV, which allows for composite inputs, for those of you who have Dish or DirecTV. This can also work with your TiVo or other DVR (digital video recorder), in addition to the standard cable inputs.
At the top of the family is the Pro, which allows for high-definition inputs, along with multiple device inputs, meaning you can control several devices with your Slingbox.
For the nitty-gritty details, Slingbox acts essentially as a remote, also controlled over the Internet.
You'll see a virtual remote on your computer screen that commands the Slingbox and, thus, the connected input source. This allows you to watch your source, which could be thousands of miles away, right there on your PC.
One of the downsides of Slingbox is that it monopolizes your input source. So if you're going to beam DirecTV from home, you will need a separate DirecTV box for Slingbox because Slingbox essentially takes over that box.
Unless whoever is at home wants to watch the same exact thing you're watching, you're out of luck. You're going to have to get a separate source for each Slingbox.
Another downside is the lag time. There's probably a good five-second lag, just from observing my TV and Slingboxed PC playing the same show on my home network. On top of that, you also need a pretty fast Internet connection, upstream and downstream, to be able to use Slingbox effectively.
Otherwise, your PC will just wind up buffering the stream more often than not, causing your video to appear in brief bursts.
But with Slingbox ranging from $60 for the Tuner to $100 for the AV to $200 for the Pro, I still think it's a great deal for students who already have cable at home. Cable alone can easily run you $30 a month, so why pay for cable when your parents are already paying for it at home? Slingbox is a great buy.
