MacBook Pro + Wireless Internet + Slingbox + DVR = A Happy Geek
WARNING — GEEK ALERT!
I’m about 270 miles from home, visiting my wife’s college friend, but this isn’t the only context in which I enjoy this set up. I use it whenever I travel on business and whenever we’re away from home.
My set up consists of the following:
At Home:
A DirecTV DVR (http://www.directv.com)- My personal preference is TiVo, but DirecTV switched to their own proprietary hardware/software. While the current version is much better than the original, I would still go with TiVo if I had a choice, but I don’t. But its a DVR and it works well.
A Slingbox (http://www.slingmedia.com/go/slingbox)- Sitting on top of the DirecTV box is this little gem. For those who aren’t familiar with it, its basically a device that connects to your satellite receiver, cable box, DVD player or any other audiovisual source and broadcasts/streams the signal over the Internet. The player software can be installed on any computer, and you can control any device (watch, record, pause, etc.) as if you were at home, using ’soft remotes’, regardless if you are in a different room, a different city, or different continent.
On The Road:
MacBook Pro (http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/)- I never leave home without it! On it, besides all the usual goodies, I have the Slingbox player, which allows me to control the devices I have at home. I can watch live TV, (though I don’t like, hate, despise commercials) or my recorded shows. All I need is an Internet connection. Even if connection speed is far from optimal, the software buffers and adjusts to produce a great quality image, and most importantly, video and audio are always synchronized - I have when its off sync.
Linksys Portable Router (WTR54GS) - A small life saver in my backpack (see my backpack). Plug this device in anywhere where you have wired Internet access and you’ll create your own wireless network. I’ve used this device wherever I go, when in need of wireless access or if there are too many people and not enough ports. Even when there’s a wireless network up, and nobody seems to remember the WEP password, just grab a port in the back of the router and voila! You have a wireless network & Internet access.
So there you have it! I love my gadgets. That’s how I’m online now - writing this post and watching TV from back home, skipping through advertising and enjoying my shows. Geek Happy.
- Stumble it!
Filed under: TV, gadgets, internet, products, review, technology
Itay,
It suppose it should come as no surprise but I HAVE THE EXACT SAME SETUP!
It’s eerie to again find we’re in alignment. I happen to use the set-up with my TiVo but other than that it’s identical: MacBook Pro, Slingbox, Linksys Portable Router. What amazes me about the set-up is that it actually works. It actually works! In the worst of bandwidth situations I may have to watch in small-box form in the corner of my screen to get a decent picture but it still works. I’ve been using this set-up from all over the place, often just to keep me company while I’m doing post processing of pictures or editing of my sites.
The Slingbox is one of the rare times when an impossible marketing promise was actually delivered on and to this day it still shocks the heck out of me!