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Watch your TV anywhere with SlingPlayer

Nick

Nick

  • Updated:

Sling Media logoImagine if you could watch your TV, or the saved contents of your SkyPlus, Tivo or HD hard drive anywhere in the world and even on your phone. That’s exactly what SlingPlayer offers, meaning you’ll never be far away from your favourite programs. For anyone who lives abroad, or is going to be away from home this Christmas, this player is an absolute dream. Elegant, simple to use and offering superb image and sound quality, it’s a giant leap forward in broadcasting.

However, you will need to make sure that you have a Slingbox. A Slingbox is basically a slim device that sells for around $130 in the US (and approximately 200 pounds in the UK) that attaches to your digital TV’s hard drive. It assigns an IP address to it thus allowing anyone with an internet connection to access it at any time (as long as it is switched on of course). The user simply has to download SlingPlayer which takes you through a very simple setup process. First, you are shown a series of simultaneous video images running in parallel and you have to choose which one appears to be the best quality on your screen. This optimises the image quality for your connection. Then you simply need to enter the ID of your Slingbox plus a password. Simply click “Watch” and within seconds, depending on your connection, you’ll be watching your TV as if you were in your lounge!

The program features a big chunky remote control too which allows you to control your TV hard drive as if you were at home. This includes access to your saved and recorded programs and even pay per view programming. The only downside is that only one user at a time may be connected to the Slingbox at one time and I suspect this may be due to broadcasting restrictions. Even if you don’t buy one yourself, it’s worth making a friend in another country who has one, and then you can share your TV with them and vice versa. Even in full screen mode though, image and sound quality are excellent with virtually no blips in reproduction or streaming.

Note that, the download featured here is for the US player but if your Slingbox is in the UK, or another country, you’ll have to download the appropriate player for that Slingbox from the developer download page.

Nick

Nick

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