In today's busy world, many people spend much of their time traveling around the world for business or holidays, spending very little time at home. Once they come back home from their journeys, the last thing they want to do is to sit down and watch their favourite shows from recordings.
Instead, they want to relax and spend time with friends and family. While on the road, however, individuals can watch their favourite programs via a computer with the help of Slingbox and Slingcatcher.
The Slingbox is a TV streaming device that lets owners receive video signals from home at any computer with a broadband connection. Slingbox uses a technology called digital compression to take video and audio signals, and shrink them so that they can be sent over the internet to a computer anywhere on Earth. After purchase, a Slingbox owner connects the device to any video or audio equipment in his or her home. The Slingbox must then be hooked up to a broadband internet connection.
Once the hardware of the Slingbox has been installed and properly connected, the only thing left for the Slingbox owner to do is to install Slingplayer software onto his computer. This software allows the computer to access the Slingbox from anywhere on the Earth that has a broadband connection. The software itself provides a graphical representation of the remote control to any audio/video device at home, allowing the user to control these devices virtually through the software. Many people are familiar with streaming video and may be under the impression that all videos that are streamed over the internet have poor quality and are slow in loading.
Slingbox has overcome these limitations through use of their proprietary SlingStream technology that constantly monitors the connection between home and the PC. The software adjusts the video stream constantly, providing users with clear, uninterrupted streams of their favourite programs and digital media. The Slingbox comes in two varieties.
The first option is called the Slingbox Solo and offers standard streaming of audio and video signals through the Slingbox. The Slingbox Pro-HD features all of the benefits of the Slingbox Solo along with more audio/video inputs as well as a TV tuner. It can also send HD video across the internet provided there is a 1.5 mbps connection available.
Another product from Sling Media is the Slingcatcher. In essence, the Slingcatcher is much like a Slingbox, but in reverse. Instead of streaming video and audio from a television of DVD player to a remote computer, the Slingcatcher streams content from the PC to a home television.
In addition, the Slingcatcher is equipped with a USB port that allows owners to connect a USB hard drive which can be used to store media files. Another feature of the Slingcatcher is that it allows owners to stream media from their DVR to another TV that has a Slingcatcher connected. Most households have one DVR cable box that is located in the main TV viewing room.
For individuals who have multiple television sets that want to watch DVR content in another room without having to purchase another DVR box, having a Slingbox connected to the DVR and a Slingcatcher hooked up to another TV will allow the content on the DVR to be seen on the other television. Slingcatcher also works without a PC, unlike the Slingbox. All that is required is a Slingcatcher and another television that is connected to a Slingbox.
For people on the go or those that spend a significant amount of time away from home, Slingbox and Slingcatcher are great devices that can allow favourite shows from home to be streamed over the internet to almost any place on the planet that has an internet connection.
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