The Slingbox SOLO connects to your home-theater devices and allows you to watch your standard-definition (SD) or high-definition (HD) TV programs on your computer or mobile phone over the Internet from virtually anywhere in the world.

Starting up the Slingbox Solo

The Slingbox Solo allows you to watch your favorite shows in SD quality over the internet via your desktop, laptop, Mac, or mobile phone from virtually any location.

Getting started only requires a Windows PC or Mac, a high-speed internet connection and a home network router.

Setup & Running the Slingbox Solo

The Slingbox SOLO comes with the unit, an AC adapter (100-240V 50-60Hz), Ethernet cable, Quick Start Guide, Composite AV cable and a remote control IR cable.

Once the Slingbox base station is setup and ready, you’ll need to install viewing software on a Windows or Mac PC. The software setup includes a video-optimization wizard to automatically calibrate the software settings to your PC’s CPU and graphics card. Once running, the video window is similar to a QuickTime or Windows Media Player window with channel-changing controls.

The Slingplayer Solo comes with an electronic program guide to view your TV programming schedule. The player allows you to change channels, pause, rewind and fast-forward. The player can also be setup to work as a DVR with the on-screen virtual remote.

SlingBox Solo Phone Options

Mobile software is also offered for viewing TV programming various phones, such as compatible Windows Mobile, Symbian, or Palm OS mobile phones.

Other compatible phones include the iPhone and BlackBerry models. A separete software download is required.

Minimum PC Requirements

• HD Streaming: Intel 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo class processor or equivalent with 2 GB of RAM.
• Video acceleration support desirable on graphics card.
• SD Streaming: Pentium 4 class or equivalent with 256 MB RAM.
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7 with latest updates.
• Browser Support: Internet Explorer Version 7 or higher, Firefox Version 3 or higher.

Minimum Mac Requirements

• HD Streaming: Intel 2.8 GHz Core 2 Duo class processor or equivalent with 2 GB of RAM.
• SD Streaming: Intel-based Mac with 2 GB of RAM.
• Operating System: Mac OS 10.5.7 (Leopard) or later.
• Browser Support: Firefox Version 3 or higher, Safari Version 3 or higher.

What devices can you connect?

• Basic Cable TV Set-top Box
• Digital Cable Set-top Box
• DVR such as TiVo, Comcast, ReplayTV, DISH
• DVD Player/Recorder
• HD component input support with resolution up to 1080i (down-converted for streaming)
• Satellite Receiver such as DIRECTV or DISH
• Video/Security Camera
• Apple TV
• Windows Media Center

Video review of Slingbox Solo

Various Slingbox Solo Feedback from Online

The Amazon reviews of this device are fascinating in how some praise it as wondering while several others label it as “the worst product ever” (worse than Betamax?)

CNET’s review identified this as a nice choice for those who need HD compatibility, or pass-through outputs, but don’t need the extra features of the Slingbox Pro’s multiple device control. Reviewers like on Amazon were just a mixed in the praises, some stating that it worked as expected, and others saying that the device never worked properly.

Slingbox Solo – Prices, Deals and Discounts

On Amazon:
Available to buy at Amazon
On eBay:

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You may also be interested in:

• Review of Hava Titanium Wi-Fi PlaceShifting Device on WebTVWire
• Other Articles on PlaceShifting & Slingbox
• Slingbox Solo Devices on Ebay

The Hava Titanium allows you to watch your home television content on your PC or mobile phone via a wireless connection.

What the Hava Titanium Does

The Hava Titanium HD is a placeshift device that lets you broadcast your TV content over wireless broadcast to PCs and mobile devices. It can also be combined with a USB drive to make it a DVR system.

You connect it to a USB hard drive and then record or play back any shows with the Hava PC Player. The system comes with the Hava box, a CD with software, cabling, an IR blaster and a USB WiWfi adapter.

Viewing TV Remotely with Hava

The HAVA Titanium HD WIFI lets you watch programming from your TV or another A/V device from virtually anywhere in the world with a broadband Internet connection. In addition, while watching, others in the household can watch the same programming on the home system.

Additionally, you can remotely control the settings for numerous A/V devices, such as PVRs, satellite TV, and digital cable boxes.

Video Example of the Hava Tinanium HD

Various Reviews of the Hava Titanium

Of the few reviews on CNET the opinion was mixed, with some criticism of the poor performance and difficult setup.  The review on PCMag also dinged the system for subpar performance and a difficult setup and configuration.

Gadgetell’s review, slightly more positive of the Hava, features a comprehensive gallery of images of the Hava worth checking out.

Specs

• Input/output: HD input, A/V input, S-Video input, aux audio, HD output, A/V output, S-Video output, Ethernet (RJ-45), IR blaster, 2 USB 2.0 ports
• System requirements: Windows XP (Home, Professional, MCE) with SP2, Windows Vista (all versions); Pentium 1.2 GHz or equivalent processor (1.5 GHz or higher recommended); 512 MB RAM (Windows XP), 1 GB (Windows Vista); 75 MB disk space to install the HAVA software, at least 500 MB disk space for time-shifting, 10 GB disk space recommended for recording; available RJ-45 Ethernet port; wired/wireless router
• Video format: MPEG-2, MPEG4
• Wireless specification: 802.11g

Prices, Deals and Discounts for the HAVA Titanium HD

On Amazon:
Available to buy at Amazon

On eBay:

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You may also be interested in:

• Kworld LiveQ IPTV Anywhere is Another Placeshifting Slingbox Alternative
• Other Reviews and Posts about Placeshifting Devices
• Hava Titanium HD Devices on Ebay

The Sabrent USB2.0 Tuner Box is a TV receiving and video capturing device for notebooks and PCs.  The Sabrent is basically a device that allows you to watch normal television on your PC, but with additional DVD-style features such as fast-forward/rewind, etc.

Functions and Features of the Sabrent TV-USB20

In a nutshell, the Sabrent TV-USB20 is an external TV/video receiving box that will allow you to capture from any analog device, such as a VCR, camcorder, or basically anything with composite output jacks.  The device connection is made via a USB 2.0 port and receive TV broadcasts and capture video on the computer.

The compact design looks sharp and is small enough that it can conveniently be taken with you when traveling.  It features a variety of DVR-esque features allowing you to pause, rewind and record live TV.

This will use your PC’s own hard drive so how many hours of TV you can record depends on how big your PC’s hard drive is. Typically 80GB of free space will hold about 80 hours of TV, depending on your compression settings.

Technical Details of the Sabrent TV-USB2

The television captured by the Sabrent is at 704 x 480 (NTSC) and can be stored on the computer in a MPEG-1, MPEG-2 or MPEG-4 format. Audio is captured in stereo at 16 bits, in either a 24 KHz or 48 KHz sampling rate.

The Sabrent box’s TV/Video Scheduled Recording Function works using a simple MPEG video editing program with an encoding/decoding engine that has a smart merge process, and this helps the system work faster.

You can even use the device to capture video from your camcorder for home videos, as well as recording TV shows to your computer. You can even record video and sound from gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 and PS3.

How to Record From Gaming Consoles

Things Said About the Sabrent TV-USB20 in Reviews

Amazon’s reviews for this device were mixed, ranging for relatively positive reviews citing that the Sabrent from a basic standpoint did what it was supposed to – with some negative comments about difficulty with getting it to work.

Cnet’s reviews were limited but scathing, identifying problems with integration and software compatibility.

CompUSA reviews were mixed, ranging in extremes from one side of satisfaction to the other side of “worst product ever”.  The opinions were really divided on this, but from the sounds of a majority of reviews the Sabrent TV-USB20 is a decent, cheap product but one that might cause some difficulties with the software and integrating it with the OS.

Sabrent TV-USB20 – Prices, Deals and Discounts

On Amazon:

Available to buy at Amazon

On eBay:

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You Might Also Be Interested in

• The Kworld LiveQ IPTV that allows you to watch your home TV anywhere
• Other video capture devices discussed on WebTVWire.com
• Other Sabrent TV Tuners Offered on Ebay

The Kworld LiveQ TV IPTV is a placeshifting device. This simply means that it allows you to broadcast your home TV (cable, DVR recordings etc.) securely over the internet so you can watch it from anywhere with an internet connection.

The Kworld LiveQ conveniently shapes like a small, compact cube, and allows the user to broadcast live TV, recorded programs and music from their home to watch from the internet.  The LiveQ basically functions similar to the way a SlingBox does.

Controls and Recording Options with the KWorld LiveQ

The system also provides additional AV/S-Video input for connecting other video sources, such as DVD Player, VHS or camcorder. A Scheduled-Recording function allows programs to be recorded and played later. The LiveQ also supports a picture-in-picture (PIP) function.

Technical Details

The setup and installation of the KWorld Live Q with CyberLink Live is very direct. It uses the USB 2.0 interface of the PC. CyberLink provides the software that allows the user access from an external connection, using PowerDirector and CyberLink Live.

Video Review of the Kworld LiveQ

What Others Are Saying about the KWorld Live Q

Techradar offered a mostly satisfactory review, although they did identify some limitations with the signal based on location, as well as some lack in flexibility, as the home machine needs to remain switched on since the LiveQ lacks a wake-upon-demand feature.

User reviews appear mixed on Buy.com. Some praise the convenience of the system when traveling, while some noted issues with setup and configuration.

Kworld LiveQ – Prices, Deals and Discounts

On Amazon:
Available to buy at Amazon

On eBay:

You may also be interested in:

• My-IPTV Anywhere Mobile 2.0 for Watching TV on any Cellphone or PDA Device
• Other Posts Discussing Slingmedia – The Innovators of Placeshifting Devices.
• Other Kworld LiveQ Systems Offered on Ebay

DeliTV is a Yahoo Pipe created by Tony Hirst, a lecturer at The Open University in the UK.

This pipe allows anyone to program their own online TV channel from Boxee by bookmarking pages on Delicious with the tag “delitv”.

• Yahoo Pipes is a tool that aggregates and manipulates all sorts of content from the web.
• Boxee is free software that streams content from sites like MLB, Netflix, Pandora, Last.fm, and Flickr on a laptop or connected to a TV.

DeliTV supports:

• BBC iPlayer category feeds
• podcast feeds
• Youtube videos
• Youtube Playlists
• Youtube channels
• another DeliTV playlist
• an MP3 file

Setting Up

After running the pipe, you can subscribe to the RSS feed that Yahoo Pipes creates in Boxee as a video feed.

Using Delicious as a curation tool offers flexibility: users can generate multiple playlists, users can subscribe to other people’s playlists and created nested feeds.

To subscribe to other users’ playlists, search for the delitv tag on Delicious to see who has been bookmarking content.

You can also subscribe to other users playlists by rewriting a URL:

Use the name of the user whose Deli TV channel you want to subscribe to in the following URL:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/ouseful/delitv?_render=rss&q=DELICIOUS_USERNAME

So for example, Tony Hirst’s feed is at:

http://pipes.yahoo.com/ouseful/delitv?_render=rss&q=psychemedia

You then just copy and paste this RSS URL into Boxee and it will then add new video for you to watch every time you tag a page with deli

User Experience

According to the comments on Hirst’s blog, OUseful.info, (where he writes about “things that I think may be useful in an higher education context, one day”) the setup is working well.

It does take some time for Delicious to propagate links to its RSS feeds, but that seems to be the only delay. Also, users outside of the UK will not be able to use BBC iPlayer links. Boxee has a few bugs of its own, including occasional hang-ups, but for the most part, my experience has been very good.

I’ve been using Boxee to watch TV on my laptop for a few months now, and Deli TV is a great way to add personalized content. I can get all my videos and podcasts in one place, rather than visiting multiple websites each day for updates.

It’s sort of like an RSS reader for multimedia. Although popular RSS readers like Google Reader support multimedia, the experience is not as polished.

If you don’t already have a Delicious account, this might be a good enough reason to get one.

Useful Links

• DeliTV
• Boxee
• Delicious

You may also be interested in:

• More about Boxee on WebTVWire
• How to Connect your PC to a HDMI TV – Boxee works great on a TV set.

Books about Yahoo Pipes on eBay

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