5 Excuses to Watch TV - Without Your TV!

By Jean Aw (from NOTCOT) on May 4, 2010

The latest gadget to join my house and actually open possibilities is the Slingbox! I've read it about it for ages, always been impressed with the design, but just never knew quite what I'd do with one. I mean, sure I watch TV, but do I really need to sling it all over? Apparently, yes. So here are some ways I realized I actually like watching TV without TV... and a peek at the unboxing!

Here are 5 scenarios I'm currently dreaming up:

1. Catch up on DVR/Tivo backlogs - This stuff can seriously build up while you're traveling! You can watch your TV away from home, AND fast forward through commercials! It feels nearly magical. When I lived in Milan for grad school, I must admit that I started to get homesick whenever the weather got too dreary or snowy.I desperately missed the southern California sunniness, and being able to stare at the ocean and drive PCH. My solution? With so many LA based TV shows, I'd end up find them on the web just to give me a peek of home. With this set up, maybe I could have DVR'd some slightly better quality shows and kept up with a dash of what my friends back home were rambling on about at the time.

2.Get your favorite shows on your iPad or iPhone over 3G while at the gym - With a Slingbox you can watch whatever you want, instead of whatever happens to be on! I'm not sure about you, but in a lot of the gyms I've ended up in, even when there are rows of TVs available while you're on the elliptical/treadmills, they tend to be on painful reality TV shows. Some may call it a guilty pleasure, but watching things like The Hills and those MTV shows about who knows what crazy teen drama or sweet sixteen party... it just hurts my brain! If you're going to watch some mindless TV and run along, this is a nice solution to be able to watch what you want, and even fast forward through commercials and boring bits.

3. Watch what you want to while on the plane over WiFi - Or Tivo up a few films you like before you go!

4. Distract your friends/kids - Need a diversion at dinner? On a roadtrip? In a waiting room? Need to let your kids watch cartoons while you get something done? Lets be honest - silly videos and games and moving pictures are just fascinating!

5. View films simultaneously with friends/family across the globe - I can watch a program on my real TV, while my sister watches digitally in London. Shows she doesn't get she can watch with me... though the fighting for the remote aspect is kind of surreal/amusing.

Now as for what its like to actually SET UP a Slingbox... I'm impressed, these guys did a seriously nice job making it ridiculously simple. Take a peek at the actual unboxing.

From the way its packaged (super simple 1, 2, 3 unboxing to help even the most extreme cable-clutter-phobes)

Inside section 2 - all possibilities to connect up your devices... RCA/coax/s-vid/component ~ they've got you covered.

In section 3 - everything you HAVE to plug in... power, Ethernet, and the magical IR cable that serves as super remote to all your devices.

And from section 1 - the box! Looks so sleek and pretty hiding in the media center!

Simply plug it all in... then head to the site and download the software.

A few clicks later you have multiple ways to watch:

- on your web browser

- on your desktop computer

- on your mobile phone or notebook (and iPad coming soon)

... and with another related device called the Slingcatcher - you can even sling it to another TV in the house!

So tell us, what do YOU sling your TV around for?

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JEAN AW Founder of NOTCOT: Concept, Content & Creative, Editor-In-Chief of the NotEmpire*. . . Design Addict + UX Designer + Shopaholic + Tech Connoisseur + Design Writer + World Traveler   *NotEmpire = not an empire, composed of NOTCOT.com, NOTCOT.org, NotCouture.com, and Liqurious.com