[opendtv] TV Here, There, Everywhere

TV Here, There, Everywhere

David Pogue
The New York Times
March 23, 2006

IN the olden days, Americans gathered in front of the television sets 
in their living rooms to watch designated shows at designated times. 
You had a choice of three channels, and if you missed the broadcast, 
you'd feel like an idiot at the water cooler the next day. Quaint, 
huh?

Then came the VCR, which spared you the requirement of being there on 
time. Then cable TV, which blew open your channel choices. Then TiVo, 
which eliminated the necessity of even knowing when or where a show 
was to be broadcast. What's next - eliminating the TV altogether?

Well, sure. Last year, a strange-looking gadget called the Slingbox 
($250) began offering that possibility. It's designed to let you, a 
traveler on the road, watch what's on TV back at your house, or 
what's been recorded by a video recorder like a TiVo. The 
requirements are high-speed Internet connections at both ends, a home 
network and a Windows computer - usually a laptop - to watch on. (A 
Mac version is due by midyear.)

Today is another milestone in society's great march toward anytime, 
anywhere TV. Starting today, Slingbox owners can install new player 
software on Windows Mobile palmtops and cellphones, thereby 
eliminating even the laptop requirement.

On cellphones with high-speed Internet connections, the requirement 
of a wireless Internet hot spot goes away, too. Now you can watch 
your home TV anywhere you can make phone calls - a statement that's 
never appeared in print before today (at least not accurately).

Now, if you don't travel much, and even if you do, your reaction to 
this statement may well be, "So?"

Sure enough, the Slingbox has always been intended to fill certain 
niches. It's for people with a fancy satellite receiver downstairs in 
the living room, but who want to watch upstairs in bed before 
retiring. It's for the hotel-room prisoner who wants to watch a movie 
on a TiVo at home, having realized that it's cheaper to pay $10 for a 
night of high-speed Internet than $13.95 for an in-room movie. It's 
for the traveler who wants to keep up with his hometown news while 
away.

And if you have friends who can't see the big game because of a local 
broadcast blackout - really, really good friends - you could even let 
them download the free Slingbox player software and watch your local 
broadcast, though the Slingbox folks don't endorse this last use.

Now that all of this is available for cellphone viewing - with no 
monthly fee - well, the mind boggles.

...

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/23/technology/circuits/23pogue.html?ex=1300770000&en=5dccb13953901b71&ei=5090

 
 
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