Options for recording digital TV programmes not so long ago were scant and expensive. Today, the industry is a veritable garden of delight where the consumer is the clear winner in terms of the vast selection of devices, recent technological advances, the transformation of the internet into a superhighway of multimedia traffic and cheaper and faster devices.
Consumer intent is the chief criteria to determine which of two recording schemes to choose. If the intent is to create ones own library of media that succeeds the seemingly now defunct collection of space-prohibitive VCR tapes, then clearly the choice is a DVD recorder. Unless the chosen device is equipped with a hard drive (a Digital Video Recorder), the home librarian will find that each DVD can contain only up to two hours of content. Yet whether a DVD recorder or a DVR, usually only a single digital tuner is available, prohibiting the recording of two digital programmes at the same time, and the viewer can only watch one programme and record another if the digital TV is equipped with a tuner of its own.
If, however, the intrepid viewer only desires to record TV programmes with the least bother to watch the content at a different time (time-shifting), then the obvious solution is a personal video recorder (PVR). One device and technology sure to satisfy this desire is the Slingbox or Slingbox Pro. These are TV streaming devices that can redirect the content from the output of a home TV broadcast source (cable, satellite, etc) to a single computer connected to the Internet via a broadband connection rendering TV content to a viewer located anywhere he or she has an internet connection. Sling Media software loaded on the viewer's computer or mobile device connects to the Slingbox and presents the view with on-screen virtual remote controls, allowing manipulation of most devices connected to the Slingbox. Selected mobile devices and computers running Windows or Mac OS X support the viewing software. Upon inspection the Slingbox Pro distinguishes itself from its sibling the Slingbox by allowing the connection and control of up to four audio-visual sources as well as providing an integrated Freeview DBV-T tuner for basic cable connections.
Sling Media's SlingPlayer software for Windows lets the viewer control live TV with the Live Video Buffer--pause, rewind or fast-forward up to sixty minutes of video. The SlingRemote virtual remote looks and feels like your TV's remote working from your computer screen. The video can be viewed full screen, in a windowed mode, or attached (docked) to the side of your computer monitor screen.
With no monthly fees, the Slingbox may well be the cure for the common couch spud.
Tommy Barrowdale writes articles on appliance news including appliances, computing and gadgets.
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