Device Lets You Watch Shows on a Home TV,
Most people understand the concept of time shifting for television shows. Using a digital video recorder, such as a TiVo, or a videocassette recorder, you can record a TV program for viewing at a time that is more convenient for you.
But there is another idea for making TV watching convenient that is less well known. It is called "place shifting." Place shifting allows viewers to watch TV shows they receive at home in other locations, and on devices other than their TV sets.
Unlike time shifting, which has been around for decades, place shifting is just getting going. A few portable video players are available, but they can't play live TV, only shows recorded on special TiVo models or relatively expensive TV-capable "Media Center" PCs. And they are clumsy to use.
Today, however, place shifting of TV shows takes a big leap forward. A Silicon Valley start-up company called Sling Media is introducing a $250 gadget it calls a "personal broadcaster." This small device, named the Slingbox, can beam any live TV show coming into your home to an Internet-connected Windows PC anywhere in the world. It also allows you to remotely watch shows you have recorded at home on a TiVo or other digital video recorder.
The Slingbox gives you full control of your home TV and digital recorder even if you are thousands of miles away. You can change channels, use the program guide, and perform any action on the menus of your TV or recorder just as if you were sitting in front of your set. The home TV doesn't even have to be on at the time.
And, best of all, the Slingbox is just a piece of hardware, not a service. It is a small silver box that simply sits between your cable or satellite receiver and your home broadband Internet connection and pumps your TV programs out via the Internet. It doesn't require a TiVo, and it works with a standard Windows PC.
There are no periodic fees to pay, no membership is required and no advertisements are beamed at you other than the normal commercials that appear in the TV programs. All you shell out is the $250 for the device itself. Starting today, it will be available at CompUSA and Best Buy stores, and at those companies' Web sites.
I have been testing the Slingbox at home, in my office and on the road. In my tests, it worked exactly as advertised. At my office, about a dozen miles from home, I watched recorded episodes of "Charlie Rose" and "Desperate Housewives." At an airport, I watched CNBC live on my laptop via a public Wi-Fi connection. And in a Boston hotel room, about 450 miles from home, I watched a live Washington Nationals baseball game unavailable in Red Sox country.
The Slingbox was even useful when I hung around the house. I was able to watch live and recorded shows in rooms of my house that lacked TVs, and even while sitting out on my porch.
Video quality was surprisingly good -- much better than the average video clip streamed over the Internet. The company has some video-optimizing technology that resulted in mostly smooth, stutter-free viewing. There were a few brief freezes, but nothing serious, even when I expanded the video playback window to the full screen.
The Sling software is well designed and easy to use. It allows you to view TV programs in a variety of sizes and formats, and it includes a software control panel with all of the key functions of your home remote control.
Setup, while not perfect, was as easy as the company could possibly make it, given the complexity of computer networking.
That brings me to the inevitable downsides and limitations of any new product. The Slingbox requires a broadband connection on both ends. It only works on PCs running Windows XP. The company has demonstrated it running on PDAs and cellphones, but software for those devices isn't ready yet. Software for Macintosh computers is in the works.
You need a home network and a router. And even though the setup software and the manual are very well done, there is a step where you have to configure your router for the Slingbox that can get complicated fast. This has more to do with the needless complexity of computer networking than with Sling Media itself, but it can be an obstacle.
Also, the Slingbox doesn't allow you to record or save the programs you receive on your remote computer, mostly for legal reasons -- though somebody will probably come up with a way to do that. Similarly, mainly for legal reasons, there is no built-in way to give access to your Slingbox to another person, but all that person needs is a copy of the free Sling software, your password and your Slingbox's ID number, which you could give them. Two PCs can't access the same Slingbox at the same time, however.
There is another problem with the Slingbox: It extends the fight over the remote well beyond the walls of your home. If someone is watching the TV at home and you start changing channels from afar or launching recorded programs the other person doesn't want to watch, long-distance arguments can ensue.
Still, I really like the Slingbox and can heartily recommend it to roaming TV lovers. It is a very good product that finally makes TV place shifting a reality. 让你随时随地看电视的新产品
大多数人都听说过易时播放 (time shifting) ，也就是通过 TiVo 等数码摄像机或录像机把电视节目录制下来，然后在自己方便的时候欣赏。
其实，还有一种不太为人所知的变通方法，名为易地播放 (place shiftin) 。通过这种方法，观众能在其他地方、采用其他设备来收看他们在家里接收到的电视节目。
易时播放已经存在几十年了，而易地播放才刚刚起步。市面上有一些便携式视频播放机，但都不能播放实时电视节目，只能播放 TiVo 或是个人电脑“媒体中心”接收的电视节目。此外，它们使用起来也很笨拙。
但如今，易地播放电视节目的技术有了飞跃发展。矽谷的初创公司 Sling Media 目前推出了一个被称为“个人播放器”的新颖产品，售价 250 美元。这个小巧的设备的正式名称是 Slingbox ，能把家里接收的任何电视节目传送到全球任何一台与互联网连接的个人电脑上。它还能让用户远程观看事先在家中通过 TiVo 等数码录像机录好的节目。
Slingbox 能让你在千里之外全面掌控家里的电视机和数码摄像机。你可以任意选择频道、使用节目指南并对电视或录像机进行任何菜单操作，就像坐在家中的电视机前面一样，而此时家里的的电视机甚至不用打开。
Slingbox 的最大优点是它仅仅是一个硬件设备，而不是一项服务。它是一个小小的银色盒子，只需摆放在有线或卫星信号接收机与宽频互联网接口之间，就可把电视节目通过网络传送出去。它工作时不一定非要 TiVo 不可，一个标准的 Windows 电脑也同样能完成任务。
你也无需定期支付任何费用，没有成员资格要求，除了电视里正常播放的广告外，也不会冒出乱七八糟的广告。你只要掏 250 美元购买设备就万事大吉了。从 6 月 30 日开始，这种产品在 CompUSA 和 Best Buy 连锁店上柜，你也可以在这两家公司的网站上购买。
我在家里、办公室内以及外出时对 Slingbox 进行了测试，结果与广告中的描述完全一致。我在离家大约有十几英里的办公室内观看录制下来的连续剧《查理罗斯秀》 (Charlie Rose) 和《绝望的主妇》 (Desperate Housewives) ；在机场，我通过公共无线保真 (Wi-Fi) 网络在笔记本电脑上观看 CNBC 频道的节目。在波士顿的酒店里，我观看了华盛顿国民队 (Washington Nationals) 的棒球比赛的实况转播，那里离我家有 450 英里。
即使我在家的时候， Slingbox 也能派上用场。在没有电视机的房间里，我 porc 也能随时收看电视节目和录制好的节目，连在走廊里也不例外。
它的图象质量惊人地好，比互联网上播放的视频图象质量好多了。 Sling Media 拥有视频优化技术，因此图象流畅，少有断断续续的现象，中间曾出现过短暂的停顿，但实在微不足道，即使在全屏重放的时候也是如此。
Slingbox 设计合理，使用方便。你可以以任意格式和大小观看电视节目，还可通过一个软件控制面板进行遥控，该面板包含了家用遥控器的所有主要功能。
而该软件的设置虽然不是尽善尽美，但考虑到电脑网络设置的复杂性，它已经算是相当简便了。
接下来我来谈谈新产品的不足之处和局限。 Slingbox 的两端都需要宽频连接，并且只适用于运行 Windows XP 操作系统的电脑。 Sling Media 展示了 Slingbox 在个人数字助理 (PDA) 和手机上的运用，但这些设备的软件尚未开发好。针对 Macintosh 电脑的软件仍在研制中。
如要使用 Slingbox ，你需要一个家庭网络系统和一个路由器。虽然安装软件和操作手册很完善，但你还得对路由器进行设置，这一步骤可能很复杂。这是由于电脑网络本身的复杂性所致，而非 Sling Media 的原因，不过它也是个障碍。
此外， Slingbox 不允许用户在远程电脑上录制或存储节目，这主要出于法律原因，虽然总有人能想出应对之策。同样，出于法律原因，目前还没有什么办法能让其他人进入你的 Slingbox ，但是别人只要有一套免费的 Slingbox 软件、你的密码和 ID 数字，他就可以进入。然而，两台电脑不能同时使用一个 Slingbox 。
Slingbox 还有一个问题：它使遥控器大战的战火蔓延到了家门之外。如果有人在家中观看电视节目，而你在其他地方换频道，或是开始放映录像，那么一场远距离的争吵必将随之而来。
尽管如此，我依然青睐 Slingbox ，并非常乐意向电视迷们加以推荐。它是一款非常不错的产品，使易地观赏电视成为了现实。
