Device To Watch Foreign Television Through The Internet

[keestha]

There must be a device through which you can watch foreign television stations through the internet, at the time the program is being broadcasted. I believe it works like this: the device consists of 2 parts, one of these you connect to the computer, and the other one to the television. It connects wirelessly, but the computer and the television set should be fairly close to each other. Needless to say you watch the program at the television, and not the PC or laptop. I was told the standard version only works for modern flat screen TV's, but there should also be an adaptor which makes it usable for older model TV's.

Don't know exactly what foreign TV stations you can watch this way, it seems to be possible with German television.

Does anybody know where in Phuket it might be possible to buy this device, and the aforementioned adaptor?

Mind you I am not talking about websites through which you can watch foreign television programs at a later date, I have been familiar with that principal for a long time.

[thaigerd]

With this German provider you don't need an adapter, they charge 1500Baht/month and you can watch a lot of German/Swiss/Austrian channels live and in a very good quality.

Not sure if it's legal.........

Gerd

[keestha]

Do you have their contact details, Gerd?

[LivinLOS]

Is the device your talking about the 'slingbox' ??

You put one in the home country (or home in another place, or even just downstairs) and then it sends the TV stream over the network / internet to the other box(es)..

Of course you need a TV feed back home, a house to put it in, broadband in both locations, etc etc.. Its a major complexity but I know a few people who do it.

[thaigerd]

Do you have their contact details, Gerd?

Check your pm folder.

Gerd

[DrDave]

I think you're talking about some products from Sling Media: http://slingmedia.com/

In order to watch TV from your home country in real-time on your TV, you connect a SlingBox to your TV source and the internet. (That is, the cable box or antenna in your home country as the input, and your broadband internet connection as output). Software on your internet-connected PC anywhere in the world locates your SlingBox and sets up a video stream from the SlingBox to the PC. (Only one PC at a time). The software on the PC also contains skins for all remote controls so that you can change channels and do basically anything you can do with your remote at home, from your PC. (This is done using an IR repeater connected to the SlingBox).

To watch the streamed video content on your TV instead of your PC, you have a couple of options. Firstly, you could just connect the PC's video output to the TV with a cable. But, if you want to watch your streamed video on your TV without connecting a cable to your PC, then you could use the SlingCatcher product. This box connects to your TV and router (in Phuket) and replicates the Sling client software, thus eliminating the need for the PC. Strangely enough, it has to connect to your router via a cable, and not via WiFi. It includes a physical remote control that controls your TV source back home. It also has a USB input so you can watch video stored on a USB flash drive.

(1) Watch video streamed from home (and other content on your PC) on your PC:

Cable Box ---> SlingBox --> Router <--> [internet] <--> Router --> PC

- or -

(2) Watch video streamed from home (and other content on your PC) on your PC connected to your TV:

Cable Box ---> SlingBox --> Router <--> [internet] <--> Router --> PC --> TV

- or -

(3) Watch video streamed from home on your TV without using a PC:

Cable Box ---> SlingBox --> Router <--> [internet] <--> Router --> SlingCatcher --> TV

- or -

(4) Watch video streamed from home (and other content on your PC) on your TV wirelessly:

Cable Box ---> SlingBox --> Router <--> [internet] <--> Router --> PC --> SlingCatcher --> TV

In the last configuration, the SlingCatcher is connected to the PC via the router, enabling wireless streaming of content on the PC as well.

They use some very sophisticated algorithms for compressing/de-compressing the video stream, so the performance is much better than standard stream viewing on the internet, but be aware that performance is still dependent upon the quality of the connections at both ends.

I was using a SlingBox to listen to digital radio stations carried by my cable TV provider in the US. There is special optimization for audio-only streams that worked well with my slower internet connection in Phuket. Video wasn't so good, but that was due to my slow connection.

[Jingthing]

Slingbox rocks! You can also connect a DVD player to it so I have a US netflix account on it as well.

[Master Chief]

Are there any commercial slingbox servers to connect to, I mean if a slingbox is connected to the internet ´then it must have a IP address?

Can more than one connect to this IP address?

MC

[DrDave]

Are there any commercial slingbox servers to connect to, I mean if a slingbox is connected to the internet ´then it must have a IP address?

Can more than one connect to this IP address?

MC

Your SlingBox periodically "checks in" with a central server, which keeps track of it's IP address keyed by it's serial number. When your PC (or SlingCatcher) wants to connect to your SlingBox, it first makes a request to this server to obtain the IP address. Once it has that, it makes a connection request directly to the SlingBox. The SlingBox, however will not establish multiple concurrent connections - that is, it will stream to only one device at a time. This is controlled by firmware in the SlingBox (I think). A connected PC or SlingCatcher has to disconnect, or otherwise lose it's connection heartbeat before a different device can connect to the same SlingBox.

This scheme of having a central server keep track of transient IP addresses is becoming quite common - it's the same scheme used for those hard-drives you can attach to your home network, and access from anywhere in the world.

[flip]

For the German channels it is Share TV.

www.sharetv.us

20 euro per month which is about 900 baht/month with current exchange rate.

quite a lot german channels in a good quality, easy to use!

[starkey_rich]

All that just to watch T.V. Sounds a bit over the top to me.Get out and get a life.

[Jingthing]

All that just to watch T.V. Sounds a bit over the top to me.Get out and get a life.

You obviously don't know what is available on "tv" these days if you say this. For example, I can access a huge variety of indy, foreign, and art films from all over the world (just for example) not to mention amazing cable shows like Skins and True Blood. Worth every baht.

[pumpuiman]

I just tried out connecting to my brothers slingbox, works great. I am currently on a broadband connection in The U.S. though (as is he)

My brother has it hooked to his fancy new cell phone....amazing clarity, and hundreds of channels.

If you have a good high speed connection, definitely worth it.

[Jingthing]

I just tried out connecting to my brothers slingbox, works great. I am currently on a broadband connection in The U.S. though (as is he)

My brother has it hooked to his fancy new cell phone....amazing clarity, and hundreds of channels.

If you have a good high speed connection, definitely worth it.

If you are a US person its fun for example to watch Colbert Report and Daily Show as current shows without having to rely on website downloads. Alot of the value comes from the quality of the cable package your host is streaming for you. I share the cost of the cable with my host which I think is reasonable. If I wanted high end cable here I would have to pay for it. Anyone with even casual friends in the US who are a bit tech savvy can likely find someone who wants someone to share their cable cost (not cheap these days). BTW, I also have my own dedicated DVR hooked to the host system which I consider vital considering the time difference, etc. That is an extra monthly cost of course.

Edited November 11, 2008 by Jingthing