Home TV access away from home.
 

I've been looking around at getting my UK TV signal away from home on my Laptop. Options appear to be Slingbox, Hava, ORB or Sony LocationFree so far.

All seem to be a little 'economical' with the truth when it comes to connecting to a wifi network at home. I see bushfiva has experience with this sort of thing (?slingbox?). Anyone any tips?

Ideally, to declutter the living area, a TV digital aerial signal into an attic mounted box etherneted into my wireless router would seem to be ideal. What remote control can I have over channels, etc this way?

Another option is a wifi bridge from a unit in the living area to the router. Can I then use an existing freeview box and control/play/record with a (currently analogue) DVD recorder remotely?

Laptop runs XP Home, home ISP gives me a poorish 300 'upspeed' thanks to geography and 1950's BT copper. Good wifi coverage. Away 'downspeeds' not a problem.

Just a thought,

Might sound silly but can you not register in the UK with

BBC - About the BBC - BBC iPlayer

ITV Catch Up

channel4.com - watch online

home | five.tv

As you have a dedicated UK IP to register with at home can you not simply use this service online?

There are similar for other channels and if you have a sky account you can watch Sky Movies etc online

https://skyplayer.sky.com/findoutmore/

Will investigate, but I suspect that a 'forrin' IP might cause a wobble? Also it was live stuff (G Prix etc) I was after and it looks as if those download 'historic' progs? It would, also, appear to need a few extra progs downloaded onto a Laptop which is in danger of getting bloated:)

Slingbox works for me. My old version has a built-in Freeview tuner. It's also got an IR blaster, so if you want you can have it control other stuff.

You are right BOAC as soon as any of the UK TV urls see my ISP no way will they let you load or watch.

You might want to check out Proxy Switcher.

BOAC, if you're that way inclined, you might want to check out the sony PS3/PlayTV/PSP combination. The PS3/PSP combo makes streaming saved videos etc from home child's play (believe me, if I can do it...) and PlayTV looks like it will add the same deal for live TV, as well as the ability to record remotely and watch later. Plus the latest PSP model comes with "TV-out" iirc, so no need to watch on a laptop/tiny psp screen.

The PS3 is a good piece of kit, and I'm not the type inclined to spend days playing games on it, but use it as a home-cinema type thingy. Cheap as chips for a blu-ray player/internet on your tv/media centre play all your entirely legal video downloads/Iplayer on your TV at home and the streaming to the PSP is an added bonus as I spend a lot of time away.

Downside is, if all you want it for is streaming tv from home, it's more expensive than some of the other bits of kit, but very few of them can tidy up the underneath your tv area moreso than the PS3, and they keep on updating the software to make it do new and exciting things (for free!)

My two cents

Can you record the material to the PC (through an audio/video converter), then watch the stuff - and the live stuff - directly by remote with a programme similar to www.gotomypc.com ?

No, it doesn't support the framerate and the free version doesn't support sound.

No-one has asked......
 

Watch UK TV abroad? Why?? If it's not repeats (60% of progs this past w/e) it's crap. I say again ,why?
The Ancient Mariner

I beg to differ! BBC has had a storming year or two, some cracking programmes! Top Gear, Spooks, Mountains, Planet Earth (although that was a fair while ago now) all those period dramas that mrs Target watches...

I have ORB on my desktop (on 24/7) and connect while I am away either thru ORB or UltraVNC.

I can stream all my music, grab any files I need, have a look at my webcam to see who is in my office:ooh: and more.

Haven't tried the TV thing (yet) as I need to run an antenna cable to the DTV card to get a signal. I will report further when I do that.

Sure beats a shoe phone :ok:

Not compared to foreign TV.

Thanks to all for the info. I fear costs will over-rule desires on this one:)

There are more talented people than me on these boards who can say if this is wrong, but ‘I think’ you can get some software that essentially hides your IP address. That way the TV companies would not be aware you were watching abroad, and therefore would allow you to view. Given you are a UK tax payer I don’t see this as being particularly wrong - Clearly this would only work if

1. I’m not talking complete nonsense!
2. That you have control over the device (i.e. it was your laptop and not an internet café PC for example), so you could ‘manipulate’ the IP address via the software.

Possibly someone could develop this thought?


The Doc

See item #6.

I'm not sure we all got what you meant by proxy switcher. What it did, and what it was for. Nevertheless I'm sorry if I have duplicated the information.

regards

The Doc

Slingbox.....It just works....:ok:

Regarding remote control of PCs

Why pay for gotomypc, when you can use Teamviewer for personal use for free, and it is an excellent program and very easy to use.

Its not going to be as simple as just registering whilst in the UK, anything that is restricted within the country then an IP lookup is automatically done. You could always find a good proxy and connect through that anytime you are away from home through your laptop...