How to Watch Local Television Stations From Anywhere

With most of us on the road these days due to work or business, it is easy to miss our favorite local television shows and programs. To get the news we log on to the television station’s website or call friends and relatives. What we need is a way to watch our local news stations from anywhere. There’s a way to do that.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Slingbox receiver
• Internet broadband access
• SlingPlayer software

1. Order Slingbox receiver from the manufacturer. You can do this through their website or by telephone. See Resources below for additional information.

2. Connect your television or video source to the Slingbox receiver using the cables provided by the manufacturer.

3. Attach Slingbox receiver to your home network or broadband router using usb cable or other cable provided with your Slingbox receiver.

4. Connect the Slingbox receiver to the power outlet using the power cord that you received with the Slingbox receiver.

5. Download SlingPlayer software from the manufacturer’s website or install the SlingPlayer directly from the cd-rom you received from the manufacturer on your desktop or laptop computer. Download and Install SlingPlayer Mobile on your Windows Mobile powered Smartphone, Palm or pda phone with 3G data connection access.

6. Turn on your broadband modem, home network router if you have a home network and Slingbox receiver.

7. Enjoy your local stations away from home. Turn on your desktop and laptop computer, smartphone or pda. Open SlingPlayer or SlingPlayer Mobile and enjoy your local television shows and programs.

Tips & Warnings

• Ensure you have broadband speed of 256 kbps (kilo bits per second). This is the minimum speed you need to enjoy good quality pictures. Slingbox adjusts video quality to compensate for network problems so anything less and your pictures will not be clear.
• You do not need a home network for this to work. If you have a network, it will not interfere with Slingbox receiver.
• You will need SlingLink or other Ethernet bridge if your cable or satellite connection is located in a different room from your Internet broadband connection.
• Streaming video consumes bandwidth and some internet service providers charge subscribers for excessive use of bandwidth. Check with your broadband provider to make sure this will not be an issue.

Resources

• Order Slingbox or download SlingPlayer and SlingPlayer Mobile here
• Guide to buying Slingbox is found here