The Slingbox enables you to watch your own recorded or live TV programming by taking your television's signal and streaming it to wherever you may be. At home, the device turns your laptop into a portable TV, and if you're a road warrior and you've got to see your own personal Must-See TV programming, or you've TiVo'd the latest episode of 24 or Lost and you can't do without, you simply fire up your laptop, rent some screen time at an internet café, or turn on that Smartphone, and wherever you are, from Dubuque to Dublin, the Slingbox will hook you up. Finding a couch and chips is up to you.

Once your Slingbox is fully connected and the SlingPlayer has been successfully installed on your computer, there are several ways you can actually use the unit to watch TV.

At Home

If you use your Slingbox at home to watch your TV programming, the Slingbox will use your home network to stream from your TV to your computer. If you use the SlingPlayer on your laptop, then you essentially have a portable TV. Just start up the Player, and if you only use one Slingbox, it will automatically begin playing whatever's on your tube. If you have more than one unit, fire up the SlingDirectory and double-click on the Slingbox of your choice.

Away From Home

When you're watching your programming from a remote location, the Slingbox will use the internet rather than your home network to deliver the goods. This can result in a stream that isn't as clear as you're used to seeing at home, due to the vagaries of data transfer, your connection rate, and the rate of web traffic. The less bandwidth your machine is using on other applications, the more in can use on the Slingbox.

Once you've opened the SlingPlayer, click on the SlingDirectory and select the Slingbox you want to connect to.

On Mobile Phone, Smartphone, or PDA

Your SlingBox is available on mobile devices that use the Windows Mobile operating system, via the SlingPlayer Mobile application. Using WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, or high-speed cellular systems, the interface of SlingPlayer Mobile is slightly different than the one that appears on your PC, but accomplishes the same result. The software sells for $29.99 from Sling Media, though if you purchased and registered your Slingbox before April 26, 2006, the company will give you one free copy.

Sling Media is currently running a promotion to try SlingPlayer Mobile free for 30 days -- check it out.