Travel Tech Thursday – Watch Your TV Anywhere In World

As I am writing this post I am listening to Chris Daughtry’s Home.

I don’t regret this life I chose for me
But these places and these faces are getting old
So I’m going home.

If you travel you can relate to this song about going home. I love my home because my hot young wife and 4 kids are there, my bed is there and my tv is there. I hate being away from my family and I hate hotel beds and I hate hotel tv programming. I can’t do anything about my family being there and I can’t do anything about the beds but I can do something about tv programming. A couple of years ago I started using a product called Slingbox.

The Slingbox is an incredible product which gives you the ability to watch your tv at home from anywhere in the world. Not only can you watch it, but you can actually control the channels. If you have a Tivo or DVR service you can watch recorded programs any time you want. If you have a DVD changer with movies in it, you can control and watch those movies also. My family and I have watched American Idol and talked on the phone about the show while they were at home and I was in Asia. What is the difference between the Slingbox and Hulu or the rebroadcast by the major networks on their websites? The Slingbox gives you the ability to watch live tv while the other options you have to typically wait a day or so. If you are sports fan, you know that outside of your region you may not be able to see your team’s game. With the Slingbox I can watch all of my favorite teams anywhere in the world. My friend has set up a Slingbox at his parents house in Seattle so he can watch the Mariners games here in NY.

For the traveler the Slingbox is a travel tech must. The box can cost from $69 to $200 depending on the different options but there are no other monthly charges.