If the picture above comes out clearly - it was taken by my Treo phone and that doesn't have a great cameras - you will see that I've been watching tonight's Amazing Race over my computer. That is not a big thing. Even that I'm watching tonight's Amazing Race over my computer - from Australia - isn't the really cool part of it. Though honestly it is cool. After all, downloading is something loads of people can do - although not me. What is cool is what I'm watching is my own TiVo - in Los Angeles - remotely from Australia. And I'm doing this from my new SLINGBOX that somehow send the contents of my TiVo over the net to my MacBook here down under with perfect clarity of picture and sound. Trust me, it looks a lot better than the above picture indicates. That also means I can watch American TV live here as well. All 500 channels that i get at home, which included 450 channels showing nothing but CSI shows. The only thing I have to be careful about is that I don't watch it while Noel and company are watching it at home, because once I boot up my Slingbox software, it actually takes control over the TiVo. I don't know if we could have a long distance remote control war - and I don't think I'd want to. All Noel would have to do is unplug the Slingbox and I'd be stuck here without a clue to who was kicked out of the show tonight (and I bet it won't be Sanjaya who isn't even on the show, but seems invincible anyway). Actually I do know who was kicked off - the show just ended, but for those who haven't seen it yet, I won't spoil your fun.

My TiVo tells me the season premiere of Sopranos and Entourage are waiting for me, too. But I think they may wait for the morning as I'm pretty tired. I'll explain why in a second.

One of the coolest parts of the Slingbox is that as you can see, my TiVo remote control appears next to the screen which means I have complete control over the TiVo. I can watch the shows, erase them, fast forward, freeze frame, and even set the TiVo to record something else I may have forgotten. Slingbox will also work in the same exact way with nearly every other DVR as well. It's truly a miracle. By the way, I left the remote showing because I wanted you to see it. I normally watch the Slingbox material without the remote showing. If I need it all I need to do is move the cursor and it appears again.

Just above I mentioned that I'm tired. I've spent the day touring Brisbane (incredible weather, blue skies the likes of which I haven't seen since I was a kid, and big puffy white clouds) hugging koalas and feeding kangaroos, and as soon as I can upload my pictures to the computer, I'll share them with you. But for your info, Koalas are heavier than you'd think for such little guys - but they are incredibly cute, and kangaroos eat out of your hand very gently - frankly with a lot more care that LD does if I'm holding one of her milk bones. She'd just as soon eat my fingers to get to those cookies.

Anyway, I wanted to share the miracle of the Slingbox with you if you're leaving home but still want to watch your digitally recorded material or even your local TV. I understand I could, if I want, Slingbox the video directly to my Treo phone, too, but my Treo has enough stuff in it already. And frankly I don't need to watch anything on a screen that small. I've spent most of my life wanting a wall sized TV. Why should I go to something that could be measured in millimeters?

Labels: Slingbox