The New York Rangers kick off their season next week at the garden. It’s going to be a great game, and I really don’t want to miss it. Just like some friends who never miss a Met game (sorry Alan!), I never miss a Ranger game. So, imagine my reaction when I find out that not only can I not use my tickets for the home opener, but I’ll be traveling out of town as well.

Now, I could just Tivo a weeks worth of hockey (actually only two games) and watch it all at once, but its not the same to watch them so far after they occur. I’ll surely have heard the score or read the recap since then. I have to watch this game, so let’s see what my options are. The Rangers website claims to offer gameday video, but I’m not sure if they’ll allow you to watch the entire game online or just post game highlights. Even if they did, it would probably be live, and who knows whether i’ll be at a hotel, on the road, or what. The NHL Center Ice package, which allows you to watch games online will NOT allow you to watch your local market teams. I’m not sure how they police this, but it’s also $150 or so and not worth my time to find out. Again, i dont think they archive the games for later viewing either. Come to think of it, I’m not even sure they are all online. Looks like this decisions is getting easier…

So, in 2004, a little company names SlingMedia obviously thought this was enough a problem to create a perfect solution. Why not just control your TV and stream it out to the internet. I originally brushed this idea off… Too complex a setup, possible bandwidth upload cap by my ISP, too high a cost for a “one-time use requirement”. But then the price dropped, almost like they heard my pleas, to $99 for their most basic unit. I only need 1 device and I don’t need HD. So I ran out and got a SlingBox A/V.

Wiring it was very simple, and the concept itself is non-obtrusive to your existing network. The premise is this, most DVR’s, Cable Boxes, etc have multiple outputs for TV and possible VCR/DVD-R. Take this additional output and plug it into this little box, which was much smaller than I expected (like a small router or usb hub, not the normal size of an A/V component). I plugged it into the unused S-Video out on my TiVo and split the L/R Audio. Plugged in the CAT5 connector and the IR Blaster. I power it up… silent, 3 lights begin flashing. So far so good… Software setup is going to make it or break I’m thinking.

Sling Media did an awesome job on the software. It found the box right away, and displayed a test video. Very wow, very fast. My Tivo was now playing crystal clear on my laptop in a little preview window. Afterwards we start the setup. Automatic firmware update, nice… Then it asks what I have plugged in and where. See, even if I chose not to use Analog video, I could still plug in a camera, or a video-only device and switch between the two! I was pleasantly surprised to find my odd Toshiba brand TiVo listed in the device list. Then we get to the part I know they have little control over, how to actually do all this from the “outside”. It asked if I can allow it to automatically configure my router. What? I didn’t even know this was possible. I click the button to allow this and it doesn’t really tell me if it actually succeeded. I see no changes in my router, and I already have a device acting as a DMZ host. Time will tell what this actually did.

Then I start up the client player (on Vista). Run a video test to improve the quality, and then it begins. VERY nice. I have a full TiVo remote on one side and the video right next to it. I begin navigating around the channels on the TiVo and setting up shows. I can’t believe it was this easy. I’m about to test out the Palm version of the player. And I also need to attempt to connect to this from somewhere other than my house, which I know is not going anywhere. I’ll follow up here to let you know how this goes.

If all goes according to plan, I’ll have the ability to watch my hockey game where I want and when I want and control it as I see fit. This assumes of course that I have an internet connection…. Should have probably checked on that first.