Page 1 of Watch Your Skybox from anywhere in the world - PCTV To Go Wireless £79.99 (£70 off)

Quote:
• Watch and control TV in full screen quality wirelessly in and around the home on your PC
• Access high-quality MPEG-4 TV content remotely anywhere in the world via broadband internet
• Simple wireless installation makes getting started a breeze with no need of additional wires
• Remotely change channels, video sources, and even control your home Personal Video Recorder (PVR) to playback and schedule recordings
• Transforms your PC network into a fully functional PVR with the ability to pause, rewind and record all of your favourite shows
• Uses the TV guide for programming favourite shows and series
• Unleash the power of Windows Vista with the latest entertainment features of Windows Media Center
• Simply plug Pinnacle PCTV To Go Wireless into to your cable, satellite or antenna TV source
• No set up or monthly fees: you have access to the TV you already paid for!

Thats the gist of it £70 quid off until next week at Maplin, wireless & £20 cheaper than the wires only version & the cheapest Slingbox. Note there is no analogue or digital tuner incorporated.

The nitty gritty, learn from my experience:

Had a bit of trouble installing this partly due to two firmware updates (one update within a hour of the "new" one) & one application update, the other snag was lack of wired network to the Sky+ & the weird WiFi network configuration.

All the configuration is run from the install application while connected to your "home" network infratructure, so download the latest one before you start ;) , you will have to register to do this. :/ The firmware update(s) is flashed while in the set up routine.

& so we begin:

Given the WiFi difficulties, I opted to set this up (eventually) by plugging into my wired network, connecting to the Sky+ via a Video Sender (not ideal, but saved trailing lots of cables) & running the downloaded installer on the main PC.

First it unpacks & self runs before installing .net onto your PC (very slow install).

It installs various internet transport & video drivers, checks for the latest version of the installer (skipable), communicate`s with the wireless box via the wired network & checks the firmware of the box & updates it, following the process this way it becomes much simpler than the wireless method.

The rest is just a case of following the install & it`s helpful comments in "grey" areas to its conclusion.

Once that was done, the PCTV was returned & plugged into the Sky+ box.

I repeated the install on a wireless laptop, adding in the various security bits & bobs & applying MAC filtering for the router to allow the box to access the internet wirelessly along the way.

There is a lot of repetition of the install & there is no way of skipping all this first time out* as yet, though I did find at work an editable settings application (remote configuration only?).

With the install completed on the laptop & with a reasonable picture displayed on the laptop, I was able to get a good picture on the PC connected only by the wires to my router & the router connecting wirelessly to the PCTV after I "bridged" the network via the MS network configuration window.

Powering down the laptop, the PC then maintained its wireless link to the PCTV.

I have also been able to watch on both the PC & laptop at the same time at least while at home.

As yet I do not know if the now unused wired port will enable me to connect to my HD DVD or HD LAN external drive caddy.

Tomorrow the crunch comes if I can connect & watch my Sky+ from work, I will update on the picture quality then.

*For future installs\upgrades\changes I will see about using a Installrite application. ;)




I consider myself an optimist, albeit an optimist with cynical tendencies and a dark side that Lucifer himself would find a little creepy. (Perhaps you've noticed.) You don't normally associate cynicism with an upbeat pov. But I have exactly that combination and will defend it.

I hate answering the phone at work - It disturbs my sleep.

This item was edited on Thursday, 17th January 2008, 18:48

Geek.



All that just to watch "Revenge of the Cybermen" on UK Drama at 5pm.

I`m usually home at that time. :p

It`s for UK TV BBC etc when we emigrate.




I consider myself an optimist, albeit an optimist with cynical tendencies and a dark side that Lucifer himself would find a little creepy. (Perhaps you've noticed.) You don't normally associate cynicism with an upbeat pov. But I have exactly that combination and will defend it.

I hate answering the phone at work - It disturbs my sleep.

You still going to have a skybox somewhere ??

Leaving a Sky\Freeview (PVR) box at my sisters or sister in laws. :D

The rest of the family are luddites & still not connected to the internet & Sky\Freeview (as yet).




I consider myself an optimist, albeit an optimist with cynical tendencies and a dark side that Lucifer himself would find a little creepy. (Perhaps you've noticed.) You don't normally associate cynicism with an upbeat pov. But I have exactly that combination and will defend it.

I hate answering the phone at work - It disturbs my sleep.

"I`m usually home at that time."

LOL same here, got my Vbox+ to do the whole series.

back up to £150

HI strange if you search the Maplin site it is £150 going through the link in the first post is is £80. Just bought one any reviews on how well this works in "real life"
Thanks for OP

As yet I have to try to use it in the real world ie out of the house.

Inside the house works fine, but suggest you configure it wires first, then wirelessly, I had problems initially getting it to work (below spec machine, the installer wouldn`t see\connect to the PCTVTOGO, despite wireless card detecting it in Network settings.

Once it was connected to the wired network & proven working, one of my higher spec wireless laptops was set up from one room away.

My local Maplin store had it marked last Saturday, as a "clearance" item.




I consider myself an optimist, albeit an optimist with cynical tendencies and a dark side that Lucifer himself would find a little creepy. (Perhaps you've noticed.) You don't normally associate cynicism with an upbeat pov. But I have exactly that combination and will defend it.

I hate answering the phone at work - It disturbs my sleep.

This item was edited on Thursday, 24th January 2008, 12:55

Thanks mine should arrive today and will probably spend the evening trying to set it up! I posted your message om Moneysaving expert.com and indicated that this had come from you.