Where Can I Find a Gizmo That Does This?

[Strong Eagle]

So... it's Sunday afternoon and there is American style football on TV, courtesy of my cable connection and my local TV station. I want to watch it, but I am in the kitchen, preparing a scrumptious dinner instead. What I'd really like to do is watch the game on my tablet but the idiot cable company won't stream live TV.

Thus, I'd like something that I could attach to my TV (HDMI port out or other), my AV receiver, or my cable box that would grab the TV signal and send it wirelessly to my tablet. I reckon that it would have to down convert like Plex does... or maybe not... my tablet is better than 1920x1080.

Whenever I do a web search I get tons of returns about displaying tablet content on the TV but I cannot find anything about displaying TV content on a tablet.

Thoughts, oh wise ones?

[Brah]

Just to chime in, I've considered this but have no idea, my AC Ryan is kind of in the middle between my TV And PC, connected wirelessly, but I never tried to hook it up to the PC, it can see my NAS and get YT and other such services.

[ATLDML]

If it is via the Over the Air Singapore channels, check out http://www.Record.tv.

I'm not sure they even sell them here, but I have a Slingbox set up in the US, and can stream live TV anywhere I have an internet connection - no geographic limitations apply. http://www.slingbox.com Signal quality is very dependent on the internet upload speed at the host.

If you have friends in the US who would trust you with their cable login, many cable companies have apps that will allow you to watch a lot of channels. I use XfinityGo, HBOGo, WatchESPN, ShowtimeAnytime. (these have Geo-Restrictions, so you need an ISP with service like Teleport, or a 3rd party VPN (HMA Pro), or DNS geo-blocker.

Hope that helps.

[nakatago]

Just throwing some ideas around; haven't tried or checked them:

The only thing I could think of right now is feed your cable signal onto a PC; there should be hardware for that (like TV tuners of lore but the input is from your cable box HDMI). Then use your tablet to mirror your PC display onto your tablet. I haven't checked but remote desktop or VLC, perhaps?

[nakatago]

If it is via the Over the Air Singapore channels, check out http://www.Record.tv.

I'm not sure they even sell them here, but I have a Slingbox set up in the US, and can stream live TV anywhere I have an internet connection - no geographic limitations apply. http://www.slingbox.com Signal quality is very dependent on the internet upload speed at the host.

If you have friends in the US who would trust you with their cable login, many cable companies have apps that will allow you to watch a lot of channels. I use XfinityGo, HBOGo, WatchESPN, ShowtimeAnytime. (these have Geo-Restrictions, so you need an ISP with service like Teleport, or a 3rd party VPN (HMA Pro), or DNS geo-blocker.

Hope that helps.

SE's in Texas.

[ATLDML]

Ahh! Then slingbox is a pretty effective way to do this. You can get an older model on eBay pretty cheap.


MOD NOTE: mangled quote; restored post without original quote

[zzm9980]

What you're describing is a Slingbox:
www.slingbox.com/

they have all kinds of different models, including those which can control the channels (usually via IR Blaster) and be accessed over the Internet. It's great when you're traveling.

[nakatago]

What you're describing is a Slingbox:
http://www.slingbox.com/

they have all kinds of different models, including those which can control the channels (usually via IR Blaster) and be accessed over the Internet. It's great when you're traveling.

Ok; my bad. I mangled ATDML's post.

What I meant to say was, I haven't really looked at what a slingbox really is (never needed to) but now that I'ved looked at it; yup it is indeed what SE wants.

[Strong Eagle]

That does indeed look like the animal I need. Makes me wonder, though, why today's "smart" TV's that have built in internet connections, don't offer this as a feature.

Thanks.

[zzm9980]

That does indeed look like the animal I need. Makes me wonder, though, why today's "smart" TV's that have built in internet connections, don't offer this as a feature.

Thanks.

Because it directly contradicts with the content providers business models. A small specialized company like Slingbox can fly under the radar enough to get away with it. But if a Samsung or Toshiba tried to bundle it in they would likely get burnt.

DirectTV bundles something very similar into some of their set-top boxes, but intentionally limits it to the local network in your house. It should be trivial to work around that restriction and use it anywhere like a Slingbox, but I've personally never tried and they definitely do not market it as having the ability.

[Strong Eagle]

Thanks for that info... and it just seems plain stupid... at least for streaming within my local network.

[Splatted]

One option, for select channels, is starhub tv anywhere. Lets you view select channels live via internet, provided already subscribed to that channel. channels are limited to 201, 202, 203, 217, 225, for sports.

My old starhub SD digital set top box also had 2 sets of video/audio output. I used to be able to hook up both a tv, and a pc years ago to watch same show simultaneously, with option to record via the pc.

[curiousgeorge]

There is a commercial way to do this:

1) Buy Xbox One
2) Get Xbox Digital TV Tuner ( DVB-T, DVB-T2 and DVB-C compatible)
3) Use Xbox SmartGlass on your tablet to view the broadcast (with the latest update)

(I know right! Not invented by Apple! OR Google! I mean, Microsoft doing something amazing with their entire hardware and services together! But Apple will do it on Apple TV next year, call it "How do you like them Apples" and they will get credit for "inventing" it).

[nakatago]

Not invented by Apple! OR Google! I mean, Microsoft doing something amazing with their entire hardware and services together! ]

The only reason no one mentioned xbone before you is nobody who'd post here has tried it yet.

[zzm9980]

There is a commercial way to do this:

1) Buy Xbox One
2) Get Xbox Digital TV Tuner ( DVB-T, DVB-T2 and DVB-C compatible)
3) Use Xbox SmartGlass on your tablet to view the broadcast (with the latest update)

(I know right! Not invented by Apple! OR Google! I mean, Microsoft doing something amazing with their entire hardware and services together! But Apple will do it on Apple TV next year, call it "How do you like them Apples" and they will get credit for "inventing" it).

Wow, bitter fan-boy much?

Part of the problem with Microsoft is the cost. Your Xbox One is at least $350 USD (And that's recent Black Friday sale prices) and the TV Tuner another $50. I assume you'll need a Windows tablet to run that Xbox SmartGlass software. That's at least another $500+.

All of this for an ecosystem most people (obviously you the exception) find to be substandard compared to Google or Apple's.