Where Can I Find a Gizmo That Does This?

[JR8]

I have seen Sling-box discussed widely in expat circles, it seems like a popular option.

Then you could use wi-fi to transmit in your home, and TP-Link extenders if you have any 'cold spots'.

For a VPN I use HMA as mentioned by ATL above. This allows me watch global TV (live) where the channel have the equivalent of the BBCPlayer, or ITVPlayer (both UK). HMA appears to let me 'patch in' to a lot of countries via a proxy IP (USA included), but I've yet to find a need to test it beyond the UK.

--- My wife watches some US TV shows ('live' I believe) but I think they're via some form of US-based mirror site. I know some of those kind of sites can be a bit dodgy, but I know she doesn't pay for it, and I've yet to hear a complaint.

[curiousgeorge]

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.

Well obviously you have to buy something - remind me how much that Slingbox thing is again? $200? $300? And you can't play games on it either. Oh, and it doesn't have a video service. Or unlimited music. Or local media streaming. All it does is sling. So yeah, not really a good deal after all.

Are you proposing an Apple/Google free solution that streams TV to a remote device? Nah, didn't think so. You're just bashing MS because you don't have a solution to offer

No, you don't need a Windows tablet for SmartGlass - you'll notice that MS products play well with other ecosystems. They write their software for Apple and Android devices too!
Here is the iTunes link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/xbox-on ... 79781?mt=8
And the Play Store link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... smartglass


And although "most people" don't have an Xbox One, I haven't met anyone who has actually used the MS ecosystem to say its substandard. Usually its Apple/Android users who *think* they know the MS ecosystem who claim it is substandard. Apple and Google don't even have a games console, so their eco-systems are half-baked before you start comparing :p

Most people who take the time to see what MS is doing these days will go "feck me that's amazing, why isn't Apple/Google doing that?". They're not as popular or "cool" and certainly not as good at marketing...but by any objective reasoning, they're not substandard.

[zzm9980]

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.

Well obviously you have to buy something - remind me how much that Slingbox thing is again? $200? $300? And you can't play games on it either. Oh, and it doesn't have a video service. Or unlimited music. Or local media streaming. All it does is sling. So yeah, not really a good deal after all.

Are you proposing an Apple/Google free solution that streams TV to a remote device? Nah, didn't think so. You're just bashing MS because you don't have a solution to offer

I did offer a solution, I offered Slingbox. It does 100% exactly what SE asked for. And they're as cheap as $69 USD, not $200-300 as you said.

If SE asked for an all-in-one video game console, slingbox, video service, and music service, then maybe I'd suggest an XBox. If he wanted the music and video, yes I would suggest Apple ($89 USD) or Google ($35 USD) still over an Xbox ($350 USD+).

I don't hate Microsoft, nor am I emotionally invested in Google and Apple. It's just that it is not a good solution to the problem OP has. It is much more money and does a lot of shit he didn't ask about.

And I honestly didn't know the MS software worked on other ecosystems. It's still overly expensive.

[nakatago]

To be fair, I prefer Microsoft now because I can use some of their software that I may want on the platform of my choice (mostly). I use OneNote which syncs my work notes on my computer and mobile devices (I'm an android guy). I'd probably use MSOffice as well if they made it available on desktop Linux but I found that Google Drive suits my personal office suite needs. Work already paid for MSOffice and a desktop Windows licenses so I'm not really anxious to get it.

Besides, I used the Windows key for my laptop to authorize the Windows VM I have running on my Linux machine if ever I need windows-only software (such as the office 2010 I got from waaaay back). I'm also thinking about making a VM image of my work machine in cases where I'd want to take my work home but don't want to lug around my work laptop.

BTW, I love my Chromecast. The only thing I watch from broadcast TV is the odd news show every now and then. I don't intend to get cable (not a fan of sports anyway) and for everything else I have the Net.

And Apple, the only product from them I'm interested in are the Macbook Airs because of the size (then I remember that it isn't as much an issue for me anyway). I've used MacOS but it's not really my cup of tea; nothing really against it or iOS and I've already said that the usage paradigm of iOS doesn't really work for me. It's like going with DSLRs--I've found that ecosystem X suits all my needs; Y and Z don't. Y and Z are cool but I don't want to spend thousands of dollars to switch to an ecosystem that doesn't address what I need or want. Until an alternative ecosystem does (and I'm quite informed about what goes on most of the time), I'm sticking with what I have.

[JR8]

I asked the wife how she watches US TV...

ch131.com (US)
watchseries.ag (US and UK)

They're no fee/no register. She said there will be a few pop ups when you're selecting/starting a programme but they're easily closed (she doesn't have a pop up-blocker).

Programmes are usually available within an hour of being broadcast at source.

She watches this on her laptop, via wi-fi.

[x9200]

Microsoft was always good in implementing features/functionalities general public liked (eye candies and such). What they lacked at the same time was rudimental robustness and transparency of their solutions. Apple systems on the other hand are robust, and transparent at their base layers but lack functionality and flexibility of Microsoft products. Clearly the case "you can not have it all" at the same time.

[Strong Eagle]

My brother sent me another interesting product... http://www.silicondust.com/products/hdhomerun/prime/... quite a bit cheaper on Amazon and New Egg.

What I'd really like is a cheap device that would allow me to input HDMI or 1080 component video into my PC (or maybe passthrough) and a piece of software that would ship it out wirelessly to my devices.

[x9200]

It is a pretty serious job to compress on fly HD video with acceptable resulting quality and with reasonable size of the streamed data. That's probably why these boxes have been invented with hardware based, dedicated encoders.

[Splatted]

Think i found your gizmo(s)

http://www.radioshack.com/actiontec-myw ... IHg_TGUdnE

http://www.radioshack.com/actiontec-scr ... IHhITGUdnE

[AsusEpoxy]

I use a slingbox for the same purpose u mentioned and it's perfect!