My latest gadget: Slingbox SOLO

Conundrum: lots of cable TV channels at home in Belgium thanks to Coditel, but just an old TV connected to the cable TV box. But in the other room sits a nice iMac with a 24″ LCD screen. So why not get the cable TV channels on the iMac?

There’s no equivalent of Eye TV USB sticks for digital cable, so I needed another option. The Slingbox SOLO looked like the best bet, but you can’t get them in Belgium anywhere… But hell, why not try it? After importing one from London today, and after a bit of experimentation this evening, it does indeed work. The Slingbox thinks my cable TV box is a Thomson DCI30 whereas it’s actually a DCI52NUM, but apart from some of the onscreen menus it works well.

Plus it’s supposed to work from wherever you are in the world, being able to turn on the cable box remotely. Which should mean Match of the Day wherever I am… 🙂