What is place shifting?
One of the commonly advertised features of PVRs / DVRs is the fact that you can use time shifting technology. Time shifting enables you to pause and rewind live TV as well as record a show to watch it when you want (therefore shifting the original air time). In a similar fashion, place shifting allows you to decide where you will watch the show.
Ok, what use is this?
A common example of place shifting is the ability to watch the recorded program somewhere other than the through the PVR / DVR unit. This usually means a laptop or computer that is hooked up to the same network. This is useful if you can’t use the TV (e.g. someone else is watching something) or if you want to go sit outside in the backyard.
Not all commercial PVR / DVR solutions offer this, but there are a few that do. For example, SageTV just announced that they will be adding place shifting features to their future releases. Windows XP Media Center Edition has extenders which can be used to allow viewing and controlling through your Xbox (click here to read a recent post on The Green Button site about using an Xbox 360 as an extender). MythTV (which is a free solution) allows you to create front ends that stream the video from the main unit so that you can watch it on other PCs or an Xbox.
On top of PVR / DVR solutions that offer this functionality, there is also one mainstream device that is dedicated to this technology: Slingbox. Slingbox sits between your TV and and your input signal (wether it be regular cable or a digital cable or satellite box) while also being connected to the internet. Once connected to the internet you can actually use the Slingbox to view your programming from anywhere in the world that has a decent internet connection. This is truly ideal for people who travel alot. Slingbox is currently designed to be used with NTSC based signals, which includes the US and Canada.
Technorati Tags: PVR, DVR, SageTV, MCE, Xbox, MythTV, Slingbox, Place+Shifting
