well, that's a true, you can watch remote TV this way, but you must have a decent webcam to watch HD contents..LOL.

My Slingbox works wicked, 50MB cable connection set the Slingbox as a demilaterised zone on your firewall, and control your Virgin Media or Sky + with ease, well worth the dosh and simple to set up, the support for freeview humax boxes is not so good as the remote although it works moves twice for each key press, but with Sky and Virgin it works perfectly.

Nice guide, thanks.

So, if you can VNC your machine, why would you need to stream the service over skype? Many VNC programs can send jpegs up to 30 fps. Seems a little over exerted.

Is it safe to assume that this would work with a TiVo? I am headed off to college and I won't have cable television in my dorm. I don't have any experience with any of the tools mentioned but the idea as a whole makes sense to me. If I had two computers with Windows XP could I just use Remote Assistance to watch tv on my home PC and let my TiVo change channels for me? Seems feasible, though RAM and bandwidth could be an issue, I assume.

Althought i haven't tried it, I support the author for this cheap solution as there is lack of ideas in the net. From my understanding, the solution is only for viewing TV program remotely via Skype connection to the host.

1. Requires a TV tunner card to be installed in your home PC as a host of TV media source. This PC will be turned on as 24x7x365 if you are TV program fan 2. Set up a new Skype account for your host PC and starts it up as 24x7x365. This is a tools for delivering TV media to remote client 3. Creates remote destop service if your host PC is a XP prof or use VNC. Sure, using more secure way in IP tunnling like PPPTP in VPN setup is better. This setup is for changing TV channel of your host's TV tunner application from remote client. It seems dum but it is a cheaper way 4. Activate Skype call in client PC in calling to host Skype account. You need to remote access to your host PC to accept your call in host

I think this may make clearly of the operation processes.

BTW, I find another way to do it is using Windows Media Center and web addon. It is expensive than above as you need a new OS

I would agree with you, *if* you were a complete buffoon at setting up networking security. There are many many ways you can secure VNC and remote access software.

With respect to it being open source, please do not be spreading myths and scaremongering just because "hackers" can see the source! That shows a complete lack of understanding when it comes to how encryption works and operates - OpenSSh is open source and is extremely secure.

Although not quite sure how many hackers would want to hack into your computer to just print! LOL ... but your point is taken nonetheless.

its actually a wee bit more complicated than that, as you have to configure your firewall and possibly your router to allow VNC access to the outside world.

Then, u are really setting yourself up to be hacked, but this time they have FULL ACCESS to your PC!

if u must do this, create a login account with MINIMAL privileges and not even the ability to print/send email -

With VNC being opensource (and even if it wasnt) Hackers will be up to date on exploits before YOU!

when all is said and done, $100 slingbox is a one time payment for peace of mind

Hi, what do you think about using other access software such as avennu or orb to acheive a similar result - would this be possible?

Not a dumb question - the majority of TV cards write directly to the video card therefore any screen scraping software (which is what the majority of remote access software is) won't reproduce the video. Try doing a screen shot of your desktop while you have TV tuner, or even a video playing, most likely you will get a black square in your image where the video would be.

It is an interesting question; do people have TV tuner cards? I would wager that those that are even looking to use a slingbox type of system would already have tried a TV tuner at some point, even if it was a USB one. They are already thinking about watching TV on their machine, and a Slingbox is merely a natural extension of that.

Besides at the price you can pick them up on eBay (99p) then really the cost of the TV tuner card even if you don't have one is some what insignificant when compared to a slingbox.

I have been told by one person that they are not impressed at the quality of their slingbox, and doesn't always work through some hotel networks. They did note they could still hold a video Skype call - so maybe this solution will work for them better.

Hey, if you want to burn money on a Slingbox, then who are we to stop you. This was merely a simple tip for anyone that has already the setup to utilise what they.

Um... this may be a dumb question, but if you have Remote Access, why do you need Skype?!? Also, I agree with other commenter - most people don't have tv tuner cards. But then the kind of person who's likely to try this kind of thing WOULD have a tv tuner card.

I am confused, when you say control the 'remote'. Do you mean the TV tuner? The ability to change channels? You do this using the VNC. That in itself is just a remove view into your desktop as if you were sitting there.

Ok, the part I simply do not understand, even having read their web site is HOW to control the remote. I thought you were saying WITH Skype AND VNC you could but I fail to understand how, using either or both you can.

Okay, I guess I should have qualified that blog, with the assumption that you already had a TV tuner card - most laptops come with them already as do many modern video cards. So for most, it will be free. WinTV cards are very cheap picking them up for as little £5 on eBay. Still, a lot cheaper than £159 I think you'll agree.

Also I never said you could control the TV tuner card with Skype. That's what you need a remote control software for, such as Real VNC.

So instead of buying a Slingbox - which I already have - and is a very reliable tool, instead I go and buy a TV tuner card. So ... how is that free? I also do NOT understand how you think you can remotely control the TV using a second Skype account, or any kind of remote control tool. The only problem is Slingbox is that support for remote controls is LAME. They NEED to develop more support but based on posts I see they could care less.

I've never tried it but in Skype under Tools/Options/Advanced there is an "Automatically answer incoming calls" checkbox. I suppose this would only remove the need for remote access if you never wanted to change channels though.