Well, it may not look quite as glamorous as the product shots, but I’ve been playing with the new Slingbox device and it’s fab (it’s just been launched here in the UK). Don’t look at the cable mess, in fact it’s just a matter of plugging it in to your television’s set top box, a broadband connection (via Ethernet socket) and relevant infrared port to give you real remote control. Tuck it all away neatly and forget it. Then just download and install the software and you’re set. And wow it works.

Full control of your PVR, hard disk stored recordings, live satellite or cable television, the works – from anywhere in the world you can find a PC and net connection (even at 36,000 feet!). I love the fact that you can also schedule recordings and do all the usual PVR housekeeping tasks remotely too, which is really sweet. The most amazing thing is that the picture quality is really good, although I’ve only tried it on relatively fast broadband so far. OK, so fast movement kind of blurs a bit, and faces can sometimes get lost, but the buffering does a superb job of keeping image quality very watchable in general. This is a great piece of equipment, all credit to the designers and coders. Well done guys.