Hauppauge Digital will soon be debuting a new “watch live TV remotely” solution for Mac and Windows owners who want to be able to see live television remotely or on their mobile devices, called Broadway. Shows can be watched via a local Wi-Fi connection — in effect putting a TV in any room — or remotely via a web browser. The Broadway device features a multi-format TV receiver that can tune clear QAM digital and ATSC over-the-air standard and high-definition channels.
The solution is similar to the popular Slingbox, but doesn’t levy a “mobile device tax” of charging extra to watch live TV on mobile devices. The Broadway box simply connects to both an existing cable or satellite set-top box (or antenna) and an 802.11g or better router. Users simply open a web browser and sign in to distan.tv in oder to watch digital or analog TV channels, already converted to the H.264 format via an on-board hardware compressor. Users can control the device and change channels remotely, and can pause the live stream as well.
The unit should be available in late July or early August at all participating retailers as well as directly from Hauppauge, and will retail for $199. The unit presently works only with Apple’s mobile devices, running at least iOS 3 or higher. To use the device with a Windows-based home computer, the requirements are as follows: a 2.6GHz multi-core processor (for HD capability, 1.5GHz minimum for SD television) or later running Windows XP (SP3) or higher. For Mac, any model running OS X 10.5 or higher and the Safari web browser is required.
