Sling Box

The Slingbox is a TV streaming device that enables users to remotely view their home's cable, satellite, or personal video recorder (PVR) programming from an Internet-enabled computer with a broadband Internet connection. It is produced by Sling Media.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slingbox

The Slingbox utilizes Sling Media's proprietary Sling Player to display audio and video on MsWindows, Apple Macintosh running MacOs X, and selected Mobile devices. Sling Player is not available for Linux, BSD or other open source systems. While old versions of Sling Player ran under old versions of Wine, there is presently no way to run Sling Player in Linux using current releases of either.

http://www.slingmedia.com/go/products

a couple models

http://the-gadgeteer.com/2009/08/24/more-enjoyment-from-your-talking-toaster-the-slingbox-solo-review/ Probably the most interesting piece of the Slingbox is the manner in which it controls your DVR: through a set of Infra Red modules (see figure below) attached to the Slingbox. These must be attached to or point to the infrared receiver of your DVR unit. Again I thought that this would be the downfall of the product, but they work just fine too. Ooh, that makes me nervous. I remember the days of depending on IR to control your Cable Box from your VCR....