Review: Hauppauge TV Anywhere streaming device

Fancy the idea of the Slingbox or Sony's LocationFree but don't want to fork out on a dedicated device?

Hauppauge seemingly has the answer - a TV tuner and some clever software to allow you to watch TV - via your PC - wherever you've got an internet connection.

However, like most things in life, it's not as simple as that. While Slingbox is relatively easy to set up – plug in aerial, power and network and you're pretty much good to go – the Hauppauge isn't quite so simple.

First you've got to get the external USB tuner up and running on your PC and install a bewildering array of software packages. A couple of reboots later and you're ready to start place shifting.

The bundled Orb application is the bit that does the heavy lifting, allowing you to watch TV stations that you can pick up from home anywhere you have net access. First you need to sign up for a free account and then set it going on the host PC.

To watch TV on the go, simply log in at the Orb site and click on the channel you want. In addition to a laptop or PC, you can watch the video stream on a mobile phone – provided you've got one of the few that are actually supported.

Once you've got everything in place, it's actually quite impressive. Provided you've got a fast enough internet connection, the results are very good – even when viewed fullscreen. In addition to TV, you can also play any music or video files stored on your home PC.

The mobile phone part is a nice idea, but ultimately watching a small, jerky image is never going to be a pleasant experience. It'll also eat into you phone's monthly data allowance, which doesn't come cheap.

While it does what it claims, it's not without its problems. Firstly, the bundled USB TV card is only an analogue model – and a fairly old one at that.

It also doesn't have an infra-red blaster, so you can't change channels on an external Sky or Freeview box, unlike the Slingbox or LocationFree. And the other big advantage of the Slingbox and LocationFree is that they attach to your TV, which need not be on for you to watch a channel.

Finally, the Orb software itself is free to download, so you don't need Hauppauge's old and overpriced tuner to put together a similar setup for yourself.

Also consider:
Sling Media Slingbox
Stream live TV across the internet

All home entertainment reviews