Geek Boy and Nerd Girl

I think I found the perfect present for hubby. Dick loves to watch TV, especially the Sci-Fi channel. One of the minor annoyances with traveling as much as we plan is him missing the shows he follows each week; not many of the places we stay have the sci-fi channel.Enter the Slingbox Solo and Sling Link. The company says their device allows you to watch your home TV, DVR or Tivo on your laptop anywhere in the world where you have an Internet connection. How perfect is that!? And even better, all the hardware stays at home, attached to the DVR. No extra boxes or cables to lug around.Marie and I started teasing Dick on Tuesday about a 'surprise' that was arriving Wednesday. By the time I got home from a crochet day at Wenona's, he was pacing the floor, staring at the boxes UPS had delivered an hour before. See the puzzled look? It took about 30 seconds for him to figure out what it was. And yes, he was very pleased. The company also says it's a snap to install the Slingbox; it's 'ready to go, right out of the box'. Yeah, right. I spent 8 hours, including an hour and a half with tech support, trying to get this thing installed.

First problem: the Sling Link establishes an Ethernet connection between the TV and the Internet via the electrical wires in the house. Turns out the den where the Internet router is located - which was part of our home remodel- is on a separate circuit than the rest of the house. I figured this one out and fixed it - plugged the Link into a different outlet in the 'old' part of the house - after reading the Slingmedia FAQs. One point for Nerd Girl.

Second problem: The slingbox's software needs to be updated before it can be used; the update is on the website, so no problem, right? Wrong. No matter what I did, the update froze mid-way and refused to continue. I contacted Slingmedia via 'chat' and within five minutes a tech was remote controlling my laptop, trying to fix the problem. His conclusion? The Slingbox was defective and I should return it for a new one.

By now I'm thoroughly frustrated. We're leaving on vacation in 2 days - not enough time to get a replacement - and I want. this. thing. to. work. I'm also just a little bit stubborn (stop laughing) and I'm determined to fix this if it's the last thing I do.

And I did. I eventually tried connecting the Slingbox directly to the router via cable, without going through a computer or the Sling Link. Bingo. Download downloaded and installation was finally underway. Another point to nerd girl.

It took a few more false starts and resets to finish the installation, but it looks like it's working now. We'll give it a test drive on the Kansas trip. I really want this to work for Dick. And if it doesn't? I'm kicking its butt right back to Amazon for a refund.