Sling Media's Slingbox family is designed to do one thing -- make your home TV video sources available over the web -- including at Wi-Fi hotspots and over 3G smartphones. Currently, you can view Slingbox video on Windows PCs, as well as Windows Mobile smartphones and PDAs using the SlingPlayer software. A Mac version is in the works. The Slingbox can be wireless at one or both ends of the connection. The box itself is hooked up directly to your home video sources (up to four devices, such as cable or satellite boxes, DVRs and VCRs, even HD sources, are possible with the new Slingbox Pro), but it can then be connected to the internet via Ethernet or a Wi-Fi-to-Ethernet bridge like the Belkin Wireless G Ethernet Bridge. Sling also sells a special SlingLink adapter. At the receiving end, your PC laptop or Windows Mobile PDA can be connected through any Wi-Fi hotspot or 3G broadband cellular network.

You can install SlingPlayer on as many client PCs or PDAs as you like, although only one can be connected to the Slingbox at a time. A virtual remote control gives you complete control over your video sources, so you don't need to leave them powered on. You can even just use the SlingPlayer to connect to your TiVo or other DVR to program upcoming recordings. The Slingbox family includes three set-top devices: the Pro, AV and Tuner models. They differ in the kinds of video sources you can connect to them. Slingbox AV is for TiVos, DVD players, Slingbox Tuner is for cable TV boxes, and Slingbox Pro supports both.

Sony's LocationFree wireless streaming video system consists of a base station to which you connect up to three video sources (such as a cable box, DVD, VCR, DVR or camcorder), and a portable wireless LCD TV. The base station can double as a wireless router, or you can connect it to your existing home Wi-Fi network. Once configured, you can play back and control any of the video sources on the wireless TV, from any room in range of the base station.

LocationFree also lets you stream the video to any PC, Mac, or PSP on your wireless network. After setting up your PC, you can sit at a hotspot in Tokyo and watch your favorite shows remotely (PCs and Macs only). Soon, Sony will be adding Windows Mobile video playback support as well. Both the Windows and Mac player software paks come free with new base station purchases. The only downside is that you can't record LocationFree video to your computer hard disk for offline playback, as you can with TiVoToGo. However, the two systems can coexist happily, so you could use LocationFree for live remote viewing, and TiVoToGo for offline recordings.

If you have a Series2 or later TiVo video recorder with home networking, another way to get video on your laptop is to use TiVoToGo. The newest Series 2 DT models boasts dual tuners, so you can record two shows at once, while you watch another that's already saved to disk. Even better, the Series 2 DT has a built-in Ethernet port for wired networking, plus a USB port for attaching the optional TiVo Wi-Fi adapter. Once connected to your Wi-Fi net, you can use the Windows TiVo Desktop and TiVoToGo software to view shows live on your PC within the home, or download them to your hard drive and take them with you. A Mac version of TiVo Desktop is available for live viewing, but not TiVoToGo. TiVoToGo recordings can also be transferred from your Windows PC to portable players like the Apple video iPod, Sony PSP, and Palm Treo 650/700.