Add-on lets travelers tune in to home TV

If you travel a lot but must catch certain TV shows without fail, there's an inexpensive way to do that without having to come home.

SageTV's Placeshifter add-on sells for $29.95. It's designed to let users of SageTV's Media Center 5.0 software for Windows and Linux systems remotely watch shows (either in real time or recorded), listen to music or view photos stored on a computer, via any Wi-Fi device. CNET's Dan Ackerman took a look at the Placeshifter and had generally favorable comments.

For existing Media Center users, the add-on is a lot cheaper than paying hundreds of dollars to purchase Sling Media's Slingbox for the remote function, and requires no extra tuner card hardware or software on the home PC.

Still, if you don't own the core application, that would set you back $79.95, though SageTV offers a discount package through its Web site. If you need a tuner card as well, the entire package comes to $179.95.

Meanwhile, to watch video from your PC on TVs in your home network, SageTV this week released a wireless media extender for $159.95.