If There’s a Will, There’s a Way – and There IS a Will

I have been a Pro Tech for over 12 years now, mostly because I love solving puzzles.  I have found that if you can think of it when it comes to technology, there is probably a solution out there; it just needs to be found.  So, here was my dilemma:  Saturday night SDSU is playing UCLA in basketball.  Two top-ranked teams going head-to-head.  This is a game that I definitely want to watch.  But, I have a commitment on Saturday night recording speakers for an event.  It is hard to find a replacement, so it is something that I need to do.

So, I go to work trying to figure out a way to watch the game, and fulfill my commitment at the same time.  Part of my commitment includes being glued to a laptop since I use it to digitally record the speakers at this event.  I also have a TV Tuner card on my home computer which allows me to watch cable television right on my computer.  Of course, I could always go out and buy Slingbox, which allows me to stream my home TV online, but I am just not in a position to do so.

My first thought was to figure out a way to build a website that would somehow stream the data from my TV tuner card directly to the web.  I also began a search for possible products that would do this as well.  After some time looking around, I was coming up short.  Most of these solutions involved countless hours of research and configuration.

One night when I was on Skype, I realized that Skype gives you several options in the web cam setting.  You can use a standard web cam as the default, or, in my case, you can select the TV Tuner card as the source.  I tried this, and sure enough, my TV was being used as the web cam source.

I recalled this option in my quest to catch the game live via my laptop.  I was faced with one dilemma.  If I streamed my TV on Skype, I would be able to call my Skype account on my home computer from my remote laptop on Saturday night.  Only question was who would answer the Skype call at home when I called, thus enabling me to see the game? I considered setting up some remote access so I could answer the call using that route, but that would have taken more time.  Sure enough, there is a setting in Skype that gives you the option to automatically answer any Skype calls coming in.  Problem solved.

So, I set this all up, created a second Skype account (you can’t call your own Skype account), opened up the laptop, and sure enough, I was watching TV live on my laptop.

Two things left to figure out and then I will be truly satisfied.   First, how can I change channels from a remote location, and second, how do I stream the sound from the TV.  If there’s  a will, there’s a way – and there IS a will.