July 9, 2008 12:57 PM updated: July 9, 2008 1:00 PM

- Based off of those two things, which one is the best for me..tuner probably?

      That will work until your cable company decides to turn off analog broadcasts. Once you move (or are made to move) to using a set top box, the tuner will not be useful anymore (probably why it has been discontinued) since it doesn't have the ability to accept any other form of input.

 - Does my TV have to be on at home so I can watch it on my laptop 3 hours away?

NO

- Also, it says I have to be connected to the same network..How am I going to connect to my connection from 3 hours away>?

If you configure your slingbox for remote viewing correctly, all you will need is the Finder ID and the Slingplayer software to connect to it over the internet.

July 9, 2008 1:12 PM

I presume that you mean that you're using over the air broadcasts from your local tv stations. In that case, a Sling tuner would be useless in Feb 2009 (see http://www.dtv.gov/). I believe that tuner is NTSC only and will not be able to handle the digital signals.

 I also made an assumption that you are in the US.

July 10, 2008 11:57 AM

Kev5890 said: I am in the US..I am getting basic cable from a cable..So channels 1-74 So technically I dont have a cable company..and I am not using over the air broadcasts.

That doesn't make sense to me. You'd have to be getting either OTA broadcasts or be subscribing to cable (or getting free cable by a cable company's oversight). Lets put it this way, who is your internet provider?