Your overfed TiVo is bursting with Mad Men, The Wire, and that show where the mustachioed dudes blow stuff up in the name of science. But rather than basking in the warm glow of plasma, you're stuck in a Helsinki hotel trying to wrap your tongue around the Finnish for "pay-per-view." Enter the Slingbox PRO. The $230 shoe-box-size gadget links your DVR, cable box, and DVD player to your Internet router, allowing you to tune in from any computer or video-ready cell phone the world over. Stuck in New Zealand during the NBA Finals? Watch it from your smartphone.

Against all odds, the installation is almost Apple-like in its simplicity — there's not even a software CD. Once the Slingbox is hardwired to your router and TV, just download the user-friendly SlingPlayer onto your computers and phones. (Any snags will be the fault of an overprotective router, but Sling Media tech support will talk you through them.) Video quality, thanks to HD-compatibility, is far superior to YouTube, though subject to the occasional stutter, depending on your connection speed. Still, once you're long-distance channel surfing, the drama you encounter will likely be personal, not technological: Anyone watching TV at home will see, whether they like it or not, when you change the station from afar. Though your loved ones may grow a bit distant after witnessing your daily assignation with Oprah Winfrey, at least you've got a hand on a remote, no matter how remote your location.