This is a good idea, except the sling box does not have a tuner, so you will end up watching whatever your parents have tuned in. I have one hooked up at my ex wifes house, since I dont want to watch what she or my son are watching, and since they only have 1 box, I used an old vcr as a tuner (this is just for basic cable) and tucked it in a corner.There are Slingbox models with tuners. The coax goes right into the Slingbox and you control the channel with the software.